Wheelie Bins

[Le Chat]

After all the controversy in the news about wheelie bins, we have just received ours here in Southport. I previously used to fill 2 bin bags per week and on inspection of the new bins, that would leave me with a black bin bag in excess, after the fortnightly emptying. (The wheelie bin holds 3 bin bags) Now, I recycle plastic, paper, bottles and everything I can, so this leaves me wondering what to do with this excess bag. If I take it to the tip, then surely that will not help landfill or co2 emmission as I drive there? The binmen will not take bags that are not in the closed-lidded grey bin , so the leaflet tells me. Or do I take it to my mother's and put it in her bin? (There are only 2 in that household) This also defeats the object!! We are a family of 4 and I look after a furthur 2 children three times a week or more. I can't find a way to reduce my rubbish sufficiently...not through lack of trying. Do other AB ers have excess bins? What do you do with them?

[Whickerman]

Your post and motivation are admirable. But if you are really concerned about eco waste, look at your recycling habits more closely. You should not accept excess packaging anyway, but even as things stand you can reduce landfill. Due to nothing other than the incredible waste-cost hikes here in Ireland, we were forced to start recycling in earnest. As a three person and three cat household, we're now down to one bin bag a month. How? Almost evereything is recyclable, so we sort all waste. Including waste food which is recycled.

[Whickerman]

Sorry - that last word should have been 'composted'...ugh!

[Reverandfunk]

Don't know if I heard it correctly but did I hear that rubbish you seperate for recycling still gets chucked in land refill sites half the time??

[dot.hawkes]

the motivation behind this is that sefton council will not have to pay as much for land fill charges.

(My son is camping at the Leisure lakes this week and i am off down there tomorrow and will be taking them into the skate park in southport, looks like it's going to be poor weather so will stick to lords street i think lol)

[redcrx]

its the same here Le Chat. The council have set a goal of one third of rubbish to be recycled and yet want to empty the bins every 2nd week.
If our bins are open at the lid, even by just an inch they are not emptied at all and left.
If your bin isnt emptied your told to call the refuse department who will then send out 2 men in a transit cage van to collect your rubbish as a seperate load. How is this beneficial to the enviroment?
If they are out every week with the bin vans anyway then why cant we have 2 standard collections then a recycle collection?
Plus recylcled plastic / paper isnt going to smell and cause an increase in vermin is it? it can be left and picked up every 3rd week.

[Le Chat]

Whickerman - One bag per month is amazing - I am going to find this tricky! I am worrying about it all the time, which seems a ridiculous waste of mental energy.
Dot - I hope the weather holds for you all! I'm certain the skate park will be bursting at the seams all the same. You could always go to Splashworld!

[China Doll]

We haven't even got wheelie bins where I live.

Choice is to keep black bags in the bit between the front and back and live with the smell until the rubbish men or stick them out the front and let the foxes at them. Some bl00dy choice!

We do manage to recycle quite a lot though... mainly wine bottles in my case.

[Pippa68]

We don't have to have wheelie bins ~ if we want them we have to buy them ourselves, plus the black liners of course.

We don't even have to have a dustbin. As long as the black bags are outside on the road they will be collected...after the vermin have been at them, naturally ;o)

When I lived up in Shropshire I had to be careful what I left outside as the bin men would take everything. We were given a dustbin and every week we were given free black bags.

[nedflanders]

This is a pet hate subject of mine and makes my blood boil!

We had this thrust upon us from our council about 3 years ago without any consulatation etc.
We have a green bin (general rubbish), blue bin (paper) and brown bin (garden waste) and a black box(bottles and tins). We recycle as much as possible but we are a family of 2 adults 2 kids and the I have to visit our local council tip once a week to dispose of excess rubbish. At the weekend the local tip is heaving with people like me. It is all another money saving scam to reduce council services under the pretence of global warming etc.

What annoys aswell though is that there is only an outcry about now it is happening in middle England.

[Whickerman]

Further to my posts above, let me expand to show where you guys will be in a few years should your govt follow what ours did (and I can see they're well on the way. This is referring to Co.Wexford in Ireland)

1. The council stopped collecting rubbish. No questions, answers, ifs or buts. This left it to the private sector.
2. The private guys had a monopoly for a few years - how many operate right now in your area? One or two for businesses only I'll bet. Prices rise.
3. The council still operates the only landfill allowed.
4. The council raises prices, so that what was a 50cent ticket for a bin bag rises to a euro overnight. That was seven years ago. It now costs 8 euro a bag for collection.
5. The council makes sorted recyclable waste free to bring to the various centres.

This had a horrible financial effect on families to begin with, but we've pretty much accepted it. I must admit it's slightly easier for us as a family as we are rural, and can dedicate a shed to sorting recycling, and food waste that is composted can be easily gotten rid of.

[rabbitygirl]

Use small bags such as carriers. Fill, tie and squash lightly to reduce. You will fit much more rubbish in your wheelie like this. Black bin bags are harder to compress, they often do not drop completely to the bottom of a tapering bin so you will get unused gaps in the bin. I hardly ever use black bags now and have always been able to get all the rubbish (after sorting) from 4 adults to fit with room to spare.

[Le Chat]

Thanks for your answers. I will try using smaller bags and continue to try my best on the recycling front! I have noticed the recycling bins at the supermarket are now way overflowing. The council set up the scheme but are ill prepared to cope with the results. Typical Sefton Council however!

[Yorky Lass]

Have you checked with your council that you can't get a second smaller grey bin. There are five of us at our house and we were allowed another bin. It is the same size as the blue and brown ones and even with all the recycling we couldn't manage without it.