This makes for interesting reading...

[everdream78]

BBC NEWS | Science/Nature | Diary from the middle of nowhere

Saw this and thought of you guys n gals.....makes you realise that whatever little contribution you make to saving the planet, it's all worth it

[Paul Wagland]

Wow, great article. Thanks Everdream.

It's really depressing what our lifestyle is doing to the planet. I went home from the office just now to pick up something I forgot, and people's bins were out along a few streets (12 hours too early, but that's another story). Anyway, I would say less than one in ten had put out a recycling bin. Just piles of black bags, at east two or three per household.

[kernowyon]

thanks for the link, a real wake up call, the butterfly effect in action.

Paul, I guess your area doesn't have fortnightly collections then, we have two bins, one black for residual waste and one blue for recyclables, collected on alternate weeks, the one thing this does do is force people to think about what they are throwing.

[HeyWayne]

Not sure if this is the same place, but I saw a programme once where this woman collected various plastic items from a beach, and then grouped them in similar sorts/types (hair combs, lighters, toys etc).

She then laid them out on the beach and it was truly shocking.

I'm pleased to say that we now have more in our recycling bin than our normal bin - and we too have the alternate week collections.

[Paul Wagland]

Paul, I guess your area doesn't have fortnightly collections then.

Nope

I wish they'd introduce it here but Colchester Council isn't exactly progressive. I think I'll write to them this afternoon - you never know who you're going to reach.

It would even be better if we had weekly recycling collections and bi-weekly black bag collections, rather than the reverse (which is what we have now).

[HeyWayne]

Nope

I wish they'd introduce it here but Colchester Council isn't exactly progressive. I think I'll write to them this afternoon - you never know who you're going to reach.

It would even be better if we had weekly recycling collections and bi-weekly black bag collections, rather than the reverse (which is what we have now).

The downside is flies and maggots. We tried pretty much everything to reduce the likelhood of the fly problem (closing bags, wrapping stuff (which somewhat defeats the object of reduction), disinfecting the bins as often as possible, keeping the bins out of direct sunlight, etc etc) but we still get maggots and flies.

I'm considering (although I hear from my friend at the council recycling department that things may already be afoot) a bokashi system to help things further.

[allotmentlady]

Collections

Here in Chorley, we have fortnightly collections, this week recycling. My husband and I are keen recyclers, they normally collect today but with the Bank Holiday, it'll be tomorrow. It was nice to see that people had kept their recycling things in their garden until this evening.
Chorley won an award as majority of Chorley folk recycle!
The only problem is the bin men, just leave things.....allow cardboard, newspapers, plastic bottles to float around......then another van appears cleaning up behind them!

I do wish though that they would empty my green waste recycling bin every week as during summer it smells. We live near a canal and last year noticed Rats in our gardens!
There is a pilot scheme for this happening, I hope, as a lot of others do, that they would hurry up and spread it to our area.

We have no facitilities to recycle plant pots, so I make plant pot men out of them and give them as pressies to allotment holders!

[The Doctor]

It would even be better if we had weekly recycling collections and bi-weekly black bag collections....

This is what we get in Swindon. Fortnightly collection of a wheelie bin which is essentially the land-fill stuff. The bin must have the lid closed and if it isn't, or there is extra next to it, it doesn't get taken. We have only ever had a problem with maggots in it once in storage because the lid wasn't closed properly.

On the same collection day they will also take plastic bottles, and any non-compostable garden waste.

In addition, there is a weekly collection of all other recyclables - paper, cardboard, tins, cans, foil and glass of any colour.

They also do subsidised purchase of water butts and compost bins. The council has also issued a statement that they will never ID tag the wheelie bins and monitor disposal weights.

Seems this is pretty good compared to a lot of others!

[Paul Wagland]

Blimey - that looks like the benchmark so far Doc!

[kernowyon]

The council has also issued a statement that they will never ID tag the wheelie bins and monitor disposal weights.

our local council has also made a similar statement, they basically said that the levels of recycling within the borough was at a sufficient level to not have a pay-as-you-throw scheme.

[Madasafish]

Our local system is 3 bins: all with closed lids.
Fortnightly collection: week 1 non recyclable
Week 2 recyclable: split tins and bottles and plastic/cardboard and garden recyclable..plus separate newspapers.

Subsidised daleks, free sink tidy for kitchen waste for recycling.

Is Colchester in a time warp of the Dark Ages?

No smell, no flies (closed bins) and if you need them bigger bins.
No spills in road either.
Don't comply and it is not collected.

There are recycling points in town centre and various schools as well. Plus local tip/recycling point.

[Paul Wagland]

Is Colchester in a time warp of the Dark Ages?

It could always be worse I suppose! We do have a fortnightly glass/paper/metal collection, and on the other week in the cycle they pick up green waste (not that I let them have any of mine!) and plastic bottles. They are just starting (April I think) to collect other plastics too. We have subsidised Bokashi bins, and a free plastic box if you register at a new address, but nothing in the way of wheelie bins or daleks.

The problem is, they take black bags every week - so if people can't be bothered to recycle there's really no incentive. If they were to take black bags fortnightly then the lazy gits would run out of storage space!

You must have inspired me Everdream - I've written to my MP (see attached) and also to the head of the relevant department at the council. If any grapes want to copy the body of my letter and send it to their own MP I would be delighted!

[everdream78]

You must have inspired me Everdream - I've written to my MP (see attached) and also to the head of the relevant department at the council. If any grapes want to copy the body of my letter and send it to their own MP I would be delighted!

Blimey *blushes* I normally just send people screaming for the hills!

Oh, and please call me Ed

[HeyWayne]

Spoke to my friend this afternoon, and she told me that we will soon be getting a kitchen caddy and a small bin for food waste. This will be collected weekly and sent to an anearobic digestion plant where it's turned into energy. Her estimates are that it will increase recycling by a further 10% in the area.

It is being bought into place to help combat the problem of rats, flies etc that many residents suffered with in previous years. (us included, even though we tried hard to avoid them)

Not sure if there are any subsidised water butts, or bokashi bins, but they did do a subsidised dalek scheme for a while.

They also provide green reusable "sacks" for green waste (2 sacks per household) but as Paul has said, I rarely use them for anything other than carting mine down to the plot.

I know some water authorities provide subsidised water saving devices (but that's another topic I guess).

[Two_Sheds]

The downside is flies and maggots. We tried pretty much everything to reduce the likelhood of the fly problem (closing bags, wrapping stuff (which somewhat defeats the object of reduction), disinfecting the bins as often as possible, keeping the bins out of direct sunlight, etc etc) but we still get maggots and flies.

We've got round the problem by not putting out waste food. At all. I only cook as much as we will eat (we're both on diets anyway).

If I do have scraps of fish bits, fat off a joint etc, I go and put it in the street bins, which appear to be emptied daily.