What a tongue in cheek!

[Bigmallly]

Has anyone else been offered recycle bin by the council for garden waste so that the council can compost it down then sell it back to you........I say that tongue in cheek as I think they do a great job at recycling. I refused mine as I hardly have enough waste to keep my own composting going.

[ginger ninger]

We've had them in Barnsley for about 4 years now, I only have one compost bin so it does come in handy for my excess. Once a year we can go to our local park and get 2 free bags of compost of the council, so I don't mind....its good stuff as well.

[pdblake]

We've got one that supposed to go out once a fortnight. I only usually put conifer prunings and the grass clippings from the front lawn in as it's got mock strawberry growing in it and I don't want that stuff in my compost, so it only goes out a couple of times a year.

As for the ordinary paper/plastic recycle bin, well we had to ask for a second one to handle all the milk bottles and junk mail.

[Bren In Pots]

We've had one for a few years, its handy for any woody branches that I can't compost.

[Pumpkin Becki]

Our council stopped their 'Green Waste' collection service this year.
Although most of my stuff ends up on one of my many compost heaps, I do prefer to throw pernicious weeds away. Council compost (allegedly) gets super heated, so nasty weeds should be perfect for this system, so I continue to take mine to the 'Green Waste' facility at the tip whenever I got with my other recycling.

P.S: I don't think I'd buy the resulting compost back though, its crazily expensive!!

[zazen999]

I wouldn't buy it back because the only things that go in our brown bin are not fit for my compost heap [blighty toms, perennial weeds at home, etc]. We didn't pay for the bin though. If I had we'd not have one and just take any blighty toms to the tip.

[Bigmallly]

Our council stopped their 'Green Waste' collection service this year.

P.S: I don't think I'd buy the resulting compost back though, its crazily expensive!!

Why did they stop the collection service? I am surprised about the resale being expensive as I think I can get a black bag full from the council nursery for around £2 a bag which I think is pretty good.

[Bigmallly]

We've had one for a few years, its handy for any woody branches that I can't compost.

Hi Bren,
I tret myself to a shredder & what a godsend, it really speeds up the composting process.

[binley100]

I wouldn't buy it back because the only things that go in our brown bin are not fit for my compost heap [blighty toms, perennial weeds at home, etc]. We didn't pay for the bin though. If I had we'd not have one and just take any blighty toms to the tip.

Me too....

[Pumpkin Becki]

Why did they stop the collection service? I am surprised about the resale being expensive as I think I can get a black bag full from the council nursery for around £2 a bag which I think is pretty good.

I've a feeling it was too expensive to run the service. They were covering quite an area. they did the same thing with our plastic recycling too

Our tip were offering small bags (50l approx) for about £2, but our needs at the time were quite big, so we bought 3 cubic metres of spent mushroom compost for £75 including delivery which was much better value (my OH did the maths, I think I've already demonstrated that I don't have a head for figures this morning).

[snuffer]

We don't yet have a garden waste recycling bin but as soon as I'm offered one I'll take it. Will make a great water butt for the lottie.

The council recycling centre is run by a private firm. The compost they make is sold back to the public at a cost of (get this) £3.00 for a 30 litre bag. That's astronomical, especially when you consider that they're selling you back your own rubbish.

Whoever said 'where there's muck there's brass' new what they were on about.

[OverWyreGrower]

The stuff from our green bins (of which I have three, always full!!) is recycles out of our area, as we're too small to have our own facility.

We can't even buy back our own compost!!

Saying that, I have 6 compost bins on the go at home, and the green bins get filled up with our hedge clippings, conifer clippings, and grass cuttings (we have too many for our own compost heaps) as well as the manky stuff I won't put into our own heaps,

[Headfry]

The thing that worries me about these bins is ......Japanese Knotweed!!!!

[Alison]

We've had one for about 6 years, it's dead handy to use to get rid of all the nasty weeds I don't want on the compost heap.

[Eco-Chic]

My council sells the black dalek things but I've bought several quite cheaply from eBay and picked up one on Freecycle.

Our council have issued ginormous bags for green waste, similar to the big bags that building stuff gets delivered in. The only stuff they don't want in it is the Japanese knot weed and possibly the giant hog weed. I'm not aware of them selling it but they did have an open day where they had an amount available and people could take what they wanted. Apparently they would load it into bags and trailers for you too.

I've been surprised to learn that local florists aren't allowed to use the council green collection and one florist has agreed that if I bring in a sack she'll fill it with trimmings and I can collect every couple of days.