Disposing of Fluorescent Tubes

[Kate]

Some interesting replies in this sub-sub-thread :-)

It's clear that local councils are implimenting the rules in different ways: eventually I suspect they will all come together under a common scheme. One poster mentioned green wheelie-bins for green waste - round here the green WB is for *general* waste, and it's bags or boxes for the rest.

Black bin-liners left out by the WBs on collection day just stay there, if it isn't in a WB or the right sort of bag or box, it doesn't get taken.....

Having provided suitable means of sorting and collecting waste, I think they are only under an obligation to collect that. In any case if they don't meet their targets, they get fined.

It's called Democracy, and you get a sort of say every now and then.

It's proving so effective that less and less people feel the need to join in ;-)

[Kate]

In fact this is what I do.

I save up glass and plastic bottles and jars, paper and cardboard, tins and cans, all in supermarket bags, and every time I go out in the car I drop them in the local recycling centre (the extra energy used is practically zero). Kitchen waste goes in the composter along with paper shreddings (stuff with identifiable personal info on).

All I'm left with is a very small amount of plastic wrappings. That goes in the litter-bin when I drop the other stuff off.

To an observer, my house produces no rubbish!

[Mike Clarke]

I wonder how long it'll be before council bean counters start trying to discourage people from composting their own waste. They have to (try to) meet government targets on the percentage of waste that _they_ recycle so every bit of compost you produce yourself hits their brownie points score. Far better for them to ban home composting (probably for some imaginary H&S reason) and make a bit more money from selling the recycled garden waste back to the very people who provided the raw materials for free in the first place.

[Dave Liquorice]

Green wheelies are garden waste here(*1). Blue bags for domestic waste, =

only 2 allowed per week anything that won't fit in a blue bag won't be taken(*2). You have to pay =A310 for up to three "bulky items" to be tak= en, excluding fridges/freezers (I think they cost =A310 each!).

The real annoyance is that the same truck, on the same round, that takes= the limited domestic blue bags takes some of the "bulky items" (they jus= t took an ancient TV and mattress from us). This same truck also takes commercial waste, which can be anything, in anything and any quantity (within reason).

The green box takes, paper(*3), glass, cans. Not plastics or cardboard, =

those we save and take shopping where there are banks in the car park.

(*1) This just gets the obnoxious weeds, thistles and ragwort mainly and= some woody prunings. All other compostable stuff goes in the composter.

(*2) But it's surprising how small things will become if hit by a hammer...

(*3) Any paper, but any that has personal info on is shredded and goes i= n the compost heap bit by bit.

You can have a say at any point, not just elections. These days public consultation is fairly common, particularly on major topics. You just need to find out about them, you know down in the basement with the stairs missing behind the locked door with "Beware of the Tiger" written= on it. B-)

[Andy Hall]

Right now some are offering green waste collection for a price. If they make that low enough, many people won't bother with taking it to the tip. I suspect in any case that the cost in terms of CO2 etc. to do that exceeeds recycling benefit.

In regard to the rest, the rule of thumb is that as long as it is a way to employ more jobsworths (visions of Derek Guyler with a clipboard going door to door) then it's a winner.

[Dave Plowman (News)]

Even the most expensive private treatment still uses amalgam for certain things.

[Tony Bryer]

It's one of the things that LB Richmond can be commended for: a large green wheely bin about 1.5m high is £30 per year, kerbside collection each two weeks.

[Dave Plowman (News)]

For the moment. But we *will* again. ;-)

[Chris Bacon]

Not for landfill, though.

Not for coal mining, we won't.

Not sure what the smileys are supposed to signify here.

[Andy Hall]

I'm not sure that that is still true. Last time I discussed with my dentist he told me that he doesn't need to use amalgam anywhere any longer. The strength and quality of the light-cured products continues to improve.

[Andy Hall]

Visions of Arthur Scargill's progeny moaning about being up to their ankles in fluorescent tubes and complaining about the welfare of their canaries.

[Chris Cowley]

That sounds like it's a self-rectifying problem; let the holes fill up with children and the problem will go away.

[Andy Hall]

time/effort for the customer.

[Andy Hall]

Depends on the price.

.. or in south Wales the Price

(and Jones, Thomas, Evans, Parry,.....)

as long as it's not Scargill all should be fine.

[Dave Plowman (News)]

When BBC TV Theatre was closed for refurbishment in the late '60s, the BBC took over the Golders Green Hippodrome as a replacment. And there was a working one in there - probably for projectors, etc. It was a convenient source of DC for the Mole camera crane, so remained in use for some time.

[Dave Plowman (News)]

The worked out ones obviously not. But with world energy prices on the rise those with viable stocks will be opened again. One day.

[Andy Hall]

I thought that that was related to the sheep.

(Oh sorry, green *wheelies*)

[Chris Bacon]

Existing mines will not be reopened, ever.

[Mike Barnes]

Here in Stockport we get a kerbside collection of green wheelie bins containing garden waste once every two weeks, and it's free[*].

That's all very well except we haven't got a kerb outside our house, but there's one just up the road so we take our bin(s) there. :-)

[*] Of course it's not actually free at all, it's simply included in everyone's Council Tax.

[Frank Erskine]

We have a "free" collection of green waste in a separate brown-coloured wheelie-bin, collected every fortnight apart from a month or so in the winter.

They started this service just a few weeks after I'd bought a garden shredder :-(