waste

[Tim Lamb]

I suppose it had to happen but I was still a bit surprised when the operative at our local waste site politely informed me that the complete kitchen in my pick up truck was considered to be commercial/construction waste and should properly go elsewhere.

After further polite discussion (I'm much bigger than him) a concession was agreed.

What do the rest of you do?

This was my waste, it came from a flat belonging to my wife who pays the local council tax.

I have made local enquiries and the options seem to be as follows.... rent a skip, hire a licensed waste haulier, take it to a waste transfer station (where you must have an account and arrive in a suitable vehicle).

Skips and flats are tricky, waste hauliers expensive and I don't think my ancient Hi-Lux is considered suitable for anything.

regards

[The Medway Handyman]

PITA. I can't take rubbish to the tip in my van even though its private waste. Have to make several trips in SWMBO's Corsa then vac it out afterwards so she won't moan at me.

[dom]

Similar troubles to you in West Norfolk.

The council waste site will accept one bin bag a week.

However they have a deal with a private contractor for bulk domestic waste - 10 quid a car-full, 13 for camper vans etc. Now my only vehicle is a VW Transporter van (oh and a motorbike) - my van fits none of the boxes on the form - even though my waste is domestic, can't come in.

My best option is to drive over into cambridgeshire.

[Andrew Gabriel]

Bloke next door has been burning his in his back garden.

When I ripped one out about 6 years ago, I re-flat-packed it into the wheelie bin over about 10 weeks, except some of the units which got refitted in the garage.

[Mary Fisher]

We had that when we took a duplicator to the tip in a car.

Spouse argued with the operator and eventually was allowed to dump it. We didn't want to but nobody wants them any more :-(

Mary

[Chris]

I feel your pain. We took our old mattress to the local tip - they now have a 5' 9" barrier about 30 yards from the dumping area, and car + mattress on roof rack was not going under it.

Went in to ask nicely if they could open the barrier for us - no chance, barrier is open friday and saturday mornings only. OK, no problem, we'll take it off the car and carry it in - no mate, not allowed, health and safety. So what the f*** are we supposed to do with it then? Either take it home and bring it back on friday or saturday, or take it off the roof rack, drive under the barrier, put it back on the roof rack and drive into the tip.

Well stuff that, we'll carry it into the tip and if they don't like it, tough. Didn't get the expected b******ing though - they were too busy with a waste lorry which had just come into the tip. How did they get waste lorry into the tip? They opened the barrier.

And....breathe.

[The Medway Handyman]

I took a fairly large quantity of glass wine, beer & scotch bottles the other week. I'd like to claim we had a party, but we just like a drink.

Anywho, there was a large container with holes in the sides. one side marked 'green' and tother side 'brown'. After a few minutes deciding if each bottle was greenish brown or brownish green I peeped inside - no dividing wall - all the bottles ended up in the same bloody container.

I mentioned this to a high vis clad attendant - who just laughed.

[nightjar]

A skip or a mini-skip, depending on the amount of waste. It is simple, can usually be put where I don't have to carry stuff far and someone else takes it all away at the end.

Colin Bignell

[The Natural Philosopher]

take it in small bits to the nearest three council skips.

[Tim Downie]

Freecycle?

Tim

[Tim Lamb]

Yes.

Seems a bit counter productive. I have serious doubts about the glue holding bits of government thinking together.

Thanks for the comments. It would appear there is a commercial opening for a waste transfer station dealing directly with disgruntled DIYers.

regards

[Grimly Curmudgeon]

We were somewhere around Barstow, on the edge of the desert, when the drugs began to take hold. I remember [e-mail] (Andrew Gabriel) saying something like:

A friend of mine reduced a Hillman Imp to small pieces and gradually disposed of the car by way of his dustbin over the course of a year.

[Mary Fisher]

I have no doubts.

Mary

[David Hansen]

On 29 May 2007 20:06:57 GMT someone who may be [e-mail] (Andrew Gabriel) wrote this:-

Assuming planning permission is granted, in a few years time such unrecyclable wood products will be taken from council waste sites to be burnt, along with sewage sludge, to produce electricity.

That is in God's country, north of the Firth of Forth. South of the firth people will probably have the same problems as people have reported here.

[Grimly Curmudgeon]

We were somewhere around Barstow, on the edge of the desert, when the drugs began to take hold. I remember David Hansen saying something like:

Burning shit might be cheaper than burning coal.

[Huge]

Favourite round here seems to be to dump it in a local field.

I burned the old kitchen.

The old bathroom tiles I drip-fed into the wheely bin over a few weeks.

Yet another example of the State collecting the taxes and then not providing the service.

[Tim Lamb]

There must be a third way???

I can see combustibles being used for power generation but plastic faced chipboard is going to need sophisticated flue gas clean-up.

None of my fields have gates accessible to the public (or me:-()

I think the error is in government using financial controls to bully local authority re-cycling measures.

regards

[AJH]

Not if it's burned hot enough! (and cooled fast enough).

I don't think it's an error rather than a progression of the reasons our waste disposal is combined into the domestic rate (council tax). It's accepted that there is an increasing cost in disposing of waste and commercial users have to pay a competitive rate.

These civic amenities sites are a sort of contracted out add on to the domestic bin collection. I imagine the people operating it do so as a sort of franchise for which the council pays them a fixed rate plus a variable rate per tonne. Some things they will make a profit form (scrap metal) others they will pay to take to landfill at ~GBP40/tonne.

Any non household waste will put up their costs if they cannot recycle it at a profit and the council will not pay them their tonnage proportion on it, if they find out it has been accepted, as building waste (including fixtures) is not considered household waste and hence not funded by the council tax.

I can see the result of a large amount of building rubbish being put into the "residual black bag" waste stream will hasten charging by the tonne. I think this is the reason why our local civic amenities site accepts building rubble, because that is inert and can be land filled more cheaply than if it goes in the normal black bin.

The irony is that the waste collection service became essential because individuals would not sensibly dispose of waste, so the upshot of charging will be more fly tipping.

[stevelup]

No trouble here in Swindon.

We've been remodelling our whole house (every room) and I've been down to the refuse site half a dozen times in my long wheelbase LDV400 van completely full to the roof of building materials. They never batted an eyelid.

The van was a bargainous purchase off eBay. =A3190 (less than the cost of two skips) and it cost =A33.85 to get through its MOT - rear nearside shock absorber bush!

Steve

[r.j.wallis]

Yoyre friend should have gone in the wheely bin instead!!!

what a waste of an imp!

Richie