wheelie bins

[dennis]

So how many bags does it take to hold the 240l in a wheelie bin's contents?

10?

[dennis]

Your LA hasn't got the idea that recycled garden waste counts towards the target for recycling yet? We get a weekly bin collection, they come and collect the bin and then put it back somewhere on the property, then we have a wheelie for recyclables which are post sorted and collected fortnightly, and a wheelie for garden stuff to be recycled collected fortnightly in the summer.

[ARWadsworth]

Same here. And no pikeys running around after the binmen offering to clean the bin for £2 with their pressure washer.

[<me9]

Some people are lucky. We have clear plastic bags (so they can see if there's anything not allowwed in them) for garden waste. Our neighbours' gardener comes the day after they are taken, so we have a dozen or more rotting bags on the pavement for13 days.

For tins and cans we have a (three actually) blue boxes, lidless things attracting vermin.

For cardboard and plastic we have a (two) small white bags which fill in about 3 days.

For paper we have another (blue) bag.

Anything else we have a wheely bin emptied weekly. all else gets emptied fortnightly, on alternate weeks if we remember which week it is correctly.

Our utility room is full of recycling bags, we can't put them it else they'll be raided by foxes, cats, dogs, rats, avian scroungers etc.

How I wish we had wheely bins for all!

[Michael Chare]

Where I live we have plastic bags, which I have to remember to leave out. In the 'good old days' the dustbin men collected the bin from the back door, emptied it and returned it.

We use two plastic bags per week, a clear one for recycle stuff and a black one for everything else. These bags are only used once, unlike supermarket bags which are used at least twice, once to leave the supermarket and once as peddle bin liners.

I suspect that far more plastic is used per week in the government provided bags, than in the ones that the government are trying to stop the supermarkets providing.

[Dave]

What's a 2401?

Dave

[ARWadsworth]

240 litres, the size of a standard wheelie bin.

[Peter]

Always happens, The cause and effect/effect... leading to the origional point being missed. eg. some well meaning eurobod proposes less landfill= great for the environment. So far so good. Enforcement? well by financial penalty of course. LA dont want penalties so devise extra rounds for new diesel spewers to collect unwanted supposed recyclables, target reached no penalties. What of the origional good idea for the environment? Anybodies guess. We the punters meanwhile are spoonfed crap vis glass/tin/paper/board to protect a thoroughly deficient system.

Peter

[chris French]

We don't get flies in our bins as long as anything that attracts them (not much, seeing as the food waste is composted) is bagged (which it is as it will normally be kitchen packaging that goes in the kitchen bin first)

Yeah, but you still need somewhere to put the bag - so it might as well be a wheelie bin as anything else. I'd much rather have a bin with bags in, than dumping bags out on the street the night before, which decide to split them selves or would end up getting torn by animals. Yes it could be a traditional dustbin, but a wheelie bin suits me fine.

I like that I can chuck in random bits if rubbish without needing to bag it up as well.

Most of our stuff goes on the compost heaps, but something like brambles, rose pruning's etc. I'd rather not, as the prickles last in the compst for ages. Or sometimes woody stuff I'd rather just get rid of. Yeah I can burn it. But sticking it in the green waste bin is fine.

I much prefer the wheelie bins (though I can why some don't - eg rather less convenient for the terraced cottages next to us with no drive and no rear access). My only complaint with the process really is that the council make a fuss about people not putting the bins out to early, leaving at the edge of your property etc. And then the bin men come along and leave them scattered all over the pavement. Lots of course staying there all day until the householder returns from work etc.

[Matty F]

It takes less than 8 seconds for my bin to be emptied. See pictures of the process here, taken last Friday:

truck arrives, and 2 seconds later the bin is on its way up. After 6 seconds the bin is on its way down again. After 8 seconds the truck has moved off. The same guy and truck empties the recycling bin which is twice the size. He has a video camera that looks in the bin before it's emptied. We now don't have problems with animals ripping open the bags and I don't have to pay for bags.

Now I suppose people will ask silly questions about why I video the rubbish truck!

[Andy Burns]

No, you can *pay* to have a fifth bin if you want a fortnightly garden waste collection.

[Huge]

Bedford has a much better scheme - All recyclables go in an orange bag which can either go in the normal wheelie bin with the rubbish, or in a separate orange topped wheelie bin. That's it. Bollocks to *me* sorting the rubbish, that's what I pay the council for.

[chris French]

In message , Matty F writes

Well, know you mention it , I did wonder :-)

[Phil L]

Pros and cons: =========== Bin bags:

Cons:

animals rip them open. Sharps can injure refuse collectors, possibly fatally. They don't rot down. They cost money. They hold very little. They're unhygenic. They look unsightly piled up in the street.

Pros:

They are quicker to load onto refuse truck. They come in handy for bagging up other things apart from refuse.

Wheelie bins:

Cons:

People who have never had one don't like the idea of them. If they're overfilled (weightwise) the truck won't empty them. They have to be wheeled to the kerb for emptying. They take slightly longer to empty than bags.

Pros:

They're hygenic, having a lid. They hold about 5 times as much as a binbag. They're easy to move, even when heavy. Most households only need them emptying once per fortnight. You can put as much broken glass, needles, barbed wire etc in them as you like. One off cost to the taxpayer as no bags are involved. Environmentally freindly as no bags are involved.

As you can see, the advantages of using wheelie bins far outweigh the cons, and the disadvantages of using bags, far outweigh the pros.

[Dave]

Thanks, I would have understood it if the poster had used an l instead of a 1.

Dave

[Dave]

OK stupid question time here.

Why would they want to video the contents?

Dave

[Andy Burns]

[ARWadsworth]

erm, he did use a l not a 1 eg

240l uses the l (L) 2401 uses the 1 (one)

For the first time ever I believe that Dennis was correct:-)

[John]

And you can take the wheelie bin into the shed / garage when you are doing a tidying up job.

[John]

I have disposed of a car tailgate in mine (over a few weeks) and a dishwasher (again - over a few weeks). Amazing how such items fold up with a bit of encouragement.