Local Councils to be told to take waste fee-free

Anyone know *why* it is not yet recyclable?

Blimey. At least a couple of times a year we can go a month between collections of landfill waste. Two of us here, plus a pussy-cat which generally prefers to go outside rather than use the litter tray.

Are they free for builder's waste, etc, too, though?

Very true. The same as chucking an empty crisp bag rather than taking it home or finding a waste basket.

I doubt it especailly when they consider they have already paid 5p for it then that's a sign that someone is employed to collect it.

At first I was under the impression that such a charge would stop people but those that are littering won;t be paying so as you imply it'll make F all differnce to those that currently throw litter.

The problem round here is that the recycling centres are sometimes shut when they are open :-) They close one day a week, which ought to be the day when they schedule the trucks to come in and collect the full skips and replace them with empty ones. But no, they choose to close the tip "temporarily" whenever one of the skips needs to be collected. I don't go very often (maybe once a fortnight with garden waste that our council now charges to collect, and will only collect a single wheely binful a fortnight) but quite frequently I get there and find the gates closed and a skip lorry doing a changeover. It happened today, and there was a whole queue of cars parked on the pavement round about. It so happened that I had some shopping to do so I didn't wait and came back later - and I only just managed to drop off my bins of garden waste when I saw another lorry approaching so I bet they were going to close it again.

I can imagine less patient people saying "oh sod it - I'll dump it in a ditch". Likewise for rubble which they now charge by the sackful. Apparently (although I can't find any reference to this now) the council expects every person who has rubble to dispose of (eg stones dug out of garden, smashed garden ornaments etc - not even building waste) to make their own arrangements to find "someone who wants the rubble". Far better that the council collects it and then does a bulk deal to give/sell it to whoever wants it, rather than contacting local farmers etc to say "I've got a couple of sacks of rubble - is it any one to you". The difficulty is when there is only a small amount to dispose of on any one occasion - if you produce a large amount in one go (eg during building work) is is econonomcal to hire a skip.

A few years ago I dug part of the garden and dug up a huge pile of flat sandstone pieces (part of the natural strata in the area), and that was just from going about two feet deep - deep enough to stop plant roots from being stopped from growing. We kept the larger pieces for crazy paving and I took the rest to the tip in small doses when it was free but you were restricted to two bags per month. Now there's no limit but you car charged by the bag so we've had to keep whatever we've not managed to take to the tip. If we ever have any building work done for which we need a skip, it will go in there - but I don't think it's right that there's no longer a free legal way to dispose of rubble.

Pity it isn't true for Lidl and Aldi!

When we last popped over to France we stopped at a park in Cherbourg to let the dog have a break after the ferry crossing. In the car park were the usual recycling bins, but also a tank for collecting old engine oil.

- the thing with the yellow roof.

Maybe they are common in urban France.

Why does this not surprise me? The French have a stereotype reputation for eating cheese and taking long weekends but in fact they are way ahead of us economically, educationally, environmentally and in so many other ways, all of which do not necessarily begin with the letter 'e'. I heard "In Business" last night on Radio 4

Did you know, for instance that nearly all France's main-line trains run on high-speed track?[1] Or that the only high speed track in the UK connects London[2]to....

...France.

Nick [1][2]If that's not correct, blame In Business or my hearing.

Did you know, for instance, that France has a low population density compared to the UK?

France: 300 / sq mile UK: 662 / sq mile England: 1089 / sq mile

And for these purposes it is England we are talking about.

Then you act all astonished that we are unable to radically alter our infrastructure - infrastructure that is, such as rail, which requires a lot of land. Unable, that is, without it costing a f*ck of a lot of money.

And of course in France the state is very much in charge. If the state decides a rail line is going through *there*, then through it goes, because very few people are affected.

But still, hey, we are not yet standing 10 deep on every square inch, so refugees welcome here, eh!

France is a lot bigger so benefits from high speed track, the UK won't benefit much.

I take it you have never been there?

it would on the London to Edinburgh or Glasgow route, but that hasn't been thought about. We could then stop using aeroplanes on this comparatively short route.

I take it from "In Business" on BBC Radio 4 - as referenced in the part of my post beneath the portion you quoted.

Nick

It's not really correct, they do have a fair number of non high speed lines, but there is an element of truth that in that the high speed network appears to carry the majority of trains. That's because they have spent so much on the building the TGV network and allowing train drivers retire at that the older classic lines in parts of France hardly have any trains at all , maybe one in the morning and one in the afternoon and many services are now provided by buses that call at the still existing stations so they are not actually closed but in some cases the track is disused.

A hypothetical situation in the UK would be high speed routes linking the capitals,London, Cardiff, Edinburgh and a few others on or nearby such as Liverpool and Glasgow but existing lines that run from Lancashire to Yorkshire or between Brighton and Bristol being downgraded from hourly services to two a day.

G,Harman

So, you 'heard it on the BBC' and have no actual experience?

Okay.....

France doesn't have anything like the extensive rail network the UK has. And no point in high speed trains if they stop at stations close together.

If the train ran direct from London to Edinburgh etc, yes. But I doubt enough people make that journey several times a day to fill a train. So you make a few stops along the way. Making the difference between high speed and normal less.

BTW, internal flights in the UK frequently take longer than ordinary train. Door to door. And are far more likely to be delayed.

My experience of flying between Scotland and London was never delayed and took far less time than the train. London to Birmingham on the train takes longer than going by car IME as the time taken to reach the centre of town adds up to 4 hours to the train journey time between the cities. I also don't know anybody who can afford the fares for a family.

if it take you 4 hours to reach the city center you aren't travelling from London to Birmingham, are you?

tim

Do you live in a Railway station?