Pikey Express!

[Andy Hall]

So don't they have a separate area with weighbridges for commercial users? Weigh on the way in, weigh on the way out is the way. Then you pay

[The Medway Handyman]

Not in any of my local tips no. Getting rid of my old dishwasher is not trade waste anyway, why should I pay to get rid of it? I already pay piggin council tak.

[The Medway Handyman]

Oddly enough it was a Transit...

[Andy Hall]

OK, but that aside, what are you meant to do with trade waste?

[Frank Erskine]

Isn't that an oxymoron?

;-)

[The Medway Handyman]

Dunno actually, I have no intention of shelling out £300 + a year for a waste transfer license.

I think there is a tip about 10 miles away for trade waste, never been there.

[Andy Hall]

So you need a license for that and pay charges on top? Stuff that, as you say.

I suppose it does mean that your punters are left having to dump the waste which is a shame.

[Frank Erskine]

I had my kitchen refitted a few months ago by a local kitchen firm who subcontracted to a decent outfit (apart from them smoking as they worked (smoking seems to be a normal trait by EVERYBODY in the pseudo building trade) as well as electricians). At their suggestion my old sink unit and cooker were left in front of their skip rather than in it. Within an hour or so, after I'd walked the dog, the items were gone. No problem as far as I'm concerned. I wouldn't call them Pikeys (whatever they are), rather a form of rag 'n' bone men.

[somebody]

Absolutely right Dave, why pay twice? Round this way the bloody jobsworths at the tip do their job so well that I won't even bother turning up on a Sunday when the height barriers are removed.

Now, if I'd bought a trailer instead of a "custom camper dragster tipping transit"[1] I could take the trailer to the local tip attached to the back of the car (but only if it is a single wheeled, non braked trailer).

Instead, I quite simply cannot be arsed and end up paying £57 pound per ton (of which something like 70% is tax) to commercial land fill instead. Also, I *alwasy* carry a copy of the letter from the local tosspots (council) to confirm I don't need a waste transfer licence for my own non-commercial waste. Without that letter there is a real risk that the van (custom camper dragster tipping transit[2]) could be crushed *if they "catch" me*. (doing what? I ask).

Absolutely bloody ridiculous, and yes, I have written to the other local tosspot (MP) to say so and to point out that by some vaguary of their well thought out taxes, it costs me more to tip at commercial recyclers than it does to tip at land fill.

Someone

[1] That's something else entirely which I have alluded to but nor sure I want to admit to :-) [2] I've said already. See [1]

[Andy Hall]

You mean you let them smoke in the house?

[Dave Plowman (News)]

The local lot who are doing a basement conversion on an empty house come out to the street for their smoke.

[The Natural Philosopher]

hire a skip, and let the skip people do the dirty.

[A.Lee]

This is a bone of contention for many people, myself included. I would gladly go to the local tip, get weighed, then pay the cost for what I have dumped (currently ~£60/tonne).

But they dont allow that. You need the waste transfer licence (Dave has exaggeratted a little, it is £50/yr), then to be registered with your local tip to allow you to dump there (£5ish registration), then the killer - the cost of dumping - minimum charge of £35+vat. So the typical bathroom refurb amounting of a bath, toilet, and basin, typical weight of 50kgs will cost me £35, plus all the relevant paperwork, and time getting there. I am fortunate in that the only trade waste tip in Leics. is 2 miles away, but there again, I dont use it.

It is far easier to either get the customer to dump the wate at no cost, or charge them for a mini skip at £70 to take the rubbish away.

This is why there is so much fly tipping - even if you want to pay to dump it, you cannot dump without all of the relevant paperwork with you when you go to the tip, then they charge you for 500kg of waste when you have only got 50kg. Alan.

[Bob Mannix]

Ah, Pikeys of Kent rather than Kentish Pikeys then? :o)

[Andy Hall]

Makes it sound almost like a respectable department store. Maybe they will be opening a factory outlet at Bluewater.

[Andy Hall]

OK, so it seems that the £50/year is to cover the admin and documentation of what you do plus to set a line that is supposed to make it worth it for regular but not occasional users.

Getting customers to get a small skip is not a bad idea because often people have extra stuff that they would like to dump but which hasn't justified a skip.

Even so, I take your point about fly tipping.

[Bob Mannix]

I never cease to be amazed that that after charges are introduced for rubbish tipping, authorities seemed *suprised* and hurt that the great British public take to fly tipping. If you don't want fly tipping (or have very little) you have to tax at source and make the tips free. Charges = mattresses in the ditch, the same as night follows day. I was out for a cycle the other day and passed a little layby by a wood just out of town, wherein was standing an entire shop freezer cabinet about 2x2m. Cross about it? - yes. Suprised? - no. Just because (perhaps) the polluter *should* pay and we *should* dump less won't change human nature.

[Andy Hall]

It does seem so. Perhaps it should be related to the goods. e.g. we know that the shop freezer cabinet is going to be dumped in a few years, so front end load the tax at point of distribution or sale.

Either that, or a fraction of a percent on VAT.

Even these measures won't stop somebody who is going to dump at the roadside because the tip is too far away or he doesn't want to queue or deal with the difficult people often encountered at these places.

[Rod]

Skips are fine if you have your own space (we do). But there is all sorts to consider and pay if that is not possible, especially if it needs to be retained overnight or longer or you live on a narrow road...

[The Natural Philosopher]

But at least it means that someone else can load it up and take it to the tip thereafter without paying through the nose.