Here in Bexley we have just been advised that in addition to:- 3 large boxes for paper and cardboard,plastic bottles and cans, and glass bottles and jars and one large brown wheelie bin for food and garden waste (each to be collected weekly) we are now to be supplied with a green (choice of three sizes) wheelie bin for fortnightly collection of 'whats left'.  But where are we expected to store all these?  I was happy recycling and have been most methodical in managing this for the past two years or so.  It seems that I can no longer just put out the black sack of 'whats left' which sat during the week in my old dustbin. We are faced with the problem of where to keep all these numerous 'containers' and it is all starting to annoy me.  

It all seems so much easier in Spain.

Yup, I agree completely.
The thing that gets me is that people (well, me) don't take
every single thing they throw away and put it in the outside
bin immediately (esp. when it's raining/dark). So that means
you've got to have more bins inside the house.
Currently in my tiny little kitchen I've got bins for

• paper,
  

• paper shredder - anything that has my name/address gets shredded
  

• glass, (not collected, I have to dispose of this myself)
  

• plastics/tins (as this is the combination my council collects)
  

• "compostible" waste, per council collection
  

• "other" waste, that can't be composted/recycled.
  

That's 6 bins inside the house - not counting wastepaper baskets
in various rooms. I just don't have the space, nor was the
kitchen designed for all these bins. Especially as the bins
themselves take up the same amount of space irrespective of
whether they're full or empty.

Fortunately my kitchen in Spain is 5 or 6 times the size of my
british one, so there's much more space to keep all this rubbish
before I get around to taking it to the communal bins.

In the West Midlands, they were slow to catch on with the recycling initiative, and at first, the carefully sorted recycling items were dumped in with the rest of the garbage.

I also have a flat in North London now, and they are a bit more militant there - if you put something in the wrong container, or overfill it, they won't touch it at all, and if they drop something on the way to the truck, they won't pick it up.

That would drive me around the twist. 4 years ago before we left the UK it was all still "one green wheely bin"

Uk factors (usually non sensical to most) stipulate more and more regulations, next year there will be another bin in a different colour... When will it end? Every week we drive past the bins in Orce village and every recycling bin is chocca block! right stuff in each one too. Culture difference maybe? I dont know.

I remember as a child (not that long ago..) when the bin man used to take away the lot - in a metal dust bin - one on each shoulder and if he dropped anything it was picked up. In 2000 I met a man who worked for Newcastle council on the bin round, you would not believe the rules and regs and that was then.

Christ, I dont even know about the new fangled chip and pin! Just used to hand over the plastic. How times change.

And they used to come and pick the metal bin up from where you kept it.........not you having to drag the bin out onto the roadside on the morning of their arrival.

My eldest boy lives in Nottingham you can only put the bin out on the path 30 minutes before collection and bring it in 30 minutes after it has been emptied otherwise they will be fined by the inspectors following the bin man around
His solution? one week he takes the morning off work and hangs around the next time his mum takes the morning off work

Fear not, Two Graces, I've been reading a Daily Mail from last week that one of our guests left in their room, and there's good news! In West Dumbartonshire, bins will be emptied every single morning - that's the good news! The bad news is that this only applies if you are a gipsy living on one of the 5 illegal camps in the area. Everyone else has to make do with once-a-week collections for rubbish and once-a-month for recycling. But, unlike mere law-abiding, council tax-paying householders, the "travellers" won't have to do that! The authority which is run by the SNP has decided that, although they don't pay their council tax, gipsies have "special needs and aspirations (!!)" and therefore deserve to be treated as a special case. This definitely strengthens my view that the lunatics have taken over the asylum in the UK!!!!  

Quote :

This definitely strengthens my view that the lunatics have taken over the asylum in the UK!!!!

Here's more proof of that!!!

The first story is about an 84 year old war veteran, who, having had his weekly bin collections reduced to fortnightly, decided to place some rotting food scraps (in a well-sealed carrier bag) in a public waste bin, which is emptied twice a week!  

He was spotted by an off-duty Council-worker, who sent the contents of the bin to a Police Forensics Lab (at a cost to the Council of over £1,500) who found an envelope with his name and address on it.

When he phoned the Council to protest, he was told to pay the £75 fine or risk being taken to court and ordered to pay double the fine, plus the cost of the forensic examination!!

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/pages/live/articles/news/news.html?in_article_id=487781&in_page_id=1770

Here's another guy from Hinkley, who was fined £50 for putting the 'wrong type' of rubbish in a public bin!!

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/main.jhtml?xml=/news/2006/03/10/nlitter10.xml

I have heard of dozens of other stories of people being fined up to £100 for things like putting their bin-bags or re-cycling out 1 hour too early, too near or too far from the kerb, etc.

Some Councils have installed CCTV cameras to cover public rubbish bins, and offer small cash rewards to people who identify 'culprits' who put the wrong type of rubbish in them!!

Don't blame the Councils though, the barmy Labour Government have issued strict guidelines to all Councils, ordering them to cut collections and generate revenue by fining people, which can be used to pay salaries of up to £42,000 to additional 'Enforcement Inspectors'.

Meanwhile, large gangs of organised criminals who make millions from illegal fly-tipping of industrial, chemical and toxic waste, are not pursued because they are often illegal immigrants or give false details when arrested, and skip (no pun intended) bail before they can be dealt with.

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/pages/live/articles/news/news.html?in_article_id=511631&in_page_id=1770

Nine such illegal immigrants from Afghanistan were arrested getting off a lorry at a suspected fly-tipping site in Fordam, Cambridgeshire, and guess what happened?  The Police gave them Train Tickets and told them to get themselves along to a Detention Centre in Croydon pretty smartish, or they would be very cross with them!!  

Several days later, the Police were genuinely concerned for their welfare when they failed to arrive!

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/england/cambridgeshire/7288478.stm

If the story came from anywhere other than the BBC News at Ten - I wouldn't have believed it either!!

Thank God I moved!!!! x

Yup... thank goodness!!

We only have one bin for each house up here and the only thing we are not allowed to put in it is ash from the fire the bin gets emptied each monday between 8am and 5pm if we have any other items for disposal the local council pick it up for free  
There is a bottle bank three miles away though  

--Last edited by s0595580 on 2008-04-01 22:42:14 --