to think reducing general waste collections to every 3 weeks is unrealistic?

Yes I am! In a tenement building. That makes sense

I wouldn’t have any trouble with every 3 weeks.

All our rubbish is currently collected fortnightly except for food, which is collected weekly.

The garden waste bin (which is optional and paid for) is usually full.

The recyling bin (contains all recyclables) is usually full.

The food bin is usually empty because most goes into the compost or out for the birds.

The normal bin very rarely has more than one half-empty bin bag in it - a lot less since I started disposing of all the soft plastic at the supermarket.

There are now only two of us, but there is not much more when the (adult) children come home.

Definitely not enough and I recycle everything I can.

Are you in a flat? Flats get picked up more often, although will have the kerbside bins soon enough instead of wheely bins, which are already a magnet for fly tipping and no consideration for elderly residents

It was a joke about the infamous mumsnet everlasting roast chicken 😂

We’ve had 3 weekly collections for years, it’s fine and definitely makes you recycle as much as possible.

What are you throwing away?

We eat loads but hardly any rubbish goes into general waste. Most food packaging can be recycled. From last nights tea there were two tins and four soft plastic packets and a few veggie peelings. The only thing I put in the bin was a little bit of string from a chorizo ring.

What is in your general waste bin that takes up so much space? All the supermarkets near me take soft plastics, so bags and film etc when we switched to putting those in a bag to take the when we shop our black bin went down to about a binbag a month.
Complaint to your council about them only collecting recycling once a month. I'm very surprised by that as most collect recycling more frequently than general waste.

Well obviously initiatives like this are a triumph for the environment because driving cars full of trash to the tip is a sure-fire way of saving the planet. Also there's the added benefit that it encourages people to spend their time and attention on curtain twitching dog in the manger conversations about individual actions, which ultimately are miniscule in impact compared to corporate acts, re environmental harm.

In Wales we can put out 3 black bags of general waste every 3 weeks . Recycling is collected weekly. We rarely manage to fill more than 2 black bags. You need to be committed to recycling to reduce general waste . Once it becomes a habit it is easy.

😆

You perhaps haven’t looked at the full text including the 2018 amendments

No, I haven't read it all - but you specifically quoted 'Article 22' which I have looked at - 2008 and the 2018 amendment you quoted. I can't see a definition of 'biological waste' either, which you keep referring to - only a definition of 'bio-waste' (definitions are listed in Article 3);

bio-waste’ means biodegradable garden and park waste, food and kitchen waste from households, offices, restaurants, wholesale, canteens, caterers and retail premises and comparable waste from food processing plants.

2008 Directive
Article 22
Bio-waste
Member States shall take measures, as appropriate, and in accordance with Articles 4 and 13, to encourage:
(a)
the separate collection of bio-waste with a view to the composting and digestion of bio-waste;
(b)
the treatment of bio-waste in a way that fulfils a high level of environmental protection;
(c)
the use of environmentally safe materials produced from bio-waste.
The Commission shall carry out an assessment on the management of bio-waste with a view to submitting a proposal if appropriate. The assessment shall examine the opportunity of setting minimum requirements for bio-waste management and quality criteria for compost and digestate from bio-waste, in order to guarantee a high level of protection for human health and the environment.

2018 AMENDMENT

(19)
Article 22 is replaced by the following:
‘Article 22
Bio-waste
1. Member States shall ensure that, by 31 December 2023 and subject to Article 10(2) and (3), bio-waste is either separated and recycled at source, or is collected separately and is not mixed with other types of waste.
Member States may allow waste with similar biodegradability and compostability properties which complies with relevant European standards or any equivalent national standards for packaging recoverable through composting and biodegradation, to be collected together with bio-waste.
2. Member States shall take measures in accordance with Articles 4 and 13, to:
(a)
encourage the recycling, including composting and digestion, of bio-waste in a way that fulfils a high level of environment protection and results in output which meets relevant high-quality standards;
(b)
encourage home composting; and
(c)
promote the use of materials produced from bio-waste.
3. By 31 December 2018, the Commission shall request the European standardisation organisations to develop European standards for bio-waste entering organic recycling processes, for compost and for digestate, based on best available practices.

Can you quote from the section you were looking at (which is clearly not Article 22)?

No doubt several people have already responded to this, but I thought I would offer another view. Some of us live in countries where central heating is not the norm and most of us don't heat our houses overnight, no matter how cold it is. During the day we generally heat the room we are in the most, and the rest of the house is like a fridge. Somehow we survive.

However, we do have weekly rubbish collections!

While I don't doubt that many Councils have been put on a reduced diet by Central Government I think they do have a tendency to make cuts in areas that the majority will actually notice in order to get more funding.

It makes you wonder how those of us with three weekly collections have survived all these years.

If i didn't have cats and had a food waste bin I could cope three weekly as long as I kept my big bin but my area hardly recycle anything

Yes of course it’s about environmental protection! But that includes providing a decent standard of living for citizens in towns and cities that isn’t polluted with rotting waste. You perhaps haven’t looked at the full text including the 2018 amendments. Biological waste has to be collected regularly under the Directive in all EU countries. They cannot lump in sanitary products, nappies etc with general waste and then decide to collect it every three weeks by which time it will stink and be infested with maggots/ flies and attract rats, particularly in Council areas which don’t provide wheelie bins. Again, if you have an example of an EU country which doesn’t EITHER provide separate collection of sanitary and medical waste frequently OR collect general waste more frequently than every three weeks if it lumps this biological waste in with general waste (as many Councils in the UK are doing alongside only 3-weekly collections) then please specify which country this is.

Can't imagine what kind of a state my neighbourhood would look with collections every three weeks.
It's weekly here and bags only. When you live in an area where it's all terraces opening directly onto the street bins just aren't really possible.

I've worked out the reason they hardly have any waste is because they're making one roast chicken feed their entire family 3 meals a day for a week. Makes sense now.

Yep this is me, have been to the tip many times the past few weeks, moved house begining of December my green bin is still full of the previous owners stuff.

biological waste
babies who have the audacity to poo and women who have the audacity to bleed.

The directive deals with bio-waste - i.e. food and garden waste.

We’ve been 3 weekly for all bins for years!