To be annoyed with council's '3 black bin bag' rule?

[sallymanda]

Now, don't get me wrong, I do recycle and -9 times out of 10- usually manage to put out only one bin bag out a fortnight.

Yesterday, a leaflet came from council stating that no household should put out more than 3 black sacks a fortnight (for those that don't know, black sacks=non-recyclables).

They say that people can have an exemption from this but there are so many problems with this in practicality:

1, How will bin men know?

2, What about houses of multiple occupation? Flats etc.

3, How much detail must be given to have an exemption? What if a person suffers from an illness that means they cannot control bladder/bowels, do they have to tell the council such personal information? Or, as this is mumsnet, have to put out nappies? Which, after all, can't be recycled?

I am also at the tone of the leaflet- you'd swear that people were committing murder not putting out their rubbish!!

I mean people PAY council tax- it's not as if it's a free collection service.

All this will mean is rubbish lying around the streets.

I'm annoyed (as you can probably guess!) AIBU?

They certainly can and do trace it

How do they do this? I have putting stuff in public bins for years, they have never traced any of it

Observation, people reporting it, CCTV and actually going through the bins, believe it or not. Whether they're going to catch you or not isn't the point though - it's antisocial and illegal.

Even when you have litter which is genuinely generated while you're out and about the 'proper' thing to do, unless it's going to be very messy/inconvenient, is to take it home with you and dispose of it there. You're certainly not meant to take your own rubbish out with you and dispose of it in litter bins.

There's so much wrong with the idea that they prosecute people for putting household rubbish into bins:

1, What exactly IS household rubbish- Is an empty pop bottle household waste if I drink it whilst out and about?

GrandadGrumps, your suggestion that litter genuinely generated while out and about should be saved for home is, frankly, ridiculous and I genuinely fail to see what is 'proper' about saving an empty soda can until I get home, and I would think that 99.9% people would agree with me on this one.

Rubbish is rubbish and, as long as it's put in the bin, who gives a chuff what type it is? Just jobsworthy nonsense on the part of the council.

Even when you have litter which is genuinely generated while you're out and about the 'proper' thing to do, unless it's going to be very messy/inconvenient, is to take it home with you and dispose of it there. You're certainly not meant to take your own rubbish out with you and dispose of it in litter bins

That is absolutely ridiculous

Observation, people reporting it, CCTV and actually going through the bins, believe it or not. Whether they're going to catch you or not isn't the point though - it's antisocial and illegal

It is antisocial if I throw it in the floor. I am throwing rubbish in the bin

I have in the past seen articles in the news, reporting on people who've been prosecuted for putting the wrong sort of waste in public litter bins. It does happen.

The culprits usually seem to have been traced because they've discarded an envelope with their name & address on it, and the council have been going through the bins.

And I agree with GrandadGrumps that people shouldn't take rubbish out from their homes and put it in public bins. If everyone did this, there'd be no room at all in public litter bins for rubbish generated outside the home.

But if I have a can of pop, packet of sweets, blow my nose on a disposable tissue etc while out and about, I don't bother taking the rubbish home if there's a public litter bin nearby. I don't think that's particularly antisocial.

The culprits usually seem to have been traced because they've discarded an envelope with their name & address on it, and the council have been going through the bins

I shred anything with personal details on and dispose of that separately

And I agree with GrandadGrumps that people shouldn't take rubbish out from their homes and put it in public bins. If everyone did this, there'd be no room at all in public litter bins for rubbish generated outside the home

For people who don't have transport, should they pay for taxis to the tip?

yes or find an alternative solution. - they need to deal with their own rubbish. like the rest of us.

People are not going to realistically pay for taxis to take their rubbish to the tip

Nothing like bins to get a debate going!! Amazes me how different each LA is with its approach.

My friend lives in a tiny terrace, it's beautiful but narrow, only a tiny yard, no garden. Along the whole row each house has 4 wheelie bins for different rubbish!! They take up so much space!! It's like the opposite of what many of you are experiencing.

1, How will bin men know?

They know. Because of disability they have to collect my bins from the back garden and they do, they don't with everyone else in the street

2, What about houses of multiple occupation? Flats etc.

Different rules / different bins. Flats don't often have wheelie bins they tend to have on big bin

3, How much detail must be given to have an exemption? What if a person suffers from an illness that means they cannot control bladder/bowels, do they have to tell the council such personal information? Or, as this is mumsnet, have to put out nappies? Which, after all, can't be recycled?

Soiled dressings / incontinence pads are collected differently as they are medical waste. Exemptions are more likely for large families, so 3 bags for a family of 4 but a family of 12 would be allowed more.

Cleartheclutter - This half sized wheelie bin you've got for general waste - is this normal where you live?

We've had fortnightly collections for around 10 years I think, and not once in that time have I ever managed to close the lid of the wheelie bin on 'grey bin' weeks. We must have nice bin-men, as they always take it all away.
In fact, I happened to be out there in January on green-bin day, and asked if they'd be able/willing to take our Christmas tree away. Not only did they say "sure, love," one of them came round the back of the house to carry it out for me.

Yes we have had a half size wheelie bin for general waste for many years. It was ok when it was collected every week, the council now only collect it every two weeks. I recycle everything possible to help reduce general waste

We've had fortnightly collections for around 10 years I think, and not once in that time have I ever managed to close the lid of the wheelie bin on 'grey bin' weeks. We must have nice bin-men, as they always take it all away

You are lucky, ours refuse to empty it all if the lid is not fully closed

We have weekly collections here. One week it is our waste bins and the next it is recycling and garden bits. Works perfectly well.

You will have a reward for recycling, OP, you won't get fined, which is what will happen if you don't comply. The Landfill Directive imposes punitive fines for missing diversion targets. The councils have to pay those if they fail to comply and you'll end up picking up the cost in your council tax.

You're not restricted to three black bags, you're restricted to having three black bags COLLECTED for you. You can visit your local civic amenity site and take your excess waste there. If you manage to do one black bag a fortnight sometimes, what is it that you do to have more than two extra bags?

We all pay council tax; why not ring them and ask how much gets allocated to managing the crap we chuck out. It might make you think a bit.

Most of the points in your OP are just argumentative and I used to hear the same thing time and time again when I worked in council wastes management (I don't now - private sector). I'm half expecting you to come out with legendary, "I pay your wages...".

Whether you want to educate yourself or not, you won't this policy if you live in England or Wales. Perhaps move elsewhere? I hear that mainland Europe is pretty lacksadaisical with their recycling rates...

We arent allowed to put out black bags our council give us 45 to last 6 months. Then if we run out we have to buy them individually for £1.50 PER SACK. Not Roll SACK.
We run short every time. We have 2 kids in nappies ffs.
I am so anal with recycling too but still end up short. What fucks me off more is that, say a family of 6 would get the same amount as a single person household. Hate my council.

We arent allowed to put out black bags our council give us 45 to last 6 months. Then if we run out we have to buy them individually for £1.50 PER SACK. Not Roll SACK

That is outrageous

Its the gospel truth, the bags are blue and printed in our council name etc and bin men only collect those. Arseholes.

hickorychicken what do you do with the excess rubbish?

We put it in black bags and put it at the end of the yard and wait until the next round of rolls come...and then double them with blues because the nearest tip is 16 miles away. But this time we asked on fb if anyone had any to spare and we bought 3 rolls (45 bags) off someone. I dont know where he got them from, i dont want to know tbh but he says he will do it whenever we need them.
Sounds dramatic but i am very possibly handling stolen goods in order to put my bloody rubbish out!!

I don't blame you hickorychicken it is all very well for people to keep saying take the extra rubbish to the local tip but it is not always that easy to get to. Sounds like you got a good system going there

I still dont get how you can recycle and still gave masses of waste. We put out a small kitchen bin (there are 2 of us) after a fortnight. So say 3 times the amount for a family, still leaves most of a wheelie bin for nappies.

I still dont get how you can recycle and still gave masses of waste. We put out a small kitchen bin (there are 2 of us) after a fortnight. So say 3 times the amount for a family, still leaves most of a wheelie bin for nappies

If you have 2 DC in nappies that are changed 6 or more times a day the bin fills up faster than you think