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?

We pay council tax through the nose and then the council have the neck to tell us what we can and cannot throw out!?! Someone should remind them that it is they that work for us, not the other way round!

Donna, you think you should be allowed to throw out anything in a black bag or bin?

what if you have a neighbour who sneaks bags in to your bin?

One of our neighbours does this, we get round it by not putting out bin out until the last minute

No, donna, it's called a democracy. We have elected councillors who pass these measures. You can probably check the minutes if you like. If you don't like it then feel free to run for the council, or try and persuade your representative to complain. I'd be interested to see how far you get with that.

Alternatively, you could realise that the waste we generate is all of our problem. I'd rather produce less waste, and sort my recycling, as this saves the council money. Which means they don't need to close as many libraries. It also has the benefit of saving resources and energy.

By the way, the figures quoted earlier are quite a long way out. It costs about £100 per tonne to send waste to landfill. But they can actually get money for recyclables. If you assume 400kg non-recyclable per person then a family of four would be costing £160. I've checked my local council's budget and the total waste management cost (i.e. including picking the rubbish up) is about £60/head (for the year).

I live in the Midlands and we have weekly collections, and allowed up to 3 bags. They don't issue bags any more to save money. You also have to apply to have recycling boxes, it isn't a standard thing to give to each household which I think it should be. Currently it is like an opt in thing, and many people can't be bothered/forget or what not. If they gave each household recycling boxes, I would bet my last £1 that more people would recycle.

I also think they should issue wheelie bins (it is currently being trialled in 2 areas). I have noticed more and more foxes around and the bags not only get torn up by them, but cats too. And no doubt rats but I haven't seen them. Then they refuse to collect the rubbish.

The whole system in the Midlands stinks. I really hope they decide to go for the wheelie bins.

Wonder where GrandadGrumps has gone?

cleartheclutter - what if you leave for work well ahead of the bin men come? Not all of us can hover and whip the bins out just as they arrive.

ps no to recycling boxes - they are a faff - we have a recycle wheelie, general waste wheelie and a garden cuttings wheelie - compared to my mum's system in the next county where she has multiple boxes ( hard for some people to lift, prone to windy weather (especially the lighter plastics box) and they get damaged easily/lids blown away etc

it's much easier with a recycling wheelie - we have a 2 compartment kitchen bin and it's a synch - the trick to improving recycling rates is making it easy imo - I think our area has a v high recycling rate over the 60% mark - our household waste has a notice saying that they'd achieved 64% when I took the boxes and cardboard after Christmas (recycled there).

we are fortnightly for each on opposite weeks for each and overfill the recycling each week but when we have missed our general waste week have only just filled the wheelie for general waste - whereas missing a recycling week means I am making trips to take recycling to the household waste site to recycle there (well the paper and glass and cans)

pps missing you week slot means that it is a month before your next collection so we can just about fit a month's worth of rubbish in a wheelie bin.

we have an HMO across tbe street with at least 7 students living in it

our council says they are only entitled to one black bin. we have a fortnightly collection.

they fill the bin, it overflows, black bins and carrier bags collect next to the bin. the binmen do not pick these up as they are not in the bin. etc etc. there are now 12 black bags, at least as many carrier bags, all have been torn into by animals.

i have called both the waste management and environmental health departments of our council but they said that the students should recycle more.

meanwhile it looks like shit, smells, and is attracting rats and there is nothing that can be done

i have lived here for years quite happily and now i hate it.

it has been going on since this building became an HMO which was september

roll on july and maggots i guess

Actually I think it's getting OTT. They've instigated this here along with collecting bins from 6.30am every day of the week. A lot of the time they seem to screw it up and our bin is collected when it oughtn't to be (win IMO) or left when it ought to be collected. The latter is of course the more common scenario because the same people drive past on different occasions for 'household waste', ' council collected trade waste' and 'flats'. This, I am told is to save costs Either way, we get woken up by a bleeping lorry and a bunch of bellowing bin men at 6:15am on a Sunday when they 'aren't yet out'

They then see fit to judge whether your bin will close and issue penalty notices. Of course your bin may have closed when you put it out the night before... (not that I've had a penalty notice personally thank goodness, but that's more luck than judgement because neighbours have tipped stuff in our bin leaving it ajar which is technically 'enough').

Finally you can have a caddy, a kitchen caddy, 2 wheelie bins and two fucking useless, hard to store recycling 'boxes' which are prone to breakage and / or blow away after emptying. I have no front garden and my back garden is not accessible from the street. Where exactly am I supposed to store all this shit? Finally, if you need a new recycling box, they may charge you for it, if you are deemed to not have 'damaged it' as opposed to it belting down the road in a gale and ending up with the neighbour 5 doors down

what if you leave for work well ahead of the bin men come? Not all of us can hover and whip the bins out just as they arrive

I would stop putting out my general waste bin altogether. No bin, then they can't put the rubbish in your bin. That is what stopped my neighbour

Take your rubbish to the tip or stuff it all in public bins

chibi can you report the rubbish as fly tipping?

i asked the council, apparently it is only flytipping if it is on public land. beyond writing to the landlord, nothing can be done

it is shitty

well that's ridiculous cleartheclutter - it simply isn't workable for that fact - not everyone has cars - do you suggest people lug massive bags for miles (for also we don't all live immediately next to household waste) or on the bus because some unimaginative dick in the council can't design a perfectly workable solution to household waste - and a bunch of cunty neighbours can't be arsed to recycle and work within that scheme and dump it in the bins of those who do it correctly and then get punished for the cunty neighbour's behaviour - that is fucking tripe.

design a good, workable system that is as cost efficient and efficient for the consumer (the tax payer) to access - some councils have done well without punishing those who recycle and encouraging others by making it simple.

I think the flipping situation has come about due to the restrictions of vans at household waste - if you have a van you have to have a permit for each load and you get a certain amount a year - above that you pay - so it is likely businesses that fly tip as they have to pay per van.

here is a comparison by county - how good/bad does your council do and what is your waste/recycle system?

www.letsrecycle.com/councils/league-tables-1/2012-13-overall-performance

mine is in the top end and has the wheelie bin for household/recycle/garden - I think they lose out on overall performance as they don't do food waste (kind of glad) our collections are fortnightly.

if they miss my collection ( so my bin was out but they failed to collect ) then they arrange a re-collection so a good service too ime

maddening I gave two options, you focused on one of them

while the cost of rubbish collection is a big part of a councils budget the cost per household is generally much cheaper than people think.

Ours works out as 1.50 per week, v. reasonable I think for the service they provide.

maddening what is your councils response to your views?

but neither solution works unless they are you -

option a - hover and deliver your bin directly to the binmen - you clearly have more time than most - so option a is shite and unworkable for 70% of the population - and even if you do have all day to sit and watch for the binman who may come at 6am - 5pm without notification or not at all - who would do that?

option b don't have a household collection and lug all your rubbish to the household waste centre - again not practical

both options are fucking stupid and I replied to both of them

wtf re councils response?

Oh dear, someone needs to read again