Monthly bin collections is a FAB idea

[jdoe8]

There is outrage over this on LBC. But I think its a really good idea, I remember the same outrage when they went to fortnightly.

We're a family of 4, we recycle, compost and avoid buying over packaged stuff and anything in plastic (especially veg and fruit!). As a result the bin only goes out once a month and often isn't full. If you don't have a garden then a weekly food collection pickup is available.

I see other people with only one or two people in their house and every other week their green wheelie is bursting. I know from times they have used ours that they put alot of food waste and packaging in the bin. We are rather wasteful in this country compared to just about every other European county.

'If you have food waste you are doing something wrong

If you DON'T have food waste you are doing something very wrong!

Are large communal bins like what you get at campsites?

Because if so then if the state of campsite communal bins are anything to go by then I couldn't see it working, unless you want a rat infestation.

Everywhere I've lived in London still has weekly collection.

I put the bins out every night at a large health centre. Collections are fortnightly. In the summer months the bin bags are crawling with maggots. There is a rat problem in the bin store and it is full to capacity by the time the collection comes round. If the council went to monthly I have no idea how on earth it would work. This is just a small snapshot of what goes on the length and breadth of the country.

Very condescending attitude from the OP.

Change is required, but you'll never get it by haughtily telling people that if they do as you do they will be better off. As this thread shows, you'll just get a long line of "fuck off"s.

If you care about this so much, go about it through the proper channels. Speak to you local council, your MP. Write to the CEO of Tesco/ Sainsbury'/ Asda / etc. Donate some of the money you've saved through your ruthless economy to charities that actually make advances in this sphere.

Posting rudely on MN is not going to get you what you want.

I'm highly suspicious of the GOOD LIFE brigade who claim to only bin.. a smattering of Rubbish once a month....

unless of course your using Multi fuel Burners which defeats the entire purpose....

User - reusables are 100% more eco friendly. Comparisons of reusables disposable are based on people using them for only one child ( who does that if more than one? They use for every one), and on using tumbledryer ( ruins nappies so wouldn't either), and using huge amounts of detergents washing only 5 nappies at a time ( again your supposed to use half detergent and our machine fits 15+)

Why can't older children or incontinent use reusables? Sure people might choose not to but they are available and easy to use for a huge majority.

I don't agree about lack of space for nappies drying. We live in a flat, one bed, nappies dry overnight on a small rack. Window open stops condensation if an issue

Most people have 101 reasons why they can't, but like above, most people are choosing not to change life in small ways. If someone suddenly said it's £50 per bin empty, I'm sure people would suddenly learn how to compost, buy food in less packaging, look at reusable for nappies/ wipes/ pads, etc suddenly overnight

I think you missed this: I don't WANT to use washable nappies. I don't care if they come with a solid gold medal and bottle of gin, I simply don't want to.

art I would pay the £50 rather than wash shitty nappies and have my machine going all hours.

In my previous house there were communal bins, emptied weekly (I think, certainly not often enough). This was in a city centre which wasn't designed for them. They put them on the street, turning on street parking bays into marked bin bays instead. So on our street at least 8 parking spaces lost.

I hated them, people dumped crap all around them, things like TVs, mattresses, furniture, basically stuff they couldn't be arsed to take to the tip. They filled up very quickly and stank in the summer. Drunk people mucked about with them late at night, and there was an unfortunate incident when someone slept in one overnight and was killed when it was emptied.

If it was £50 per bin, people would flytip or take it to the tip themselves

Artandco- they don't make reuseables for those who are fully incontinent. They don't exist. Think about how thick they would have to be.

I notice the "it's so easy to reduce waste" brigade are ignoring the fact many of the suggestions require:

A car.
A washing machine.
A nearby dump/recycling centre.
A house.
A garden.
To be able-bodied.

I don't have any of those things.

Instead of placing the onus on the householder to cart their rubbish to communal on-street facilities (where, exactly, would these go in our over-populated little island?) how about we require the supermarkets and food producers to reduce their packaging? Or provide the same kind of recycling facilities at their stores as they have in other countries?

Now THAT'S a fab idea.

Why is it our responsibility when shrink wrapped cucumbers etc are foisted on us?

Our local tip closed and our nearest is 15 miles away. That's ok,if you have a car.

Our bins are rammed to bursting point with fortnightly collections.

I think we should all start unwrapping our goods at the supermarket as we pay- let them deal with it all.

I have only ever comes across reusable incontinence products fol mild incontinence. I tried them, they were no use.

I agree with the OP in part, and I think people should be making much more of an effort to recycle. However, the problem for me would be how much the bin stinks in summer when it gets a bit hot.

Also, if it went to monthly, I would want a fairly decent reduction in my council tax (maybe a third,) as the rubbish removal is the only thing we get for it. We have no kids at school, we never use community centres or libraries, and have never had any need for the police or fire services. It covers transport and roads as well supposedly, but we pay for road tax AND for petrol, so that is included in there.

Our council tax is £130 a month, and we only get the bins emptied (fortnightly) for that exorbitant fee, so if they wish to change to monthly, they'd better reduce the council tax.

We used to compost all our fruit andveg waste at our old house with a long garden. Quite an urban area, but the garden just got a worse rat problem and they set up camp under the concrete base of the garden shed. They LOVED the compost bin. Two doors down had chickens (not helpful) and next door fed the birds a lot (ditto).

If you want to consider monthly bin collections you need to consider the various public health risks.

I think you missed this: I don't WANT to use washable nappies. I don't care if they come with a solid gold medal and bottle of gin, I simply don't want to.

And that's fine. Your choice. My point is that then you should pay extra for additional / private refuse collections to match your lifestyle choices.

(I wouldn't have used them either)

No way, thankfully we have a weekly collection. What about the stink in the Summer.

Reuseables hold at most 250 ml. My son's disposables hold 8 times that and they still need changing every 3 hours.

The US system is different. We don't have rubbish collection at all. We have to take stuff to the town dump ourselves.

We compost our food waste, and burn cardboard so we don't have much to take

The only place for my wheelie bin to go is outside my kitchen with window, the smell is so bad in the summer even with double bagging waste I can't open the window,I can't imagine monthly collections.

We recycle everything the council collects - but they don't take plastic apart from bottles. We cook mostly from scratch.

our non-recycling bin is more than full in a fortnight, partly as a result of all the non-collected plastic that other councils take, partly because the bin is tiny. We're lucky that we have a council tip in town and a car with which to take the extra bags.

Only a change in the council's plastic recycling policy and a reduction in manufacturing packaging could reduce our non-recyclable waste. A four weekly collection would just result in more trips to the tip - not less waste.

don't agree about lack of space for nappies drying. We live in a flat, one bed, nappies dry overnight on a small rack. Window open stops condensation if an issue

FFS there aren't enough in the world

The thing about reusables is to buy them up front requires a certain amount of cash, and you obviously need a washing machine etc. It won't work for those who can't afford that initial outlay. So you'd need to provide some sort of scheme where you could get them subsidised and maybe collected to be laundered and returned.