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.

[Binsgonemad]

I only manage with a fortnightly collection because I have to throw rubbish in public bins. This is on top of recycling everything I possibly can

[Newtssuitcase]

makes people more conscious if they have to walk a bit with their rubbish

We have to walk for 20 minutes just to reach a road!

[user1477282676]

Try composting if you live in a flat on a council estate.

[bigbluebus]

We are pretty good at recycling but the boxes/bins they provide for that would definitely not stretch to monthly. Our green bin takes garden and food waste. In the winter it is rarely 1/2 full but in the Summer we struggle to get things in it towards the end of the fortnight.

I think I heard that the Swiss use a system where you have to buy specific 'official' plastic bags for your landfill waste - so the more you use the more you are paying for the collection of your rubbish. Collection of recycled items is free, I think. A good way to encourage some people to recycle more.

[MrsKoala]

I'm still outraged at fortnightly collections! we have a larger bin due to nappies and it's overflowing by 4 days before collection. Sometimes dh has to drive bags to the tip.

Buying things with less packaging is not an option for everyone. If you shop in certain shops or online you have to have things the way they package them and thats it. I wish they would reduce packaging but it would be very shit for us if bin collections were reduced further.

I think they should go back to weekly.

[SapphireBird]

Except fortnightly doesn't work (we just have no choice). The bin stinks after a week (plus the contents of the cat litter tray goes in there- what should we be doing about that?).

Also our recycling bin is pathetic - two tiny boxes and they won't take it if it's not perfect. We need a full size recycling bin.

But as always, it's the consumer being forced to solve the problem. Supermarkets/ companies shouldn't be allowed to supply so much waste with their products. Plastic on fruit and vegetables should be banned

[Stonewash]

[KnittingPearl]

We are on every three weeks for general rubbish, but food waste, garden waste, nappies and recycling are all collected weekly, and after you've got rid of all of that, there isn't much left in the general rubbish. So it works fine where we are, but it depends on all the provisos re other rubbish.

[StatisticallyChallenged]

Fortnightly here- recycling wheelie and smaller landfill wheelie are picked up alternate weeks.

No way could we go monthly. Recycling is full every fortnight, as is landfill. We have cats - so cat litter- plus DH childminds so sometimes nappies. There is a food waste caddy available bit it's useless- it's lightweight so even when filled it blows over outside. The houses on our street - actually mainly flats - are small and managing two bins internally is difficult enough without a third. No gardens for anyone. Bins live on the street.

[SpongebobRoundPants]

Op do you drive? Fly on airplanes? Eat meat and dairy? Then your damaging the planet as much as the next person.

Get off your high horse.

[sparechange]

I think this is a bad idea, and I'm on a zero waste mission at the moment!
I eat a lot of game and wild meat, which I pluck, gut and prepare myself, and have enough of a job keeping the foxes from having an all-you-can-eat buffet in my front garden every night in the few days between plucking day and bin day.

If I had to go a month, I'd have to have SpareDog out there at night on Fox Patrol.

Smaller bins collected weekly would be a much better idea than monthly collections.
For starters, what would the bin men do for the rest of the month?!

[SpeakNoWords]

Totally agree with those saying that the supermarkets etc shouldn't be allowed to over package.

[Floralnomad]

I think it would increase the waste going into landfill . At the moment our recycling bin is completely full after 2 weeks ,as is my rubbish bin ( 4 living here all 17+) . If the collections went to monthly we would just go to the tip more often and once the recycling bin is full I'd just stick everything in black sacks so it would go in the landfill section at the tip . I'm sure lots of other people would do the same , hence costing the council more money .

[BaggyCheeks]

It would be a disaster for us. We live in a flat in one of three small blocks of 6-9. Each block has a small dumpster for landfill, paper/card and plastic/tins. We had a food waste bin, but this was removed because dog walkers kept putting dog poo in it as they passed. We have people in nearby houses treat our bin store as though it's a recycling point like the ones at Asda/Tesco and I frequently go to put a bin bag out to find that the landfill dumpsters are overflowing because some twat has come along and dumped their Christmas tree(!), clothes horse, old bed frame, TV, hoover, in it rather than taking it to the actual recycling centre.
I can recycle all my rubbish until the cows come home but it doesn't mean I live next to any less of an environmental health hazard because of other selfish pricks. Monthly landfill would be twice as bad.

[picklemepopcorn]

It's funny, none of us want the waste at our house for more than a fortnight, but it does still have to go somewhere. It doesn't disappear when collected.

We really need to be better at making less waste.

[MrsKoala]

The council told us to throw all our food waste in the rubbish bin in the summer, rather than the food waste bin as everyone had maggots and the stench of our street was making everyone heave.

[MackerelOfFact]

Congratulations, OP.

I live in Victorian terrace in London that is converted into flats. The only space for bins and rubbish is out the front of the building. I don't really want to be living among a month's worth of recycling and waste from 30-odd people.

We have weekly collections on a Monday. By Sunday the road is a state.

The problem isn't with people that buy packaged products, it's with retailers that package fresh product to either force you to buy more, or to make you think you're getting more product than you are.

[RobDykeWatcher]

Bins where I am are collected alternate weeks eg ordinary waste one week and recycling the next and even that is difficult enough. The huge student population here keep kicking them over during the night and using ordinary residents' bins as their own as well which is a pain in the arse when you've got rubbish to put out and go to find your bin already full or lying on its side with all the contents flying down the road.
Having said that the Council pays £80/ton for landfill tax so I try and recycle as much as possible and wish more people would so help keep Council Tax down. Another local Council has been fining people who don't do it

[Katy07]

Our council won't recycle any plastic except bottles - totally ridiculous. Won't recycle food waste either. We have to pay extra for garden rubbish. And the bin men scatter bits of paper when they make their collections. Oh its very impressive. I can imagine monthly collections being really successful

[Redpony1]

I'm still very angry with fortnightly collections!

Fly tipping has increased massively near the stables and the bin stores at home (i live in a flat) are like rat heaven.

A monthly collection would be horrendous

[user1471537877]

Where we live our beloved council decided that as certain wards were unable to follow recycling instructions they could have weekly black bin collections but the rest of us can still only have them emptied fortnightly and have to recycle

It feels very much like rules for one and not the other, they've also reduced teaching assistants pay so they can pay bin men more

[ChazsBrilliantAttitude]

When we lived in central London almost every house on the street we lived on was divided into flats most of which had a family in them. So each house had 2 or 3 families in it. Our property was two flats that between them contained 1 grandparent, 3 parents, 3 adult children and 3 young children. So 7 adults and 3 children in one house and similar patterns were repeated across 50+ properties in the street and in surrounding streets. How on earth do you think monthly collections would work given the volume of rubbish and lack of opportunity to compost. The council had big communal on street bins as well and they were full to overflowing.
Have you looked at population density in parts of London and thought about the volume of rubbish that means.

[Foureyesarebetterthantwo]

One of the worst offenders for packaging is Amazon. I think buying things online has probably increased packaging, not decreased it. I know sometimes it's because the item is delicate or may get broken, but I've had some really small items in a huge box with lots of additional packaging inside.