To think that fortnightly bin collections...

[jamoncrumpets]

... in hot weather are a bit grim?

I live on a street of terraces, they're right on the street with no front space, and no side entrances either - so our bins have to go on the pavement right outside out front windows.

The issue is that when the weather turns warm, Jun-Aug ish, the bins start to absolutely reek after a week or so, and they only get collected fortnightly.

We're very diligent recyclers; we bag up our food waste into compostable bags, we rinse pots/tins etc prior to recycling, we tie up bin bags before putting them outside - but they still STINK. And we can't open our front windows because of the smell.

AIBU to think that, during hot weather, the council could (in an ideal world where they have the funds/staff) collect bins weekly?

We have fortnightly collections too. Do you have any local bin cleaners or are you able to clean them yourselves? We have some local guys who come round in their van and power wash all the bins down and sprinkle some nice smelling powder stuff in the bin. They charge a fiver each time so only a tenner a month.

Our bin collections are weekly for both bin and recycling.

Every 4 weeks is horrendous - what if you don't have a car and can't get to the tip?

We are fortnightly, including nappies, And live in a flat. Our kitchen fucking reeks of two week old nappies by the time bin day comes. Then, when they take a few days to get round to collecting them, as the company the council use are erm... Not great... They sit on the street outside smelling foul.

Also, they only collect food waste put out in the official council issue bags which aren't properly airtight, so in the summer we have flies and sometimes maggots.

In the summer I freeze my food waste, then put it in the food bin the night before collection.

What is smelling if you are recycling?
Ours used to smell before the council started taking food waste separately, I used to use that bin fresh powder it works well.

Where I used to live was a nightmare collection every two weeks, I lived in a house converted in flats and even though I had maybe one or if I was having a clear out two bands of rubbish I could never get them in the bin as upstairs and random people would fill the bins full! I would end up with 4 bags of rubbish in my flat by next collection it was sickening. My area had a huge increase in rats!!! It was horrible.

I now live abroad and it’s so civilized there’s 4 massive bins in every street for different household trash and it’s collected every night, my mum has it even better where there’s a shoot on the street that goes down into a big skip under ground.

When I stayed in Marrakech they collected the trash every night it was great you put what would only be a carrier bag out on the street and it was gone by morning, I did not see a single rat while I was there.

Could you drive by the tip at any point?

I’m lucky my tip is 5 mins away. Since we’ve gone to infrequent rubbish collections, I tip stuff every week.

I think this is a real problem. Councils need to provide proper litter disposal services. Fly tipping is rife and bins are becoming health hazards.

Our street is exactly the same as yours! I love having all the windows open to let in fresh air but it if you’re sitting on the sofa in the front room you get a slight whiff of our bins

I wasn't sure if you could just buy a bigger one. I might have to look into that. Not that it will help the smell. We have a recycling trolley now. It has a small box for cardboar, one for plastic and tins and one for glass. This gets emptied once a week but every week mine a crammed full. They are just not big enough.

jaseyraex
We used to have a bin cleaner, the man had health issues and had to sell the company on to someone else. They came round the first week they had the business, missed put a good few bins in the street and then never came back!

Grim here in Brighton and Hove. We don't get rubbish or recycling bins at all on many streets and have to lug it all to communal bins down the road. I think this is really unfair to older residents and those with mobility issues. The bins are often full and we've had several bin strikes. When they aren't emptied everything gets all over the street with broken glass too. Doesn't help that the millions of seagulls will rip anything open and spread it all over including dirty nappies. Not green due to envy!

Seagulls are an issue here too. The stinky bins drive them wild!

Mines weekly a nd even then it stinks being out for a week in the sun when you have baby in nappies my 6 year old was shouting about how smelly the bins are the other day .

What’s the reason for such infrequent collections?

Ours are still weekly thank god.