Council is only allowing 1 wheely bin collected every 2 weeks

[curvi8]

Hello,

I am being unreasonable? My local council is only allowing 1 closed wheely bin to be collected every 2 weeks and they do not even provide a reusable nappy service. I have 1 child and another due in the next 4 weeks how am I gonna fit everything into one bin collected once a fortnight? I am looking into reusable nappies but I don't want to spend hundreds of pounds before the birth to find out they do not suit my new arrival.
I do not fancy having to take my newborn down to the tip to get rid of used disposables either. I feel the councils policy discriminates against new mums. I did phone to speak to the manager and his answer was 'tough'.

I would really like opinions on this please?

Can I recommend that you take on a weekly vegetable box delivery ( you can get meat too, from some schemes).

My veg is delivered in a box that gets picked up by the supplier that following week for reuse - the contents are usually not packaged at all, or come in paper cartons or bags that can be re-used or recycled. This means that the bulk of what you eat each week requires no disposal or recycling.

Because I can also order dairy and meat, the number of trips I take to the supermarket are reduced to about 1 a month, so I don't end up buying unnecessary overpakaged rubbish (which, let's be honest is usually the unhealthy treats one picks up when cruising the aisles).

So, not only is our waste greatly reduced, but we also spend much less than before, eat more healthily, and eat food that is not imported from abroad.

YABU. Our bin is collected weekly, yet we only fill it up every other week, if that. Same when we had DS in nappies. What else are you putting in that bin? Newspapers? Packaging? Bottles? Pizza boxes? I can't think how you'd fill it up otherwise.

Agree that composting is not possible when you live in a flat. Agree that washable nappies are gross. Disagree that anyone needs a huge wheelie bin full of trash disposed for them each week.

It ain't that hard.

I've had alternate weekly collections here for over eight years and it's absolutely fine. We never fill the black bin up (even with one DC in nappies) and often have to use overflow bags for the recycling week instead because our council takes so much away.

We also have a weekly food waste collection and fortnightly garden waste collection from our kerb too. And there are plenty of recycling points in town for glass, textiles etc.

I'm just amazed at how behind the times your council actually is OP. And they're not discriminating against new mums, they're trying to keep costs and your council tax down. Waste that goes to landfill is taxed - which continually rises - and recycling brings in money (although this varies depending on market rates.) And as other posters have said, recycling is the right thing to do anyway.

It won't be as bad as you're making it out to be. Honest.

PS - and if anyone starts telling you that wheely bins and fortnightly collections attract vermin, ask them for proof of these super-rats and foxes that erect little ladders to open up the bin lids.

We have fortnightly collection, and loads of recycling. You do get used to it. Disposable nappies take ages to decompose in landfill. If you are going to use them then you'll have to find a way to make enough space in your bin by avidly recycling everything else. It's not discrimination against new mums, just that we can't endlessly fill up the earth with our rubbish.

cakey, nooine is saying the rats are exercising their little arms by lifting bin lids. A big problem round here is that if the bins are too full, peopel just put black bin bags out. Cue rats, gulls and all sorts tearign them open, and waste all over the road. I have no garden and don't drive, so I can't take recycling to a big supermarket, because I can't get to one! Maybe I should be more specific about my particular problem. I live in an area where multi-occupancy houses are the norm, one house shared by up to ten students. They are provided with no extra bins, which is where the problem begins. If we went to fortnightly collections my road would be impassable from all the rubbish.

That situation isn't fair on you Hurley. Have you called your local council about it? Might also be worth dropping a line to your local councillor/s.

They can and may well supply larger bins for HMOs. I know that when I was in a 10-people student house we called up and got an extra-large bin to avoid this problem.

"I live in a flat with no garden, what would they suggest I do with my food waste?"

Bokashi. Tiny bin, put the liquid down the drain and find a nearby neighbour with a compost bin who would very gladly take the material out of it. It still won't suit everyone but many people who think they can't compost, could do it this way.

"discrimination against new mums"

Now I've heard it all. Blimey.

Washable nappies "suit" all babies for goodness' sake. Some babies don't like feeling wet so use a fleece wrap and liner, and bamboo boosters. I'd much rather do that than have disgusting chemicals next to my baby's skin, and send his raw sewage to landfill, not to mention the plastic which will take hundreds of years to decompose.

We just don't know we're born

6 in this household and no problems with over full bin. Collection fortnightly.

carrotckae, that's just not true sadly. My ds was in washables for as long as I could, I tried everything but they wrecked his poor skin. Even the dr said to change to disposables. So no, it's not always that simple. I used washables for a year, convinced I was doing the right thing. As soon as he was in disposables, his skin cleared within the week. He has rubbish skin still, but thankfully not in his nappy anymore.

And again carrotcake, I can only assume you don't live in an inner city. None of my neighbous have gardens.

hurley what is your son's skin problems? Eczema or something? What washables did you use?

No I don't live in an inner city and I understand that (as I said in my post) a Bokashi bin won't be the answer for everyone, but, the reason that I mentioned it is not many people know about them, and there are plenty of people who could use them as a way of dealing with food waste, who don't realise it. Just trying to make a helpful suggestion

My son does have excema yes, but his skin problems relating to the nappies were never diagnosed. I think from info I've had since, it might have been some kind of strep. Basically, it started with irritation, then progressed to sores. Not nappy rash, more like small water blisters. The GP took pictures as he'd never seen anythign liek it. I felt so sorry for ds
I used tots bots and ME wraps. I tried lining with fleece and bamboo, made no difference. I boil washed them, did everything that was recommended on here and by friends. His skin just couldn't get on with the cloth

We find fortnightly collections fine. We have two dcs and due to having an extension built are sadly using disposables at the mo, and as we have no garden (yet!) we haven't composted since we moved to this house, but we still easily fit everything into the bin. We do recycle all paper/card/bottles/tins etc.

Due to the different shapes of babies, some washables will fit some babies better than others (my ds has incredibly skinny thighs and some washables just don't do up tight enough to contain poo!), so I do appreciate the OP's point, but even while you're using disposables I see no reason why you shouldn't be able to fit everything in the bin.

We have collection fortnightly and have two children including one in nappies, you just need to make sure you are recycling efficently.

Thanks to every one that commented, i think I will put to the council that they start to recycle plastics too as that is what usually takes up most room in the bins.

Cheers

Thanks to everyone who commented, i will ask our council to recycle plastics too as they are what seem to be taking up most of the space in the bin.

Cheers