If B&Q is open why aren't recycling centres?

[KeepWashingThoseHands]

My council aren't collecting green bins until at least mid-May, so 6 weeks now. Annoying but I'll manage, but also getting a backlog of loads of cardboard boxes etc. that don't fit in the blue bin which is also only collected every 2 weeks.

I know this isn't the biggest issue but recycling centres are outside, people are fairly apart anyway and we don't want fly tipping. It's really curious what's permitted to be open and what isn't.

Also wish charity shop was open to drop all the stuff I’ve sorted out, I reckon after lockdown they are going to have so much surplus stuff from people at home sorting out and from people realising they don’t need all this materialistic stuff

All in good time... It’s hardly the biggest hardship to keep hold of your charity shop stuff for a few weeks. This apparent inability to suffer the smallest of inconveniences risks ending up with UK being the CV capital of Europe, of not the world!

For the charity shop clothes, I pop a bag in the clothing bank when I go for my walk, I have found one in a swimming pool car park which people don't seem to use much, I went the other day and it had been emptied so I just take a bag of clothes from my clear out each time I go out.

Also wish charity shop was open to drop all the stuff I’ve sorted out, I reckon after lockdown they are going to have so much surplus stuff from people at home sorting out and from people realising they don’t need all this materialistic stuff

A sizeable percentage of charity volunteers are retired.

That is going to be a problem for some considerable time in the context of covid-19

On no account get a bloke advertising on Facebook to take your rubbish away for a low price. Councils have been known to track the original customer down and hit them with shockingly large fines. “His website looked legit and he said he was licensed” will get you absolutely nowhere as a defence.

But the company ads I have seen advertising disposal of garden waste appear to have genuine licences in that they provide a number which checks out on the Environment Agency website to a company name that makes sense with the location. What I cannot get to the bottom of is what are private waste disposal sites? (my own view is that they are flytipping or using a farm/estate field but I have no proof). I report the ads as being suspicious as it really is too good to be true but there are so many of them now. Every social media site I am on has several different posts per day.

Oh please!

I doubt anyone on here would be so foolish as to not check the private contractor's waste licence before asking them to take rubbish away!

No need for 3454 posts to patronise those who do!

I doubt anyone on here would be so foolish as to not check the private contractor's waste licence before asking them to take rubbish away!
I think the vast majority of people don’t check, because they don’t know they should, or what it might mean.

You'd be very surprised then how many people do use unscrupulous waste collections, which then ends up being fly tipped. Why would you expect Mumsnet users to be any different?

FFS. It's not difficult. You should only leave the house for very limited purposes:

• shopping for basic necessities, for example food and medicine
• one form of exercise a day
• any medical need or to provide care or to help a vulnerable person.
• travelling for work purposes, but only where you cannot work from home

NOWHERE on this list is "to take rubbish to the tip", which is WHY they are closed.

B&Q is open as it sells necessary items such as plumbing or boiler parts or electrical stuff that trades folk or competent DIYers NEED to make essential repairs in their homes during lockdown.

(Yes, I know they sell paint and plant pots too but supermarkets also sell non-essential items)

My local council said green waste collection was cancelled right from the get go.

Recycling centres closed.

I hope I get a reduction in council tax.

I agree that maybe the tips should be closed, to stop non-essentialy services, but councils SHOULD NOT be limiting their collecting services. There is absolutely no excuse to do so.

Such bad typing..... "to stop non-essential journeys".

councils SHOULD NOT be limiting their collecting services. There is absolutely no excuse to do so

Especially as most of the private waste collectors who normally serve shops and restaurants have all been furloughed.

If the council is short staffed, they could take those people on temporarily, and before anyone says 'well their employers won't let them work for anyone else' that bollocks needs to stop. This is a national emergency so all normal rules go out of the window. If basic essential services like waste collection can't run, the people experienced in that sort of work can help out if they want to. I know several people hit hard due to the reduction in wages who would welcome a bit of short term extra work doing bin collections for the council instead of sitting at home.

As for the people saying 'get a skip', they cost a fucking fortune and the council aren't offering refunds for the lack of services provided.

Very short sighted by the councils in restricting waste collections and they'll suffer disproportionately due to the inevitable increase in fly tipping.

I have just read that councils are claiming they have a £9bn shortfall in their budgets due to Covid (additional social care costs and reduction in commercial income e.g. rents and parking charges). So I would not pin your hopes on a council tax refund!

It’s just been announced that some of our local tips are opening this weekend.

Green bins - stopped
Food to go into black bins - every two weeks
Glass/recyclables - every four weeks
Paper and cardboard - every six weeks.

We are finding the six weekly cardboard collection very hard indeed. Shielding so can’t go to the tip.

For those hoping for a reduction in council tax, what do you think that will achieve? If you work out from your council tax bill how much for each £1 you pay goes to your local council (after the county council, police, fire brigade etc take their share) and then try and divide that by all the services that they have to provide (council tax, benefits, housing, planning, building control, car parks, waste collections, elections, plus all the departments needed to run a business including IT, Finance etc, how much is f a refund do you think you would be entitled to for, say, 3 months of collections being disrupted at a time of national crisis.
Seriously, I despair of people sometimes.

I hope I get a reduction in council tax.

Are you on glue?

Seriously?!

Read the news. A lot of councils are facing bankruptcy as the government isn't helping with additional costs to social care. Many councils also get some income from commercial interests like airports so this means there is an even bigger shortfall. Do you have any idea what this means?! (clue - get used to a lack of refuse collection).

Plus they aren't getting business rates and many people are liable to default on council tax because they are in financial trouble.

And you say you hope you get a reduction in council tax cos the tip is closed?!!!

I can see bin services going to monthly collection after this

Well this thread has made me realise we are very fortunate. Our black bins have gone from fortnightly to weekly during lockdown, recycling and food waste remain weekly, glass fortnightly and we are getting one garden waste collection in May.

OntheWaves40 My DH runs 2 charity shops he is 71 and is self isolating, so wouldn't be going into his shops even if they where, however I am sure your stuff is lovely but that's not true of most donations, dirty torn, damp smelly clothing cannot be collected by the 'rag man' as the recycling clothing collectors are not working, torn yellowed books cant be collected as the book collecting companies are not working either, broken crockery, rusted pots and pans broken, broken toys can't be thrown away as the private company he uses for rubbish collection are not working - the list goes on, yes he will have issues when his shops re-open but the other services he need to keep the crap down will also be open

There was a report on my local news about the huge increase in fly tipping today. I think they really need to re open. I also don't think B&Q should be open though.

I think this is a very short sighted, false economy too.

I've never been to our tip when there isn't a queue, so all of that needs disposing of.
Then people are working from home, so all their personal and work rubbish that is normally disposed of in their offices, factories, retail units, business parks etc is at home.
Children are home from school, as well as parents and teens / young adults who often eat out a lot or eat school dinners - so homes are creating a lot more waste.
A lot of people have time on their hands, and, understandably are tidying / decorating / decluttering / gardening and that needs to be disposed of.
There is NO excuse for tipping, but you'd be very naive to think it isn't going to increase massively.

I don't get the argument about not having enough staff either. Crews that usually collect from shops, cafes, pubs, restaurants, banks, offices, factories, business parks, industrial units and so forth, as well as City Centres, and High Streets, theatres, cinemas, sports clubs, leisure centres, arenas, etc etc will all have had their work either gone completely or reduced to a tiny %, so surely they could - by now - have been redirected to helping the 'domestic waste' side of things ?

Either tips need to re-open soon, or they need to think about doubling the rounds for bin crews, not reducing them.

There was an article on our local news tonight about increased fly-tipping and the staff having to clear it up and dispose of it, and then agencies trying to track them down and prosecute them. It seems so illogical when that money / those staff could be accepting the same rubbish at the tip. Very easy to arrange social distancing - even if you book in a slot in advance, and I'm sure the disposal details can be worked out by someone who knows the details of that.

Backforgood, I agree.

Reality is that in a few weeks councils won't have the money to deal with clearing up fly tipping. It will just stay there.

I think the problem has been down to staff shortages in many areas though, so its a question of logistics as much as enforcing social distancing in the workplace.

Crews that usually collect from shops, cafes, pubs, restaurants, banks, offices, factories, business parks, industrial units and so forth, as well as City Centres, and High Streets, theatres, cinemas, sports clubs, leisure centres, arenas, etc etc will all have had their work either gone completely or reduced to a tiny %, so surely they could - by now - have been redirected to helping the 'domestic waste' side of things

In my city, this sort of waste is collected by private contractors (Biffa and the like). A close relative works for one of these companies and most of the staff have indeed been furloughed.

But because we're tied up in a combination of a short sighted council (just close the tips and scale back collections) combined with inflexibility about employment contracts means that instead of pushing the barriers aside,
stepping up and getting on with what needs doing - the council could take these people on short term contracts, and getting on with keeping services running, we have people experienced in waste collection being off work, while council services are unavailable, leading to rubbish piling up in people's homes and a minority resorting to fly tipping, either in person or via unregistered 'man on Facebook taking rubbish away for a couple of quid a bag' type services.

And while that definitely falls into the 'if it sounds too good to be true it probably is' camp, do people seriously think that the average member of the public has any clue about the intricacies of the regulations surrounding disposal of waste? Waste transfer licences, trade waste vs domestic waste, waste transport regulations?

Most councils outsource their recycling contracts therefore it’s not the council msnang but the private comps being managed by the council from arms length