Charges may be applied to Domestic Waste

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The weight thing is utterly utterly idiotic and stupid! Surely it should be volume of rubbish rather than the weight that should be an issue?

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Spot on! A polystyrene brick will take up exactly the same amount of space in land fill as a clay one, but will weight less. Doing it by weight is just another way to get money out or householders.
 
I probably wouldn't mind as much if local councils actually recycled the rubbish we carefully sort out and put into various boxes and bags but they don't. Most county councils can't cope with the amount of recycling people currently put out and so much of it gets shipped overseas and put into landfill. They're just using this as an excuse to justify cutting rubbish collections to once a fortnight by telling us it's to save the planet.
 
That is what I am saying! Provide the services for people to use, and they will use them. Penalising people for producing rubbish when there is no alternative is unfair and just another tax. Do you pay council tax or do you live with your parents? I have no idea how old you are, but you seem to have a very idealistic view of what is happening.
 
I am 33 yrs old and I have not lived with my parents since I was 18.
I have been paying council tax for over 10 yrs and I pay attention to what the money is spent on and to public issues. Where we live we have a landfill bin and another bin for recyclable waste which the council collect. It works very well for those that follow the instructions provided of what to put where.
The only thing they don't collect is glass which we take ourselves.
I appreciate some people may have to take recyclables themselves and find this difficult or have some other issue with recycling but I maintain that for the vast majority of people recycling IS accessible. But there is a proportion of these that still wont bother. I know because they live in my street!!
You have a recyling service (as stated in an earlier post) so you have an alternative to landfill. I don't see why you keep claiming you have no alternative.
 
No I did not. But it sounds lie a great excuse to just do what the heck we like and to hell with the consequences.
 
I guess there are 2 options: Either lobby your council and try to get things to change or give up recycling.....
 
The Bedfordshire "Orange Bag" system is interesting - you see the bin men come along and put your well tied orange bag containing the week's newspapers, the tonne of junk mail that comes through your door (other than the laminated stuff) and your carefully washed out recyclable containers INTO the bin lorry with your normal rubbish. It is then compacted along with the wheelie bin contents.

Bedford Borough Council was no overall control when I last paid attention, possibly with an independent elected mayor - although I haven't been registered to vote there for a while now.

On to my current situation - I live alone in a top floor flat. The block of flats I live in has several communal bins in a bin store downstairs, along with boxes for recycling (without instructions on exactly what can go in - end up putting in all non laminated paper, cans and glass and that's about it). How exactly does the council now how much I personally throw away or recycle? Do they provide 24 bins - 1 for each of the flats, using fossil fuels to obtain the black plastic necessary. Do they then average out the weight for the entire block and then divide by the number of flats but how does this affect me compared with a family of 4? If you do go down the individual bin route, it needs to be lockable so that neighbours can't use your bin but openable by the bin lorry. There's also the old chestnut of the neighbours "borrowing" the bin if you don't bring it in soon enough.

Actually the biggest thing to reduce waste would be to get rid of those rubbishy leaflets you get in all your magazines, papers and in your letter box which go straight into the bin, and often can't be recycled because they are card.
 
A useful weblink:
http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/uk_politics/6685409.stm

Which states that people who recycle well will get money BACK from the council should this proposal be implemented.

Also states that councils wishing to implement charges would need to provide adequate kerbside facilities.

Covers also the need to target manufacturers and reducing junk mail etc.
 
Rewarding recycling would be the best way and I'm looking forward to seeing how the council tries to wriggle out of paying money back. As for Belgium,see my post above on why they went down the pay up route!
 
What would you suggest I do with items that cannot be recycled? I cannot compost kitchen waste as we have enough problems with rats as it is! Unless the government is going to install a heavy-duty waste disposal unit in every kitchen in the country, there is still going to be waste that is not recyclable. What about disposable nappies? (Not that I use them - yet! We shall wait for incontinence...
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) Chicken bones? Lids off tins? Used oily rags? Broken glass? Sanitary towels? The lids off plastic bottles that the council doesn't want in the recycling bags? Plastic bags? (Not carriers, they go to Tesco). I have been recycling for years, I use my own bags when I shop and all the reward I get is increased charging! The reason? Recycling is phenomenonally expensive, and it is cheaper in financial terms to make stuff from new. In terms of damage to the planet, it is better to mine aluminium than to recycle because of the amount of energy needed throughout the entire process. A bit like hybrid cars - because of the increased energy in production and the problems of disposing of the batteries, they are less green over their lifetime than an ordinary car.
 
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What would you suggest I do with items that cannot be recycled? I cannot compost kitchen waste as we have enough problems with rats as it is! Unless the government is going to install a heavy-duty waste disposal unit in every kitchen in the country, there is still going to be waste that is not recyclable. What about disposable nappies? (Not that I use them - yet! We shall wait for incontinence...
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) Chicken bones? Lids off tins? Used oily rags? Broken glass? Sanitary towels? The lids off plastic bottles that the council doesn't want in the recycling bags? Plastic bags? (Not carriers, they go to Tesco).

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It is acknowledged by the government in this country and every other country that recycles that there is a certain amount of waste that cannot be recycled - That is obvious really-
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I have been recycling for years, I use my own bags when I shop and all the reward I get is increased charging! The reason? Recycling is phenomenonally expensive, and it is cheaper in financial terms to make stuff from new. In terms of damage to the planet, it is better to mine aluminium than to recycle because of the amount of energy needed throughout the entire process. A bit like hybrid cars - because of the increased energy in production and the problems of disposing of the batteries, they are less green over their lifetime than an ordinary car.

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A few quotes: (Can tell you where from if you like)
'Making new goods out of recycled material saves energy. For example, making new aluminium cans from recycled cans uses 20 times less energy than making cans from the raw material'

'Recycling aluminium requires only 5% of the energy and produces only 5% of the CO2 emissions as compared with primary production and reduces the waste going to landfill. Aluminium can be recycled indefinitely, as reprocessing does not damage its structure. Aluminium is also the most cost-effective material to recycle.'

'Glass recycling saves energy in the production of raw materials, and the melting of the glass. Saving this amount of energy is the equivalent to 30 gallons of oil for every tonne of cullet added to the batch of raw materials.'

'Using recycled paper reduces water use and water pollution, e.g. the British paper and board industry is one of the countrys largest industrial users of water. For many countries without large domestic sources of pulp wood, the major economic advantage of recycling is in reducing the need to use imported pulp. It is estimated that between 10-17 trees are needed to produce a tonne of paper, this is enough for 7000 copies of national newspapers.'

At the end of the day I guess it is your own personal choice at the moment. If you don't believe in it then why do you do it currently....? It may not be a 'choice' for much longer. BTW as well as not being young and 'living with 'parents' I am degree educated in Biology so I am not thick either.....
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Surely your waste should be being collected by the council? I don't understand why you have to take it to the tip. If it is the case that you have to take it yourself, then you need to put pressure on your county council.

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We have to take a trip because our blue "recycling bin" is ONLY for newspaper and white cardboard. As I said, we dont have one of those boxes other people seem to have for other recyclable things. So things like bottles etc. we have to take to the recycling depo (or else put in our usual rubbish bin but then that fills up too much space in an already full bin!)

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By making people accountable for quantities of waste - Unless of course there are several people in the household, in which case it makes sense for them to have a greater proportional amount of space in their bin for landfill

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But is that fair that just because they have a bigger family then they get an extra bin. What about people like us with horses for example? They alone generate regular waste such as feed bags / general stuff.

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Yes that is not a great solution by any means, and again I would be speaking to the CC about the logic (or lack of logic) behind this.

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I have emailed the council about this. She just said its "not ideal but unavoidable". Not a good enough answer for me Im afraid. Makes me not want to recycle when I know a huge amount of fumes will be caused taking it to Wales!

I believe a huge proportion of the blame lies with the companies who make the (usually too big) packaging for general shopping products. Watching Dispatches, there ended up being way more packaging than food once they unpacked it all. Thats just crazy! I totally agree with recycling but the council are NOT doing it effectively.
 
I recycle because I am an optimist.

I have doubts about its effectiveness because I am a realist.

I resent being threatened with increased charges to throw away my rubbish, drive my car and sell my house because I am part of a small percenage of the overall UK population who is seen as a soft target by an increasingly gasping government. However, it may not be a new problem; George Harrison addressed the matter in his song The Taxman, written in the 60s and addressed to Harold Wilson:

If you drive a car, I'll tax the street
If you try to sit, I'll tax your seat
If you get too cold I'll tax the heat
If you take a walk, I'll tax your feet

It must be a Labour thing!
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Good points, Mickey. Really agree with what you are saying.

Domestic refuse is a huge environmental problem, and we really need to think through our individual responsibilities on it. Charging according to how much we throw away ... rather than a flat fee rolled into council tax ... is a very sound idea, in my view, and the one think that will really make us think through what we are buying and how we get rid of it.

Our current system is excellent. A (small) wheelie bin full of mixed bagged rubbish is lifted once a week as a general service. Every two weeks a transparent bag containing cans, juice cartons and PET bottles is lifted as well. Garden refuse is lifted regularly in the season.

At any time ... and this is the bit I really like ... we can put out additional refuse, in special bags costing just over one pound sterling which can be bought in any local shop or supermarket. We have sorted out paper, cardboard and glass for ages, and have a choice of recycling containers within walking distance of our house.

For larger stuff ... cardboard packaging, old furniture, electrical goods ... we phone the council and agree a day on which we can put them on the street in front of our house for free collection. All the best stuff gets removed overnight, however, by people who have a better use for it ...
 
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I resent being threatened with increased charges to throw away my rubbish, drive my car and sell my house because I am part of a small percenage of the overall UK population who is seen as a soft target by an increasingly gasping government.

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Never mind, you'll probably soon have your next Tory government!!!!
 
We've been paying Domestic Waste Charges here for [I think] 3 years, a recycling centre was opened when the charges started, and it's always busy. Once you get the hang of sorting the recyclables from the rest it's not that big of a deal...
 
TBH, I'm getting tired of the idea of paying twice for services. I already ay my council tax... part of which is payment for the service of removing my domestic waste. I pay fuel and road tax... yet I hear that I'll have to pay to use some roads (and already have to pay to enter central London).
 
There are 2 round in Bedfordshire - 1 lot collect the normal rubbish, 1 lot collects the recyclable & it's not crushed. How do I know - a friend drives the recycling lorry & her Dad used to drive the normal round. Occasionally when there is a shortage of drivers a round of recycling will have to be picked up by the "normal " rubbish drivers but it is not usual & the alternative would be to not pick up that week & leave for another fortnight.
 
Does anyone know why glass bottles aren't just washed and reused, rather than smashed to smithereens, melted and reformed?


Apart from them looking tatty around the edges where they rub up against each other, I can't see why they're not reused? ....like milk bottles??
 
Good point. Years ago anything sold in a glass bottle carried a deposit (about one old penny!) which you got back when you returned the bottle. In Germany we found a similar system operating for plastic water bottles; if you took an empty one back you got a discount off a new one.
 
And an degree of brand awareness - so many manufacturers want their own shape of bottle. Shame, as that is a very good article that puts the benefits of reuse across well.
 
Well, this seems simple enough to me:

Consumers take their bottles back to any retailer, for deposit refund.

Retailer has them collected by the 'bottle washer'. Bottle sterilizing company removes paper labels and then a daily exchange programme goes on with all drinks manufacturers that ensures that they get their own bottles back. They're refilled, and back on the shelves within a a couple of days bearing new labels.

Every manufacturer must sign up to the program, and everyone receives a small amount of money along the way.

As I said before, I used to go round my village collecting Corona bottles from the old biddies and get 10p per bottle towards my riding lessons. I was happy!

Perhaps I should give up my day job and become a bottle washer???!!!
 
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