Arch
Married to Night Train
- Location
- Salford, UK
User482 said:
Excellent!
I must think of more good ideas, obviously I have some form of telepathic link with Daventry Council...
Careful where you recycle!
- Thread starter wafflycat
- Start date
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Excellent!
I must think of more good ideas, obviously I have some form of telepathic link with Daventry Council...
Fnaar
Smutmaster General
- Location
- Thumberland
I always feel sorry for the people of Daventry.Arch said:Excellent!
How many times must this scene get played out:
"...and where do you live, Sir?"
"Daventry"
"Coventry?"
"No, Daven- oh bugger this" ...THUMP!
And the link with this thread is that I always recycle old jokes!
Arch
Married to Night Train
- Location
- Salford, UK
Ah, I'm the sort of sad peson who knows all about Daventry because of the transmitters and it being on the old radio dials...
U
User482
Guest
Arch said:
They're not there anymore.
Arch
Married to Night Train
- Location
- Salford, UK
User482 said:
No? Drat it.
I cycled up a hill near Daventry once, to see what was at the top, and found the BBC Tape Library.
U
User482
Guest
Arch said:
You found something in Daventry? You should be proud - not a lot of people can say that...
Night Train
Maker of Things
- Location
- Greater Manchester
I raid skips all the time with the skip owners permission, even at the local tip if they are feeling friendly. However, my local tip just has bays and not skips.
I also raid my local (well, local to work) scrap metal yard quite frequently.
When I was in Scotland there were recycling centres where it was more like a market place with stalls set out for the different types of waste for the public to pick through and buy. Much of it was priced up too. All the electrical stuff has leads cut off but other things like table and chairs were sorted into sets, bikes were set aside as ridable and spare parts, etc.
Very sensible.
I also raid my local (well, local to work) scrap metal yard quite frequently.
When I was in Scotland there were recycling centres where it was more like a market place with stalls set out for the different types of waste for the public to pick through and buy. Much of it was priced up too. All the electrical stuff has leads cut off but other things like table and chairs were sorted into sets, bikes were set aside as ridable and spare parts, etc.
Very sensible.
Mr Pig
New Member
- Location
- North Lanarkshire
I have a mate who has seven kids, all girls incidentally, and he's got quite a few bikes from the local tip. They pile the bikes up separately and he just asks if he can take them. They're not supposed to let you take stuff but the guys up there are cool so they let you.
snorri
Legendary Member
- Location
- East coast, up a bit.
Have you ever thought of doing a cycle tour of the places on an old radio dial? Hilversum, Kalundborg, Motala, Warsaw, Morava, Budapest, Stockholm, Allouis, Brasov etc. No? Oh well it was just a thought.Arch said:
vertigogen
New Member
It was me
Hi
I was interested to discover this thread talking about my arrest for skipping four plastic garden chairs.
To everyone who's complained about this 'dangerous' activity, I am in no way advocating that we should have people scrabbling around in skips while others chuck rubbish on on their heads.
At our skip site, you walk up some steps onto a platform level with the top of the skips, from where you can hoist your junk in. The chairs were right on top of the skip and all I did was lean across, feet still firmly on the ground, and lift the chairs out. No danger, ok?
The 'offence' was reported by the council to the police in the first place, although they also had the option of doing nothing or taking civil action under the Environmental Protection Act. Quite why they would report it to the police if they didn't want to press charges is a bit of a mystery but I intend to find out. Maybe the police have their own reasons for wanting a prosecution, or maybe they're just caught up in their own procedures. They were very keen to get it all sorted out nice and quickly by offering me a caution, and it seems likely that this is what the council were told would happen - arrest her, caution her and stop her doing it again. Maybe they found it hard to back down when I refused the caution. I dunno. Anyway, I'm back to the police station on Wednesday to find out whether they're going to go ahead with the identity parade - not really necessary now they have tons of evidence that I took the chairs... I've been told that the story made it to page 14 of the Sun (not much of a claim to fame!)
What I'm advocating, and have been for some time, is that councils must not allow items with useful life to be put in either the recycling or the landfill skips. For anyone not familiar with the 'waste hierarchy' (it'll be mentioned in your local or regional waste plan no doubt), re-use should have priority over recycling and landfill. So, no bicycles that are usable or repairable should be allowed into the metal skips. No wooden furniture in good condition should be allowed into the wood skips. And definitely no usable plastic chairs in the landfill skips!
So the issue is not about whether we should be allowed to get stuff out; rather it's about how we can stop councils letting it in in the first place. Yeah, the same councils that are onto people for not using their recycling boxes properly, or for over-filling their bins, are perfectly happy to see toxic stuff going to landfill because they don't have the imagination to get it sorted, or even to start to get it sorted.
Many areas (Edinburgh, Isle of Man, Islington and many others) have perfectly good, workable, economic (it costs to send to landfill) re-use schemes running at their skips. All it needs is a covered area where people can leave stuff that's too good to skip. And other people can take it. Or, if they have a problem with that idea, then they need to set up a scheme whereby charities, voluntary organisations and others get the stuff, but in my experience there will be plenty to go round everyone. Have you ever stood for a few minutes watching what goes in the skips? It breaks my heart.
You can listen to all the excuses - unworkable, insurance problems, can't allow people to take stuff to sell, just can't be done - but it's all rubbish. It can be done. It is being done. It must be done. We've recently set up a free re-use scheme (like freecycle but in local communities, accessible to people without transport or computers) with the blessing of our local Trading Standards office, just by taking a few simple precautions. We're not selling stuff, after all, and if anyone wants to take the trouble to get stuff for free and sell it on, well that's up to them. Better that than landfill, any day.
OK, that's enough from me.
Cheers
Genny
Hi
I was interested to discover this thread talking about my arrest for skipping four plastic garden chairs.
To everyone who's complained about this 'dangerous' activity, I am in no way advocating that we should have people scrabbling around in skips while others chuck rubbish on on their heads.
At our skip site, you walk up some steps onto a platform level with the top of the skips, from where you can hoist your junk in. The chairs were right on top of the skip and all I did was lean across, feet still firmly on the ground, and lift the chairs out. No danger, ok?
The 'offence' was reported by the council to the police in the first place, although they also had the option of doing nothing or taking civil action under the Environmental Protection Act. Quite why they would report it to the police if they didn't want to press charges is a bit of a mystery but I intend to find out. Maybe the police have their own reasons for wanting a prosecution, or maybe they're just caught up in their own procedures. They were very keen to get it all sorted out nice and quickly by offering me a caution, and it seems likely that this is what the council were told would happen - arrest her, caution her and stop her doing it again. Maybe they found it hard to back down when I refused the caution. I dunno. Anyway, I'm back to the police station on Wednesday to find out whether they're going to go ahead with the identity parade - not really necessary now they have tons of evidence that I took the chairs... I've been told that the story made it to page 14 of the Sun (not much of a claim to fame!)
What I'm advocating, and have been for some time, is that councils must not allow items with useful life to be put in either the recycling or the landfill skips. For anyone not familiar with the 'waste hierarchy' (it'll be mentioned in your local or regional waste plan no doubt), re-use should have priority over recycling and landfill. So, no bicycles that are usable or repairable should be allowed into the metal skips. No wooden furniture in good condition should be allowed into the wood skips. And definitely no usable plastic chairs in the landfill skips!
So the issue is not about whether we should be allowed to get stuff out; rather it's about how we can stop councils letting it in in the first place. Yeah, the same councils that are onto people for not using their recycling boxes properly, or for over-filling their bins, are perfectly happy to see toxic stuff going to landfill because they don't have the imagination to get it sorted, or even to start to get it sorted.
Many areas (Edinburgh, Isle of Man, Islington and many others) have perfectly good, workable, economic (it costs to send to landfill) re-use schemes running at their skips. All it needs is a covered area where people can leave stuff that's too good to skip. And other people can take it. Or, if they have a problem with that idea, then they need to set up a scheme whereby charities, voluntary organisations and others get the stuff, but in my experience there will be plenty to go round everyone. Have you ever stood for a few minutes watching what goes in the skips? It breaks my heart.
You can listen to all the excuses - unworkable, insurance problems, can't allow people to take stuff to sell, just can't be done - but it's all rubbish. It can be done. It is being done. It must be done. We've recently set up a free re-use scheme (like freecycle but in local communities, accessible to people without transport or computers) with the blessing of our local Trading Standards office, just by taking a few simple precautions. We're not selling stuff, after all, and if anyone wants to take the trouble to get stuff for free and sell it on, well that's up to them. Better that than landfill, any day.
OK, that's enough from me.
Cheers
Genny
Whereas I feel that it is silly to prosecute somebody for taking an item from a skip, it still constitiutes theft (Theft Act 1968). At the end of the day it is still their property (whether they want it or not), and in todays climate of ambulance chasing they are being hyper sensitive to the point of ridiculous (I'm sure the council would be an easy target if somebody got injured for taking something from one of their skips).
Lardyboy
New Member
- Location
- Still Somewhere In Wales.
I was at our local recycling "centre" disposing of a couple of black bags when I noticed a door edge with broken glassed still attached in a dangerous position. Been dumped in the wrong container, and seeing no council types to inform I leant in to grab it, pull it out and take it to the correct container which was right next door.
There came this explosion of shouting from behind me. I look back to see three council blokes descending upon me. God knows where they'd been hiding. When they had calmed down after "telling" me that I could be barred or prosecuted for what I was "doing", I pointed out what I was doing and the safety aspects of leaving such a dangerous item obviously in the wrong container, that perhaps they weren't doing their jobs properly, that maybe a word with their supervisor, or a letter to the head of services?
I had a "don't let us see you doing that again" and they wandered off leaving the offending item still in the container! So I thought "S*d you then, see if I care" and went home.
There came this explosion of shouting from behind me. I look back to see three council blokes descending upon me. God knows where they'd been hiding. When they had calmed down after "telling" me that I could be barred or prosecuted for what I was "doing", I pointed out what I was doing and the safety aspects of leaving such a dangerous item obviously in the wrong container, that perhaps they weren't doing their jobs properly, that maybe a word with their supervisor, or a letter to the head of services?
I had a "don't let us see you doing that again" and they wandered off leaving the offending item still in the container! So I thought "S*d you then, see if I care" and went home.
