Colin_P
Guru
For some strange reason I'm both fascinated, amused and fearful of the whole bins and recycling thing. I know, it is strange. This is an attempt to make some sense out of it.
I think the councils are going after the wrong mans / womens. It is the shops with their excessive and often pointless packaging who are the real villains and we are paying twice for their villainy; first of all for in the shop purchase cost and then to get rid of it via our council tax. So what have successive gubberments and councils done, yeh, made it our problem, not the shops.
As for the thread title, apparently bin lorries are being fitted with up to seven cameras to spy on us! And in some places if we get it wrong, the bin fascists at the council will write a strongly worded letter, which if you ignore will land you hefty fine and or some kind of asbo.
Personally, I cannot see how these cameras can spy on anyone or their bins. I think they are probably more likely to be for defending the council against cash for crash insurance claims from prius driving uber drivers.
Anyway, back to the bins and the lunacy of the whole rubbish, re-cycling and packaging thing. It would be interesting to establish a picture of exactly how mad and or officious your council is. To do this, list your bins, the frequency of emptying, and special rules and any interesting rubbish anecdotes.
Me;
4 bins
1, Grey wheely one for general rubbish, emptied once a week. For some reason this one is 87 decibels? It is not a hi-fi it is a bin so quite why it has this information stamped on the lid is anyones guess. Having pretentions of being middle class, I get a man in a pickup truck to jet wash this one once a month on bin day as it is a bit of a stinker.
2, Blue wheely one for all re-cycling, we horse all the re-cycling in this one, cardboard, glass and plastic, emptied once a week. This one has a microchip in it and your recycling gets weighed by the bin lorry. The heavier your recycling is the more points you get. You can exchange your re-cycling points for a completely useless and limited range of discount vouchers for things that any normal person would never buy. We try and keep this one stink free.
3, Little black bin for food waste, emptied once a week. This one is a proper little stinker and also quite fragile. We are on our 2nd one as being little it seems that the binmen like to dropkick or throw it back into our garden. The first one cracked and the disgusting rotting food oozed a bit helped along by the flies and maggots.
4, Green wheely for garden waste, emptied once a fortnight and we have to pay about £50 a year for this but it beats sitting in a traffic jam waiting to get into the dump every time I cut the grass.
As for the minefield of deciding what should go in which bin, my general rules of thumb are;
i, A few bits of rubble from the rubble pile (who doesn't have a pile of rubble?) get horsed into the grey bin. In about 3,000 years the pile of rubble will be gone.
ii, Never rinse recyclie stuff, especially if you are on a water meter.
iii, Raw chicken and any meat packaging goes in the grey bin, don't want to stink the blue one out and turn it into another biohazard.
iv, Any cardboard stays out in the rain before going into the blue bin. It is heavier that way and you get more pointless discount voucher points for things you will never buy.
v, Never take the lids off recyclies as that would stink the blue one.
vi, Any plastic that you cannot find the recylie logo on has a 50/50 chance of going in the blue depending on its stinkability quotient.
vii, Giant cardboard boxes, always best to stanley knife them into small bits that will actually fit in the bin prior to allowing them to go soggy in the rain, less mess that way but is right and proper chore.
viii, Raw dog poo goes in the green amongst the grass clippings which encapsulate the stink. Bagged poo from dog walks goes in the grey.
ix, Polystyrene, not the singer, RIP. But the stuff that usually comes with the giant cardboard boxes, what the hell do you do with that, does anyone know?
x, Argue with the Wife / Kids / Yourself (if single) about who's job / turn it is to take them out. It always ends up being my turn.
xi, Have another arguement about who's job / turn it is to bring them in. It always ends up being my turn.
All in all it is quite stress free. I don't envy those who have their bins emptied, especially the stinky ones less than once a week. It'd also be interesting to know what colour your council is in terms of once a week or longer emptying. As above, with the exception of the green bin, mine all get emptied once a week and it is a Blue council.
I think the councils are going after the wrong mans / womens. It is the shops with their excessive and often pointless packaging who are the real villains and we are paying twice for their villainy; first of all for in the shop purchase cost and then to get rid of it via our council tax. So what have successive gubberments and councils done, yeh, made it our problem, not the shops.
As for the thread title, apparently bin lorries are being fitted with up to seven cameras to spy on us! And in some places if we get it wrong, the bin fascists at the council will write a strongly worded letter, which if you ignore will land you hefty fine and or some kind of asbo.
Personally, I cannot see how these cameras can spy on anyone or their bins. I think they are probably more likely to be for defending the council against cash for crash insurance claims from prius driving uber drivers.
Anyway, back to the bins and the lunacy of the whole rubbish, re-cycling and packaging thing. It would be interesting to establish a picture of exactly how mad and or officious your council is. To do this, list your bins, the frequency of emptying, and special rules and any interesting rubbish anecdotes.
Me;
4 bins
1, Grey wheely one for general rubbish, emptied once a week. For some reason this one is 87 decibels? It is not a hi-fi it is a bin so quite why it has this information stamped on the lid is anyones guess. Having pretentions of being middle class, I get a man in a pickup truck to jet wash this one once a month on bin day as it is a bit of a stinker.
2, Blue wheely one for all re-cycling, we horse all the re-cycling in this one, cardboard, glass and plastic, emptied once a week. This one has a microchip in it and your recycling gets weighed by the bin lorry. The heavier your recycling is the more points you get. You can exchange your re-cycling points for a completely useless and limited range of discount vouchers for things that any normal person would never buy. We try and keep this one stink free.
3, Little black bin for food waste, emptied once a week. This one is a proper little stinker and also quite fragile. We are on our 2nd one as being little it seems that the binmen like to dropkick or throw it back into our garden. The first one cracked and the disgusting rotting food oozed a bit helped along by the flies and maggots.
4, Green wheely for garden waste, emptied once a fortnight and we have to pay about £50 a year for this but it beats sitting in a traffic jam waiting to get into the dump every time I cut the grass.
As for the minefield of deciding what should go in which bin, my general rules of thumb are;
i, A few bits of rubble from the rubble pile (who doesn't have a pile of rubble?) get horsed into the grey bin. In about 3,000 years the pile of rubble will be gone.
ii, Never rinse recyclie stuff, especially if you are on a water meter.
iii, Raw chicken and any meat packaging goes in the grey bin, don't want to stink the blue one out and turn it into another biohazard.
iv, Any cardboard stays out in the rain before going into the blue bin. It is heavier that way and you get more pointless discount voucher points for things you will never buy.
v, Never take the lids off recyclies as that would stink the blue one.
vi, Any plastic that you cannot find the recylie logo on has a 50/50 chance of going in the blue depending on its stinkability quotient.
vii, Giant cardboard boxes, always best to stanley knife them into small bits that will actually fit in the bin prior to allowing them to go soggy in the rain, less mess that way but is right and proper chore.
viii, Raw dog poo goes in the green amongst the grass clippings which encapsulate the stink. Bagged poo from dog walks goes in the grey.
ix, Polystyrene, not the singer, RIP. But the stuff that usually comes with the giant cardboard boxes, what the hell do you do with that, does anyone know?
x, Argue with the Wife / Kids / Yourself (if single) about who's job / turn it is to take them out. It always ends up being my turn.
xi, Have another arguement about who's job / turn it is to bring them in. It always ends up being my turn.
All in all it is quite stress free. I don't envy those who have their bins emptied, especially the stinky ones less than once a week. It'd also be interesting to know what colour your council is in terms of once a week or longer emptying. As above, with the exception of the green bin, mine all get emptied once a week and it is a Blue council.
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