recycling

[Mrs Ava]

I'm not wanting to start a heated debate on carbon footprints, land fill and rubbish, I just wanted to voice the thoughts that go around in my head.....quite a worry some might say!

In our part of Essex, we recycle lots.  The council provide us with bins, boxes and bags, along with bottle banks, clothes banks, paper banks and our dump is quite complicated with rubbish having to be split into different skips depending on what it is.  Very good for the environment.  My only thought, please don't shout me down, is that during a 2 week cycle we put out our black wheelie for 'regular' rubbish, our brown wheelie for garden rubbish, our green bin full of bottles and cans, our white paper sack, our white cardboard sack and our clear sack for plastic bottles, and every single 'bin' is collected by a different refuse lorry.  Thats a lot of exhaust fumes floating around the atmosphere.  I know it means less going into landfill which is great, but it means more lorry fumes doing whatever damage they do.  Just my blonde thought for this evening.  :P

[Mrs Ava]

[kt.]

Our refuse lorry that collects newspapers also collects glass bottles and tins at the same time. Has 3 seperate storage areas. Not sure about the rest though.

[Heldi]

we have a blue bin for plastics,paper and metal and a green bin for "other" waste.  We have to collect our bottles and take them ourselves to the bottle bank,which is a drive away. It's our choice to do that. Same goes for any large bits of cardboard/paper.  The tip is a drive away in another direction,yes we also have to split things up into different skips.

Whenever I've been there I look at what other people are throwing away and think "I can't BELIEVE that they are chucking that away!!" 

I think maybe your service aint so bad at the moment EJ when you weigh up the driving to the various depots that we have to do but I'll always say there is room for improvment...especially where I live.  >:(

[OliveOil]

We have a black - rubbish bin and silver recycling bin taking paper, plastics, glass and metal. they are collected on alternate weeks... the only thing that worries me is the sorting of the recycling... it must take alot of man hours sorting it all out and the plastic recycling is difficult as not all that much IS recyclable.  I must admit i look for less packaged products these days.

[bennettsleg]

We've got a black bin, brown bin, green box.

The green & box are supposed to be emptied once a fortnight (and the black bin is going to go that way too which should prove interesting) but many is the time they've been full three weeks later and I've needed to phone the council.  The inspector has even admitted that the bins live so close to the road that he can't understand why they're not being emptied.

[Blue Bird]

We have 3 wheelie bins

green - collected every two weeks for general land fill rubbish

brown - collected every alternate week for garden rubbish

gray - collected with brown bin for  recycled bits (all mixed up) glass / carboard/ tins / paper ect....    all is sorted at recycle center


so no extra fuel is used
Use brown bin at the allotment until I get shed !

[lorna]

Have often wondered same thing Emma. We have 3 wheelie bins. Landfill one collected on its own (alternate weeks) but the green waste(garden) and the paper/cardboard are collected on same day but by 2 different vehicles.
Lorna.
PS May I just mention that if you give clothes to charity shops but think some things are not good enough the charity shop will always appreciate bags of unsuitable clothing for resale as they stil get money for those bags. Good idea  to mention to staff it will save them sorting. At least that is the case with Sue Ryder where daughter Lorna manages one of their shops,

[markfield rover]

Know what you mean ,with paper I try to re-use rather than re-cycle

[Jeannine]

We have just three, and they all do come on seperate days.

The waste always gets me down.I miss Spec in Canada,I forget what it stands for  but it was the non organic part of the dump. You could find anything in Spec for a few pennies, shower doors for cold frames, bikes, lawn mowers, metal sheds, cookers etc.

If you broke the handle on your oven you didn't go to a shop, you went to Spec and always managed to find one. There was everything, we would go just to look around.really miss that . I really miss junk!!

XX Jeannine

[Suzanne]

We are only a small village (about 40 houses) but the council set up a recycling centre next to the 2 council allotments in the village. So although we have boxes for recycling a max of a 5 min walk and you save on the lorries.

But the black mark is that they do not provide those in the village without the advantages of a compost heap on a alootment with green bins so they can recycle grenn and vegetable kitchen waste!

[Mrs Ava]

Oh, I am not knocking it.  I love it that we can recylce/reuse so much.  Our brown bin rarely goes out as most things end up on the compost heap.  Large sheets of cardboard goes to the plot where I have used it under the fruit bushes and trees and am mulching ontop with shredded chunky garden waste.  Paper is mostly shredded and ends up on the compost heap, in the bean trench or as a clean mulch around the leeks to lengthen those white stems.  The plastic bottle bag does get filled, although less now as I am saving the 6pint milk bottles and cutting the bases of so I can sink them into the ground next to toms and squashes for good directional watering.  Our black landfill bin goes weekly, but only with 1 or 2 black bags in it, which I am always pleased about considering we are a family of 2.5 plus pets.  ;D  It was just a comment really on the lorries (and flipping noise) - not a dig or even a moan, just a thought.  ;D

[Jill]

I know what you mean about the lorries, EJ.  But reckon it's better than the whole lot going to Mucking for landfill (I just love that name - so appropriate  ;D. 

[KevB]

I suggested to our council that during the winter months, (whilst the green garden waste isn't being produced) to use that bin to collect glass, especially over the Christmas period! their sad reply was " we haven't the necessary collection vehicle"? Now thats waste on a grand scale! whats wrong with the current vehicle?
I bet the same thing applies nationwide! (ish)