how does the new fortnightly rubbish collection affect you and where you live?

Question

We have a big black bin for household rubbish which is emptied fortnightly
We have a big green bin for garden rubbish and waste food which is emptied on the alternate fortnight
We also have a small black bin which is emptied weekly for recyclable items like glass,tins,paper,plastic and clothes.
All items must be put in separate bags and be cleaned first.
Bins must be put out at 7am.If they are put out the day before then we are liable to a fine. We now have rats and maggots and foul smells 'wafting' that we never had before.

Answer 1

Goodness me where do you live? All that effort for rubbish. What worries me is here in New Zealand, they are trying to do away with plastic shopping bags.What will we put our rubbish in then I wonder?Sounds to me as if your local authority is employing you to do it's dirty work. I'd go on strike if I were you.

Answer 2

Here in North Norfolk, we have a grey wheelie bin for rubbish which is emptied fortnightly, and a green one for recyclable plastic, cans, card and paper, also emptied once every two weeks. Recyclables must be clean and unwrapped. I find it no problem at all - all rubbish for the grey bin is bagged, and I wash the bin occasionally with a mop and disinfectant, so no smells, maggots or rats! However,we are lucky enough to be able to leave the bin out safely - it must be a major problem when this can't be done.

Answer 3

We have no problems with the fortnightly collection of the wheelie bin contents, even on very hot days.
We have two other boxes - one for paper and thin card; the other for glass, tins, fabrics and 2 types of plastic (labelled 1 & 2). These are emptied weekly.
Garden rubbish, household rubbish and food waste goes into the wheelie bin. Neighbours share facilities so if my neighbour has a lot of glass one week and we don't have much, she is welcome to use our box.
We've installed a Sinkerator to dispose of kitchen waste (it's not very good with banana peel unless you cut it up!) which attracted a Council subsidy. The Council also sells very cheap compost bins for people who want to compost their vegetable/garden waste.
We put our containers out - on the end of our drive, not the pavement, the night before collection is due. Nothing has been said about any penalty for doing this and I doubt it would hold water since the containers are on our property.
You can buy dustbin powder which you can sprinkle in you bins to eliminate any smells and buy wheelie bin liner bags.
We also have a firm which goes around pressure washing bins after they have been emptied - don't use this so not sure of the cost.
We live in Worcestershire.

Answer 4

That sounds awful! We have the big black bin for household rubbish which is collected weekly. A green bin for garden/kitchen waste which is collected...........I don't know because we've only just bought the house and I can't remember what the label says! A blue bin for papers which is collected fortnightly. I would hate for the collection of the household bins to go fortnightly.

Answer 5

Consider a compost heap for any vegetables, fruits and breads. It will make your trash a lot less stinky and maggot prone, and provides fantastic fertilizer for you garden. If you're having a lot of trouble there are different herbs that deter certain types of insects. Try researching them, and throwing a few into your rubbish bin every so often. Also be sure that you're recycling absolutely everything possible. It will cut down on the amount of waste.

Answer 6

Basically we can't keep dumping stuff we need to separate everythign recyclable.

Honestly I studied this stuff at uni on my degree we are in real trouble at the moment with our waste. The not putting it out the day before is stupid.. for some people it is not that easy maybe an old person whose carer could put it out for them the night before but can't be expected to drag themselves out at 6:30am Just for that one little job. Sometimes I wonder what idiots dream up these regulations they are just asking for trouble.

I am not that old just 30 but I remember bin men used to come around the back of your house and take the bags out of the bin and carry it no wheelie bins. I am not saying thats the way it should be but maybe they should have a little consideration for those such tight regulations causes problems.

Answer 7

how unlucky are you ~ we still have weekly collections here in north Manchester, we have black bins for garden waste,kitchen waste etc~ we have just in the last week been given a blue bin for recyclable goods and have been informed that it will be emptied once a month ~ this bin is the one with the micro - chip installed to gauge weight so we have been told ~ we shall see.

Answer 8

we have had fortnightly rubbish collections for 3 yrs now,no problem with it,its no huge hassle to wash a couple more dirty things and recycle when dry.

the whole point is to cut waste,don't buy stuff with so much packaging so there is less to throw out,re use bags for shopping,don't cook too much so your not throwing too much food waste away,only buy as much as you need so again your not throwing food out.

what are you throwing out to attract maggotts and rats?
its your lifestyle that has to change and all the others who complain about smells,wash your bin when its been emptied.

make veg waste into compost,should be some scheme nearby if you can be arsed to look. pretty much same with all your waste,just go green happily we don't own this planet just its custodians for the next generation.

smile

Answer 9

I live in a seaside town. They are starting collections in october i believe. It's outsde in the frnt garden, we live in a flat so have no choice but to put it out. Won't be too bad in the winter. But comes spring and summer and i wonder how long before the seagulls figure out how to open the lids of the wheelie bins :-)
Alternatively the local yobbos will use them as fire lighters. Happened to someone i know who had a wheeliebin for his business. He hired a garage to put his rubbish in after they set his bin alight for the 4th time :-)

Answer 10

we have same as you except we also have black box for paper. it works well here, although you will always get people moaning about it. some round here do not even recycle so it will be interesting to see what they do when the fines start coming. we are in buckingham and have had it over a year now.