Forum Topic

It is not simply that people are unwilling to pay much for local services but that Government has actually put a limit on the increase that Councils can make in Council Tax of ?% or they have to have a consultation which of course will cost even more to the Councils.  All this while making cuts in the amount given by Government to Local Authorities.It is all a squeeeeze...And we are still get stuck on Recycling when the Waste Hierarchy starts with Reduce and then goes on to Reuse and then finishes with Recycle.  Repairing and Energy from Waste are being slipped in before Recycle which is the last stop before landfill.We need to make sure that we are making as little waste as possible and the food waste bin is an easy way to help with this.  Not only are the food scraps that go in it put to good use making compost and electricity but it really shows you where you could have bought more wisely and saved yourself money and possibly also saved on packaging too.Print this useful poster off - as you will see from the comments it is not absoluutely up to date but is something that every teenager leaving home and every young carer - in fact absoluutely everybody should or could be reminded about:http://www.therubbishdiet.org.uk/should-you-throw-away-food-past-its-best-before-date/Many people also need to prepare for when they have to pay for carrier bags.  The main supermarkets all sell reusable ones at a discounted price although you may prefer to advertise your own favourite charity.You can leave any excessive packaging at the till (remember the Minister urging us to do this in 2006)?Here is someone who got fed up with it:http://plasticisrubbish.com/2011/03/13/why-we-hate-plastic/and here is a link to someone else trying to reduce it:www.cleanbinmovie.com/tentoptipsA great poster here:https://plasticisrubbish.files.wordpress.com/2012/01/plastic-sushi.jpgBe more thoughtful and Reduce Reuse and then Recycle!

Philippa Bond ● 3995d

LOL!  Well I went around the Closed Loop Recycling plant in Dagenham last year which was interesting and where they separate and sort all the plastic bottles they receive using many different methods - as it has of course to end up testing fit for food use.  Karen Cannard has a report here where she has followed on with a visit to Nampak who actually make the plastic milk bottles from the sort of pellets that they make at Closed Loop.  It is all changing and improving.http://www.therubbishdiet.org.uk/?s=Closed+Loop+Recyclinghttp://www.therubbishdiet.org.uk/beyond-the-bin-shrinking-the-impact-of-the-plastic-milk-bottle/Are you managing to squash at least the plastic milk bottles?  (I didn't dare tell them at Closed Loop that I actually try and avoid plastic bottles preferring reusable glass as first choice for milk and not buying bottled water if possible.)Apart from avoiding it and buying naked (don't you just love the concept) I sometimes stack tomato boxes and grape boxes and mushroom boxes with their own kind when they are obviously the same.  This may of course be totally the wrong thing to do but it does make space.Take a look at this: http://www.therubbishdiet.org.uk/beyond-the-bin-closing-the-loop-on-packaging/It may be worth sending your queries in here - they are asking what you have difficulty recycling.  I haven't registered as I've been involved with something else.PS One of the problems they had at Closed Loop was making sure that none of the silver foil from the plastic milk bottle seals was retained in the mix.  Recently I noticed some of these seals with a sort of central wing to pull it off cleanly with.  It's great to see designs evolving and changing - especially when they seem to be for the better. I haven't chased up Ealing on exactly what they are doing or think they are doing!  When I last looked there was some info on the Recycling part of the website saying where they were sending their plastics.Interestingly companies like Closed Loop may have contracts that only last 18 months with their suppliers.  So there is a big contrast with contracts which the Councils sign up for with their contractors for 25 years or so!Complain to the Council if your recycling is all muddled up by the contractors after you've separated it.  Does the Council know that the Contractors are scaling down on their separated collections?  How will the Councils reach the percentage they are supposed to if recyclers efforts are being treated like this?

Philippa Bond ● 4000d

I haven't had any problems with my recycling and residual waste being collected.  However there didn't seem to be much street cleaning going on at the start of the year.I am surprised at the state of some of the green boxes put out for collection.  There is information on how recycling should be presented for collection on the Council website and there are a lot of people who could show more respect for the collectors who sort their waste by making sure that it is presented safely and properly.There are also a lot who could be reminded to KEEP their residual waste and recycling ON THEIR PROPERTY instead of cluttering up the pavement.  This was particularly noticeable this year with (real) Christmas trees which could easily have been placed within the curtilages of  properties blocking the pavements.  There were collection points in the parks listed on the website but no notice on the fencing by the Walpole Park (Lammas Park entrance) one.  I don't know about the others.  People have got used to them being there and a simple laminated notice with an outline of a Christmas tree with a few words would have sufficed for those who couldn't wait for the Garden Waste collection team's listed collection date. Also a reminder to not put out unprotected sacks long before the collection date. We have always found that an ordinary sized metal bin solves this problem for us.  It is on the edge of the property and when the black sack is full we tie it up and leave the lid off for collection.Using the food waste bin makes a tremendous amount of difference.

Philippa Bond ● 4015d