Forum Topic

Reassurance that all whellie bins will be emptied.

Some councils will not empty a recycle whellie bin if it is less than half full and leave it for the next collection.Please can LBE reassure us this will not happen.

Harry Jay ● 3532d42 Comments

Our not quite full one black sack was collected from our wheelie bin yesterday.

Libby Kemp ● 3428d

Eh? So they don't collect it fortnightly?  If you only produce 1 bag of rubbish per fortnight it's going to stink before they bother.  So LBE WANT you to create sufficient landfill for them to empty it ?This policy looks more stupid every day -- like not letting people have smaller blue bins -- making us house unnecessarily large fuglies.Farce.  LBE - Now Rubbish at Rubbish

Jon Wilkins ● 3431d

Okay, now I understand why my wheelie bin was not emptied today, it only had one large black bag in it and hence was not over half full. I just cannot handle this.

John Murias ● 3431d

Well our beloved council did not reply here,so I am asking Lbe residents.How are you getting on with the new service ?.My property has communal bins and not subject to the plastic peril.Harry.

Harry Jay ● 3431d

I read elsewhere that all conservation areas are eligible for special bins but very few seem to have organised themselves to make residents aware of the opportunity.

Andy Jones ● 3477d

As far as I can see the arrangement made by the Bedford Park Society with Ealing Council applies just to their area and not to other conservation areas in the borough.

Helena Cavanagh ● 3478d

According to a letter that we received from a local residents' association (Chiswick area) Ealing will collect excess recycling left around the blue bins although it isn't something they want to encourage. If you think about it, it is in their interest to collect as much recycling as possible to boost their recycling rates. Not sure if this applies to other areas but you can also cancel delivery of the big blue monster 240L bin and buy your own smaller one.

Andrew OSullivan ● 3479d

Some of us have been telling them that for years.  Anybody who follows the lorries down the road can tell who is and who isn't...  but someone promised them that this is the way to go.  Fortnightly may mean fewer lorries but no doubt that was what the last contract promised only no-one seemed to have checked how narrow the streets were...

Philippa Bond ● 3490d

Ealing Council is a democratically elected Council. Here to serve its people!!!This is another service which it imposes on its residents without any thought of the overall impact. As for the savings I can't see that wheelie bins will encourage more people to recycle or reduce the amount of rubbish sent to landfill...As I mentioned earlier The only way is to educate people about the environment and to recycle rubbish.

Nicolas Ozegovic ● 3497d

Duped? I don't think we were consulted or given any choice/vote whatsoever.

Philip Coe ● 3497d

Ealing Council has duped residents in Ealing in believing that wheelie bins are a good idea.I live in Acton Central Ward and on my side of the street are a number of houses converted into a number of self-contained flats, 18 in total. That would mean 36 wheelie bins in 3 houses. None of my neighbours bother to recycle their waste! This is typical across the borough.If Ealing Council thinks that providing a new wheelie bin will increase the level of recycle waste then they are mad!!!Its not the wheelie bin or the old green box that the Council needs to educate, its Ealing Residents, they put the rubbish out...Julian Bell you need to look at this again, Northern Councils have tried and failed to educate their residents and in fact abandon fortnightly collections last year. Hammersmith and Fulham have weekly rubbish collections and have no issues with their rubbish. My question to the Head of rubbish collection, how much was the overall percentage increase in recycling in Southall since Ealing introduced wheelie bins in 2008?I think that ALL that this pointless exercise will create is more illegal fly tipping, which will not save Council Tax payers any money or even reduce the amount of rubbish Ealing sends to landfill.The question to Ealing Labour Party is stop destroying the Queen of the Suburbs. Creating more housing units is great for housing people, but the knock on affect is More Rubbish!!! Which will need to go to landfill..

Nicolas Ozegovic ● 3498d

Nothing less than visual pollution.

Martin C. Harris ● 3506d

My car got damaged last november by a flying wheely bin in bad weather. Five months later and still no acceptance of liability by the local authority.This has forced me to take a much deeper look into the whole issue.It appears there is no safety and liability case from fire safety to public health to damage to person or property.Even a helpful and diplomatic local councillor cannot get to the bottom of this. One good reason why this impenetrable cabinet system of local government is not really doing the taxpaying public an open and pragmatic service.

Mark Kehoe ● 3507d

Walking around the area yesterday and almost every house who already had these wheelie bins had an issue --- all on the floor and contents spiller due to storm KatieI was surprised how many places already had them although the Boston Manor Road section of our walk is in Hounslow!! The other thing confirmed was........they are such a ******** eyesore!!!

Colin Goodman ● 3508d

It starts to look like any excuse for not collecting.  No wonder people feel intimidated by the threat of non-collection.  The best answer is not to have enough for it to be really crucial to you for it to be all collected at each collection.  Knowing the location of street recycling banks nearest to you or where you regularly visit eg supermarket or leisure centre helps reduce that stress - but please please don't misuse them or we'll lose them.  Naming and shaming fly-tippers would help.  LBE used to have a gallery online of these people.If you are worried about what used to be called clinical waste which is now being re-classified as ordinary waste then contact your Councillors and the Council - don't just worry about it.  You also may be able to reduce the amount made by using some washable items rather than single use throwaway.  There are quite a few companies online which may not be known about by those who can't use a computer.

Philippa Bond ● 3515d

lol.

Keith Iddon ● 3515d

Hmmm.."If you live in a property with a black sack rubbish collection service:You must put your black sacks and your recycling containers out for collection before 7am on your collection day, at the front of your property, clearly visible from the road but not on the pavement."http://www.hounslow.gov.uk/index/environment_and_planning/recycling/household_waste.htm

Paul James ● 3516d

But that's what LBH want us to do because their bin men aren't suppose to come on to private property.

Keith Iddon ● 3516d

Not allowed, that's fly tipping, and clearly it narrows the pavement and creates a hazard to those using it.

Paul James ● 3516d

We, and everyone on our street(a crescent) but all our rubbish and recycling out on the pavement, making sure it's up against the fences and not blocking the thoroughfare.Has been so for the 14 years I have lived here..no problems at all.

Keith Iddon ● 3516d

That is exactly why these bins are a problem here.  They were designed for wide streets of properties with gardens big enough for them and not for Victorian and Edwardian terraced houses with so little outside space and narrow streets.They won't fit into many front gardens so that they can be accessed - or so that they can all be accessed - so they won't help increase the recycling rate.Many people have been using ordinary sized old-fashioned dustbins for years to protect their black sacks.  These work well as do the food waste bins so long as they can't be tipped over or opened by two or three legged foxes/cats/rats/magpies etc.  Plastic bin lids sometimes need to be weighted down or tied down with bungee elastic.Many people succeed with this. It isn't difficult. Oversized and difficult to clean and manoeuvre bins will just cause new problems.  In Brentford they have problems with bins blocking the pavements and paths up to front doors.

Philippa Bond ● 3516d

..I should add they must not be left on the pavement, "at the edge of the property" means inside it not outside it so they'll have to step into the property to get the bins...

Paul James ● 3516d

They've got to enter properties to get the bins, I'm not leaving my two bins right at the edge as that would mean I block my gate and path...

Paul James ● 3516d

I didn't think bin men were allowed to enter your property but that you had to leave the wheelie right at the edge of it for them to empty. I take it your house has a front garden?

Keith Iddon ● 3516d

In a wheelie bin when I get one I mean. It'll sit outside my front so will always be there for collection.

Paul James ● 3516d

So don't leave it out for collection.

Keith Iddon ● 3516d

No point in collecting my landfill or recycling every week, it would be less than half empty.

Paul James ● 3517d

All well and good Keith, but this is not what happens and every Monday morning our street can get full of nappies, chicken bones and the rubbish the foxes pull out as they are accessing the bag.Also some people don't tie them up properly and they spill when moved.Open recycling boxes also generate rubbish as stuff blows out of them and operatives drop the stuff whilst stuffing it into the truck. I imagine they are not given have time to pick it up.I'm 50/50 on bins, against mainly for aesthetic reasons, but they are overridden by the desire not to see rubbish nappies and food on the streets where I live.

Paul James ● 3517d

I asked a friend living in East London about the system in her area (which comes under Waltham Forest I believe).Their wheelie bins are emptied EVERY week, not on alternate weeks suggested by Ealing Council.She said all the items for recycling goes in one bin, residents do not have to put them in separate bags. On collection day the wheelie bins are pushed along the street between parked cars where around 8 men empty the bin and sort paper, cardboard glass, plastic, tetra packs and so on into separate compartments in the truck, surely this must be extremely time consuming?We currently sort out these items and all the bin men have to do is throw them into the truck.Her council also allows residents to put food scraps and garden rubbish in a wheelie bin, whereas in this area we have to pay for the removal of garden rubbish!She still complains of lots of household rubbish being dumped in her street on a daily basis, so anyone thinking that wheelie bins will mean the end of fly-tipped rubbish, think again!People with bad habits will not change and irresponsible residents will still use the streets as a dumping ground!I wonder how the wheelie bins will be pushed between the numerous parked cars in our streets? Will residents cars which have been damaged by the operatives have a claim against the council?Despite over 7000 signatures in protest this crazy scheme is still going ahead, only time will tell whether it is a wise move or not.I would also like to know what will happen to all the green boxes and plastic sacks we are currently using, there is no information regarding how these items will be disposed of

Jean F Fernandez ● 3517d

In a perfect world we'd all get up at 6.30a.m. to make sure our black bags were out by 7.00 and not leave them out overnight. No-one would put anything attractive to foxes in them.  As it is, I spend Tuesday mornings going round the garden picking up half-eaten sandwiches, chicken bones, take-away containers, used tissues and soiled nappies (and no, you can't put these in food boxes) because the black bags containing these items have been torn open by the foxes and the contents spread all over our garden. Failing a perfect world peopled by responsible, early rising humans and fastidious foxes, I'll settle for wheelie bins any day. As soon as possible. (Agree about the mesh cages, by the way - we still keep our black bag in one until we put it out and it works very well. Can't wheel it to the pavement, though.)

Christine Gratus ● 3517d

Black sacks will not be ripped open by foxes if stored in the mesh metal cages that the council supplied when black plastic sacks were first issued as substitutes for dustbins. Regrettably many years ago the council abandoned this sensible protective measure and thus commenced the problem.

Martin C. Harris ● 3518d

'Black sacks get ripped open by foxes..'Rubbish ( npi)..if there is no food in the bag they will not touch it, so if all your food waste in in the correct lockable box then there is no problem.

Keith Iddon ● 3519d

"If you think the streets will all be lovely, Take a walk around Brentford on a tuesday night, wednesday or thursday morning where bins are blocking pavements for up to 48 hours."People are not allowed to block pavements with bins...

Paul James ● 3519d

Black sacks get ripped open by foxes and the contents spread all over the road...

Paul James ● 3519d

Because the following fortnight you may produce enough rubbish to fill it.  If it is already half full at the beginning of the fortnight, then you won't be able to get it all in.

Inge Jones ● 3519d

My half a penneth worth...Black sacks cannot be blown over in high gales and spill their contents.Black sacks can be carried three or four at a timePicking up black sacks does not making endless noise of rubber wheels bouncing along pavements Black sacks dont make your neighborhood look s**t 24/7 for 365Black sacks can be moved easily through the 6 inches between cars, be very hard to scratch car's with black sacksBlack sacks take up no more space in a wagon than loose rubbish.People rarely open black sacks to place their cr*p in them and bin men dont have to replace black sacks neatly back where they found them.Black sacks can be kept indoors by the front door the night before collection if you are so mindedFinally.... why have I been segregating my recycling for the last 8 years?!?!?!?!

Colin Goodman ● 3520d

You can get make alternative arrangements or go "DIY" to you local recycling centre but of course you are still contributing, through the Council Tax, for the base service.That said, I agree that there appears to have been a total disregard for individual needs, requirements and preferences.  No private company would survive that way.

Philip Coe ● 3520d

It's not up to bin men to decide whether to empty a perfectly legitimately presented wheelie bin or not. It's up to them to empty it. Supposing you are going on holiday for a few weeks or longer if you're lucky enough..you'd be coming back to all kinds of mess in your bin. I don't understand the logic of not emptying it anyway. Half as much rubbish this week or twice as much next week. We and they should remember we are paying customers for a service which we cannot go elsewhere to get, but maybe that's the rub..

Keith Iddon ● 3520d

Common sense. Public Health and Hygiene.In summer, these will sweat and the contents ( which are soiled disposable nappies, pet mess and combustable waste) beginning to ferment after 36 hours. After 7 days it is an easily combustable vapour.Two weeks is simply tempting fate.The contents of some wheelie bins will attract flies and mosquitoes, and these are by no means airtight. The plastic container does the same thing as a brewers plastic carboy.Wheelie bin fires are far from uncommon in parts of the UK where they have been established.This is why there are H&S guidelines for location of these bins and most major fire and safety services also place details on their websites.Both Ealing and Hounslow ( among others) have chosen to ignore the safety case and guidelines.A couple of examples.All ratified at the National Fire and Safety Centre convention in Moreton on the Marsh.  Here's two for example but there are dozens as well as an H&S set of guidelines.https://www.cornwall.gov.uk/community-and-living/cornwall-fire-and-rescue-service-homepage/how-you-can-help-cornwall-fire-and-rescue-service/arson-prevention/wheelie-bin-fires/http://www.cheshirefire.gov.uk/public-safety/campaigns/awareness-campaigns/wheelie-bin-fire-safetyThese are just part of the risk. Placing them near doors or windows in smaller streets risks everything from toxic fumes and airborne infections to being trapped inside a home if there is a fire.They were designed for rural areas and residences with grass verged streets and homes with driveways and wider side and rear access. Not too many places like that in most streets here.It seems that the political overlords of the London Fire Service have prevented this prudent information being published in London as it would deem many districts unsuitable for such forms of waste storage. So as far as Ealing and Hounslow are concerned the risk to residents is worth taking.If you think the streets will all be lovely, Take a walk around Brentford on a tuesday night, wednesday or thursday morning where bins are blocking pavements for up to 48 hours.And those piles of black bags uncollected? Yes they are still there. They are in locations where wheelie bins cannot be placed at all. So it's just the same as it ever was.Driving through Dormers Wells to Greenford this morning shows what a mess the streets now look. Bins laying all over the place and most of them filthy dirty. That's people not the bins but how is cleanliness and public hygiene going to be enforced?  They cannot even control brazen serial fly tippers. As long as black bags are collected on time then they are not in situ for more than a few hours.As for the moonlight dumpers of such. Wheelie bins will make no difference  whatsoever to them. Or they will dump in your wheelie bin as is happening as well in some parts.Wheelie bins are hugely practical if you have the space. But quite the reverse if you do not.

Mark Kehoe ● 3520d

Why would you want a half empty wheelie bin emptied?

Paul James ● 3521d

Arthur maybe my posting has been censored.What do you need to know ?

Harry Jay ● 3530d

Detail is not available...on purpose?

Arthur Breens ● 3531d