Forum Topic

What's the point ?

I am rather disgruntled.I take care separating my recyclables every week - even within the green boxes themselves, so that the glass, tins, cardboard, paper, etc are in their individual piles.My recycling containers are usually overflowing and my symbolic black half-filled bin liner looks rather lonesome.Having been at home on the day of my road's collection this week, I was distracted by the loud noise going on in my front garden and neighbouring gardens. I was appalled by what I saw. The bin men put all the 'dry' recycling into the white hessian bag and dragged it to the collection vehicle and dumped it all into one section.I am rather miffed. The vehicle labelling states "EVERYTHING in this truck is RECYCLED".However, if the crushed glass, soggy paper and card all nicely minced together, how on earth will they separate it at the plant ? I am not an expert, but it seems rather impossible.What's also concerning me is that separation at source (i.e. at home) saves money because it doesn't need to be separated at its destination. So, if it is all mixed up now, the contractor's costs will increase, a commercial outfit will not absorb this extra costs just like that, so they will find ways of cutting costs to balance the books, so will Enterprise cut labour which will lead to problems further down the road (no pun intended) ?

Joanna Dabrowska ● 5064d8 Comments

Sorry that's not how I was brought up.We always composted vegetable waste when I was a child wherever we were in the world.We always reused and altered things.We didn't buy lots of stuff we didn't need but just wanted for the sake of it. We gave things away to people who wanted/needed them.We didn't expect a Council to magicly whisk anything that we didn't need or want any more off out of sight.Councils would have more money to spend on their other services if we didn't make so much waste.  Have you ever watched this (all of it):http://topdocumentaryfilms.com/hawaii-message-waves/Have you seen this:

Philippa Bond ● 5064d

or everything into a black bag.

Amy Brookes ● 5064d

Mine has been sorted kerbside recently.  They have been using a kerbsider collection vehicle - well I've seen it twice...It shouldn't be too time consuming doing the preliminary sort.  Paper into a waste paper basket, cardboard into a empty cereal packet, batteries into a jamjar on the kitchen windowsill etc.

Philippa Bond ● 5064d

The point is we should have a council tax strike or a class law action against the council. Furthermore all the top officers employed by the council should be sacked. The point is when you next see your councillor or a council officer tell them what you think to their faces. At least it will make you feel better.

Eberharh A. Thomson ● 5064d

The point is that we can only live in hope. The intention is to resume kerbside sorting. But when?The longer we wait the more the relevant officers can rightly be called incompetent.If you worked in an organisation which had a few senior officers who continully could not resolve a problem which upsets a large number of the public, what would that do for the moral in your organisation?If you go for a job interview a key question will test your communication skills. In this case nought out of 100. Job application consigned to the co-mingled bin.

George Knox ● 5064d

You could always just put everything in a black bag?There is no law that says you must put everything in diffent boxes. As has been proven in the last few weeks, if the rubbish all goes to the same place, the world doesn't stop turning.

Amy Brookes ● 5064d

I still sort my green recycling box into its individual components: glass, tin, paper, cardboard, etc. as instructed when the scheme was first introduced. My neighbour informs me, however, that the contents of the box are now tipped into the truck all together, making my assiduous and time-consuming sorting redundant. I emailed LBE about this but didn't receive a reply. I would be most grateful if someone could provide me with a definitive answer.

Linda Thorpe ● 5064d

I expect every new contract to come in with improvements and lots more information going out to residents so that those who have moved in more recently and those who have fallen out of the habit of recycling are reminded of what can be recycled now that there are more facilities available.  Councils generally do this after little info so that they can claim the most wonderful increase in rates and haven't-they-done-well effect.This contract started with nothing.  Worse than that the website has lost lots of important information on looking after your waste and reducing your waste.  It has been emasculated.  Who is now running this?  What is their agenda?If you'd seen the Panorama programme you'd have seen how poor much mixed collections is - giving a high rejection rate and poor recyclate price. Defra was taken to court and changed their advice on collections as a result.We had a good system.  It needed tweaking to include some problem areas.  Rather than man up and face that - we get this.

Philippa Bond ● 5064d