Fortnightly rubbish collection and fines
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Quite frankly local councils take the biscuit but apparently not the rubbish these days. They just haven't got a clue and to be honest this fortnightly rubbish collection idea is just crazy. I've just read an article in the news about a guy who now has a criminal record - for overfilling his wheelie bin by four inches believe it or not! |
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What on earth are they playing at? Apparently Copeland Council sent an employee out there to take a photograph of the offending bin, then a couple of days later officers with stab vests turned up to read this poor guy his rights and issue him with an on the spot fine. Is it just me, or has the whole world gone barking mad? Surely local councils can find a better way to spend their bloated tax coffers than hunting down residents and making criminals out of them. More fines, more council tax wasted... |
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Apparently in Nottingham it's now a crime to leave your bin out on the street too long after the rubbish has been collected. More fines, more council tax wasted. If they collected the flipping rubbish every week instead of just once a fortnight then we wouldn't be in this mess in the first place! Maybe that was the plan all along. Let's save money by collecting less frequently, then we'll sting them with fines. That'll stitch them up nicely thank you very much. Grrrrr... Well Mr Corkhill of Whitehaven, Cumbria; here's a suggestion for you. Why don't you fill up your bin to the prescribed level and put the remaining rubbish into a large wheel barrow. Then once a fortnight take it up and dump it right on the doorstep of your local council offices. Let's see then if the can place hand on heart and say that fortnightly collections are such a good idea. By: Trashman |
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Comments from visitors
To no one's great surprise, assaults on dustmen have increased again. Both physical and verbal attacks are up by a fifth over the past year. It is a sad, but inevitable, consequence of this government's decision to put refuse collection in the frontline of the punishment culture.
Tempers boil over when householders find their rubbish hasn't been taken away because they've fallen foul of the byzantine rules which now govern the simple business of emptying the bins.
Refuse collection is at the very heart of the social contract between taxpayer and government. Under Labour, it has morphed into an unnecessarily complicated and draconian regime, which has resulted in an upsurge in fly-tipping and an urban plague of rats, mice, flies and foxes feeding on rotting waste. If you want to know what has gone wrong with the governance of Britain over the past 11 years, you need look no further.
I don't blame the dustmen, even though some of them are more than capable of making the worst of a bad job - for instance, refusing to empty bins which are three inches too far from the kerb, or sorting through your plastic sack and dumping the 'wrong kind' of waste on your driveway.
That's not to condone anyone giving a dustman a slap, simply to understand the provocation. The real culprits are the ministers who seized on ridiculous European landfill targets as a weapon to reduce public services, raise taxes and impose heavy fines. Don't forget, it was the Slop Bucket Kid, David Miliband, currently putting himself forward as the saviour of the nation, who pushed the notion of scrapping weekly refuse collections.
Tempers boil over when householders find their rubbish hasn't been taken away because they've fallen foul of the byzantine rules which now govern the simple business of emptying the bins.
Refuse collection is at the very heart of the social contract between taxpayer and government. Under Labour, it has morphed into an unnecessarily complicated and draconian regime, which has resulted in an upsurge in fly-tipping and an urban plague of rats, mice, flies and foxes feeding on rotting waste. If you want to know what has gone wrong with the governance of Britain over the past 11 years, you need look no further.
I don't blame the dustmen, even though some of them are more than capable of making the worst of a bad job - for instance, refusing to empty bins which are three inches too far from the kerb, or sorting through your plastic sack and dumping the 'wrong kind' of waste on your driveway.
That's not to condone anyone giving a dustman a slap, simply to understand the provocation. The real culprits are the ministers who seized on ridiculous European landfill targets as a weapon to reduce public services, raise taxes and impose heavy fines. Don't forget, it was the Slop Bucket Kid, David Miliband, currently putting himself forward as the saviour of the nation, who pushed the notion of scrapping weekly refuse collections.
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Completely agree DSG, they don't know how much better it is to use a carrot rather than a stick!
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grumpyoldwoman - 7-Dec-10 18:54
Those in power seem to have developed a knee-jerk reaction to every problem - if a thing's not working properly, make the public pay more. Roads overcrowded? Don't build more roads, just charge people to drive on them. Too many people ki11ed in car accidents? Don't do anything to make the roads safer, just put up speed cameras and milk the motoring public. Jet airliners producing too much pollution? Don't bother making cleaner aeroplanes, just put the fares up. First-class post not arriving soon enough? Better put the prices up. Too many illegal immigrants? Sorry, can't do much about that - but we cancharge everyone more for their passports! Naughty terrorists planning to blow up planes? Stick a bit on the price of every airline ticket to pay for the extra security. Don't know how many asylum-seekers have slipped through the net? Introduce ID cards and make us all pay through the nose for them.
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So now they're going to put spying devices in our dustbins. The government are proposing that local councils should fit dustbins with little machines to weigh our rubbish so that they can charge us for the amount we throw away. This carefully ignores the fact that we are already paying the council, through the iniquitous Council Tax, for providing a refuse service. This proposal is supposed to encourage us to recycle more, and produce less un-recyclable waste. It won't work, of course. It'll just mean more bags of rubbish left by the roadside in the dead of night.
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Obviously litter is a real problem and there's every reason to take steps to solve it. Few people would object to the principle of fines for litter-bugs. But if a system is to work effectively and become respected by the public, it has to be administered fairly, thoroughly and sensibly. Instead, councils are sending out half-trained power-mad jobsworths with carte-blanche to scatter fixed-penalty notices out to anyone they don't like the look of.
I offer this advice to Weekly Gripe readers. Firstly never, ever, pick up a piece of litter you didn't drop yourself. That's the council's job, and although they have little intention of doing it themselves, they won't be pleased if you show them up by doing it for them. You also run the risk of being accused of stealing the litter because it doesn't belong to you.
Secondly, if you have an enemy you'd like to annoy, all you have to do is write his name and address on a couple of dozen envelopes and dump them in a street litter-bin. Before long Obersturmbahnführer von Litterwarden will be knocking on his door. But be careful - soon councils will start installing CCTV cameras in litter-bins to make sure we all behave ourselves. Because that's their job, really, isn't it? You and I might think their job is to make our environment a more pleasant place for us and to provide us with the services we need (and pay for), but they know that really it's to make us all toe their line. Whatever that is.
I offer this advice to Weekly Gripe readers. Firstly never, ever, pick up a piece of litter you didn't drop yourself. That's the council's job, and although they have little intention of doing it themselves, they won't be pleased if you show them up by doing it for them. You also run the risk of being accused of stealing the litter because it doesn't belong to you.
Secondly, if you have an enemy you'd like to annoy, all you have to do is write his name and address on a couple of dozen envelopes and dump them in a street litter-bin. Before long Obersturmbahnführer von Litterwarden will be knocking on his door. But be careful - soon councils will start installing CCTV cameras in litter-bins to make sure we all behave ourselves. Because that's their job, really, isn't it? You and I might think their job is to make our environment a more pleasant place for us and to provide us with the services we need (and pay for), but they know that really it's to make us all toe their line. Whatever that is.
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Nowadays you can get fined for putting the wrong type of rubbish in the wrong bin! Ahh...another excuse to tax the already overtaxed public.
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tough call. i'm a single guy living on his own (with a dog heh) in a detached bungalow. the fortnightly system suits me just fine seeing as the bulk of my waste is recyclables like bottles and cartons. but whenever I have people staying over -- especially my sister's children -- the bins fill up with an amazing quickness. I can see how someone with a family of four could easily get overwhelmed with trash, yet the council refuses to provide extra bins unless you're willing to pay £120 for them.
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Steve,
I live in a flat so cannot compost kitchen waste, I would like to recycle plastic containers like yoghurt pots but the only plastic my council will recycle is drink bottles and detergent or bleach containers.
Many people are unable to take glass to the bottle banks and again my council will not collect it.
If collections become fortnightly I will have to keep rotting rubbish in my flat for two weeks. Unlike you I don't have a garden or yard to keep it in. More and more people are living in flats now as that is what is mostly built.
Not everyone is in your fortunate position and fortnightly collections do not suit all of us just fine.
I live in a flat so cannot compost kitchen waste, I would like to recycle plastic containers like yoghurt pots but the only plastic my council will recycle is drink bottles and detergent or bleach containers.
Many people are unable to take glass to the bottle banks and again my council will not collect it.
If collections become fortnightly I will have to keep rotting rubbish in my flat for two weeks. Unlike you I don't have a garden or yard to keep it in. More and more people are living in flats now as that is what is mostly built.
Not everyone is in your fortunate position and fortnightly collections do not suit all of us just fine.
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If you recycle the items that can be recycled and compost kitchen and garden waste, I can't believe you'll fill a whole bin every week to justify weekly collections.
We are a household of 4 adults and fortnightly collections suit us fine.
We are a household of 4 adults and fortnightly collections suit us fine.
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It's just so typically British isn't it?
Instead of councils helping and enabling people to do the right thing regarding recycling, they just go about antagonising and even criminalising the people who pay them.
My poor Grandmother has Alzheimer's but prior to it becoming worse, always did her best with recycling.
Not so long ago, two burly men from the council came banging on her door demanding to know why she was no longer recycling and putting the wrong waste into the wrong bag. This upset her so much, as she didn't remember doing anything 'wrong'.
What kind of society have we become when these kind of things can occur?
Targeting the weak and the helpless - hasn't this been done before - somewhere in Europe, around 1939 to 1945?
Instead of councils helping and enabling people to do the right thing regarding recycling, they just go about antagonising and even criminalising the people who pay them.
My poor Grandmother has Alzheimer's but prior to it becoming worse, always did her best with recycling.
Not so long ago, two burly men from the council came banging on her door demanding to know why she was no longer recycling and putting the wrong waste into the wrong bag. This upset her so much, as she didn't remember doing anything 'wrong'.
What kind of society have we become when these kind of things can occur?
Targeting the weak and the helpless - hasn't this been done before - somewhere in Europe, around 1939 to 1945?
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CouncilWatch - 10-Mar-10 22:32
oh yes, all that money councils save with fortnightly collections - i'm sure that the comparatively recently introduced recycling collections are entirely free and the council are just sleeping on mattresses filled full of the money they've made only collecting your refuse once a week.
quite frankly, uniformed residents take the biscuit but apparently not time to think things through!
quite frankly, uniformed residents take the biscuit but apparently not time to think things through!
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As you say it is all about saving costs. It cannot be green. What is green when everyone has to take their overspill to the local tip in their own cars. If they collected once a week, like they used to, then one lorry would do the same job. Recycling benefits are not that clear and lots of items although recyclable, by indication on the packaging, are not allowed in the recycling bin: What is going on here? If you are away and miss the collection you are well and truly stuffed. All councils can say is "have you tried composting?". What if I am not interested in composting or gardening? What if I am not interested in cleaning out yoghurt pots? Rubbish is rubbish and they should recycle it all at the plant. They should, in my opinion, still come and collect your bin from your backyard, like they used to. What are we paying for? In the US, where 5 have a property, they have no recycling at all! Rubbish collections are twice weekly and I am allowed to put out 5 bags (or wheelie bins!) at each collection! Why are we being forced through this? What about China, India, South America, US etc.. etc.. The people who set council policy and those who have allowed us to be ruled by European directives are out of touch with reality. They live in a socialist utopia that simply does not work in a capitalist society. Something is going to have to give.
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With fortnightly collections, it's all fine until one day something happens just once which means you don't put your bin out; OR, you have a BBQ or party or a tidy-up which generates a one-off large amount of rubbish; it simply won't fit in your small bin, so you have to stack it up in your garage, where it festers for 2 more weeks, and then takes up extra space in the next collection; it can take up to 6 weeks to clear the backlog. End result: Rats, vermin, smells.
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Hi bigger etc! Your idea would be the only sensible way to go if they are going to start charging us by weight of rubbish.
I live next to a small block of flats and the bins all go out in the same place as ours. We do all sometimes sneak a bit in each others bins where there is room (but only after they are out for collection). This has always been ok but now there is someone in one of the flats who is putting stuff in the green composting bin in plastic bags (not allowed!). They are throwing food away without even unwrapping it! Their bin is now full with a tag on it, and I am just waiting for them to start filling up all the others.
People like this make it difficult for everyone.
I live next to a small block of flats and the bins all go out in the same place as ours. We do all sometimes sneak a bit in each others bins where there is room (but only after they are out for collection). This has always been ok but now there is someone in one of the flats who is putting stuff in the green composting bin in plastic bags (not allowed!). They are throwing food away without even unwrapping it! Their bin is now full with a tag on it, and I am just waiting for them to start filling up all the others.
People like this make it difficult for everyone.
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grumpyoldwoman - 11-May-09 08:43
I think bins should be fitted with locks that only the refuse collecters and the bin owner can open. The local council has halved the size of our dust bins and I live in flats each with our own bin only problem is when I go to put something in MY bin (which is not very often) I usually find that someone else from the other flats have put their rubbish in MY bin because they have all filled their bins! Once I could not put anything in my bin because when I went to it I found it was already full of other peoples rubbish!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
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bigger lockable bins - 11-May-09 02:52
First halve the bin collections. Well now the fools are seriously considering getting rid of their pest control departments. Brilliant. What a gift to the rat population of the UK (& I mean the furry, not the Adidas-wearing rat population). One half-wit from Forest of Dean council said the the authority was struggling "like any other business". Business? It's a LOCAL AUTHORITY, idiot.
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A broken car-window, as a result of vandalism, presumably with the intention of stealing either the car or its contents, is no longer considered a crime. Overfilling a dustbin with rubbish, in the vain hope that it will be collected at some point within a fortnight, is now considered a crime.
Tax, fine or criminalise the hardworking, morally respectable and law-abiding citizens. Laud, protect or fund the utter scum that take advantage of this spineless nation; the politicians who have no grasp on everyday life, the bogus asylum-seekers, the babies-for-benefits chav scum, the spoilt teenagers who think the world owes them the ultimate respect and honour, the home-grown British-born terrorists, the frantic, desperate talent-free celebrities, the overpaid bully-boys masquerading as premier league footballers and their cheap, nasty girlfriends, the proponents of total, utter, mindless violence towards babies, children, pets, animals both wild and domestic, the elderly, the disabled.
Where is this country's sense of perspective? I truly, truly despair...
Tax, fine or criminalise the hardworking, morally respectable and law-abiding citizens. Laud, protect or fund the utter scum that take advantage of this spineless nation; the politicians who have no grasp on everyday life, the bogus asylum-seekers, the babies-for-benefits chav scum, the spoilt teenagers who think the world owes them the ultimate respect and honour, the home-grown British-born terrorists, the frantic, desperate talent-free celebrities, the overpaid bully-boys masquerading as premier league footballers and their cheap, nasty girlfriends, the proponents of total, utter, mindless violence towards babies, children, pets, animals both wild and domestic, the elderly, the disabled.
Where is this country's sense of perspective? I truly, truly despair...
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Is this a Bin ploicy or is it an envirommental policy?
People like to give the impression that they are very pro the environment. We can alll understand why people would like to live in a clean, fresh uncomplicated environment, it's bound to be easier than living in the fug-like atmosphere of a swamp. THE quetion has to be, when faced with the possibility of being able to vote Green Party, why did the vast majority recently vote Conservative in the local elections????
Don't tell me it's because you vote one way locally but another in a General Election. I am not buying this. I could if the Tories had won say 100 to 125 councils, but they didn't, they won 256. That's too many all on one day to argue with any credibility that the vote will be different come a General election?
People like to give the impression that they are very pro the environment. We can alll understand why people would like to live in a clean, fresh uncomplicated environment, it's bound to be easier than living in the fug-like atmosphere of a swamp. THE quetion has to be, when faced with the possibility of being able to vote Green Party, why did the vast majority recently vote Conservative in the local elections????
Don't tell me it's because you vote one way locally but another in a General Election. I am not buying this. I could if the Tories had won say 100 to 125 councils, but they didn't, they won 256. That's too many all on one day to argue with any credibility that the vote will be different come a General election?
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He'll not be in for much longer. Labour have exhausted their expiry date with the people of this country. Just like Hitler's Generals had had enough of him, his troops fighting constantly for years, returning their medals enveloped back to Hitler from the front.
Time out for Labour am afraid. They invest no good for the benefit of the people of Britain.
Let Norway and Denmark supply the mosquito nets to Africa, why is it Britain is constantly coughing up for the remainder of the world?
These space cadets in power really leave me feeling empty, empty as a politician's promise.
Time out for Labour am afraid. They invest no good for the benefit of the people of Britain.
Let Norway and Denmark supply the mosquito nets to Africa, why is it Britain is constantly coughing up for the remainder of the world?
These space cadets in power really leave me feeling empty, empty as a politician's promise.
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The similarities between Labour and the Nazis are that once they are in power we have no bloody chance of getting them out again. Gordon Brown is not an elected prime minister, nobody wants him in power and everyone wants another election. In any other country in the world this would be called dictatorship.
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