Last Friday two shiny new wheelie bins turned up at my house. Kindly leant to us from one of our neighbouring Councils, they arrived together with a 3-page instruction leaflet on how to carry out the trial!
So I’m part of the experiment to see what it’s like to live with a different waste service. Because we as a council have to make a big decision on the future of our waste service A hot issue locally and nationally.
To help us make the decision on whether we stick with the what we’ve got or move to the wheelie bins we thought members and managers should to try it out first.
To recap we are set to make a big decision at the end of October on how we collect your waste. The current service which we provide is a weekly collection of black sacks together with an alternate weekly collection of recycling sacks (the purple sack for paper and the clear sack for cans and plastic bottles). We also provide a green box for a glass collection every other week. One option we are looking at is to retain this service. The only change we would wish to make under this option is to extend the recycling service to all our households (we reach 94% of households at present).
The other main option is to consider the introduction of an alternate weekly collection service. To do this, wheelie bins would be used and the service would operate one week residual waste collected from one wheelie bin and the next week the recycling collected from another wheelie bin. Unlike the sack based service, householders wouldn’t need to separate the recycling and all material to be recycled would be put in the one bin.
The Council’s Leader, Paul Middlebrough suggested Councillors could trial the wheelie bin system before reaching a decision at the end of October. So they could be better informed about the pros and cons of the service. Myself and other colleagues also volunteered . In particular I was keen to see how it would work in practice for a larger family – I have a 6 person household with 4 children including two teenagers.
We started the system on Saturday 22nd September. The first thing we did was put the bins in a suitable location to the side of the house. After reading the instructions my wife noticed that the only difference in terms of recycling products that can’t be put in the recycling bin is textiles.
Now well into the first week and the recycling bin is filling up! We compost vegetable and fruit material but cooked food is put in the residual bin. At the moment, we prefer putting the residual waste bagged up before it goes in the bin reducing the chance of smells. One additional bonus we have is that our dog is unable to attack the recycling sacks anymore!
Last night – in the dark by the time I got round to it – I off loaded all the magazines and mail order catalogues that have been lying round the house for ages into the green bin. They have stacked up because they are so heavy they always split the purple bags, and last time I went to the tip I hadn’t got room to put them in the car. Wonder of wonders, the wheely bin seems to have Tardis properties (after all, it is on loan from Redditch) as even after adding a rather disgraceful number of wine bottles, and all the plastic ones, it was only about a third full, but quite heavy. Nevertheless, with one hand, I wheeled it across the gravel, down a step and out to the gate.
This morning, as if by magic, it had been emptied by the time I got up. The big green bin positively ran itself back up to its parking place behind the shed.
I’m converted after the first collection.
Dear Jack
When you suggested councillors engaged in a hands-on trial I was pleased to participate. I was unused to “bins on wheels” and frankly rather sceptical about some of the recycling claims being made.
As you know I have a three person adult family (with sons and daughters visiting on a regular basis) and Barbara was already well into recycling.
We have just completed the second trial week, the black bin (food waste/residual material) is full, and the green bin (recyclable material) is more than three quarters full. And yes, the system does encourage the recycling process. If there is any adverse comment it would be that so much material at present is not capable of being recycled a situation that should change!
As for the bins themselves, in our premises I (not Barbara!) have found them easier to handle than black sacks and the green bottle boxes, a real plus point being that recyclable materials are comingled – no need to separate.
At the end of last week (prior to collection of the black bin) we held a “smell party” to get the benefits of a number of noses and yes there was some evidence of smell from it. Concerns raised were, “What would it be like in warm weather, in an enclosed space etc?”, all supported by anecdotal case histories.
What we really do like is the security of the bins against those animals and birds (rural and domestic) who use black sacks as their local ‘take away’. No longer do we need to pick the best time of day to put the food waste out, or be faced with a cleaning up exercise.
Regards
Tom