recycling collections.
By elliemaryz | Saturday, February 12, 2011, 19:22
Just wanted to let off a little steam regarding our recycling collections.
My green bin was half filled immediately after our last collection with all the litter I collected floating down my street and in the surrounding area. If I had walked a little further I could have easily refilled the whole box by covering less than quarter of a square mile. I'm all for recycling and not filling up the landfill sites but I thought the idea was that it actually got taken away and recycled not left to lie in the street? It seems to me the collection policy is if it drops on the floor whilst being tipped into the lorry then it stays there. I love living where I do and take pride in my house and the general surrounding area but it soon looks run down and neglected with frostie boxes, milk containers and tin cans blowing down the street like tumble weed in a western movie?!!!!!
I have brought my children up knowing that you never under any circumstances drop litter in the street (hence why my car looks like a skip on wheels inside but thats a differnt issue!) so why should it be acceptable for refuse collectors to drop things in the street and leave them there? It's the councils job to make sure this is done properly and we all pay enough council tax to expect a decent service .Has anyone else had a problem with this lately?
Rant over, think I might drop the council a letter actually.
Ellie Taylor
Comments
still think lids is the simple answer. as you say... not rocket science! will ask council, and if they say no perhaps they will give me a reduction in my council tax for my weekly litter picking duties ha ha!
By elliemaryz at 22:12 on 13/02/11
ReportI agree, everyone working together is needed to prevent this issue, but with respect, that’s not what you initially wrote. You appeared to simply blame the collectors and the Council.
It may be inevitable that these boxes stand for up to 12hrs before collection, but residents knowing that, can do simple things to reduce the risk of their recycling blowing down the street, when it’s breezy. This really shouldn’t be an issue - residents should simply use a bit of common sense. Don’t leave/ put lightweight objects at the top of an open container!
With regard to the collectors, I would agree that they could be a little more attentive and thorough, when cleaning-up spillages which *they’ve* caused.
By oh_aye30 at 13:10 on 13/02/11
Reporto.k good point, I'm sure everything you say contributes to the problem but what I'm saying is that everyone working together needs to SOLVE the problem as I don't want to live in a landfill site!
Perhaps the council should also supply lids to the green boxes? I freely admit I would not like to be a refuse collector myself so have to give them credit for doing the job, and it must be worse for them sorting wet soggy recycling that has sat out in the rain. Lids would also stop the overloading problem and things being caught by the wind. It is inevitable that boxes may stand for up to 12 hours as our collection sometimes happens at 7am and sometimes not till 5pm so you can't get round that one.
By elliemaryz at 12:15 on 13/02/11
ReportA lot of the rubbish I see blowing down the street is simply from where residents recycling bins are either being overfilled, and the wind catches it, or lightweight items (such as milk containers, yoghurt pots, papers etc) being left near the top of the bin, similarly being caught by the breeze. The problem is compounded by many residents putting their bins out the evening before collection, providing 9hrs of breezy opportunity, throughout the night, to scatter this lightweight ‘recycling’ around our streets, assuming that the collectors arrive at 7am. If the collectors don’t arrive until the end of the day, that’s a further 9hrs of breezy opportunity.
Surely, a little commonsense has to be adopted by residents when putting out their recycling - if you leave lightweight objects at the top of an open container, and theirs a bit of a breeze, it will likely end up in a neighbours garden or replicating tumble weed - it’s not rocket science.
By oh_aye30 at 11:22 on 13/02/11
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