Do you fancy having 7 wheelie bins?

[RandomGrinch]

Most people do not have the space for additional bins.

No, they may not, I definitely don't - but as I've said before - no one, apart from the DM is suggesting people have 7 'bins'!

The story itself is the normal sensationalism from the DM - talking about seven 'bins', when it also states seven waste 'receptacles' -

Just because the DM says so, does it mean that my waste bags and boxes will have to be replaced by Wheely bins!
In that case, it would probably take me a lifetime to fill up the battery bin

So 8 if I want to 'drama-queen' the issue. Reality: zero issues.

We in Wales seem to be ahead of the curve on this one!


...and here is a demo video for the recycling trucks we have - they don't even have the capability of dealing with Wheely bins.

Last point from me, an unexpected benefit. As the trucks are so modern and don't have the hydraulics working constantly, they are very quiet. I can now sleep through a recycling collection!

 

[Ivor Windybottom]

Just more IW nonsense.

From a bloke that's never been anywhere near a sorting plant.

DIYNOT, the home of angry armchair experts.

Here's a Channel 4 dispatches programme that spells most of it out, hopefully in simple enough terms that even those here can understand...

Some key points for those with no attention span...

Very low recycling rates for rubbish from "recycle" bins
Waste collected from "recycle" bins is counted as "recycled" even if burnt
Very few options for actually recycling plastics
Many councils are contractually obliged to keep feeding recyclable waste to incinerators, like it or not

The whole waste industry is largely nonsense, a giant box ticking fraudulent exercise.

 

[cwhaley]

Very low recycling rates for rubbish from "recycle" bins
Waste collected from "recycle" bins is counted as "recycled" even if burnt
Very few options for actually recycling plastics
Many councils are contractually obliged to keep feeding recyclable waste to incinerators, like it or not

The whole waste industry is largely nonsense, a giant box ticking fraudulent exercise.

Much of our recycle bin collections go to an incinerator in Derby to generate electrical energy. Happy with that as it results in a boost to the national grid -- also means some of the waste material can go into building material.

A friend's son went to the recycling plant in Leicester on a school trip (think it's called Enva) and they said there were numerous belts processing incoming waste to be sent for recycling (huge blocks of crushed cardboard, bins with glass bottles, etc.).

If people just keep doing what they're supposed to, it's all we can do. Plus it makes you feel like a better human putting something in the blue bin.

 

[Ivor Windybottom]

Don't get me wrong, I think it's probably our best option as things are. That programme reckons 2% of our electricity comes from waste, which is a good thing.

But I've given up rinsing tins and plastic bottles out, they may as well just go in the rubbish if they're going to end up in the same place anyway. This way the tin gets pulled out by the magnet and recycled, the plastic bottle gets burnt, all exactly as it would if put in the recycle bin. Then I'm not wasting metered clean chlorinated water and my time making it presentable for the recycling that doesn't actually happen for plastics, and for which a bit of dirt doesn't matter for metals. The only downside is for the council, that my tin and bottle don't count in their "recycled" numbers.

 

[ReganAndCarter]

, though most people round here have a couple of tubs with different coloured kids,

How very modern. That's diversiddy for you!

 

[Brigadier]

How very modern. That's diversiddy for you!

I did spot that typo too at the time

 

[ReganAndCarter]

Just more IW nonsense.

From a bloke that's never been anywhere near a sorting plant.

Rubbish.

 

[Brigadier]

Rubbish.

I see what you did there

 

[RandomGrinch]

Waste collected from "recycle" bins is counted as "recycled" even if burnt
Very few options for actually recycling plastics

Whether true or not, our councils stats don't list any plastic for incineration...

Vale of Glamorgan’s recycling data | My Recycling Wales

How does Vale of Glamorgan deal with its recycling? Check out what recycling services Vale of Glamorgan offers, its recycling rate and more.

myrecyclingwales.org.uk

The main supply of recycled plastic goes to a manufacturer of plastic pellets for re-use, Jayplas:

Post Consumer Plastic Recycling | Jayplas

Jayplas turn post consumer plastic into finished products to support a circular economy using industry leading washing and processing technology.

www.jayplas.com

It may be apocryphal, but I've heard that, as the recycling is well sorted, there is less contamination of the waste, it's better quality, and more likely to be picked up by manufacturers for re-use.

 

[charliegolf]

No, they may not, I definitely don't - but as I've said before - no one, apart from the DM is suggesting people have 7 'bins'!

Just because the DM says so, does it mean that my waste bags and boxes will have to be replaced by Wheely bins!
In that case, it would probably take me a lifetime to fill up the battery bin


We in Wales seem to be ahead of the curve on this one!


...and here is a demo video for the recycling trucks we have - they don't even have the capability of dealing with Wheely bins.

Last point from me, an unexpected benefit. As the trucks are so modern and don't have the hydraulics working constantly, they are very quiet. I can now sleep through a recycling collection!

I'm in Wales too, same system. Our 2 weekly wheelie collection is with trad refuse trucks. On that day there are two truck passing by.

 

[Ivor Windybottom]

Whether true or not, our councils stats don't list any plastic for incineration...

Vale of Glamorgan’s recycling data | My Recycling Wales

How does Vale of Glamorgan deal with its recycling? Check out what recycling services Vale of Glamorgan offers, its recycling rate and more.

myrecyclingwales.org.uk

The main supply of recycled plastic goes to a manufacturer of plastic pellets for re-use, Jayplas:

Post Consumer Plastic Recycling | Jayplas

Jayplas turn post consumer plastic into finished products to support a circular economy using industry leading washing and processing technology.

www.jayplas.com

It may be apocryphal, but I've heard that, as the recycling is well sorted, there is less contamination of the waste, it's better quality, and more likely to be picked up by manufacturers for re-use.

That Dispatches programme claims that everything that gets taken in your recycle bin is counted as "recycled", regardless of whether it is actually recycled or not. So your council's figures may well be fiction.

Plastic recycling is incredibly expensive. Taking the example of a shampoo bottle, you're not going to pay someone £10/hour to peel the label off, remove the cap and thoroughly rinse it out. Not when you can buy its weight in virgin pellets for a few pence and get money for electricity by just burning it in whatever state it's in. Plastic is very good fuel, so the economics are not on the side of recycling.

The post-consumer recycling I've seen is usually downcycling, e.g. turning expensive plastic bottles into forklift pallets and picnic benches. This is the lowest form of recycling, it's basically heated until sticky then squashed together into a block. Anything "recycled" that gets squirted through an injection moulding nozzle is more likely to be industrial waste, e.g. new clean offcuts and rejects. Post-consumer waste is usually filthy and made from mixed materials.

Plastics used to mostly get exported to China. They allegedly recycled them, in reality they may have been burning them anyway. But they decided they didn't want it any more a few years ago. So now we're having to actually deal with it ourselves, and the truth is coming out about how recyclable it actually is, which is that it pretty much isn't.

 

[opps]

Only a proposal at present but might be coming.

Fury as households could be forced to pay to have seven waste bins

New waste plans that could see UK households have as many as seven bins have been blasted as 'madness' by MP's with councils warning it could cost millions of pounds.

www.dailymail.co.uk

I live in Boris' constituency.

We don't have to have any wheelly bins.

Recycling goes in to clear bags, provided by the council. They give us a free canvas bag for garden waste. Pink bags for textiles are available for free. You pay for the black bags independently.

All of the above are picked up on the same day each week.

The downside is that I have to put the black bin bags out before 6.30 am, lest the foxes get to them.

 

[securespark]

...we already have 7 'containers'
Food waste caddy
Green waste bag
Glass caddy
Mixed plastic and metal bag
Cardboard bag
Battery bag
Papers bag

+ 2 bin bags of general waste every 2 weeks, soon to be a collection every 3 weeks!

We have a green bin for garden waste.
Bags for food waste.
A bin for glass bottles, plastic bottles, tins and cans.
A bin for card and paper, including tetrapaks or similar.

We have a black bin for everything else.

Most of what goes into the black bin is "non-recyclable" plastics.

We cannot throw batteries or electronics into the black bin.

These are taken to the tip.