There are big changes on the way in Mid Suffolk with regard to rubbish and recycling collections.
(Apologies, this appears a bit strange, it's OK in drafts )
Will it make any difference?
I think we need legislation to stop excess packaging- that would at least help a little. Especially after reading this..................
Back in April, The Big Plastic Count results revealed that a whopping 58% of all the plastic we throw away at home is incinerated here in the UK.
A lot of rubbish in this part of Suffolk is incinerated to produce electric for the grid. But I heard recently that new studies have shown that waste incinerators pollute as much as coal fired power stations did- so councils are going to have to come up with a different plan.
This is what we've been told here in Mid Suffolk. It will be interesting to see how or if it works to reduce landfill.
introducing new WEEKLY food waste collections for your unusable or expired: 
leftovers
meat
fish
bones
tea bags and coffee grounds
bread
pasta and rice
eggshells and dairy products
fruit and veg peelings accepting more items in recycling bins - including glass and cartons such as Tetra Pak (and plastic film from 2027) providing a separate bin, box or bag for paper and cardboard, which will improve its recycling value and quality
With significantly less rubbish in black bins (an estimated 58% reduction), and no longer containing food items which are most likely to cause bins to smell, we will also move to three-weekly rubbish bin collections in the same year
However, our waste team would be sympathetic to those with exceptional needs on a case-by-case basis, such as those with larger families, with medical needs or without available space for the new bins
Working with other councils in Suffolk and Suffolk Recycles, these changes ensure we can meet new government legislation aimed at increasing the UK's plateauing recycling rates
One has to sometimes wonder if councils will ever get it right (especially when government keeps changing things). We currently have a weekly food scraps collection, and alternate weeks for recycling stuff (in two bins as glass has its own bin) and pure rubbish. We used to be able to put a lot more things in the recyle bin until the government introduced legislation to make us stop!!
ReplyDeleteI suppose it would at least be good that the smelly food would be picked up weekly.
ReplyDeleteOur rubbish pick up here in the US isn't paid for with our rates/taxes. It is a separate business though our recycle is through our city. Makes it quite confusing!
We have a bin for biodegradable waste (bi-weekly), one for paper and cardbord (four weeks), one for all kinds of packages (four weeks) and one for rubbish. If we make our own compost, we pay less for waste pickup.
ReplyDeleteHilde in Germany
Three of those big wheelie bins live at our house paid for in our council rates - the most recent changes now mean red lid household rubbish is collected fortnightly, yellow lid recycling (paper glass some plastics…..there’s a long list of allowables and if the roaming inspector spots anything unallowed you become the recipient of a very big sticker) is also fortnightly (alternate weeks) and the lime green lidded bin which was originally just for ‘green garden waste’ now includes ‘food’ and is picked up weekly. These ‘state wide’ changes were supposed to bring waste management in each council in line with each other but in practice (talking to family & friends) it’s different.
ReplyDeleteIt looks as if your collection is moving towards ours which is absolute rubbish. Pun intended. Our collection beggars belief and holiday makers are aghast at the confusion and complexity of it all. We have the following:
ReplyDeleteWeekly collection of
Non compostable food waste green bin
Blue bag/cube for cardboard which must be cut to fit in the bag
Red bag/cube for metal, plastic and foil etc
Green skip for glass
Blue box for paper
Fortnightly collection of the subscription Garden Waste bin
Three weekly collection of Black Bags {not provided} for residual waste that does not fit in any of the above categories.
There is talk that we are moving to a monthly black bag collection. Our local Tip is in danger of imminent closure to try to save £70k per annum as our Council is overspent by some £4million. Yet the new wholly unnecessary footbridge over the Cleddau in Haverfordwest goes ahead. There is no empathy for those without the space for all these bags and skips and no empathy other than a doorstep collection for someone such as myself with mobility issues.
Ours is the same. I'm thankful daily that we have a garage to keep all the bags and containers in. Very handy when bringing empty wet bags and boxes back in. My sister has to carry hers through the house.
DeleteOh Sue, how complicated, Mid Suffolk don't always collect on there set days and if and when system changes I shall have to keep a list in the kitchen or my brain won't cope !! Val
ReplyDeleteJohn Seymour said in his smallholding bible book on self sufficiency: "The dustman should never need to visit the smallholding". Back in the days of open fires for paper packaging, glass bottles and string shopping bags. He also said that landfill sites will be the mines of the future. Why don't councils encourage people to compost?
ReplyDeleteWe have a weekly food waste collection, and fortnightly paper/recyclable waste and non-recyclable waste alternately. No glass collection - we have to go to the bottle banks. We also have a fortnightly green/garden waste collection if we choose to pay for that. We've got room for the bins, but for some it's a struggle.
ReplyDeleteEnvironmental legislation deadlines are looming. All councils will be looking at their current waste disposal plans. So far South Norfolk have never had a food waste collection so it will change here too.
ReplyDeleteMy brother in Somerset has loads of different bins, many small boxes which the lids don't fit and needs a brick to keep it in place, they are on different cycles, some 2 weeks others 3 weeks, sound a bit of a faff. We have 2 bins waste and recycle(no glass), we refused a garden waste bin (council charged extra for that), using our close compost bin instead. We do not have food waste, any peelings go into our composter, we cook only the amount we need. As for burning rubbish for energy, it's a short term solution with a long term emissions issues.
ReplyDeleteWe have fortnightly bin collection and weekly recycling stuff. I think the food one is a good one, but we get the same problem as someone else said in the comments, of the lid always breaking off. But of course the solution lies in less packaging at point of buy.
ReplyDeleteWe have a hot composting bin…so all food waste can go in it…it has been marvellous…no smell on opening…strangely it just rots down, and we’ve never emptied it!
ReplyDeleteThank you for this, Rambler! I haven't done a lot of reading on this. I use my greenhouse for composting, and it worked wonderfully well. However, it takes up a great deal of space in a spot that is small to begin with. I've just watched a marvelous video on hot box composting, and I see it as something that I need to do. The fact that it has no smell would be a big 'plus'. We have bear around and they do love to root through your garbage AND your compost.
DeleteSue. This all sounds complicated. Let us know how it works out.
Paper lights the woodburner, as does ripped up cardboard. I wish companies would stop sending shiney paper brochures…recycling says no thank you to gloss.
ReplyDeleteHousehold waste that isn't recycled or composted only gets collected every 3 weeks here and sometimes it's a pain, also we are only allowed 3 black sacks per 3 weeks. What really bothers us though is the way our bin 'operatives' regularly allow all manner of recyclable rubbish to spill out of the lorry as they drive along at speed, it's left in the hedges which we all know is detrimental to the environment! Rant over.
ReplyDeleteAlison in Wales x
Same for us here in Powys Alison. When I had a woodburner, anything burnable went in that, bones and foodscraps included. If I have bones here (chicken carcass say) I wrap it well and give it a ride into town and put it in a waste bin there.
Delete👍
DeleteAlison x
Wouldn't it be so much simpler if all councils did their recycling the same way. We had to learn a completely different set of 'rules' when we moved here and when we moved from south to north England.
ReplyDeleteBasically our plastics and tins get picked up once a month, our paper bin once a month and the black general rubbish should go out once every fortnight. But we generate so little that sometimes it doesn't go out for a couple of months. We eat our leftovers, don't waste any food and put anything composable such as vegetable peelings in the compost bin in the garden.
In Powys we have weekly recycling: box for glass, box for plastic & metal, box for paper and card plus weekly food waste. We compost our raw food waste so it's really only bones and a small amount of cooked food plus eggshells because I find they don't break down in the compost. Our other waste collection is every three weeks but tbh not a lot goes in it.
ReplyDeleteWe have one large bin for recycling and one large bin for garbage and it is picked up once a week. We also have collection centers where we can drop off electronic waste and another for Styrofoam waste - those are open several days a week.
ReplyDeleteMaking things even more complicated just discourages people who are trying to do their best and leads to stuff being put in the wrong bins. I feel sorry for councils trying to do their best with ever-shifting rules and regulations, but I also feel sorry for people trying to walk down terraced streets full of numerous wheelie bins/recycling boxes/recycling bags and trying not to step on the bits lying on the pavement that were spilled at collection time.
ReplyDeleteTrash is a big problem everywhere. Our recycle rules are constantly changing. We have bins for everything, including food waste. Bins get dumped into dumpsters. Dumpsters get hauled off to an incinerator or composting business out-of-town.
ReplyDeleteA percent of the population just puts everything in the general trash bin choosing not to recycle.
I do not have a solution but can say the current system is not working well.
I live in South Australia where have three bins. A recyling bin for carboard, paper, glass, tetra paks, metal and aluminium cans and some hard plastic depending on the number. A green bin for all garden trimmings and grass, paper towels and tissues, dog and cat manure, and kitchen scraps, and one for general rubbish that goes to land fill. The rubbish bin is picked up once a week and the recycling bin and green waste bin are picked up alternate weeks.
ReplyDeleteSounds as if your council has been very slow on catching up with the rest of the country. Almost everything from this house goes into our recycling bins with a small amount of food waste collected each week. We rarely have anything in the general waste bin , but then Dorset is top if the county recycling league I’m told.
ReplyDeleteWe have no food waste collection, but we compost it all (we are vegetarian).
ReplyDeleteThey stopped the glass collection 10 years ago as too expensive, so we have to use a bottle bank.
Tetra pak etc. at recycling centre.
Paper and card go in a green bin. My suspicion is that much is incinerated.
A lot of plastic back to Sainsburys.
Other plastic in grey bin for landfill.