Is recycling worthwhile?

[Lat-Literal]

Lat, You could throw stuff in that skip down Keston Avenue......

Very good news about the mortgage free status.

You either know the area or my mind.

Or both.

I already have a list of possible sites and am happy to undertake whatever is necessary at 3am in the morning.

I had a mate once who used to say "the unusual thing about you - you really aren't a bull shitter except when it is obvious that you are doing it to entertain".

[teamsaint]

The one just before the junction with The Glade has some space left in it.

[Lat-Literal]

The one just before the junction with The Glade has some space left in it.

My parents mortgage wise - and me in all ways until 18 months - started in 1960 in The Glade. I wouldn't want to be an imposition on the people there, some of whom I know. They were previously renting by gaslight in Ash Grove at the Elephant and Castle and were the only English people there. They called it the League of Nations which, of course, would not be permissible now. But some things have turned full circle - as they got back from work, there was often an Eastern European woman catching a pigeon and plucking it so that she could have dinner. It was fascinating to me to read a news story only this week that some Eastern European immigrants are only able to eat because of being adept at catching/plucking London pigeons. But, hey, they have freedom to travel and provide slave labour. We are a great country in that respect. Are you absolutely sure you don't know this area? It's uncanny.

[Lat-Literal]

So, French frank, how am I to undertake my "chores"?

The path at the top is too narrow. Four bins would have to be lined up preventing access to the rear ones and to the side. The steps are too narrow. Just behind the side gate is a step to the kitchen which makes the side path too narrow. Currently, the official line is that everything is fine. If my refuse isn't collected, that is my fault. I think the word is "sadism" is it not?

Incidentally, the front is periodically prettier now as just below the hypericum, I spent vast amounts of money and effort only last year sticking roses in and all bloomed in this summer.

If they think I'm moving those, they can go hang.

(I accept it is a very small depot for a radio station with a very huge voice but we have always had innovation at our core - a concept of silent wireless that has impact around the world)

[Lat-Literal]

Well, there it is....

Several hours have passed by and those with a dreamboat ideological insanity fall ever silent when it is pointed out that those on the other end unable to accommodate its demanded experience are experiencing it as like being punched by Mike Tyson with the vibe of any other abuses of power associated with him, the silence of which drives up ill health. I really do think it is time that people got at least a bit real. It is sickening to find that reason and logic are being sidelined by brute force. If I had wanted boxing, I'd have stayed at Manor Baths. And I did have that sort of offer when young - I could dig out some of the fighters who did their autographs for me and get them to go up to Council HQ. It would be an equal response.

[oddoneout]

If you have a front garden then is there any reason why the bins can't be put there? I have had to accept this unsatisfactory state as I live in the middle of a terrace block and getting a large bin each week through 3 gates past 3 houses at the back and then down the(unmade potholed) road to my frontage, and hoping there is room between parked cars to get to my gate(no pavement) is difficult at best and just too painful at worst when physical infirmities are to the fore. I would much prefer not to have the bins a few feet away from my living room window, but for now that is how it is. The rural nature of the majority of my local council area means that we have 2 large bins per dwelling. During discussions with the council about missed collections I have previously been told that waste collection is a very small element of my council tax bill. Bearing that in mind, and the fact that I have my car out at least once a week I might yet decide to retire the landfill bin to the bottom of the garden and take a bag to the town tip as necessary.The drawback would be coordinating tip open times with times I am driving. In the meantime I keep niggling away, writing to the local paper and the council, questioning policy and challenging decisions. Having the 1994 and 2002 district waste management plans and various waste reduction initiative publicity material to hand is useful....

I don't think that people have fallen silent when faced with your challenge Lats, just that they might possibly be doing other things, especially as it's the weekend.

[french frank]

Sorry to have kept you waiting but I've only just logged in as Sunday mornings are quite busy.

The photos you emailed to me do seem to indicate a problem, though I'm not too sure why you need all these - seven? - bins and boxes in the same place (I keep three of my four receptacles in the back garden and carry them through the (terraced) house for collection). I use garden sacks rather than have an extra wheelie bin, but it lasts for months. The caddy is kept under the kitchen sink, and the wheelie bin beside the front door in the "front garden" (the narrow area between my front wall and the house). I quite see that some of those practices may not suit the layout of your house. What do your neighbours do? I have an arrangement: if I only have a couple of bottles, I put them in my neighbour's box, and they're welcome to put stuff in my wheelie bin if they need extra room. Not all neighbours are as friendly and accommodating, I readily acknowledge.

But as I said, your councillor could advise you. They are not on the same 'side' as the officers who enforce the regulations.

Well, the latter point is, I regret, utterly irrational. I have three wheelie bins that are 60cm by 60cm at the wheels plus one wheelie bin that is slightly smaller and one front path that is 56cm wide and about 240cm long. If you can tell me how I am supposed to wheel them given that the bins are wider and get to the two at the back without learning circus skills, I will be grateful. I am going to private message you with my address so that you can lok at the frontage on Google Streetmap - you might, then, appreciate the real impossibilities better.

Actually, it is here: the path, not that you can see it, runs below the kitchen window and the gate is to the side.

(Photo was here - people have had more than enough time to respond)

[oddoneout]

30k is quite cheap, I'd say. Nought wrong with that. Good that you only owe 5k

Pesky things commas, take your eye off them for a minute and whoops, there's a property crash.

[vinteuil]

Pesky things commas, take your eye off them for a minute and whoops, there's a property crash.

... yep, £30,000 - I think Lat's gaff a bargain!

.

[oddoneout]

https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-45232167

I wish some serious attention could be given to single use biros and gel pens. It isn't that long ago it was possible to get refills for a range of pens, not just the likes of Parker, which at least reduced the quantity of waste. The throwaway versions in many cases still have the screwthreads to enable removal and insertion, but refills aren't available - at least not in this country. I do wonder if the situation is different somewhere like Germany? Waste biros are by default landfill as far as I can see since they contain more than one type of plastic as well as metal components.

[Pulcinella]

I wish some serious attention could be given to single use biros and gel pens. It isn't that long ago it was possible to get refills for a range of pens, not just the likes of Parker, which at least reduced the quantity of waste. The throwaway versions in many cases still have the screwthreads to enable removal and insertion, but refills aren't available - at least not in this country. I do wonder if the situation is different somewhere like Germany? Waste biros are by default landfill as far as I can see since they contain more than one type of plastic as well as metal components.

Our local conservation area offers recycling for such items as pens and spray bottle triggers:

https://stnicks.org.uk/make-a-difference/our-recycling-service/support-us-by-recycling-more/

I'm not sure how many actually can be recycled, though, given the mixture of components that you mention.

[oddoneout]

Our local conservation area offers recycling for such items as pens and spray bottle triggers:

https://stnicks.org.uk/make-a-difference/our-recycling-service/support-us-by-recycling-more/

I'm not sure how many actually can be recycled, though, given the mixture of components that you mention.

These collection arrangements for 'odd' items seem to be popular with small charities and the like. A couple of local animal charity shops in town collect some of these, but as the link article says, what is accepted can change quite quickly. A printing firm in the city accepts film(such as plastic mailing sleeves); it doesn't pay anything and items have to be taken or sent to their site, but as they say, they produce the things as part of their business so feel it only right they should make an effort to deal with part of the resultant waste. I don't know how or if the Chinese ban on various plastics will affect their initiative.
In places like India I imagine multi-component waste is manually separated and sold on or processed in the likes of slum areas. Such enterprises provide income but at pretty awful cost to health and environment, in many cases. A documentary I saw some time ago showed street children managing to make reasonable amounts of money by collecting plastic water bottles from stations and selling them on for recycling - helps keep premises tidier and provides the children with some chance of feeding themselves, if not clothing or housing.
(I should clarify that I'm not suggesting that the scheme you linked has anything to do with that, merely reflecting on how waste may be viewed and used elsewhere)

[Lat-Literal]

Sorry to have kept you waiting but I've only just logged in as Sunday mornings are quite busy.

The photos you emailed to me do seem to indicate a problem, though I'm not too sure why you need all these - seven? - bins and boxes in the same place (I keep three of my four receptacles in the back garden and carry them through the (terraced) house for collection). I use garden sacks rather than have an extra wheelie bin, but it lasts for months. The caddy is kept under the kitchen sink, and the wheelie bin beside the front door in the "front garden" (the narrow area between my front wall and the house). I quite see that some of those practices may not suit the layout of your house. What do your neighbours do? I have an arrangement: if I only have a couple of bottles, I put them in my neighbour's box, and they're welcome to put stuff in my wheelie bin if they need extra room. Not all neighbours are as friendly and accommodating, I readily acknowledge.

But as I said, your councillor could advise you. They are not on the same 'side' as the officers who enforce the regulations.

Thank you French Frank.

Actually, it is nine in the photos.

This would increase to 11 if I ordered a smaller sized bin for glass, tins etc and a smaller sized bin for grass cuttings to try to comply in a way that would enable me to use the path and gate. However, neither order is currently permissible. Of course, if they were - and with the boxes that are to be made redundant - the number of usable ones would be five but the figure would still be 11 as they are not taking away any of the old ones. Just to explain a part of what you were seeing, the three 60cm by 60cm bins that were lined up like tanks on a lawn, if indeed there were a lawn, and which straddle a 56cm wide path below the kitchen window are for (a) glass, tins etc (b) paper and (c) grass. The one that is on top of those and on its side, ie horizontal, blocking the view from the kitchen window is supposedly for refuse. One heavy gust of wind up the hill and it would fly inwards shattering glass.

That position has now changed. One has gone to a dump, two to a garage and one to my parents' garden which means the path is just about usable and the gate can be used but there is nothing for me to use after 3 Sep so that they can provide me with a service. I've also contacted Inside Croydon - an internet newspaper - which is neutral although it leans slightly towards the Council on many issues. They have replied by saying my position is typical of many. Do I have photos that are less blurred? Well, I don't as I bought a cheap camera off the net but it shows to me they would be contemplating a picture story. That is a clear indication to those who have not seen the arrangement of what it looks like to the press.

[teamsaint]

I’m always reassured when passing through the borough, that Eastleigh is “ tackling climate change”.

Good old Eastleigh, always in the vanguard.
They went nuclear free even before Crawley, IIRC.

[french frank]

This would increase to 11 if I ordered a smaller sized bin for glass, tins etc and a smaller sized bin for grass cuttings

No comfort to you, but it sounds like a very inefficient system. Could you not put your grass cuttings back on the garden? I suppose you have other garden waste, though. Before I started using paper garden sacks (£1 each to cover collection) I had an arrangement with a neighbour (those damn neighbours, again ) whereby I put my odd bits of garden stuff in their bin, and gave them a tenner every now and again to cover their annual bin cost).

Our two boxes are each for specified stuff for recycling. The council have a booklet which is delivered to every household and an online video where they describe what goes in the two boxes. Black bin for glass, paper, household batteries, textiles; green box for plastic bottles and trays, empty aerosol cans, cardboard and brown paper, tetrapaks, aluminium foil, tins and cans, plastic and metal lids and caps. For most households that works, though we have quite a few student houses where the bottles and drinks cans seem in danger of overflowing every week. A small food bin is for - food, plus a caddy for inside the house. Everything not specified as recyclable goes in the wheelie bin - though we have a choice of exchanging the large regulation bin for a smaller one (48cms wide!). My garden waste sack is collected separately (when it is ). I think that well worth doing, if the alternative is shoving everything in the wheelie bin (collection once a fortnight). The food &c. is used for fertiliser and processed for biogas and heavy transport fuel. This is a more general answer to the 'Is it worth it?' question. To which I answer, Yes. (At least, it is in Bristol)