Pedants' Paradise

[oddoneout]

That's ignoring the major point of the exercise which is to reduce consumption of everything, recyclable or not. That would mean considering reduction in landfill alongside recycling rates.

Indeed, but that's not how the set-up works - or at least that used to be the case. Perhaps now someone has seen the light and councils are also given credit for reducing waste to landfill, but I rather doubt it. I haven't looked into that having got so dispirited with decades long arguments with the council about its approach to waste disposal.
The whole thing is a mess nationally, particularly the piecemeal approach that means households on different sides of a boundary(so can be almost next door) can have very different set-ups for their waste collection, depending on which companies the local council has decided to go with and how far they want(or are able these cash strapped days) to pursue landfill reduction. In my council area we have one general "recyclables" bin into which everything on the council's recyclable list (which will vary according to which council area you are in) goes(which must result in a high rate of contamination and therefore rejection), which then goes to a central sorting facility which also deals with other, neighbouring, councils' better segregated rubbish. Whether the "percentage recycled this month" figures are accurate I don't know - I suspect not as I would imagine it's just the figure for the amount sent for sorting, not the amount that can be, or actually is,recycled.
The lack of consistency is not conducive to encouraging compliance; even those fully behind the cause get dispirited by the anomalies( those moving from elsewhere, even within the same county, can find the differences puzzling) and also the changing decisions about what can be recycled. That aspect is particularly tiresome if one visits the tip as things seem to change from month to month - annoying if items are taken on the basis of what was OK on a previous recent visit.

[french frank]

if they managed to significantly reduce the amount going to landfill in the first place by preventing it being created or thrown away, that would be penalised as it would reduce the recycling rate...

That's ignoring the major point of the exercise which is to reduce consumption of everything, recyclable or not. That would mean considering reduction in landfill alongside recycling rates.

[smittims]

Here we've been amazed (dismayed?) at the number of people who drive here to dump large bags of household rubbish in the street litter bins across the road. Have they no wheelie bins? Or do they create so much rubbish that their bin would overflow? It's a mystery.

[oddoneout]

Here food and recyclables are collected every week. Black rubbish bins once a fortnight - which I think is a good thing. People should be encouraged to reduce the amount of stuff that goes into landfill or - worse in some ways - is incinerated. And I say unto you: reduce, reuse, recycle. And the greatest of these is ... reduce :-)

A very early cotton shopping bag that our local council handed out had "reject, reduce, reuse, repair, recycle" printed on it. Once targets came in for council recycling levels the prevention stages went out the window as it was all about maxing the recycling rates. As one city council(which hadn't met its recycling targets) pointed out that meant that if they managed to significantly reduce the amount going to landfill in the first place by preventing it being created or thrown away, that would be penalised as it would reduce the recycling rate...

[french frank]

On occasions there's so little in my grey bin that I wait another fortnight before putting it out.

Me too - I have the smaller size of bin and sometimes can go for six weeks before I put it out. But as it's near the front gate one of the men often will come and peer into it, and will take the odd bag out. And leave the gate wide open - but I forgive them

[LMcD]

Here food and recyclables are collected every week. Black rubbish bins once a fortnight - which I think is a good thing. People should be encouraged to reduce the amount of stuff that goes into landfill or - worse in some ways - is incinerated. And I say unto you: reduce, reuse, recycle. And the greatest of these is ... reduce :-)

On occasions there's so little in my grey bin that I wait another fortnight before putting it out.

[french frank]

Here food and recyclables are collected every week. Black rubbish bins once a fortnight - which I think is a good thing. People should be encouraged to reduce the amount of stuff that goes into landfill or - worse in some ways - is incinerated. And I say unto you: reduce, reuse, recycle. And the greatest of these is ... reduce :-)

[LMcD]

... here we get food bins emptied weekly - but the recycling bin and the rubbish bin are emptied twice a week



.

Here, it's anything recyclable (blue bin) and garden waste (brown bin) one week and anything bagged (grey bin) the next. The brown bin (which I don't use) costs an additional £52.50 a year.

[vinteuil]

In this age of "small mercies" I guess we have to appreciate Southwark council for still providing weekly collections for all our bins.

... here we get food bins emptied weekly - but the recycling bin and the rubbish bin are emptied twice a week



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[Serial_Apologist]

Yes, good point, oddoneout. I do tell the council litter bin emptiers that I think they're doing a valuable job.

Which hopefully they know! I always thank them (when I catch them) for returning the bins to the bins compound rather than as usual leaving them at the end of our collective driveway, blocking residents' garages, where it is then up to Yours Truly (the one retired regular in the block) to do. In this age of "small mercies" I guess we have to appreciate Southwark council for still providing weekly collections for all our bins.

[smittims]

Yes, good point, oddoneout. I do tell the council litter bin emptiers that I think they're doing a valuable job.

[Old Grumpy]

The fact that someone is paid to provide the service you have just received isn't necessarily a reason for withholding thanks. Most of those who provide the kind of services that make life that bit better(refuse collection and toilet cleaning for instance) will receive no thanks from their employers, and are largely ignored unless something goes wrong, so a word of thanks from those of us who benefit from their work costs nothing and can be a real boost.

[vinteuil]

Used to having staff not so long ago?
It's just thank you here, and what I've found interesting is that youngsters will often say it as they leave the bus - and may even look up while doing so - and the older generation generally do so, but there is quite a large age cohort in between who just barge off the bus as quickly as they can without any acknowledgement.

... interesting, I had not noticed the younger generation doing this : here it is those of African / West Indian heritage (and particularly the women) who most clearly say "Thank you, driver" when leaving the bus. I think I did not do this when younger ; I do now...

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[LMcD]

It's my belief that 'Thank you very much indeed' is a patrician form of language, and implies - at least to me - that the speaker considers a bare 'thank you' may be considered insincere.

Shades of Margo Leadbetter - 'Thank you VERY much, Tom'.

[oddoneout]

I've sometimes been reproved for not saying 'thank you' to someone who's done only what they were obliged to do anyeway. I think such words are more effective when reserved for occasions when they are more appropriate.

The fact that someone is paid to provide the service you have just received isn't necessarily a reason for withholding thanks. Most of those who provide the kind of services that make life that bit better(refuse collection and toilet cleaning for instance) will receive no thanks from their employers, and are largely ignored unless something goes wrong, so a word of thanks from those of us who benefit from their work costs nothing and can be a real boost. I speak as one who had toilet cleaning and litter bin emptying as one part of my job for the last 15 years...