Garden Waste Tax

Here we have a 3 bin system. ( Walsall )
Grey,- for general houehold rubbish.

Green,- for recyling mixed paper cardboard glass bottles tincans plastic bottles and plastic food cartons.

Brown,- for garden rubbish without bricks and peelings ect. Not been collected yet this year should have started on Friday 22 March ( sent nasty e-mail to councilor ) yes he replied with a cock and bull story. So have been putting weeds from the garden in the Grey bin, this goes to landfill.

Next winter they are stopping collecting garden waste for 4 months ( Brown Bin ).
So far all is free.

 

We have three bins:

Grey bin = landfill
Blue bin = recycle - no separating required, pretty much any material which is clean & dry, which is very convenient, there are some exceptions (polystyrene packaging, tetrapacks). All glass, paper, tetrapacks have to be taken to recycle bins (there are bottlebanks everywhere, so its no hassle).
Optional Brown bin for plant material

As far as I know we have always had to pay to "own" a Brown Bin, dunno what the price is as I have a compost heap rather than a Brown Bin; once you've paid the "rent" on it you put it out on the same days as the Recycle collection. A separate truck comes round collecting the Brown Bins.

I don't have a problem with there being a charge as it is a separate vehicle that comes around, and there is incentive for households that can to compost their own, which is a lot more environmentally friendly than carting it half way across the county (and then cart it somewhere else to be used once composted, potentially back to the original garden!). The Council provides subsidised composting bins (Daleks and the like)

"Resonable amounts" taken to the Tip is free.

I suppose there is an argument that those that use the service should pay for it - I don't see why someone in a 3rd floor flat should pay for the compost collection of people with a garden, in principle, but of course if you take that to the extreme it becomes silly and incredibly complex to administer. However, if you want people to compost their own then introducing a charge (and subsidising Compost Daleks) may achieve that? May also achieve fly tipping of course ... but most people are not dishonest.

I am doubting it is profitable? Collect the bins from all around the county, cart it to composting centre (which they had to pay to build, or come to an arrange with a private firm) and then many councils give away the compost for free if you collect, or charge a very modest price for it.

You could "drown" your nasty weeds in a bucket for a couple of weeks, and then chuck it on the compost heap?

We compost everything, except felled trees/branches which are either chipped (I hire one when the pile is big enough) and used as a mulch or burnt in the log burner. "Rough" material is either put through the shredder, or chucked on a "longer term" compost heap.

 

I have a whole family of bins.
But they only get collected on a rota basis.
Week 1: general refuse and paper
Week 2: garden refuse and plastic

They give the whole "green" story, but if you ask me its a way to save money.
In summer, particularly the general bin is disgusting. Full of flies and maggots.
It must be a health risk!

 

Councils are always banging on about how much 'recycling' they've collected and constantly praising people who put loads of stuff out, even suggesting giving prizes to those who put out the most, but people like me who take neighbours' green waste, bottles/jars (homebrew/jam/preserves), newspaper (mulch), plastic pop bottles (inverted with bottoms cut off and used to water through mulch) and other stuff like toilet roll tubes for sowing parsnips in, must really muck up their quotas and there's never any suggestion of rewards for reducing how much recycling is put out.

 

I agree that good self-recyclers could be rewarded, but I think in the first instance there is a need to "shift minds"

When recycling was first introduced they gave us Pink Bags for recycling material. They went in the back of the landfill dustcart with everything else. I have no idea what happened to them - maybe they went into landfill?! and there was talk that they were put on a boat to India for separating ...

But I didn't think that mattered. Folk needed to start separating and the council (or private industry) needed to build the recycling plants ... so both needed to happen at same time; we then got Blue Wheelie bins for recycling, and our council has won praise for the recycling they are doing (mostly that they have a system that is really simple for the punters, and therefore not abused or hated by punters) ... So my point is that I think we need to get to the point where people, en masse, are doing more/better before we get to the point of rewarding people who recycle more (or fining people who recycle less/charging them for excess landfill, whatever. Neither of those have proven to be popular though!!)

There is a similar argument on Water - that we need to charge people for what they use. Otherwise no incentive to use less. People on Water Rates who moan that they would be worse off on a meter are basically using more than "average", and thus are actually happy that someone else, who uses less than average, is paying part of their bill. I think that is a bad and unhealthy state of affairs and leads to lots of "I'm all right Jack and Butter You" Also no incentive to fix a leaking tap, or put a timer on a garden hose (although folk on Water Rates are not permitted to use a hose at all AFAIK). But back to my point in an earlier reply: its nuts to try to come up with a charging system for actual use of everything - storm drains, sewage, roads, air?? There are other societies where people are much more community minded to not use more than their fair share than the Brits, would be good to find a way to change that ethos here in Blighty . (I'm talking generally before anyone here thinks I'm pointing my finger at them )

When I go to another county (or even country) I have no idea what the "procedure" is for recycling - I guess we are spoilt here as its everything-mixed-in-the-Blue-bin ... except ... there are forbidden items. So areas with holiday homes for rent must be a nightmare for the authorities recycling programs.

 

Many I time we've come back from holiday with a bin bag full of recycling, but I draw the line at saving compost whilst on holiday to bring back home. (bags of seaweed from the beach need double bagging to stop the car getting full of nasty hopping things!)

 

I know how many weeds go into my green bin.
There is no way i would touch any "compost" sold by the council.

 

I pay £34 per year for garden waste collection very two weeks in summer. From November to march they collect one a month.