We have 3 wheelie bins here, so shredded paper goes into the blue recycling bin :)

I have to say our council (West Lothian) are fabulous. We've had 3 wheelie bins for years now. Brown for garden waste, coffee grounds and veg peelings. Blue for paper,plastic and cardboard and grey for general household waste. I struggle to understand why people are upset about fortnightly collections as we've had them for years with no problems. The grey general waste bin is collected every fortnight and the blue recycling one on the opposite weeks - the brown bin is collected once a month.

As I live alone and manage to recycle most of my rubbish the grey bin usually only has a few carrier bags in it - I wouldn't mind paying for it, and also wouldn't mind if it was only emptied once a month.

You can use your coffee grounds as a scrub to get rid of cellulite apparently - something to do with the caffeine - models use it apparently :D

shredded paper gets used as guinea pig bedding here :-D

My biggest worry is the junk mail and things that could be used for ID theft.  At the moment I put it in recycling, but if I tore it all up it would need to go in the landfill bin.

So am I taKING HUGE CHANCES BY JUST RECYCLING IT?

They are covering the subject on Dispatches tonight 9pm Channel 4.

We have recycled plastic bags to put our recyclables in. We have to seperate paper and card in one and tins, plastic bottles in another, compostable in another. ( I actually use a garden compost bin anyway)  ~The bin lorry comes along and throws everything in the back and compacts it  - Can't help thinking that is was a waste of time seperating it all.  I use reusable bags for shopping although my hubby has used the ones I put in his car for storing his work stuff in so keeps bringing more plastic ones into the house. I buy biodegradable bags to line my rubbish bin and compost bin.  I buy biodegradable poop bags too.  Hope they are worth it! 

So what bin would dog poo, dirty nappies, greasy tin foil used for sunday roast ( all i can think of at the moment) go in, there seems to be so many different catagories, some things can go in and others cant, i heard plastic milk bottles go in plastics but the lids dont, im confused!  :rolleyes:

So what bin would dog poo, dirty nappies, greasy tin foil used for sunday roast ( all i can think of at the moment) go in

They would all go in your general household waste bin for landfill. I've started hosing the dog poo in the back garden down the main drain...the cover is in the middle of the garden and it's all slabbed. I still have to pick up the poo in the front garden though so it goes in a carrier bag then in the grey bin. I put bottle lids in the recycling bin too, but now you've got me wondering if thats the right thing to do!

whispers " I don't recycle anything ".....we just put out black bin liners once a week and all the stuff goes in them - no sorting etc - we have never had any wheelie bins provided and our collection is still once a week- my sister (in Lancaster) spends ages sorting out her rubbish only to see it all being tipped into the same lorry on collection day :rolleyes:

Yvonne

I live in the Lancaster area and the recycling lorry is just a single lorry but can reassure your sister that there are several sections to the lorry into which the box contents are sorted.  Instead of a single tipper thing on the back the lorry has several along its sides depositing the sorted items into different sections.  Perhaps if your sister is at work when they visit and has just seen the lorry driving around she was not fully aware of this :)

Yes Yvonne that is exactly what happens to mine.  That programme last night confirmed my fears that only a small portion of the recycling actually gets recycled due to contamination.  If polystyrene gets in the lorry load then the whole lot has to go into landfill.  However how do the binmen see this?  They just pick up the bags and throw them in.  I can't tell what plastic can be recycled and what can't - I didn't know that plastic milk bottle tops couldn't be - I put all plastic in - because I can't tell. 

In Lancaster we use boxes not bags and the chaps that come round with the lorry hand sort the two different types of items that are allowed in each box.  So quite labour intensive but Lancaster actually appears to be one of the more efficient at this.  I think it is down to the consumer to ensure they do not contaminate the system.  I think, eventually, we will all learn to do this if not for ethical reasons but due to the various rods and carrots being introduced to ensure we do :)

I've not seen any carrots, just rods.  Oh and why do we have to pay for Garden waste like hedge trimings to be taken away whereas the neighbouring council provide a green bin for compostables.

Yes there has been talk of rewards for those that do it well but of course everyone that does it well will be contributing to keeping their council tax down by helping their council avoid the penalties incurred by poor recycling figures.
I suppose it is swings and roundabouts if an individual council charge for something or add it to the rates. 

something else that has just occurred to me - if you have to pay according to the amount of rubbish you leave out then surely those will large families will be hit hardest ? - and I would have thought that these are the ones least likely to be able to afford big increases in their taxes ? - I'm usually on my own a fair bit as hubby works abroad such a lot so I usually put out just one bin liner full per week- my neighbour - who I know recycles a sight more that I do - has 3 kids and her mother living with her and has three times the amount of rubbish for collection - why should she pay more ? it seems very unfair on those with large households.

Yvonne

I think the payments may be fairly token more of an incentive to make people think and most of the cost will continue to be gathered in rates which of course is weighted against the single or small family unit so swings and roundabouts :).  On the programme they showed such a system in, I think it was Belgium, and they paid 2 1/2 euros every time they put their bin out.  I reckon even a largish family should be able to easily get their emptying requirement down to a fortnightly collection so a very small cost if we emulate their system.

I lost my sticker with the days that they pick up nearly at the start and I haven't a clue which bins go out when and unfortunately people round here seem to put them out really late so I've gone to bed and my paper one has been full for 6 months.  Need to contact the council and find out the dates again!!

Try Googling for their website :)