Whilst you have been travelling around the country have you noticed that the wheelie bins differ in every location, the UK does not have a standardised colour one general waste and one for recycling.  There are many different reasons for this, with one being each council uses different waste collection companies.  

Stirling Council have unveiled proposals for a new city centre waste collection, instead of bins only being collected they will now collect sacks as well.  Another option the council is looking at is the collection of business and domestic waste together. 

A new development of flats in London are set to to have a new innovative design in which to dispose of their recycling.  Designed by Envac it will suck waste down the pipes at up to 44mph and will spell the end of the wheelie bins and dumped waste for the area.

This weeks wheelie bin roundup includes stories about an annual wheelie bin championship, with this year having over 40 competitors, there is also a story about an 85 year old man who has been battling the council for over 2 years about the moving of his bin, and finally residents of East Kilbride have had enough of their wheelie bins being left and are only emptied after severl phone calls.

If something has been thrown away, is it illegal to take it?  According to the law sometimes it is technically theft, it all comes down to the motivation of the person and whether the property has a rightful owner.  

With some councils removing the wheelie bin, favouring the recycling boxes, what do you do with your old bin if they do not collect it back?  Designed to be robust and resistant to damage from substances they can still be useful around the garden and home, why not be creative and make your own compost bin or water butt.  

Stories in this week wheeliie bin news include a refuse collector being hit by a car by a driver who had not cleaned the frost off their windscreen, Cork council aiming to tackle the problem of wheelie bins blocking footpaths and finally youngsters taking their neighbours rubbish in wheelie bin collection points during the icy weather when collections were suspended.  

12,000 homes in the Antrim and Newtownabbey areas of Northern Ireland have received a new wheelie box, with the aim to encourage people to recycle more at home, it consists of 3 boxes and comes with wheels and a handle.  They have also received a smaller bin to reduce the amount of waste sent to landfill.

Greenpeace recently presented a petition to Parliament in New Zealand calling on the government to ban the use of single-use plastic bags.  It is estimated that residents of New Zealand use 1.6 billion plastics bags each year which is bad for the environment.  Greenpeace have been advising on how people can avoid the use of plastics bags.

This months wheelie bin headlines include stories from residents in Tendring calling for a change in recycling to help tackle the impact plastic is having on the environment, a pensioner from Oban has barricaded his home with wheelie bins to stop vans from parking there and residents in Newark could be receiving smaller bins for their household waste.