Wheelie Bin News Roundup 4th June

Wheelie Bin News Roundup 4^th June

A shop owner in Argyll and Bute has asked the council to help with a growing wheelie bin problem outside her premises. Local residents and other business owners are leaving their bins outside her shop each week for collection and they’re blocking the pavement and harming her business. She says around 12 bins are regularly left outside of her shop, forcing elderly customers and customers with prams to walk on the road so they can get past. She adds that the bins also smell in the warmer weather and may be attracting rodents.

She initially contacted the council and agreed that people would be asked to put their bins in another location, however she was informed that if anything happened to the bins, she would be responsible. Unhappy with this agreement, she contacted them again, and she was told that the council can’t tell residents where to put their bins.

The council said that they are happy to work with residents and businesses to find a solution that everyone is happy with.

Council bosses are considering leasing an extra refuse truck so that people living in flats can recycle plastics. Colchester council had already introduced a new waste policy last year which saw a move to fortnightly black bag waste collections and the introduction of a 3 bag limit per household. Some residents were given wheelie bins. But residents living in flats can only recycle if there is adequate storage space for waste and if it abides by the rules set by private property management companies.  

But the council have said in a report that people living in flats should get the chance to recycle plastics and are considering leasing an extra vehicle to meet the demand created by new homes being built. The council intend to pay the £44,000 cost of the lease from cost savings they’ve achieved since introducing their new waste policy.

In developments where there are communal bins, a fourth plastics recycling bin would need to be introduced, and the cost would be met by the property management company.

Thousands of recycling bins will be checked across New Plymouth in New Zealand over the next 12 months as the district council looks to clamp down on the amount of contaminated household waste being sent to the city’s recycling centre. The clamp down comes after a council survey showed that residents in over half of the suburbs in New Plymouth were putting out dirty and contaminated waste for recycling. For example, non-recyclable takeaway cups, polystyrene, food and drink and plastic bags were still being put into recycling bins. Other common offences included bottle tops being left on bottles, cans and bottles not being rinsed, plastic being left in envelopes, soft plastic being left on meat trays, and papers being left in plastic wrap.

The survey of 160 recycling bins in November and December found that average contamination levels were around 17% in some suburbs, and the addresses of the owners of the offending bins were noted down. The data collected by the council will be used to educate residents and increase awareness about recycling.

They’ll be following the example of Auckland city council, which has reduced contamination of recycling through education, and by refusing to collect excessively contaminated bins.