Unofficial Christ's Hospital Forum

is in my opinion a ridiculous time to be woken up by means of a refuse collection vehicle.

Agree. That used to happen to me every Weds at about 6.20am when we moved to this house in 2005 Since we've had the green bins they have changed the times of everyones collection & now they don't turn up until after lunch on a Thurs. Don't talk to me about the brown bin collection - or lack of it

Ours arrives at about 7am. Except this week when (*&^*)&%(&) son emptied the kitchen bin into the big green bin then didn't put big green bin at the kerb. so it is sitting festering for 4 weeks. Lucky the weather is changing

yes it very rude! i remember when i was in Leicester my house mates who had the rooms on the front would complain about the rubbish collections at un earthly times of the morning!

where-ish did you live?

Harrow Road!

The three boys in our feline household waken me every morning between 6:00 and 6:30 for brekky !

Rubbish man arrives Tuesdays anytime between 7:00 and 10:00.

ben ashton wrote:is in my opinion a ridiculous time to be woken up by means of a refuse collection vehicle.

so what's the problem?
When I was employed by someone else I got up around 7.50am. Now I start work (in a dressing gown) at 6.30 am. It would bve useful to have a wake up call!

I get that sometimes, wednesdays mostly as that is the usual collection day ( Though they are going to start only emptying rubbish every two weeks according to 'London Lite' which is ridiculous. ) and I get woken up all the time. I have to get up at around 6.30 anyway but it's horrible. That blasted beeping noise that just does not shut up.

According to Radio4 this morning, there's been "research" that says that it's not that bad to leave rubbish for two weeks before collection, provided it's "wrapped properly"

A few questions:-
1. What type of wrapping should we use to wrap properly? Surely an environmental impact?
2. If the dustmen are only collecting every two weeks, what will the saving be in man-power/tax-payers costs? Whilst having to collect twice as much rubbish, the costs should drop significantly compared to every week (half the mileage, heavier lorry, more trips, less fuel, quicker collection overall??

double the number of bins on the street
double the shift length (most bin men people have 2nd jobs which is partly why they collect do damn early)
heavier lorry=more road damage=higher road tax... (according to ben logic!)

Not truely relevant to the UK situation, where I know from experience the UK Garbage service it, to put it mildly, deficient.
At my mother's in South East London, they only collect once a week, and only if the wheelie is outside, increasingly difficult for an 85 year old. If you call for them to collect, they will only collect exactly what they have been told. I said I had about 12 bags of garden rubbish, and the 13th, they left behind.

In the village in Spain (300 people), collection is every evening between 8.00pm and 10pm, every night except Saturdays, and extra large items, every 15th of the month. (Private contractor)
In Valencia, every morning, around 6.00 am, without exception, and large items every Wednesday. We have armies of people keeping the streets clean just about every day, and the parks, every day. Strangely, lots of mildly handicapped, if you can be mildly handicapped, workers, who all seem quite happy and chat to us all.
My rates are about 50% of those in Guildford so I have no idea how they do it, but wish the local government in the UK would take a leaf out of the Spanish book.

jhopgood wrote:My rates are about 50% of those in Guildford so I have no idea how they do it, but wish the local government in the UK would take a leaf out of the Spanish book.

In France I have a separate rubbish disposal charge (which I think is a flat fee) of about £30 per annum tied on the bottom of the rates (no separate cheque )

For that there is a big big wheelie about 20 yards from the house for "normal" stuff which is emptied every Tuesday about 9am. Recycling stuff goes in a plastic container (similar to the ones I have here) which I have top put close to the normal rubbish bin; it is emptied every Thursday about 10am. If I put something "wrong" in the recycling they simply drop it in the normal waste bin.
If I were not in such a hamlet I would put my stuff by the roadside for collection.

Big stuff - phone the council and they come round once a month (I think) or on demand depending on size - all in the £30. Alternatively I can take it to the dump - about 8 miles each way.

jtaylor wrote:According to Radio4 this morning, there's been "research" that says that it's not that bad to leave rubbish for two weeks before collection, provided it's "wrapped properly"

A few questions:-
1. What type of wrapping should we use to wrap properly? Surely an environmental impact?
2. If the dustmen are only collecting every two weeks, what will the saving be in man-power/tax-payers costs? Whilst having to collect twice as much rubbish, the costs should drop significantly compared to every week (half the mileage, heavier lorry, more trips, less fuel, quicker collection overall??

That will be non-recycleables one week and 'green' the next, which is the one my son failed to put out. You can wrap 'greens' in newspaper as it is recycleable, and you can buy cornstarch plastic bags which also biodegrade.

About 30% of the country already have these alternate week collections.

But every local authority seems to have different rules.

My parents can only put paper in the paper bin, we can put paper, cardboard, directories and such. In some you have to take the plastic out of window envelopes, here we don't have to.

In some anything organic can go in the bins, including meat, bones etc (we can) but in others you can only put in raw veg and garden waste.

We have

a box that's emptied every 2 weeks - bottles, tins, milk cartons, paper, cardboard (not corrugated) etc

a brown bin that's emptied once a week - food waste (wrapped in newspaper), corrugated cardboard, small amounts of garden waste

a green bin that's emptied once every 2 weeks - all other household waste.