Please check this out

[Karen_D]

We generate very little rubbish, we recycle what we can, compost other stuff and only half fill the bin.

You are only going to attract rats and flies if they can get at what is in the bin. It isn't that difficult to put the lid on...

[flower]

I think that part of the problem is a perception that the council are just trying to save money.
Where I live, we have the option of three wheelie bins, one for 'rubbish'
one for garden waste and one for recylables.

few of the gardens here are big enough for three bins.

household is removed weekly, with the other two being removed alternate weeks.
If the council made recyclables collection more frequent in place of the rubbish collection I think people would me more agreeable.
or, if there were smaller bins for rubbish but still weekly collections.

But to simply halve a service will always cause a hue and cry.

[the.fee.fairy]

The biggest problem is that a lot of people find that the amount of rubbish they produce is like a status symbol.

I know my mother revels in the times when she has to use a neighbour's bin because she's filled ours up.

There are times when i try to talk to her about packaging waste and i get the answer 'if it didn't need that much packaging, it wouldn't be on there'. She sees recycling as 'another hassle' and only makes a token effort.

So... it is a matter of education, and changing attitudes. If it were seen as wrong to have a lot of rubbish, then people might think again about producing it all, which in turn would hopefully make manufacturers think again about packaging things up.

In my house, we try to compost as much as possible, including a lot of paper, we take the egg boxes back to the man that we get eggs from, i keep jars and screw-top bottles, and put all recycling stuff into the recycling bin.

I see my neighbours running around in the dark before bin collection day sharing all their rubbish out so that it all fits into bins. I hate it, but there's nothing you can do to change set attitudes unfortunately. This woman seems to have the same attitude, and the common misconception that once something is 'rubbish' its dirty, even when it comes to paper, and other 'clean' rubbish, therefore, it has to be got rid of as quickly as possible.

[the.fee.fairy]

As an addition to that - we've been having the fortnightly collection scheme for the past year or so, and it seems ok. yes, there are maggots in the summer in the kitchen waste bin, but ours is only filled with dog food and bones, so it is to be expected. If the woman packaged her bones and meat waste (and, i'm guessing veg waste, as she doesn't seem to be into composting) in compostable bags, then she wouldn't have a problem.

Edited to add:
You can see my presence on the forum - i'll give you a clue - there's three names i'm using - that way i figure not all my posts will be deleted...

[ina]

Collection every three months would do me fine... Unfortunately we don't get the option of different sizes bins, so I'm stuck with a huge one. I don't make extra trips for recycling, either (doesn't get picked up except paper, once a month); I just stick the stuff in the car, and whenever I'm out and passing one of the many recycling places, I jump out and empty the boot.

And of course, I compost everything that's possible... A lot of paper goes into that, too; envelopes, for example, as the paper recycling can't cope with them.

[the.fee.fairy]

It appears you have to JOIN the forum to post now.

By joining - are you automatically supporting them?

And Mew - you got a special mention for 'encouraging' us to go and abuse them...

[mew]

A mention for little old me! I've looked but I can't see any mention specifically for me but saw the mention of people trying to "educate" her, hehe

I think I'll register and continue to balance her forum

[the.fee.fairy]

It said something like 'there are people on another forum encouraging these people to come and abuse us because of our views - recycler aka Mew'

Haha, i laughed.

[mew]

The thing which annoys me most about the users of that site and particularly the women who runs it is that they seem to think that the entire thing is about the right to have there views or opinions thrust upon us like they are facts.

Alternate weekly collection has been tested by many and those who are successful with it and have no problems are there to teach those who are having problems with it how to cope and reduce their waste. It seems however we are all just wrong and leading the world into a mass state of disease with the air full of flies and the streets plagued with rats.

When faced with the facts we all know it can be done, and Doretta Cocks and her site are just a space for the lazy and uneducated to protest.