It was all change, when we got home today. Two wheelie bins stood outside our door.
Our garden is not very big, and space is at a premium, but we took them in.
The leaflet said we could put our old – non-wheelie bin – out to be recycled so that will save some space. But we do now have three wheelie bins. The two new ones are green (recycling) and grey (other). The older one is brown and seems less useful now. We used to use it for cardboard and garden cuttings, but now cardboard must be put in the green one the brown one will not get a lot of use, and be rarely put out. So I’m not sure it can justify itself anymore.
Never mind, backstreeter, once The Vale has co-opted the rest of your house for its purposes the bins are big enough for you and your family to move into.
Waste recycling is not the issue here, the issue is the blunt and unimaginative ‘solution’ The Vale has applied to the problem. Instead of approaching the task with creativity and sensitivity regarding the wishes of the ratepayers The Vale has gone for one-size-fits-all and succeeded in annoying a lot of people. This, of course, is not important to The Vale, who hope that they’ve devolved their responsibility for meeting Government targets by burdening ratepayers with these unwieldy and ugly bins … not that that matters as bins of this size are the only ones the waste contractor’s vehicles can handle (so it’s alright then).
Previous generations of planners gave us Bury Street and the Telephone Exchange … this generation have gone one better and made the whole town a mess with these loathsome bins.
I share my brown bin with next door – perhaps you could get several neighbours to do the same?
You can simply ask to swap it with a smaller brown bin. I would remind newcomer that the ‘solution’ is one shared with SODC who have been operating this system for 15 months, without ‘annoying a lot of people’. How many is ‘a lot’ anyway? 10, 100, 1000?
Greetings from Australia, we have had wheelie bins since the early 1990s when it was just one large green one for house hold rubbins, then we were issued with a recylable bin for paper, palsti and metals, then the ‘green’ bin. With the advent of the three bin system houshold had the option to reduce their rubbish bin size (to approx the size of your black one). Household rubbish is collected every wek and the green and recyclible every second week on rotation. IAt works reallyt well. Good luck and I know your properties are smaller – but I lived inner city Melbourne, Vic ina terrace with the two bin system and as able to store it ok, Cheers Ellen
Patlon, when I requested to be exempt several months ago I asked whether it was possible to get smaller bins and was told that it wasn’t as the contractor’s vehicles wouldn’t accept smaller bins. The fact that SODC has been using these monstrosities for 15 months is immaterial … what is The Vale Council … a community of lemmings? ‘A lot’ is a subjective term that fits in well with my experience of not having talked to anyone who likes these bins. I wouldn’t mind ordinary dustbin-sized bins with coloured sacks to put out … I could accommodate them. I’d pay for the sacks as I pay for black sacks at the moment. The Vale wouldn’t even have to distribute the sacks as I’m sure the likes of Tesco would be only too willing to build-up some Brownie points with the Council by stocking them … they’re going to have spare shelf space as their black sack sales virtually disappear.
This latter option could have met the objections of those living in households for which the distributed bins are just TOO BIG.
Is such thinking beyond The Vale?
Shame that some people appear to be anti-council & anti-bin!
If it was that big a problem for a person, they could opt out of the service and take their own waste tot he waste & recycling centre – then they wouldn’t have to have bins!!
If newcomer was even half aware of what the council had been doing – they would know that they have effectively merged with SODC and that Vale & SODC share services – the waste contract is one of these shared services. SODC did have teething issues – namely a few vocal Henley residents – perhaps newcomer should move to Henley…
ylacey, please read what I write before you comment … you do yourself no favours … or do you have a vested interest in the new scheme? I wrote that I’d be happy with smaller bins with bags. I am not anti-council I’m just anti-council not being flexible.
i dont understand why we have to have the grey bins because you are still able to put black bags in them. so why not just issue us the green recycling bin and let us carry on using black bags….
seems like a lot of money has been wasted here…..
You may find an ‘ealth’n’safety issue at work – re manual handling – the dustmen don’t have to lift the wheelies. But it’ll be a lot slower emptying… I’m lucky, I have a spot to store them, but am still not looking forward to it much, and I hope they’re going to tell us exactly what should go into which.
You should have received an information pack, Annabel – it’s in one of the food bins.
I am quite looking forward to using the new system – my parents live in Didcot and have been getting on just fine.
II for one am very pleased that I can now put more recyclable items out for kerbside collection – this means I don’t have to run my car any more to take these things to recycling points.
And, if you see the refuse collectors working in Didcot you’d be surprised at how fast they can empty those bins – much quicker than at the moment.
Here in Lincolnshire we have three large bins for recycling, composting and landfill. Landfill is collected one week and recycling along with composting is collected the following week., with compost collection taking a break through the winter. As a result, my landfill contribution is one small carrier bag a week. The bins DO take up a large space but I feel it’s a good trade off for less landfill.
At the moment I am looking forward to the new system. No more black bags scattered by foxes and cats, more recycling, less landfill etc
Everything new takes a bit of getting used to, and this is no exception.
My only problem is that we are a large family. I do not want smaller bins – I will be asking for a larger one!
David, yours must be a very large family indeed it these bins are going to be too small … my mind boggles at the amount of weekly waste you must generate. You could act as a ‘poster boy’ for The Vale’s waste program. However, for those of us who produce much less waste these bins will remain an unnecessary eyesore and we will remain unpersuaded by your views.
yes, we are a large family, and remember we are talking about fortnightly collections, not weekly ones. I think it is only when the bins are in operation that we will know whether the “one size fits all” approach works. It could be we will have plenty of room – watch this space.
I am flattered by your suggestion that I could be a poster boy. If the Vale wish to use my handsome visage on their publicity i await a call to my agent.
How about a WI style calendar, with various shots of nude posters stood behind different bins to cover their modesty?
I’ll get my coat…
This is always a hotly issued topic. Whatever happened to giving credits for the amount of stuff you recycled?
…I agree. A little ‘positive reinforcement’ would have been nice. How’s about some free compost? They can mange it in other boroughs (they can even offer free starch bags for the composter too as and when you need them)…why does it always feel that the Vale gives us second best?
just got the bins yesterday and now I have looked at them I retract my earlier comment. They will be plenty big enough for us
I am still happy to be a poster boy, though.
Perhaps now, David, you might accept that the bins are a tad on the enormous side for a single person household when that household doesn’t generate much rubbish in any case.
Any black sacks will not be collected. I am slightly confused, its true that the majority of my rubbish gets recycled, so very little will end up in my blueish colour bin.
They must not be placed in plastic bags/bin liners at all.
Plastic bags are accepted in the recycling green box.
I notice Oxford City has the single wheelie bin, (bright blue one) which accepts everything. I do like the food waste bin, though I don’t produce any, as I have my own large compost bin in the garden. Apparently if you want to recycle your old galvanised bin you will be charged £35 to do so.