Forum Topic

Contamination in Recycling

Rejected Recyclables Rate up 84% since 2011and food is one if not the greatest contaminantshttp://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-37159581with a little quizUse that food waste bin - you'll find out what you waste most often and be able to tweak your habits to waste less, save money and spend less time in food management!  You'll also have a sweeter smelling bin.

Philippa Bond ● 3534d6 Comments

There doesn't seem to be any training, does there?Interestingly quite a few Councils now seem to be taking their collections back in-house.

Philippa Bond ● 3506d

My sister has a recording showing the blue bin emptied first, then the waste food (mainly chicken bones and fruit stones in a paper bag) was taken from the waste food bin, the blue bin was opened, the person saw it was empty, so put the bag of food waste back in the waste food bin and left it on the ground with the lid fully open.Complaints were passed off as "too early, not yet collected" and it was still there the following week.

Christopher Bell ● 3507d

I watched them yesterday and they were using three wheelie bins - one of which was blue and I think the other two black and they were just collecting food waste.  They walked along the street tipping the food waste bins into the wheelie that they were dragging behind them as they went.  One operative on each side of the street and then returned to the lorry to hitch up the wheelies for emptying.  At the end of the street the driver went off as well with the third bin to collect from presumably both sides of a short street (about 10 houses) returning to the lorry to empty the wheelie.  I hope what you actually saw was similar!They were doing this for quite a few weeks at 7.30am and then when we got used to that suddenly changed to midday.

Philippa Bond ● 3507d

On several occasions seen kitchen waste bin contents being tipped into the black bins before they are emptied. No wonder people have smelly bins! Makes a mockery of recycling though!

Ireen Esmann ● 3507d

I was just about to post the same link...However, in essence, the new system seems to work. One smallish vehicle comes through for the food waste collection (they tip the contents of the green containers into big bins, which means you do not have to walk up and down the street anymore, trying to find your bin that has been misplaced...).When it's a garden waste collection day, a separate vehicle comes through.If it is a black bin/rubbish day, obviously all goes into the vehicle. If it is a recycling day, they do use separate compartments for the general recycling and clothing bags/battery bags placed on top of the bin. Watched this in action last week.Refuse and recycling collections do not take place in the same week, so I really do not understand the last comment.

Urs Esser ● 3534d

I have security camera recordings of everything being thrown in the same refuse lorry, so what else do you expect? Followed by what appears to be a re-cycling lorry which has nothing left to collect.

Christopher Bell ● 3534d