Saturday, July 12, 2008

Recycling Bins

...Quite literally. I spoke to a Sutton resident this morning who clipped the glass recycling bin in her green wheelie bin. On collection day, the green wheelie bin was emptied into the back of the truck along with the blue bin.

How many of these bins have been recycled themselves? Another example of the system becoming more complicated without adequate communication or provision?

9 comments:

Anonymous said...

Paul, I'm sure you have seen this already, but it appears local MP Paul Burstow has been caught misusing Parliamentary expenses!

The Beeb are covering it. He has used the classic Burstow 'I didn't know' routine - the same one he always employs when something goes wrong, eg the bus stand. It's his office and he MUST have known.

Worth a read - http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/uk_politics/7502211.stm

Perhaps he should donate the £1,500 to a local charity if teh commons do not ask for it back.

Adrian Short said...

I don't remember what the original communication said, but the impression I got was that the blue bin was meant to be left unclipped and outside the green bin on collection day. At least, that's what common sense tells me.

If they are meant to be left inside the bin, it's the responsibility of the collection staff to deal with them appropriately.

Overall it's a bit of an odd design, and as a designer it's a bit hard to see what it's trying to achieve.

One complaint I will make is about the colour. The bright blue bins really do stick out in the street and don't do our neighbourhoods any favours. The green and brown bins are bad enough but at least the colours are more muted. Aesthetics matter.

Unknown said...

RFK

Mr Burstow has form on this. I'm collating details before I post more fully.

Unknown said...

Adrian

I think that you are right with the point that it should be unclipped. Other residents have complained that it is impractical to unclip and move a bin full of bottles, especially for the elderly so there is a design element that fails on either count. I've also heard complaints that as there are no holes in the base, rainwater and remaining liquid from the bottles fill the bottom of the bin.

As a Conservative, I couldn't possibly comment on great swathes of blue adorning Sutton's streets:)

(I do agree with the aesthetics. I had thought of taking a Russian Doll style photo of my five bins.)

Anonymous said...

Rather than wasting time on Burstow's systematic abuse of paid envelopes, perhaps we should get back to the "origins" of this thread.

........and that is can anybody tell me why when one goes to the bottle banks one has to separate between "clear", "brown" and "green" and yet with these shit blue bins one can throw all assortments of colours into it? Perhaps Cllr Hall has something else to answer?

Unknown said...

The glass collected from the blue bins remains unseparated and is sold for use in road-building and construction. The price for this is lower than the separated glass colours which can then be 100% recycled into bottles. Apparently the glass industry is bemoaning the increased number of local authorities mixing up the glass like Sutton.

Anonymous said...

Yes Paul
It has been the same with Bio-Fuels.
Another ill thought out policy by liberal eco-warriors which has helped lead to global food shortages due to the amount of farmers switching from edible crops to those that create biofuels.
Well done the policymakers.

Anonymous said...

Nice one Tim! Shall I save the oil from my regular chip supply to run my car on so that I can get to council meetings? LOL!

Anonymous said...

Mr Crowley,

I must confess a certain exasperation with Sutton Council's messianic pretentions when it comes to climate change.

What is good is that we do recycle and there are commitments to cutting the amount of waste we create. I am all for environmental policies which will have a real impact but it seems to me that the ruling Liberal Democrats are more inclined to gesture and vaccuous statements than they are real change.

I think the United Kingdom has roughly 1% of the world's population, Sutton has a population of 180,000 people, China is building a coal power station every other day. It does not need too much effort to calculate that we wil have an almost non-existent impact on global 'climate change'. What we can do, though, is to improve our local environment and cut down on the waste of resources - that's something we can do.

So, whenever the Council introduces a shiny new green policy, wrapped in fanfare and self-congratulation, why is its effect to always lighten my wallet?