Of wheelie bins

[Miss Understood]

Anyone else read the Mail on Sunday and the article on microchips in wheelie bins?

It was brought to my attention by someone knocking on my door this afternoon up in arms over the article (which I hadn't read at the time but have managed to get a copy of since) and offering me proof of the hidden microchip in our new recycling bins. (I sit on a local amenity type resident board so I was the nearest target as far as this resident is concerned). Our particular council is not mentioned in the paper.

I do wonder about the data protection act, freedom of information act and downright not bothering to mention this fact in the fanfare of publicity surrounding the new-fangled recycling scheme in my manor.

I also wonder if it's the precursor to charging people by the kilo for their rubbish rather than a flat fee consumed within the Council Tax charges.

It also bothers me a tad - although I know which my particular bin is and its general contents, I'm not sure I like knowing that someone else is weighing it and preparing to charge me fo any excess they may perceive is happening
.

Would be grateful for your views....

[Matthew]

Link to the story from here: 'Bin brother' fear over wheelie tag (http://www.mailonsunday.co.uk/pages/live/articles/news/news.html?in_article_id=402460&in_page_id=1770). :)

[phantos02]

:bigeyes: Jesus Jones has the world finally lost it?? thanks for bringing that to my attention MU I went to inspect my wheelie bin but I don't think I am a victim yet... I bet it is only a matter of time. We have alrady had our rubbish collections cut down from once a week to once fortnighly (not that I mind, we recycle as much as we can so there isn't a great deal left over). My council are quite hot on this subject I bet we will be next for the microchip...

[sassieb]

im all for recycling etc but all this business about microchips and fines and what not are really take the rise since it has been in the paper that most, if not all, our recycled stuff gets deposited in dumps all over the world :badmood: so once again a way has been found to line pockets.

[Omega]

We read this today in our newspaper and were dumbfounded :bigeyes:

We recycle most of our household rubbish; we have three bins here; Green (household) Blue (Newspapers Card etc) Brown (Garden Waste); our green bin is only ever 1/4 full and I have said that if we were given smaller green bins, people would have to recycle more! In fact I am going to ask our council if we can have a smaller bin.

Our green bin is collected on alternate weeks with the blue and brown; and even over two weeks we do not get much in our green bin :thumbs:

We have said that because we have to put the bins out the night before as they have to be out before 07:00 what would stop other people putting their rubbish into your bin :unsure: in the dead of night so as not to get caught out with high costs of not recycling! There are some people who would do this especially an NFH :angry:

Also came to mind is the problem of glass; where we are we do not have a "bin" for glass and have to save it all together and then take it to our recycling centre round the corner from us; not a problem to us. We're lucky we can drive but what about pensioners or people who cannot drive; they have to put it in their green bin and glass can weigh heavy so that to me would not be very fair.

[coppernob]

We have just had our rubbish collecrion changed to once fortnightly and given one black wheelie bin,any more rubbish then fits in that is not taken :badmood: There are seven of us in my household,if I want another bin I have to pay!Now I'm all for recycling,I fill my recycling bin,take all glass to bottle bank,clothes to PDSA and am awaiting my compost bin but what irks me is all the packaging,why don't they fine supermarkets etc for over packaging? If they are going to start charging per bag,can I have some of my council tax please :P

[StoneHenge]

I am totally shocked at this. If our poor excuse for a government had pulled their fingers out sooner, a lot of this would not happen. Plus, how many people do you seeing going to the tip with bags of normal household rubbish because they DON'T recycle and their wheely bins become full rather quickly.

We don't have wheely bins at the marina, just a communal area where the rubbish is put, but there is also a bottle bank, paper bank, cardboard etc plus clothes and shoes, so nothing goes to waste. The waste food (might sound gross but bear with me), like vegetables, chicken we throw into the canal itself. Might sound like we are fly tipping here, but the carp that live in the marina (as they are all way too smart to leave given the fishermen around), feed on this stuff, so it get eaten very quickly, so the only things that get thrown are things that can't be recycled.

But our house collection used to be once a fortnight for normal and recycled rubbish, which can be hard if you have a houseful!

Tagging them is not the answer though. One singleton who does not recycle may collect just as much as a larger family who recycles everything they can. It's like they will start to charge you for having a family!

It's a lose lose situation with these people. They introduce blue boxes, bags and garden waste etc, then start tagging you to make you feel bad.

What they should be doing is targeting the producers of the food we buy to make them more package friendly, so anything we have to buy, the packaging can be recycled, as not all of them can. Plus some items are packed in so many unnecessary layers, you end up with so much rubbish! And they must realise that certain times (such as Christmas) are going to be busy and the loads of rubbish will be more anyway.

If they can charge for it, they will. This country will go down hill rapidly with attitudes like this. They should be rewarding those that try and help, not making them pay more.

[sassieb]

i agree Stoney but whilst they can fleece us and make more money from us then they will keep on doing what they are doing. :rant:

however,Your food waste disposal system is a good economic/friendly to the environment situ :notworthy: lol i love it!

[Noise Stopper]

Didn't Dr Who do this story once? or am I thinking of the Daleks? :bigeyes:

Ian :nfh1:

[Beth]

our recycled bin was "tagged" at the begining of the year

the council told us they were doing it before they did, each green bin has a little round bit of blue plastic punched into the corner of the bin.

the reason for this (we were told) was so the council can focus advertising on the areas that dont recyle rather than the areas that already do thier bit, and that the house holds in certain "disadvantaged" areas that recycle the most get a little cash incentive! :rolleyes:
as it seems from research etc the council have done that these "dis-advantaged" areas dont recyle as much as more affluant areas.

appartently this bit of plastic can tell them how many times the bin lid is opened or something to put rubbish in or how heavy the bin is....I dont know something like that :D

I was a bit miffed at this, as I have two green bins and would quite like a little cash incentive myself and dont live in one of the areas listed!! :lol: :lol:

(yes it was Doctor Who wher ethe wheelie bins fought back B)

[c1rcle]

I'm going to check my 3 bins & remove the chips if they're already added, they haven't had my permission to do anything but empty my bins, they can ask me nicely so I can then tell them to s*d off.

[harrassed mother]

Hi

Have just checked my recycle bin.........
Dont think there is a tag there....would take it off if there was..........
Freaky thing to do, talk about big brother is watching you.

[Miss Understood]

There's been loads in the local paper about the chip thing all this week.


Our new regime started this Tuesday. My kids have now been trained. I have a big sticker on the top of the kitchen bin saying 'THINK!' on it and a basket right next to it for anything non-food they think may be remotely recycleable. I also have a smallish bowl on a kitchen top for compostable peelings etc. So, I spend a few minutes each day squinting at the recycle stamps on the plastics before properly sorting them and taking the bowl full of vege peelings out to the composter. And so far, since Tuesday, I have, just this evening, finally put one two-thirds full plastic bin liner of non-recycleables in the new little bin. Not bad!

However, I worry about the elderly and the new regime. Next door to me the property is divided into two flats - one upstairs, one downstairs. Downstairs lives my surrogate Mum, a widowed lady of 70 years old, who still works full time, four days a week and with whom I down a couple of gins on a Friday evening so we can catch up on the gossip.

Upstairs to her there's a couple in their late 70's, early 80's. The wife is suffering from the early-mid stages of senile dementia and the husband had a quadruple bypass a year or so ago. Husband spends his time bodging DIY jobs (their flat is, actually, a serious fire hazard) and looking after his wife.

My surrogate Mum was saying yesterday that chap upstairs seems to have totally missed the whole point of anything and is continuing to put rubbish in the bins in the old way. So what will happen when the bin run comes next week? I can see an awful situation where next door upstairs won't be emptied because it's not been sorted right and next door downstairs will probably find herself penalised too although everything she is doing is right.

Although chap upstairs next door is a plonker in the nicest way, I do think there's so much on his mind at the moment that he's not even aware the changes have happened. And will just end up doing it all wrong and never getting his bins emptied.

What would the panel do in these circumstances?

[Enterian]

We've got chips on our bins, I can't say it really bothers me that much, the rubbish we produce fits in our bin, unlike others in the street who fill the bin and then create a small mountain next to it! Presumably the 'extra' does not get weighed!

Just a warning to harrassed mother, our council has stated that the bin lorries scan the microchip before they tip the bin into the lorry (the lorry automatically weighs the bin as it lifts it) and if it's not there then the bin will not get emptied.

I just wish they'd come up with a scheme for glass, we can't put it in our recycling wheely (apparently it contaminates the other stuff) and we have no bottle banks within walking distance so we have to use the car to recycle our glass, which hardly makes environmental sense!

Miss Understood - Our council 'red cards' bins with inappropiate items in them and won't take them until you sort it out.

[c1rcle]

Well I checked this morning & there is indeed a chip on my recycling bin, or should I say there was, they can keep replacing it if they want but I'll be removing it each time they do.

[Miss Understood]

Bin day tomorrow.

I've just checked the remaining capacity of the non-recycle bin which is due to be collected first thing in the morning. There was spare capacity so I've had the kids round up everything even remotely rubbish like and it's all gone in and the lid still remains firmly closed :D

I shall have to find out from 'Mum' next door on Friday if upstairs next door got emptied or not.

[rakki]

Miss understood

Can someone offer to help and explain to the poor gent upstairs??? Or is he not approachable?????? It seem such a shame for him to have to deal with the possibility of his bins not being emptied on top of everything else he is dealing with.

[Badwolf]

People should write to these idiot councillors and threaten to vote them out at first opportunity. These people are there to serve us not persecute us. Same with the anti-car brigade....I used a bus for the first time in ages the other night...£2.40 to travel less than five miles. If everyone stopped moving about then the economy would collapse overnight....yet still they pick on the motorist! Get em out.... :angry: Sorry for the rant!

[Toots]

Well I know which Council this is.... one not so far from me! In fact half the people I work with in my council went over to work at this one as they pay a lot better... I should imagine they are not happy now dealing with calls about chips in bins! LOL

We have a regular bin collection, we did go too two weekly collections 12 months ago, but the town was up in arms and so last month they brought back weekly collections and we got them back first.... I can't say I need a weekly collection as I am recycling so much... we have a green bin (for garden waste) and a green box (for plastics, glass) every two weeks and a paper collection every week!