Age Of The 'bonsai' Bin: Families Will Be Forced To Cram Their Rubbish Into Mini Wheelies

[interestrateripoff]

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-12...i-wheelies.html

Families are to be issued with 'bonsai bins' to make homeowners reduce the amount of rubbish they throw away.

The scheme will see one city's standard-sized 240-litre wheelie bins, used by more than 150,000 homes, removed and replaced by smaller versions.

It means that a family of five could be forced to squeeze all their non-recyclable rubbish into a meagre 180-litre container.

The scheme is being introduced in Bristol, where the Liberal Democrat council is hoping to cut the amount of rubbish it sends to landfill and 'encourage' households to put out less waste that cannot be recycled.

But the pattern looks likely to be copied across the country. The city is one of the first to operate the Government's favoured model for future rubbish services - a weekly collection of food waste with other rubbish picked up by binmen once a fortnight.

Council leaders will vote on whether to reduce the size of the city's bins next week.

Gary Hopkins, Bristol's waste chief, said: 'We will not have a one size bin for everyone - it will be a case of varying the size to suit people's needs.

'There are a lot of people who would prefer a smaller bin. 'We will be looking at circumstances so that larger families, such as mothers with young babies in nappies, will be able to get a larger bin.'

The unpopularity of bin rules has been highlighted by the Daily Mail's Not In My Front Yard campaign, which is pressing for householders to be allowed to choose whether they have wheelie bins and how their rubbish is collected.

Under the plans, standard 240-litre bins for non-recyclable rubbish will be replaced by 140-litre versions for couples or those living alone, while households containing more than three people will receive 180-litre bins.

It means that each member of a family of five would get just 36 litres of rubbish space a fortnight, compared with 140 litres for someone living on their own.

Bristol residents will also get a slopbucket to hold their weekly food waste and a brown bag to dispose of it. Garden waste will be collected-once a week.

Council chiefs have warned that binmen will not pick up any extra rubbish and that households that break the rules by leaving out more than their allowance will face prosecution and fines of up to £5,000 for fly-tipping.

Residents and taxpayer pressure groups last night condemned the bonsai bin scheme.

Labour councillor Mark Bradshaw said: 'I wonder if this is a step towards a chipped bin recording the amount of waste and frequency of collection, with a charge for those who fail to reduce their waste?'

Another revenue generating scheme to start covering the shortfall in budgets or the Wail being hysterical again.

Are a lot of these people who want smaller bins council officials eager to boost council coffers?

[Tonkers]

What will I sleep in if they reduce my spacious bin?

[OnlyMe]

If you wanted to do something effective about packaging you put the tax on the SUPPLIER and PRODUCER of goods and packaging. It would be efficient and effective.

Packaging is often used by producers to make a product look more than it is, boxes half empty to fool the customer they are getting more than they really are to justify the price.

But no.

As for using the fly-tipping rules, well all that does is equate leaving more rubbish in the APPROPRIATE place with the likes of those that WILFULLY go and dump their rubbish where it definitely shouldn't be placed. Shame on the Liberal cretins.

Edited September 10, 2009 by OnlyMe

[Take Me Back To London!]

'There are a lot of people who would prefer a smaller bin.

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-12...i-wheelies.html

Are a lot of these people who want smaller bins council officials eager to boost council coffers?

The line trotted out by the council that a lot pf people want smaller bins etc. is standard bureaucrat bullsheet. Other examples are you can't do that because you are not insured, health & safety and you can't have that because it's covered by Data Protection.

It's time that people organised themselves and do all the local municipal functions themselves.

[Tonkers]

I'll just go back to dumping the bodies in the canal.

[Wait & See]

I'll just go back to dumping the bodies in the canal.

Are you a truck driver??

[Tonkers]

Are you a truck driver??

Ha! I have been a master flytipper in my time, got rid of a warehouse full of waste in bins all over Elephant & Castle over 2 days, at night.

[benn]

we'll just buy less food from the shops, make more of our own from scratch. that should help the recovery.

[Damik]

I would wanted to do something effective about packaging you put the tax on the SUPPLIER and PRODUCER of goods and packaging. It would be efficient and effective.

Packaging is often used by producers to make a product look more than it is, boxes half empty to fool the customer they are getting more than they really are to justify the price.

But no.

As for using the fly-tipping rules, well all that does is equate leaving more rubbish in the APPROPRIATE place with the likes of those that WILFULLY go and dump their rubbish where it definitely shouldn't be placed. Shame on the Liberal cretins.

packaging is not the issue at all!!!

how much plastic waste do you produce a month? 2kg, 3kg? how much oil do you need to make 3kg of plastic? 6kg of oil?

I burn in my car easily 90kg of fuel/oil every months.

My car fuel consumption has 15 times worst environmental impact than plastic waste, which can be safely disposed anyway

[dr ray]

Fine with me. Only worry is how to spend the Council Tax refund we will all be due.

[hedgefunded]

Nothing wrong with wanting people to produce less waste, and nothing wrong with people doing so.

The problem is that it's the usual environmental nonsense being trotted out, when really it's about raising money.

I make an effort to reduce the stuff I leave out for the binmen by dumping at least one bag of household waste in a council bin during my daily stroll into town.

I'm not so stupid as to throw out personally identifiable items, but pretty much everything else is fair game.

****** 'em.

[OnlyMe]

packaging is not the issue at all!!!

how much plastic waste do you produce a month? 2kg, 3kg? how much oil do you need to make 3kg of plastic? 6kg of oil?

I burn in my car easily 90kg of fuel/oil every months.

My car fuel consumption has 15 times worst environmental impact than plastic waste, which can be safely disposed anyway

Yes, I see where you are coming from, but taking the issue of landfill separately, it is an issue and means should be sought to reduce the problem. Punitive fines and providing undersized bins is a totalitarian and dysfunctional way of going about it. The buyer has little or no choice how much packaging they consume other than y reducing consumption, this type of scheme is totally nutty and only designed to criminalise and hound the population.

In the interests of science I just went and checked the bin, product packaging takes up about 4/5 of it, though to be fair of what I saw without rummaging inside it none of it was the result of what I would consider excessive size. Biodegradable packaging might be a better route.

[OnlyMe]

Nothing wrong with wanting people to produce less waste, and nothing wrong with people doing so.

The problem is that it's the usual environmental nonsense being trotted out, when really it's about raising money.

I make an effort to reduce the stuff I leave out for the binmen by dumping at least one bag of household waste in a council bin during my daily stroll into town.

I'm not so stupid as to throw out personally identifiable items, but pretty much everything else is fair game.

****** 'em.

Until they put cameras aimed at their bins. That would shift the table to where you'd be better off choosing alternative locations (not that you would of course). But as you say this is purely a tax and cost with green fairy dust sprinkled over it - something that the libs love and it is not below them to use draconian law to push this stuff through as well as employ countless number of drones to implement it.

[Johnny Storm]

I'm not so stupid as to throw out personally identifiable items, but pretty much everything else is fair game.

****** 'em.

Good plan! I like it! Id be in favour of this if we did a scheme where:-

Big bin £50 council tax a month

Medium Bin £30 council tax a month

Tiny Bin £20 council tax a month

Maybe the sizes would be automatically decided by number of people living there, so that large families naturally pay more as they use more services. The councils really need to get into the idea that people will recycle if is in their personal interests to do so, ie its cheaper and I dont mean avoiding a fine.

[Timak]

Good plan! I like it! Id be in favour of this if we did a scheme where:-

Big bin £50 council tax a month

Medium Bin £30 council tax a month

Tiny Bin £20 council tax a month

Maybe the sizes would be automatically decided by number of people living there, so that large families naturally pay more as they use more services. The councils really need to get into the idea that people will recycle if is in their personal interests to do so, ie its cheaper and I dont mean avoiding a fine.

I know you are only giving the above as an example cost but bin collection only costs about £70 per household per year.

I worked on the IT system for a council when they were implementing a fortnightly 2 bin system and there were LOTS of requests for smaller bins too. I also realised that 99% of our residents adapted to the new system with no problems and not a single fine has been issued in the 5 years the scheme has been running.

[youthoftoday]

Why do they have to replace the bins? Surely it's better to design an insert to put in it that reduces the volume.

Personally it doesn't bother me greatly since we (family of 5, 1 a baby) rarely fill our 240 litre waste bin. The 240 litre recycling one does get quite full but not if I climb in and jump up and down on the contents. I do have an allotment and thus compost most food waste and grass clippings though. Also we generally bake our own bread (not that bread bags take much space) and also make our own yoghurt (which saves about 30 non-recyclable plastic pots per week). Also we cook almost all our meals from scratch and thus almost never have those plastic trays which ready meals come in. All our meat comes from the farm shop and is wrapped in plasticy paper stuff rather than trays too.

[Vaevictus]

Here in belgium, they have a much better system than back in the UK.

Here, all rubbish bags that are collected must be the official "Commune branded" bags.

You can only get them from big supermarkets.

For general, non recyclable waste, they cost 9 euros for 10 x 60 litre bags.

The recyclable waste can go in cheaper bags which I think are about 5 euros for 20, but they are translucent so they can see if yoou put the wrong stuff in it (then they just wont take it)

With this system, those that produce more waste pay more tax in the form of bags.

People who compost, recycle correctly or minmise waste pay a lot less tax.

The system works great and is so bloody simple I cannot believe we dont do it in the UK.

Edited September 10, 2009 by Vaevictus

[dr ray]

Nothing wrong with wanting people to produce less waste, and nothing wrong with people doing so.

The problem is that it's the usual environmental nonsense being trotted out, when really it's about raising money.

I make an effort to reduce the stuff I leave out for the binmen by dumping at least one bag of household waste in a council bin during my daily stroll into town.

I'm not so stupid as to throw out personally identifiable items, but pretty much everything else is fair game.

****** 'em.

There is probably a camera with face recognition technology and a highly trained team of image enhancement technicians working to identify you right now. When they catch you, you will feature on a special episode of "Police, Camera Action", have your DNA stored for eternity and be subject to a control order and have your assets frozen. Your family will be followed by the security forces. They will break into your house. You will never be able to travel abroad. Your dead relatives and friends will be exhumed

Sir, I denounce you as a terrorist

Don't go out carrying a chair leg

[R K]

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-12...i-wheelies.html

Another revenue generating scheme to start covering the shortfall in budgets or the Wail being hysterical again.

Are a lot of these people who want smaller bins council officials eager to boost council coffers?

Had this for around 12 months. Huge improvement!

Most of the crap you chuck away seems to be packaging. When you chuck that in the plastic,cans, bottles, or cardboard/paper bin there's not much left apart from teabags, banana skins and egg shells.

I could probably manage quite easily with 10 litres a week. So, perhaps 40-50 for a family.

This is such a non-issue unless you're incapable of simply tasks like brushing your teeth or wiping your own ar%e.

[Johnny Storm]

I know you are only giving the above as an example cost but bin collection only costs about £70 per household per year.

I worked on the IT system for a council when they were implementing a fortnightly 2 bin system and there were LOTS of requests for smaller bins too. I also realised that 99% of our residents adapted to the new system with no problems and not a single fine has been issued in the 5 years the scheme has been running.

It was just an example. But WOW what do they waste the rest of the £1000 a year I pay on.

I used to love the Place in the Sun programs where the presenter would say to the couple when they were looking at places in Spain. "Oh, and lets talk about the local tax. Its 50 euros a year."

Wouldnt it be nice if we could opt out of a cheap and nasty council collection and pay a private company where they take whatever rubbish you want and come and collect the bin from where it lives. Wow, like the good old days in fact.

Im lucky in that I live in a flat where we have big massive communal bins. So i can throw away as much as I like, I dont mess around putting rubbish in blue and green bins in fact I dont even know which is which. And the concierge puts the bins out. Flats ftw!

[Si1]

Fine with me. Only worry is how to spend the Council Tax refund we will all be due.

we won't get a refund. you'll simply get less cut off your pension than otherwise would have been the case. be happy.

[pablopatito]

I fail to see how a council introducing smaller bins for smaller households, whilst keeping larger bins for larger households, is worthy of a frontpage headline in the Daily Mail. Surely its just common sense to have a bin sized according to how many people use the bin, rather than the current one size fits all? Where's the issue?

[OnlyMe]

I fail to see how a council introducing smaller bins for smaller households, whilst keeping larger bins for larger households, is worthy of a frontpage headline in the Daily Mail. Surely its just common sense to have a bin sized according to how many people use the bin, rather than the current one size fits all? Where's the issue?

Something to do with throwing the fly-tipping laws at transgressors who dare to have more rubbish than their allocated bin size and dare to put out more rubbish.

[Lazybones]

Quick, invest in shares of domestic waste compactor companies :-)

http://www.thebincompany.com/acatalog/Dome...mpactors_6.html

Maybe set up a managed service for your whole street/neighbourhood :-)

Where there is trash there is cash.

How much do councils make from their tin/paper collections each week? Why are they happy to collect half empty recycle bins each week using a large lorry but not empty my wheelie bin on a weekly basis? Is the cash being used to reduce council tax bills or wasted in the larger system

[kingsgate]

I fail to see how a council introducing smaller bins for smaller households, whilst keeping larger bins for larger households, is worthy of a frontpage headline in the Daily Mail. Surely its just common sense to have a bin sized according to how many people use the bin, rather than the current one size fits all? Where's the issue?

Because people (rightly) have a strong suspicion that we will on average end up paying more and more for less and less of a "service".

When I was a kid, the binmen came up your drive to the back of your house, lifted up the full bin and carried it to their truck and emptied it in, then put the bin back up your drive.

They took whatever rubbish you left out, within reason.

Now, in most areas, they impose endless rules on you, threaten to fine you for not obeying those rules, demand that you get wheeliebins, then refuse to take them unless you bring them to the end of your drive etc.

And leave the stinking rubbish for two weeks at a time.

If you look at it, there is long history of us, the paying public, being charged ever more for progressively less and less of a service. And you wonder why the papers and many people suspect that any "changes" that the council bring in will have the effect of causing them more hassle and costing the council less money, whilst we won't actually get a reduction in local taxes.

I may start burning some of my rubbish in my back garden. Local incineration.