Keen recycler stages strike over bins mess (From The Oxford Times)

South Oxfordshire crews are just the same we have wheelie bins for both services and I constantly have to shift 3 to 4 bins out of the way that are left on my drive before I can move the car, these don't include my bin that is left down the road, lazy inconsiderate people and best of all they don't empty your bin unless you leave it within an inch of your boundary.

So what if the boxes haven't been neatly stacked?! Next month we'll have beautifully stacked bins but an article in the Oxford Mail from someone complaining that the bin lorries are taking too long to empty their bins and the traffic is backed up behind their wagons.

If a bin has been left in the path of a pedestrian I'm sure they would be quite capable of deciding whether it is safe to walk past it or failing that actually moving it!

Ps I live in the same district and came home to neatly stacked bins today so you might want to think about recycling again Mr Roger

Blimey, what a palaver! Moving three empty, wheeled objects off your drive must take all of thirty seconds. If you get up thirty seconds earlier once a week your problem will be solved. Think of it as a bit of exercise.

Blimey, and I thought I moaned!

I think our bin and recycling people do a grand job!

We get ours left on the path, but it takes only a few seconds to take them back up the drive.

Also, three times in the past year is nothing to get all worked up about.

In the words of 'compassionate Dave' - Calm down dear ;)

Richard MacKenzie

think it madness that the council can fine u £80 for dropping a fag butt on the floor but when the council come and empty our recycling bins they leave the street in a right mess !!!!!! maybe we should fine them £80 for each bit of litter they leave behind !!!!!!!!! we have to pay well over the odds in council tax for this service so i totally agree with this mans problem !!! its not just empty box's its the litter also .

King Joke wrote:
Blimey, what a palaver! Moving three empty, wheeled objects off your drive must take all of thirty seconds. If you get up thirty seconds earlier once a week your problem will be solved. Think of it as a bit of exercise.

You might think it's not a problem and have nothing better to do with your life but these smelly bins are never mine and can belong to neighbours up to 4 doors away who are just the type of neighbours who come home from work and still don't take their bin in, it's nothing to do with how long it takes it's the principal of it, next door but one has still got a recycling wheelie bin on the path outside her house since a week ago yesterday and refuses to move it in case she gets an exclusive collection that was missed due to snow/ice so why should we be an unpaid wheelie bin mover, the bin men should put them back approximately where they came from and they all have numbers on the bins.

Move to Oxford!

All the recycling goes into a single blue wheelie bin. No need to sort or carry heavy boxes full of paper and glass. It must be one of the most organised cities for recycling in the UK.

If the bin does end up in the wrong place after it's been lifted, at least it's in the wrong place in a tidy safe position.

Recent advice from WODC, following the heavy snow, was to leave your bins out and the dustmen would collect them when they could. Any 'extras' resulting from late collection would also be taken away

Fine. Except that they were in such a tearing hurry when they came for the grey bins, that they drove their large vehicle over the soft grass, leaving large wheel ruts. Thanks very much.

The recyclists didn't turn up at all until the the next scheduled collection day - and failed to take away the cardboard which wouldn't fit into my black box, as it was full with 2 weeks of items for recycling. So last night I had to retrieve both the box and the ridiculous little 'food caddy' plus sheets of soggy cardboard from whence the recyclists and wind had deposited them.

Germany invented this recycling mania; however, even they have a much simpler system than we do. I'd far prefer their system; one bin for 'bio', one for material which can be recycled and a third for that which cannot be. WODC's policies are causing people to give up and just stuff everything into the grey bin.....

Andrew:Oxford wrote:
Move to Oxford!

All the recycling goes into a single blue wheelie bin. No need to sort or carry heavy boxes full of paper and glass. It must be one of the most organised cities for recycling in the UK.

If the bin does end up in the wrong place after it's been lifted, at least it's in the wrong place in a tidy safe position.

What about all the houses that have no front gardens? You may be surprised to learn that there are literally thousands of householders still having to carry heavy boxes full of paper/glass etc. through their houses every fortnight. My advice is, do not move to Oxford City, unless there is enough space to accommodate wheelie bins either in front gardens or driveways.

mytaxes wrote:

Andrew:Oxford wrote: Move to Oxford! All the recycling goes into a single blue wheelie bin. No need to sort or carry heavy boxes full of paper and glass. It must be one of the most organised cities for recycling in the UK. If the bin does end up in the wrong place after it's been lifted, at least it's in the wrong place in a tidy safe position.

What about all the houses that have no front gardens? You may be surprised to learn that there are literally thousands of householders still having to carry heavy boxes full of paper/glass etc. through their houses every fortnight. My advice is, do not move to Oxford City, unless there is enough space to accommodate wheelie bins either in front gardens or driveways.

Whatever the rubbish collection scheme, people with no front gardens will always have to carry rubbish through their house. It doesn't matter whether it's separated or not, it still has to be carried.

You advise against moving the Oxford on this basis. Which cities have a better arrangement for people with no front gardens? Please describe the arrangements in detail.

I do think there is a risk of getting one's knickers in a bit of a twist over something that should be possible to resolve with less palaver. But it does require people at each stage to see things from the other's standpoint.

I too harrumph a little to myself when the boxes end up strewn across the green, when paper left in the boxes blows away, when the lorry scores deep ruts in the grass, and when I have to ask for another kitchen waste container as the bin men have broken it. But it does only take a few seconds to collect the bins, boxes and any residual rubbish up, Council staff are wonderfully efficient at supplying replacement bins for those broken ("It happens - we keep tabs on it to make sure the rate of breakage isn't increasing"), and the bin men themselves are friendly and polite, and on the odd occasion I have asked whether they could do something differently, they have been happy to do so, and remember most of the time (the other times, it's probably a new / different crew man).

I spent most of my adult life living on the Continent until I returned home to the UK, and whereas at first I was shocked by the lack of recycling here in the UK, I am genuinely impressed by how much progress has been made in a remarkably short timeframe.

The amount of waste in our grey bin has dwindled to a few small bags a fortnight, and even them, I'm sure we could do better. I doubt I'll ever find the patience shown by my elderly parents, who peel the silver foil off their pop-out medicine tablet strips to recycle it, but can always learn a new trick or two.

Above all, I'd urge everyone to keep a sense of perspective. Council officers are under enormous pressure to deliver more for less with our money (let's not forget), and face large fines if rubbish is sent to landfill. They contract the waste collection services out, and do so on a strict commercial basis. They can call the contractors to order if they breach their terms, but at the same time, they've got to get value for money & the firm's got to make a profit if it's going to carrying on tendering to provide this service.

We, the public, are the front line warning system, and each of us should play whatever rôle we can. Clearly, if things go badly wrong, then press campaigns etc. can help? But when matters can be put right by a kind word, rather than a grumpy one, by a call rather than a letter, and by occasionally putting oneself out, let's give that a go first, eh?

It is simple really, the council threatens to fine us for certain violations that their employees do all of the time. Ever since a council bin wagon took my wing mirror off outside my home (when I reported it they said there was no damage to the wagon and refused to pay out, well a 5 ton bin wagon won't get damaged taking my wing mirror off would it) I have played the game with them, by hiding non-recyclables inside bottles, cans, boxes etc and in the couple of years of doing so, even with batteries, no complaints. So is the stuff really being recycled, as we were warned that even a small bit of non-recyclable material would contaminate the whole lot. What is good for the Goose, as they say. Stop dictating to us and we will start obeying.

Most people are missing the point here and it is not in the article. What happens is the contractor comes and empties the bins, fails to stack them with the lids and caddy in the top of the stack. The result is the wind hits them and strews them further and the lids get run over if they are in the road, rendering them useless. The council in their wisdom have now replaced loose lids with nets, which means stuff escapes and then gets blown around in the wind, not good. The whole system is badly conceived and the smaller bins are just not fit for purpose. People are right to complain if the service provided is not up to standard. At one point the bin men used to collect your bin, empty it and return it. I have no problem putting my bins out, or fetching them back in, but dealing with airborne lids and rubbish which the guys leave behind is not what I'm paying for. You put your rubbish out in good faith but it seems there are conditions and criteria regarding whether they take it or not, which is a separate subject but needs addressing.

I think Mr Roger is making a lot of fuss about nothing. Is he not able to bring his bins back himself? If he's a pensioner then presumably he is not out at work when the bin men call so the bins would not need to be on the pavement all day. He should find something more serious to worry about. Be a responsible citizen and make a bit more effort to recycle your waste.

MOTG makes a great point - twenty years ago there was no recycling at all, and 'keen recyclers' like myself had to schlep over to a bin somewhere in my locale to recycle. I moved around but latterly this meant a bus trip down to Redbridge with a bin bag - only for the dedicated!

Then came kerbside recycling where I had to separate things out, much better but still requiring some effort.

NOw we have one recycling bin for everything and it couldn't be easier! Full marks to Ox City for turning this around in a few short years.

Some people will always find something to moan about.

MOTG spot on! Some people have such short memories

It's the word 'keen' in the title of this pice that makes me wonder - aren't we all recyclers? A fuss about nothing. The local MP should stay away from such people who find fault from behind their beige window blinds.

MOTG deserves an award for OM's 'Comment of the month'.

Man on the Green wrote:
I do think there is a risk of getting one's knickers in a bit of a twist over something that should be possible to resolve with less palaver. But it does require people at each stage to see things from the other's standpoint.

I too harrumph a little to myself when the boxes end up strewn across the green, when paper left in the boxes blows away, when the lorry scores deep ruts in the grass, and when I have to ask for another kitchen waste container as the bin men have broken it. But it does only take a few seconds to collect the bins, boxes and any residual rubbish up, Council staff are wonderfully efficient at supplying replacement bins for those broken ("It happens - we keep tabs on it to make sure the rate of breakage isn't increasing"), and the bin men themselves are friendly and polite, and on the odd occasion I have asked whether they could do something differently, they have been happy to do so, and remember most of the time (the other times, it's probably a new / different crew man).

I spent most of my adult life living on the Continent until I returned home to the UK, and whereas at first I was shocked by the lack of recycling here in the UK, I am genuinely impressed by how much progress has been made in a remarkably short timeframe.

The amount of waste in our grey bin has dwindled to a few small bags a fortnight, and even them, I'm sure we could do better. I doubt I'll ever find the patience shown by my elderly parents, who peel the silver foil off their pop-out medicine tablet strips to recycle it, but can always learn a new trick or two.

Above all, I'd urge everyone to keep a sense of perspective. Council officers are under enormous pressure to deliver more for less with our money (let's not forget), and face large fines if rubbish is sent to landfill. They contract the waste collection services out, and do so on a strict commercial basis. They can call the contractors to order if they breach their terms, but at the same time, they've got to get value for money & the firm's got to make a profit if it's going to carrying on tendering to provide this service.

We, the public, are the front line warning system, and each of us should play whatever rôle we can. Clearly, if things go badly wrong, then press campaigns etc. can help? But when matters can be put right by a kind word, rather than a grumpy one, by a call rather than a letter, and by occasionally putting oneself out, let's give that a go first, eh?

you would say that, being on (our) the councils payroll MOTG. But I still prefer my little game. How much of our recycling really goes to landfill?

I have no idea at all where Mr Skip gets his peculiar idea that I am (or indeed ever have been) "on the Council's payroll". I can categorically affirm that I have never worked for, held elected or appointed office in, or indeed been paid to provide services by any local authority whatsoever. I would have declared an interest had that been the case.

If Mr Skip made fewer assumptions (and cast fewer aspersions too), he might find he provoked less hostile reaction.