--
Posted by Anonymous to swanage view
Saturday, July 16, 2005
Wheelie bins
With regard to the enthusiastic introduction by PDC of the wheelie bin rubbish collection - to be emptied only every fortnight - has anyone seen the advice issued by Oxfordshire county council on these bins as a potential fire hazard? Which Oxfordshire recommends are emptied before each weekend - not left stuffed full of rubbish for two weeks and, if we all follow what PDC is recommending, and recycle everything that can rot down, will be crammed with things which will burn like billy-o.Oxfordshire county council AdviceWheelie bins are an excellent innovation, for both storing and disposing of rubbish, but burn fiercely when on fire and if left or moved close to buildings and ignited, can have very serious consequences.So, we would like to offer the following advice to both householders and businesses to minimise the risk of fires in wheelie bins.•Where possible combustible rubbish should be compacted and removed.•Wheelie bins should be secured in a proper compound away from buildings.•If a compound is not available the wheelie bins should be locked shut and secured, away frombuildings.•Do make sure that smokers materials are extinguished before disposing into refuse bins.•Do not place hot items for example hot embers from a spent coal fire into refuse bins.•The bins should be emptied regularly, especially prior to weekends and holidays.•Bins should not be put out for rubbish collection until the morning of the actual collection day.•Never store bins outside doors and windows as any fire within the bin could easily spread into theadjacent building.
--
Posted by Anonymous to swanage view at 7/15/2005 09:09:25
--
Posted by Anonymous to swanage view
Subscribe to:
Post Comments (Atom)
Posts
11 comments:
Swanagw will I am afraid, look like a slum. the narrow streets with wheelie bins in the r0ads outside the houses.
Some of our old streets with no side entrance will have bright green bins ouside the old stone houses.
That is nothing short of absolute madness..So much for the town as a place for holidays...Who in their right mind would want to stay in holiday homes, with row after row of green bins outside in the road?
Must be joking.
Dancing Ledge.
This information came from an Oxfordshire County Council fire safety leaflet. I've spoken to one of their fire safety officers, who told me that they have had incidents with both domestic and trade bins being set on fire by vandals.
You can see the leaflet at:
www.oxfordshire.gov.uk/index/protecting/fire_service/fire_service_advice/firesafety_leaflets.htm
Some of the new wheelie bin rules.
The 240 litre grey bins will need to be left out for collection by 7 am and 6 am on Bank Holidays.
If it is so full you cannot close the lid it will be left and not collected.
If it is lost, stolen, vandalised or misused - obviously a risk if it has to be left out on the street overnight - it will cost £25 for a replacement to be delivered.
If a bin falls to pieces through wear and tear after five years householders will have to pay for its replacement.
If bins are persistently left out after the collection day the householder will receive a written warning and could have it removed and be issued with a fixed penalty.
Date Published: Echo Monday 25 July 2005
New recycling scheme `must be made to work'
by Paula Tegerdine
PURBECK civic chiefs have agreed a set of policies for its new recycling and wheelie bin service starting this autumn.
The council is introducing a fortnightly rubbish collection service with recyclable waste collected on each alternate week.
Each property in the district will receive a 240-litre wheelie bin for residual waste and a 55-litre box for recyclables prior to the scheme starting in October.
A charge of £25 will be made for replacement of lost, stolen or vandalised bins, which may be waived in exceptional circumstances at the discretion of the council. The fee will be reduced to £20 if the bin is collected from the council and additional recycling boxes can be requested at a cost of £5 per box.
Cllr Paul Johns said: "If we are to achieve increases in recycling rates then clear and unambiguous policies need to be agreed.
"We are making such a change to one of our major services so it goes without saying there will be disagreements, arguments and controversy.
"We hope the vast majority of misunderstanding will be covered by our publicity."
He also said: "We have to agree this. If we start to deviate there will be no clear line. We have a responsibility to make this work. We have got to make a dramatic improvement as far as global warming is concerned."
Any refuse put out for collection that is not contained within the wheelie bin will be termed "side waste" and not collected.
And any householders unable to manoeuvre their bin to and from their curtilege need to apply to the council to become included in its assisted collection scheme.
Further information about the scheme is available at www.purbeck.gov.uk or contact the Recycle for Purbeck helpline on 01929 557279.
First published: July 25, 2005
Those stupid Wheelie bins!Seldom have I seen in print an article as that in this weeks (28/7/05) advertiser about the Wheelie bins.This statement; “we have a responsibility not only to our government, but to our children and our grandchildren to make this work” What responsibility? For what? Sounds rather garbled to me….“If we start to deviate there will be no clear lines” What is he on about. Translate please?Come on, lets face it, this is a stunt that someone dreamed up. It will save nothing. it will make the beautiful stone cottages and narrow streets look absolutely ridiculous, with big green bins stacked up outside. The mere thought is mind boggling! Then to top it all off they will charge you £25 if it is pinched.In the mean time, during the Summer months, the place will stink to high heaven, as the wheelie bins are left out in the broiling sun for 14 days…It is the local government of the madhouse! What they are really doing is cutting down, instead of a constantly rising standard of service, they are asking us to go backwards. Not even in Victorian times was the local service as bad as this will be.How much will these bins cost. Who clears up the mess as late night revellers go round tipping them up?Who will provide the service of going around cleaning up the fly tipping that will undoubtedly take place? Could any one really be expected to put up with the stench of rotting left overs? Out on the pavements! The mind boggles! Is there someone on our council stamping their feet in a fit saying “ I will make them have wheelie bins, so there!” Dancing Ledge
--
Posted by Anonymous to swanage view at 7/28/2005 02:54:10 PM
Presumably people in blocks of flats could elect to have weekly or bi weekly collection if they so desired, and pay the extra. I assume people with holiday flats pay to have the "commercial" waste removed? I object to the DC hiding behind a environmental smoke screen to justify a cost cutting exercise.
A bit of private sector competition would be good here. If a local person can take their rubbish up the dump for free, why does someone who does it for them have to pay to dump it?
Letter sent to The Moderator
Thank you for contacting me with regard to your concerns about where people will store their wheelie bins. I am pleased to see that you support our
intent to increase recycling. Unlike you many people still do not care and have not got the message that we have to stop putting most of our waste in holes in the ground. If we want to do our bit to reduce global warming and to help to keep our planet safe for our children and grandchildren we really do need to take up the challenge and do all we can to increase recycling. But with you I am obviously preaching to the converted.
Please be assured that where people do not have anywhere to store their wheelie bin or if they have a real problem with using a wheeled bin, for example if they are disabled etc. we ask that they contact the Purbeck District Council on our helpline telephone number 01929 557279. One of our officers will then contact them in order to sort out their problem. If
necessary we will visit them and in some cases, for example in a block of flats, it may be possible for us to provide larger communal bins for use of the residents. If they really do not have anywhere to keep their bin we will arrange for them to continue to use the black bag system.
From the advice we have received from other authorities we know that in the vast majority of cases people will be able to keep their bin where they
currently keep their waste in the black bags. And when they realise that the benefits of the new scheme outweigh some minor inconveniences, they will
normally be able to find ways to accommodate the wheeled bin.
Unfortunately we do not have the power to restrict where people keep their bins within their own property. However they will not be allowed to
permanently keep their bin on the highway or footpath.
For me it was good to find from the experience of other authorities who are using wheelie bins that the street scene is greatly improved especially
where black bags were in piles in the streets.
We appreciate that there are some people who would prefer that we continue to use the black bag system. However there are three reasons why this is not
an option for our council. They are:-
1. One of the most important aspects of moving to a wheelie bin system is that residents, especially those who do not care and would not normally recycle, will be forced to recycle as much as they can because they will not have the space in the wheelie bin for all
of their waste and recyclables. Yes it will be difficult to persuade some people to accept this major change in our waste collection system but for the reasons given above we must make every endeavour to persuade all our residents to help us to increase our recycling. Another alternative, adopted in some places, is to employ officers to police the system in order to check the waste people put out and force people to recycle. I am sure our council would prefer not to go down that route.
2. If we were to continue with the black bag system and allow residents to continue to put out as much waste as they want, and do not force the un-cooperative residents to recycle, we will not meet the governments recycling targets. In that case, the government have made it clear that we would be severely penalised financially. Also, because the
government's landfill tax is set to increase by £20 per tonne, if we do not reduce the amount of waste that we landfill, our council tax for all Dorset residents could increase by £20 per household.
3. You may already appreciate that there are health and safety problems in collecting waste in plastic bags. That is mainly because the system operators can be cut by "sharps" (hypodermic needles etc.) protruding from the bags. This is a very real safety problem and you will appreciate that we have a duty to safeguard our waste collection operators from such
hazards. However we believe that it is likely that councils will soon not be allowed to collect waste in plastic bags.
I hope the above satisfactorily explains our position and I hope you will be able to support us in our endeavours to increase our recycling without a
massive increase in our council tax.
I should explain the extra costs involved when some people seem to think that an alternate weekly collection should be less expensive. The cost of
supplying the wheelie bins is over £140,000, new lorries are required to collect the wheelie bins and it is far more time consuming and costly to collect wheelie bins than black bags. In addition we are extending our recycling collection to cover all the properties in the Purbeck District.
In conclusion, we appreciate that this scheme is a very considerable change to one of our most important services for Purbeck residents. Change is often difficult to accept but with our massive publicity campaign we hope that we can persuade everyone to work with us to make the scheme work. Then, when
this initial scheme is up and running, we want to introduce further recycling initiatives because we really must aim at a 50% recycling rate.
Yours sincerely
Paul Johns
(if Mr Johns for any reason would prefer this letter to be deleted, please contact the Moderator)
Some responses from PDC Councillor Paul Johns to certain questions (paraphrased):
1 Q. Surely fortnightly collection of rubbish will be terrible (re smell, vermin) for those who need to keep bag collection?
A. Yes for the moment it will be a fortnightly collection of the "blue" bags
(blue bags replacing the original black bags) to be used where residents
cannot accommodate the wheelie bin for their residual waste. Following your
query we have decided to listen to your request and, where people insist, we
will provide a receptacle in which to store their "blue" bags of residual
waste. It will be either a recycled dustbin or a wheelie bin, our officers
will sort this out once the resident defines their need for a container.
We are offering wheelie bins for storage but only after we try to persuade
people to take a dustbin or use some other method of storage first
You will recall that our "Recycle for Purbeck" scheme is only the first
stage of our recycling. we intend to introduce further initiatives as soon
as we can without imposing major increases in our council tax. We therefore
ask residents to do all they can to help us to make this scheme work and we
will introduce further initiatives as soon as possible.
2. Q How many recycling boxes? I have been told a family of six would get two, so would larger homes get more, pro rata?
You questioned the number of recycling boxes to be provided for a family
of six.Yes you are correct, we will collect all the recyclables that people have. For families of six or more we will provide an extra wheelie bin. The
recyclables can be put out for collection in alternative containers, be it
carrier bags or boxes, so long as they are placed on or near the green box
so that the operators know they are recyclables. Residents will be able to
purchase extra recycling boxes for only £5 each. This will all be defined in
Recycle for Purbeck" literature.
3. Q Surely someone does (or should) have authority over ugly wheelie bins on private property if they may be considered an eyesore, especially (and particularly) in a place - such as Purbeck - designated an Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty?
And what about commercial bins on public land, where large wheelie bins are on more or less permanent display in alleys, lanes and courtyards.
A. I needed to obtain expert advice on this one.Unfortunately we cannot control where people place their wheelie bins on their own property. I thought that the planning laws may help but am advised that "wheely bins" are movable objects, they are not classed as development and therefore do not come under the control of the Planning Authority - put simply they don't need planning permission.
You then questioned the commercial waste bins and the answer I received is.
It's a similar case for the larger commercial bins. If they are stored on
the public highway and are causing concern regarding highway safety its a
matter for Dorset County Council Highways department to deal with. And if
they are on private land / driveways it becomes a civil issue.
Paul Johns
Some questions and answers...
1.a. Is the fortnightly collection unhygienic? .
For personal reasons I have on many occasions had to keep our household waste in black bags for two weeks with absolutely no adverse effect. With
reasonable care, the bags tied closed and if necessary kept away from animals that could break the bags open, there really is no problem and
it is not unhygienic.
1.b. Why bags are now collected weekly?
I do not know who took the decision to collect waste on a weekly basis and therefore am not privy to their reasons. However we now have a very different situation. Until now we have collected an enormous amount of waste from every household. If we collected that amount of waste on a fortnightly basis it would need twice the number of lorries and crews.
We now have to persuade residents to recycle up to 50% of their waste and therefore there will be far less residual waste to be collected. This smaller amount of waste can be collected more cost effectively with an
alternate weekly collection. For your information we know of 130 other councils who are using the alternate weekly collection with no problems once people have become accustomed to the change.
2. Will the Council deny the bins to those who allow their bins to spoil the environment by affecting the 'visual amenity' of our towns and villages?
Our council is investigating the specific situation for all the residents who say they cannot cope with wheelie bins and we will seek the best available option. I really believe that this will not be the problem that you considering, especially in conservation areas where the people do care about and look after their environment.
As I may have said before, this is the first part of our recycling strategy for we want to bring in further initiative as soon as possible without large council tax rises. At as early a date as possible I would like us to be in the position to collect kitchen waste and collect recyclables on a weekly basis. In addition I would like to collect garden waste and all cardboard.
We are very conscious that all of the above needs to be carried out in the most cost effective way and
with that aim we are asking all residents to help us to make this first tranch of our recycling work even though we have to wait for further benefits to come on stream when our council's finances allow.
Best regards
Paul Johns
I've phoned the recycle helpline on several occasions & have come to the conclusion that this plan for recycling for purbeck has been devised to save
money rather than recycle more. the majority of my 3 black sacks per WEEK is plastic bottles. Tell me how this new system will help me to recycle more. The only way this reduction in collection of household waste will reduce landfill is if the council recycle more i.e plastic! My rubbish will not be any less per week until they take plastic at the kerbside. all I foresee for this scheme is loads of broken sacks lying about the town and long queues at the tip. i think the council need to rethink their recycle for purbeck initiative and sort out the obvious before the town is invested with rats flies etc and the tourism goes down the pan!!! It's very clear what will make this
scheme work. Take plastic at the kerbside and increase the recycle collection to weekly then they can cut the household collection to fortnightly as there won't be so much of it. incidently i've still not had
an answer to my question of what people are supposed to do with their excess rubbish each fortnight if they have no means of getting it to the tip
themselves. the only answer i've been given is recycle more, which then leads me back to the beginning again -we cant because the council wont take
plastic. the purbeck people are in a catch 22 that they cannot win beacause once again the council have launched a half baked idea!!
I've never heard any suggestion that there is a limit to the amount ot waste that will be collected from each household. Indeed, I got the impression in my discussions with PDC that large households would get extra wheelie bins, so there must be an expectation for some people to have more waste than others (obvious, if there are more people). At the present time, there are no rules (are there?). I sometmes have four bags sometimes one, without any problem.
Post a Comment