It's the rules,mate.

Instead of clogging up posts with off topic discussions, have them here. Keep it clean folks!
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SteveClem
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It's the rules,mate.

Post by SteveClem »

We are enthusiastic recyclers,it just seems the right thing to do. Leaving aside the peculiarities of local recycling anomalies, we have a system whereby everything like metal,plastic and card goes in the bin( which is black,oddly...the green bin is for landfill). Glass however has to be put in a separate caddy box that sits in the top of the bin.
It is strange that the binmen then throw everything into the same hole on the lorry, but there you are. Anyway,they broke the glass caddy so I rang up to order a new one. The nice council lady said one would arrive in due course, but in the meantime just put everything together in the bin as 'its all processed together anyway'. So we did...
You can guess what happened! Our bin wasn't emptied and there was a note attached saying 'glass mixed '.
It's a funny old world .
kennatt
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Re: It's the rules,mate.

Post by kennatt »

how about this for jobs worth councils, Last summer on my local beach at low water, saw council beach comber machine scraping the litter up,bottles cans waste paper ,seaweed etc, From the foreshore then,dumping it at the waters edge :o .
I rang the council and told some official that someone was dumping rubbish at the waters edge, and were they interested in the reg number. OH yes was the reply, definitely , gave the number .. There was a longish delay but the reply, .......... well that's us clearing the beach of rubbish.
I pointed out that did they know the tide came in twice a day,and they would be clearing the same rubbish again in 12 hours time.
another long delay.,,,,,,,,,,,,, 'Its a contractor not us. perhaps you could have a word with him.' Yes OK and get a mouthful of the verbal's ,not a chance Thanks very much.
Unbelievable.
The next time I saw it,it was being followed by a dumper truck,

Never seen it again,since then ,probably realized it was too expensive to pay for two machines and two men. Just leave it and let it come in and out,in and out .............and eventually wash up in an other council area.
ianmack
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Re: It's the rules,mate.

Post by ianmack »

We have bottle banks locally which had separate compartments for clear, brown and green glass. Someone who worked for the council told me years ago that the green couldn’t be recycled. Most green bottles in UK are imported, already filled, and the green glass isn’t valuable enough to transport it to where the bottles are made. Glass which cannot be reused is ground into sand, which of course is what it is made from in the first place.

Our non - recyclable rubbish goes to a plant where it is burned and generates electricity, so a councillor proudly explained, and the remains are ground up for road material, presumably something like sand.

We have just had a new bottle bank here with all colours going in the one part together. Unless there is some new process for recycling glass with all colours mixed together it seems likely that it all ends up as sand. It looks like the walk to the bottle bank is a complete waste of time, except perhaps for providing the council with good recycling statistics.
RobThomas
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Re: It's the rules,mate.

Post by RobThomas »

I think the idea is that glass mixed in might cut the bin man whereas if he knows it is in a separate container then they know to handle it more carefully. A bit like the "sharps box" used to collect used needles in a Hospital.
Cardiff, UK
GavinL
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Re: It's the rules,mate.

Post by GavinL »

We had some painted stonework on our house cleaned a couple of years ago, and they used crushed glass rather than sand ( safer i believe ) - it was mainly green. Maybe this is where all the green bottles go.
SteveClem
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Re: It's the rules,mate.

Post by SteveClem »

RobThomas wrote: Thu Feb 28, 2019 7:24 am I think the idea is that glass mixed in might cut the bin man whereas if he knows it is in a separate container then they know to handle it more carefully. A bit like the "sharps box" used to collect used needles in a Hospital.
I get all that, but just did what the nice council lady told us what to do! You have to see the funny side...
moggiethouable
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Re: It's the rules,mate.

Post by moggiethouable »

Our binmen are extremely adept at leaving the bin smack bang in the middle of the drive, that way I always get some exercise, usually in the rain, leaping from the car to put it to one side while I park the motor.
I believe its part of their training.
Where angels fear to tread
irmscher
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Re: It's the rules,mate.

Post by irmscher »

Binmen are lazy nowadays as years ago the bins were filled with ashes from the open fires in heavy galvanised bins and were emptied weekly without complaint :o
Sleeper
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Re: It's the rules,mate.

Post by Sleeper »

Sometimes one on each shoulder..

John :wink:
irmscher
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Re: It's the rules,mate.

Post by irmscher »

That's when men were men :D
Sleeper
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Re: It's the rules,mate.

Post by Sleeper »

...and women were grateful..

John :wink:
Blaketon
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Re: It's the rules,mate.

Post by Blaketon »

There is an old saying that rules exist for the obedience of fools and the guidance of wise men. Sadly too many these days are governed by flow charts.

I generate very little waste but since the council generally failed to collect my meager recycling bins and since I am not allowed into my local recycling centre, I just put all in the wheelie bin (And sometimes I don't have to put that out). I told the council, that unless their operatives woke up, I would do this.

The recycling centre is a total nonsense. I live about a mile from it and it's on the way to one of the shops I use. On my day off, I would sometimes walk to the shop (Not worth getting the car out for such a short trip) and drop stuff off at the recycling centre. This worked well for years, until some total ignoramus told me "You've got a van parked outside" (Implying that I was bringing in trade waste). I asked him had he seen the van, to which he said "No". I suggested that before making such accusations, he get off his lazy a*^e and look. I also suggested that if I was seen walking in a number of times, in succession, that this might give him reason to get off his behind and look. Perhaps due to his indolence, he seemed unwilling to accept that I had walked to the site and I then emptied my pockets and asked him to show me the car keys. He then changed tack and said "You can't come in because of health and safety". I told him not to be so stupid and left (Minus my rubbish). I complained to council and got an apology. Some time later, as I entered the site on foot, another person stopped me and said "You can't come in on foot because of health and safety". I simply said "I'm not taking this out of here with me, so either I put it in the skip or you do". I was allowed to pass. I then complained to the council but this time (No doubt aware of the indolent nature of their staff), they had decided to assume that all pedestrian entrants were traders trying to beat the system and to dress it up under health and safety. Yes lorries do come an go but at 5mph. It would be easy enough to create a separate pedestrian entrance but they won't. There is a local quarry, that is accessed partly by a public road, that has no pavement and where lorries are likely to be doing 30mph. In view if their apparent concerns over health and safety, I asked whether the council were planning to ban people from walking at the side of said road. I also suggested that their attitude was promoting fly tipping and that to ban the most environmentally friendly form of transport, from a recycling centre, made a mockery of it. Flow chart mentality prevails at Blaenau Bent Council :roll: :roll: .
SteveClem
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Re: It's the rules,mate.

Post by SteveClem »

It's a shame that all the 'jobsworth' stuff makes you a bit cynical about it all.
kennatt
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Re: It's the rules,mate.

Post by kennatt »

I went to the recycle / household rubbish depot last week, I had three bricks and a small bag of rubble,One operative stopped me and said '' you need to ring the council to ask for permission to dump bricks or rubble'' I said '' I'm not a trader as you can see so don't need a permit ,do I'' No said he said, but you need to ring up just incase the skip is full or there are a number of traders all ready on way thereby filling up the skip,and he gave me a card '' Ah ok' so I walked out of his hut and rang the number ''Hello refuse recycling'' me ''can I bring a small amount of handheld rubble,is there room in skip'' ''Yes ok mate its empty,how long will you be'' '' twenty seconds ,I'm stood behind you " He didn't see the funny side ,but his mate stood next to him almost fell over laughing. I wonder if they go to a training centre to have a small part of their brain removed or maybe have an unreasonability chip fitted.
palacebear
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Re: It's the rules,mate.

Post by palacebear »

Definitely special training. Borrowed a mate's Transit van (short wheelbase, low roof, solid panelled sides and solid panelled rear doors) to take a kingsize mattress to the council recycling place. Wasn't allowed in because the single 'van bay' wasn't big enough to park in. To be fair, the Japanese mini-van in front of me, a Suzuki Super Carry, barely fitted into it. The ordinary car bays were bigger but not allowed to use them as my lack of windows were a hazard to other people when reversing!!! 😡
1956 4-door called Max
irmscher
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Re: It's the rules,mate.

Post by irmscher »

Any business that carries any form of waste has by law got to have a waste transfer licence .
Blaketon
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Re: It's the rules,mate.

Post by Blaketon »

kennatt wrote: Wed Mar 13, 2019 7:53 am I went to the recycle / household rubbish depot last week, I had three bricks and a small bag of rubble,One operative stopped me and said '' you need to ring the council to ask for permission to dump bricks or rubble'' I said '' I'm not a trader as you can see so don't need a permit ,do I'' No said he said, but you need to ring up just incase the skip is full or there are a number of traders all ready on way thereby filling up the skip,and he gave me a card '' Ah ok' so I walked out of his hut and rang the number ''Hello refuse recycling'' me ''can I bring a small amount of handheld rubble,is there room in skip'' ''Yes ok mate its empty,how long will you be'' '' twenty seconds ,I'm stood behind you " He didn't see the funny side ,but his mate stood next to him almost fell over laughing. I wonder if they go to a training centre to have a small part of their brain removed or maybe have an unreasonability chip fitted.
I was told that someone turned up to the Brecon rubbish disposal place, with a four wheeled trailer and was refused entry. They removed two of the wheels and were then let in :-? Someone else took and old bed or sofa on a trailer and they were refused entry ("Health & Safety). They were however allowed to push the bed/sofa in on it's own wheels.

I have just had a conversation with TNT, over yet another failed delivery. As soon as I knew they had Fridayitis, I told them we needed it today but that hasn't been done. I was further advised today that TNT would not automatically have "Upgraded" it to a Saturday delivery but I asked that if it should have been here on Friday, how can Saturday be an upgrade (Their flow chart didn't have an answer as to why my request wasn't actioned)? I should have thought than when you mess up, you do your best to minsimise the effects, so if you fail on day one, you get there ASAP on day two. Apparently TNT is a reactive company, not a pro active one, which I intepret as another way of saying they (Or at least the local depot) are a lazy shower, who accept low standards.
mr.bird
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Re: It's the rules,mate.

Post by mr.bird »

strange that the recycling bins are made of plastic.
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