Bins emptied every 2 weeks

geordie_joe

C_Ronaldo wrote: »

yes i have looked inside the bin and theres no maggotts, ive not had a bag split on me but then i do empty the bins at a point when they need emptying and not when they are full to the brim, we have weekly collections at the minute, we do throw food waste away but not flies/maggotts yet

If the bag doesn't split then the smell doesn't get out (assuming people seal then) so nothing to attract flies.

I've been thinking.......Up until a week and a half ago I lived in a block of flats which just had two skips to put the rubbish from 22 flats in. All the flats have either 1 or 2 occupants. The skips are dirty, haven't been cleaned in ten years that I know of and probably never cleaned. But they have no food waste lying in them from split bags. I think it's because we have to put the bag from our swing/pedal bins into a black bag and when that is full (three bags from my swing bin fill it) put it in the skip.

I'm no expert, never had a wheelie bin but I'm pretty certain it's split bags that attract flies. If the bag is in tack and sealed with a good knot then the smell can't get out and the flies can't get in to get at the food.

Having said all that I think it may have a lot to do with they type of bags you buy. In the past I have bought swing bin bags that turned out to be so thin your fingers would poke thought them when you picked them up. Also when out council stopped delivering free black bags I found the quality of black bags in the shops varies a lot. Cheap black bags are also very think and usually smaller than you expect, so will tend to split more.

Maybe that's it, people who buy the cheapest bags they can find, after all they are just going in the bin, get problems with split bags and flies.

geordie_joe

Nothing to do with flies or maggots, but to do with rubbish collections.

About a week and a half ago I moved into a small house, and I mean small, just big enough for two people (if they get on well).

The house is down an alley off the main street, there is just a footpath and now place to put a bin. So we have to keep our rubbish in the kitchen until collection day. A neighbour told me we have no recycling facilites at all, everything we throw away must be put in a black bag and placed at the end of the alley on collection day. The end of the alley has a house missing if you know what I mean, so it is a fairly large open square, to accomodate the rubbish.

To cut a long story short, someone pulled up in a van on Sunday and dumped a double bed in the square then went away.

I mentioned it to a neighbour yesterday and she said "yes, people come from all over to dump their rubbish here, it's because we have two collections a week, one on Monday and another on Tuesday."

So my question is, why do we get two collections per week, one on Monday and another on Tuesday. The neighbour told me that of the 8 houses down our alley some have single occupants and some have couples, and she and her husband are the only ones with a child. No recycling, everything gets put into the one black bag. So why two collections per week/ There's only 8 houses with an average occupancy of less than two, so we can't produce that much rubbish. I've only been here for one collection, but when I went out on Monday morning there was a pile of black bags which were gone when I came back and the same on Tuesday morning.

Meanymoo

geordie_joe wrote: »

So my question is, why do we get two collections per week, one on Monday and another on Tuesday.

The reason for the twice-weekly collection is almost certainly the fact that you have no bins and have to dispose of your rubbish in the way that you described. I used to live in a flat with this system. The rubbish had to be put out onto the pavement in black bags twice a week. It's to stop you filling your flat with rubbish and thus attracting vermin, or to stop you fly-tipping which obviously people would resort to if they had a kitchen full of rubbish bags. And yes, we got a load of fly-tippers dumping their stuff on the pavement in time for our collections too. The council never complained though - I think they have a duty to provide you with adequate rubbish disposal, so if they can't sort out a way to give you wheelie bins then they have to do twice-weekly collections to stop rubbish piling up on the streets. You could always ring your council and suggest that they put wheelie bins and recycling bins in the area where you leave your bags? Could the area be fenced off (with each resident having a key for the gate) to stop other people dumping stuff?

EDIT: I've just seen that you say your collections are on Monday and Tuesday. This doesn't make any sense to me at all - surely two collections separated by a few days would be more sensible? Mmm. And maybe your council can provide you with clear recycling bags that are used in some places, which you could put out in the same place?

LuciferTDark

We have 3 wheelie bins, a black one for normal waste, a green one for recycling & a brown one for garden waste. The black is emptied one week & the others are emptied the week after. We've had this for 2yrs so far & if waste food is bagged up properly & the bin washed after every empty you never get maggots.

geordie_joe

Meanymoo wrote: »

The reason for the twice-weekly collection is almost certainly the fact that you have no bins and have to dispose of your rubbish in the way that you described.

Thanks for your reply, it make a lot of sense to me, not counting the bit below.

The area where we put the rubbish is just inside the enterance to to alley, although the developers called it a courtyard it's an alley to me. The entrance to the alley is between two shops and has a flat above it and has a gate that goes from floor to roof. Unfortunately the lock is always broken. According to a neighbour they stoped repairing the lock as each they do the residents eaither leave the gate open, so it blows in the wind and slams shut, or just slam it shut behind, which breaks the lock. So as it was the residents themselves that were causing the lock to break they now refuse to fix it.

The area where we put our rubbish cannot be fenced off into individual plots, but just having a lock on the gate would help a lot.

It's odd listening to the neighbours complaining about people "fly tipping" in or alley, then to be told it is them that keep braking the lock which lets the fly tippers in!

Meanymoo wrote: »

EDIT: I've just seen that you say your collections are on Monday and Tuesday. This doesn't make any sense to me at all - surely two collections separated by a few days would be more sensible?

Having two collection one after another is stupid to me as you can't gether much rubbish between Monday morning and Tuesday morning. I'm going to ring the council and ask why.

geordie_joe

I have got the answer to why we have a collection on Monday then another one on Tuesday. It came from a woman at the refuse department, so it must be right.

Originally the place where we put our black bags for collection was designed for wheelie bins, and the gate was to stop other people using them.

The council refused to issue the bins as they would need to be dragged to the curb outside the local shops to be emptied. The council didn't want that as it would spoil the look of the street.

The developer argued that the bins could be left inside the alley and he binmen could go in a get them when they came round.

"The binmen DO NOT go and get wheelie bins" was the councils answer. They said the residents would just have to keep their rubbish indoors until collection day. The developer argued that if someone, through no fault of their own missed the collection their rubbish would have to be stored in their kitchen for another week. Meaning food waste could be left in the kitched for up to a fortnight.

The council then came up with the solution we have.

The binmen collect the household rubbish on Monday mornings. On Tuseday morning they collect the Trade Waste from the local shops, and if there is any rubbish at our collection point they will pick that up too.

So the second collection on Tuesday mornings is just a secon chance for us if we missed the Monday morning collection.

Horace

My mum has a two weekly collection - she was given a black bin and green bin but she sent the green one back and asked for another compost bin (she now as 8 of them). She doesn't have maggoty bins because not only does she double wrap waste but she pays someone to clean her bin (a company was recently set up to offer a bin cleaning service and they visit on the same day as the bin collection.

I guess, I am lucky, I have a weekly collection from my block of flats - I get rid of one bag per week, all newspapers are taken to the recycling bin, my old carrier bags get taken to the charity shop. All bags go the incinerator and they have a means of separating out all tins and plastic.

Meanymoo

geordie_joe wrote: »

The developer argued that the bins could be left inside the alley and he binmen could go in a get them when they came round.

"The binmen DO NOT go and get wheelie bins" was the councils answer.

:wall: Don't you just love local councils sometimes? It's not an ideal situation for you, is it? That stuff about the gate getting broken all the time is unbelievable too. Must be lovely having vandals for neighbours! I don't know what to suggest, sorry!

geordie_joe

Meanymoo wrote: »

:wall: Don't you just love local councils sometimes? It's not an ideal situation for you, is it? That stuff about the gate getting broken all the time is unbelievable too. Must be lovely having vandals for neighbours! I don't know what to suggest, sorry!

I don't think they are deliberate vandals, it's just they don't bother to close the gate properly, just walk out and let it swing shut behind them.

There's nothing I can do apart from take up recycling, which I have. Luckily I now live 200 yards from the supermarket and have to walk past the recycling point to get there, so anything that can be recycled is getting recycled.

I am thinking about getting a composter as we have a small area outside the door that was originally meant for the wheelie bin. Last time I passed the council offices they were selling them cheap, or so the sign said. £6 for a small one and £8.50 for a larger one with free delivery.

lisababy2002uk

well we have had or bins emptyed every 2 weeks for over a year and we dont have any problems before we use to have a full bin after a week but now we never have a full bin even after 2 weeks

and i think its made me get off my bum and do alot more for the invoroment

i always recycle now and i think its alot better ince you get into the hang of it and we didnt have any maggots or anything now or even in the summer