I want to recycle but ONYX wont let me

[BoppinBruce 10]

I live in S10. We were issued with paper recycling bins, I would say, about a year or so ago. The past 3 months, they are emptied monthly, the collectors have not arrived. Each time I have rang ONYX contact phone number and enquired why. Each time I was told the same excuse. The round had finished.

 

I contacted them and asked the next collection date. ONYX sent me a coleection calender I could stick on my bin. The first date of collection was yesterday, and yes, you have guessed it, the bin was not emptied. I had left it in the correct place for collection.

 

I must admit, when I arrived home and it had not been emptied, I contacted ONYX and complained quite forcefully.

The contact on the other end really, I felt, was so used to complaints, it was like the proverbable water and duck's back.

 

I want to save paper, I want to help future generations, I want to recycle. It appears from my experience ONYX do not.

 

If a forum member from ONYX reads this maybe they could give me an explanation on 4 months of phone calls and no visits.

[HotPhil 10]

When the bluies first started Onyx were pretty good at picking them up. Once the calendar on the bins ran out and no one had the reminder of when to put them out, the number of bins in the road ready for collection plummeted. At that point Onyx seemed to stop caring about actually picking them up.

Our blue bin sits full for what seems like ages. I've given up sorting paper/card for it - all goes in the normal bin now.

[BoppinBruce 10]

Prob is, that when they are not collected they get knocked over, or are knocked over on purpose, and paper is distributed all over the place. Only recently I picked up a number of Christmas cards from my garden from a bin close by. You never see a road sweeper in S10 tidying up because ONYX have failed yet again to call.

[LoopyLou 10]

Are you able to take your paper to a local recycling site instead?

 

Don't give up recycling just because ONYX have let you down.........

[BoppinBruce 10]

Loopy, I take to TESCO in Infirmary Road. Its the way ONYX have acted that, if you excuse the London saying, gets up my schonk

[foxy027 10]

I live in S5 and so far havent had any probs with ONYX waste paper collections.If I forget to put the bin out I take my paper to Morrison's or Asda where they have recycling bins.

[Cols 10]

Ring the council. Although Onyx deal with the waste, the council still have government targets to make for recycling and the council can force Onyx to act (I say "can"). If Onyx don't perform the council should take this into account when the tender is up for renewal.

[Hels 10]

Have to say that in my area (S13) I've never had any problem, the bins are always emptied on the day they are scheduled (unless I forget to put them out of course)!

 

In fact, the only time they've missed was one of the days when the snow was pretty bad.

 

I think if I were in your position I would put something in writing. You've tried the simplest approach (phoning up) and as that hasn't worked you ought to make an official complaint.

 

As another poster said - the Council have targets to meet and should be making sure the contractors (ONYX) are doing the job they are contracted to do.

 

Good luck

[beckyaa 10]

I live in S3, and don't even have a blue bin. I still make an effort to recycle paper, glass and tins, but it's quite a walk to take them to the collection point.

 

Why is this such a problem in Sheffield? They seem to be so far behind many other parts of the country in terms of recycling.

 

I lived in somerset for a year, and we had a plastic crate for recycling that was collected every week, without fail. You could put in paper, plastic, tins, textiles, batteries... in fact pretty much everything except cardboard. A plastic crate (with a lid) was much better than a wheelie bin because it was smaller and could be kept inside or out, and it was black and green, not bright blue!

[craigmason 10]

have you got the green recycle bins in sheffield yet that you put grass/hedge clippings & cardboard in and that are taken away for composting or are your council still stuck in the stoneage as regards recycling

[bglodge 10]

We have had a green bin for garden waste for over a year now. There have been a few problems with collections late by a day, and with the blue bins when they started, but this is down to the weight that is being recycled. I asked why this should have occurred and was told that the volume of materials recycled exceeded all expectations and projections, way beyond those recycled in other towns and cities, and consequently the collection vehicles filled up much quicker than anticipated. The time lost in emptying meant that delays were inevitable. However, I understand that additional resources have been committed by Onyx to deal with the problem. As a previous poster stated, targets are set by central government and Onyx are contracted to deliver a service to set standards. If they are failing to meet collections, contact the council, or your councillor, as penalties can be imposed on Onyx.

[Cake 10]

Whereabouts in S10 are you?

 

I live in Crookes and have had no problem with blue bin collections - in fact on a couple of occasions I have forgotton to put the bin out and ONYX staff have collected it from my driveway.