The new blue boxes for paper

[mel77 10]

But it's not!

 

We need to recycle glass as well as paper. I get fed up of having to drive to the bottle bank every week with a boot full of bottles leaking into the car.

 

We could have a bottle box, but boxes aren't as easy to move as bins, so stick the bottles in the bin. I never fill my blue bin with paper, even though it's emptied once a month, so once every two weeks, a box will be about perfect.

 

I think people just want to whinge about it for the sake of it. A lot of folk come on here just to moan. Each to their own I suppose.

 

I'm the same, i'm sick of carting smelly bottles to the bank in the back on my car....we have much more plastic than paper.

It would have been nice to have wheels, like the sainsbury's baskets that can either be carried or wheeled around.

 

What i would have really liked is them in GREEN!!!!!Their in the bloody garden MR & MRS Council, lets at least make them blend in!

[ricm 10]

Years ago ("when I were a lad...") I remember bin men having to carry tubs down the path, upturn the contents of the bin into the tub and then, with great style, swing the tub up and onto the shoulder so the tub could be carried along the path to the dust cart to be emptied. Manuualy intensive and very heavy work.

 

Some years later there was a revolution in emptying bins: bin men appeared with trolleys that hooked under the handles and enabled the collector to trundle the bin down the path to the refuse cart where a device would grab the bin, lift and invert the contents into the cart and return the bin to the collector where once again the trolley could be hooked under the handle so the bin could be wheeled back to its proper place. No more lifting! Progress!

 

Many years later there was another revolution: the wheelie bin. Why not get each householder to do all ther wheeeling about and combine the bin and trolley into one? Massive savings in time and effort and although a few people were resistant at first, most people eventually accepted it was a very good system indeed. I accept not all people thionk so, but definitely most people do.

 

Many years later the principle was extended to recycling. My mother has a green wheelie bin and it works very well indeed. Sheffield City Council have not adopted green wheelie bins for garden waste recycling but I live in the hope they will extend it to my side of the City (but see below). They too rely on residents to wheel the bin out and from then on the cart lifts and emties the contents with ease. I am amazed at the speed with which wheelie bins are emptied. And since wages cost ratepayer's money, then making the system more efficient has my vote.

 

Around the same time we had blue wheelie bins for paper. We could fill up the bin with paper waste and wheel the bin out when full and the paper inside would stay dry nomatter whether or not we skipped a collection date or not. Waiting until the blue bin was nearly full is a very efficient way of collecting waste. If you were a householder who had lots of papers and magazines you could even request an additional blue bin. Brilliant! Top marks to SCC.

 

For the vast majority of people blue wheelie bins and green wheelie bins worked very well. But for some people the wheelie bin was awkward or impossible - either there was no storage space or no easy acecss or interfered with disabled access or there might be a whole load of steps....

 

But the thing is.... we know which roads and houses have problems and we know what those difficulties are. One size does not fit everything and for these people a box may be better than a wheelie bin.

 

But why not provide good local solutions to local situations? For me I regret the loss of my two blue wheelie bins for paper. I do not want four or five boxes (the equivalent of 2 bins) to do the same job. I do not want a shower cap so the puddles of rain build up in the middle. I do not want them in my garage. The blue wheelie bins were great. Why fix what wasn't broken in the first place? I do not want boxes.

 

So when it comes to recylcling plastics/tins/glass, yes, absolutely yes, let's (for most people) have another wheelie bin but don't for a single minute think that lifting boxes of paper, storing boxes of paper outside or in one's shed/conservatory/garage or whatever, or having the shower caps blown of boxes of paper is progress. Ask Stocksbridge residents about their previous experience.

 

The need for recycling and the pressure for conserving resources will increase dramatically in the years to come. We need to recycle not just "bottle-shaped" plastics but all those other plastics that have the recycle logo that we know can be recycled if we have the technology. And whatever the arguments against, we must develop those technologies, sooner rather than later. It really does matter. Eventually it will matter on economic grounds but right now it matters in any case for the environment. SCC needs to embrace this wider recycling issue.

 

Wheelie bins are the way to help most people (not all, but most) to recycle. They are convenient and, for paper, keep the contents dry and avoid lifting anything. They are also eminently suitable for non-recyclable waste (black bins), recyclable garden waste (green bins) and for paper (blue bins). I am sure they will be equally succesful for plastics/glass/cans. And they don't involve lifting.

 

But why are we incapable of local solutions? If we know 30 roads in a district in Sheffield are almost impossible for wheelie bins to be used why can't we arrange boxes (or whatever) for those residents? And for those residents who have no problem in having three or four different wheelie bins, why can't we have them? Was anyone ever asked what would help most to recycle all we need to? I was never asked, were you?

 

Already the green wheelie bins are to be replaced by hessian sacks (personally I think it sucks, but you may love hessian). The blue wheelie bins for paper are to be replaced by blue boxes (personally I think boxes suck but you might love them) I have already asked the Council to take my blue box away but I am happy to I recognise you might like your blue box because it works for you.

 

But... when I was a kid progress was synonymous with wheels rather than lifting and carrying. You tell me why reverting to a pre-wheel civilisation is progress.

 

Ric

[deelightful3 10]

Lidded and wheeled with a long fold down handle to pull it along would have been good, imo.

 

here here ruby

[metalman 21]

Well I've put mine out this morning for the first time so I shall await developments. The big question is what to do if it rains: if it comes a good shower they won't take because it'll be waterlogged and too heavy, and I know damned well (this being Veolia) that if I go and stick a plastic bag under the netting to keep it dry, it'll be left by the kerbside with a snotty note saying that the blue box is only for paper and card.

[hennypenny 10]

Ours has just been emptied. The men emptied the blue boxes into a black bin, which they then put into the wagon. As predicted some shredded paper blew loose in the transfer so there is now some mess on the street. They were not careful about returning each blue bin and box to the house where they came from, instead leaving them spread all over the pavement so it might be worth painting house numbers onto them as I can see them getting lost. As there was a black bin, blue bin and paper bin from each house this now means the pavement is substantially impeded for anyone in a wheelchair or pushing a buggy. I have cleared them from in front of mine and my neighbours, but I can't manage to clear the whole road.

[The Manager 12]

Ours has just been emptied. The men emptied the blue boxes into a black bin, which they then put into the wagon. As predicted some shredded paper blew loose in the transfer so there is now some mess on the street. They were not careful about returning each blue bin and box to the house where they came from, instead leaving them spread all over the pavement so it might be worth painting house numbers onto them as I can see them getting lost. As there was a black bin, blue bin and paper bin from each house this now means the pavement is substantially impeded for anyone in a wheelchair or pushing a buggy. I have cleared them from in front of mine and my neighbours, but I can't manage to clear the whole road.

 

Theres a few blue boxes been nicked around our area !

So its a case as soon as they get empty have to bring them in

 

Great in it !

[qazitory 10]

Just as much use as if it was collected dry. First thing they do when they recycle it is throw it in water to pulp. But don't let that stop you from having a moan.

 

But if they are wet, that is adding weight to the box, which I would imagine a lot of people in Sheffield would struggle to lift already!

[Plain Talker 11]

Theres a few blue boxes been nicked around our area !

So its a case as soon as they get empty have to bring them in

 

Great in it !

 

Lots of local parents enjoying their new, inexpensive toyboxes, then?

[bobsyouruncle 10]

Mine was supposed to be collected today and guess what its still out there full of cardboard. I have send Veolia a nice email to say so I tell ya!!

[iansheff 86]

Just a thought but when the lorries collect all the paper from the wheelie bins are the lorries near to their carrying capacity? Because if they are then the lorries will have to go out more in wet weather, if the paper is wet it will be a lot heavier than the dry paper and the lorries will be overloaded. Like I said just a thought.

[hodgepodge 10]

In the course of my work I have driven around the Hillsbrough area today- on bin day- and the Middlewood Estate in particular was littered with new blue paper bins that had blown into the road....I hadn't even noticed it was windy!?( The original blue wheelie bins were on the pavement standing to attention)

[00Soul 10]

To save me carrrying/pulling THREE bins round to the front of my house and virtually doing the job of an unpaid REFUSE REMOVAL ENGINEER (or whatever they like to be called these days), can I not just put all the crap straight into the potholes in the road and uneven pavement outside my house that have been like that for at least the ten years I've lived here to make life easier for the pedestrians who will have to either a) vault over 700 bins or b) venture in to the road to avoid vaulting?

 

It's like The Krypton Factor trying to reach my back door.

 

I'm opting out by putting my plastic box in my plastic bin to be recycled and I'm going to eat my glass and re-cycle my council tax.

Edited April 2, 2010 by 00Soul