Sheffield moving to fortnightly bin collections

[Mayfield 10]

Well it's been only 9 days since our bin was last emptied and the bin is just over half full but the stench of rotten OOD chicken that we put in last week is repulsive. All I can say is it's a good job we haven't had hot weather

[Fun it 10]

:PGeoff Evans has raised an important point in the Star rgarding the regular clearance of drains in Stannington , to avoid flood damage .

Frank Hardy has followed it up and highlighted the increased risk of floods if Sheffield's culverts are not routinely cleared . Pat Mooney has also protested to the Star about blocked gulllies . We need to be clear on priorities ....

 

1. Clear gullies to avoid further flood damage to roads

2.Sort out refuse and introduce "zil" lanes to tips / extend opening hrs

3.mend/ resurface roads

 

I personally have strong misgivings about the council's decision to gift a 25 yr contract to Ferrovial , A Spanish-owned conglomerate , who will be responsible for drain clearnace and gritting in Sheffield (Streets Ahead )- if it ain't broken don't fix it

 

I'm in Stannington...whats this about flood damage to the drains??

[Garbo 10]

it beats me this, im in chesterfield and have fortnightly collections and my bin doesnt smell and we only quater fill it, but we also have a good recycling wheelie bin got bottles , jars, paper, card, tins etc

[Evei 10]

Wouldn't the cost of the service go through the roof if they had to get the bin from where it was stored at each address?

 

In Stockport they still come up your drive and take your black bin bag as they still have black dustbins!

They also have a green compost wheelie, blue paper wheelie, brown wheelie. They have to put these out themselves though! They also seem to be able to put many more varied items, such as aerosols in them.

 

I'm missing my green bin I am going to get a couple of compost bins for my front garden.

[Fun it 10]

^^^^^^^^^^

 

 

 

Like the poster above has said. Back then we had open fires and burnt everything that would burn on the open fire, keeping rubbish down to a minimum.

 

And energy costs as well I suppose; people should be allowed to do this again but the health and safety people and the energy companies wont be happy.

[bazjea 10]

We had coal fires, and smog, and less packaging.

 

So, if we can go back to the 50s then we may be able to cope with such small bins.

 

Wheelie Bins were introduced into Sheffield about 1991.There were

not many coal fires about at that time. But there were

plenty of tins,bottles, and plastics

Up to that time we had 1 metal bin with the rubber lid

and we managed

We now have 1 Wheelie bin(which is considerably larger than the old

metal bin).Plus 1Blue Wheelie Bin and a Blue Box

[Penistone999 10]

Wouldn't the cost of the service go through the roof if they had to get the bin from where it was stored at each address?

 

Why would it . Its exactly what the binmen used to do when we had the old steel bins . They came and carried it on their shoulder from the back of your house ,emptied it into a wagon without any mechanical grabs to do the work for them, and brought it back again ,and never once complained about it . There was always a nice tip for them at Christmas . What exactly do modern day binmen do to earn their crust. ? Us householders have to take the bin to the kerbside and fetch it back again when emptied. All the binmen do is move it about a foot to a nice little mechanical device on the back of the wagon which does all the work for them and empties it , then they just move it back a foot to where they found it.

[rtbcomp 10]

If we kept the old method (and I remember the days when bins had metal lids, not rubber) the cost would be higher because there would be more man-hours needed to shift the rubbish. Same with going to fortnightly collections, it takes just as long to empty a half-full bin as it does a full one, more bins will be full so less man-hours to shift the stuff.

 

One reason why they have mechanical handling devices is to lift the rubbish to the top of the wagon, the old wagons weren't all that high and the bins could be tipped straight in, to do that with a modern wagon the binmen would have to use a ladder!

 

And as for binmen not working hard - get real!

[Fun it 10]

If we kept the old method (and I remember the days when bins had metal lids, not rubber)

 

This has reminded me of that episode of Porridge in which there was a big fight in the yard and Fletcher said they were merely recreating the football match the previous saturday, to which Mackay replied: "I don't recall Charlie George smashing a dustbin lid over Peter Shilton's head...not even in the action replay."

 

[Phili Buster 10]

According to Veolia:-

"The waste from your black bin is taken to our Energy Recovery Facility (ERF) where it is burnt at temperatures over 850°C in a specially controlled environment. The heat created from this process is turned into steam and used to generate heat and electricity. Up to 60MW of heat is supplied to over 140 buildings in Sheffield connected to the District Energy Network. The plant also generates up to 19MW of electricity for the National Grid; supplying enough electricity to power around 22,600 local homes!"

 

What a great use of the waste in the black bins, so much better than going to land fill.

 

However, what I find a bit difficult to understand is the desire to cut down the amount of waste being put in the black bin. The less there is in the black bin, the less there is to burn in the 'Energy Recovery Facility (ERF)' so the less heat for the 140 buildings and less electrical energy to be produced. There may come a point where there is not enough black bin waste to heat these buildings resulting in further costs to source ‘fuel’ to provide for this absent waste.

 

Should we not be encouraged to put even more waste into the black bin, with at least TWO collections per week? This would ensure many more buildings could be heated and much more electrical energy produced. The result would be more money from ‘selling’ the heat to more buildings and more money from the sale of more electricity.

 

There would also be a requirement for more people to be employed to cover for these extra black bin collections and, possibly, more bin lorries required, with more work for the manufacturers of these lorries.

 

A good result all round. More money in the coffers to supplement council tax, more people employed, less problems of overflowing bins, reduction (possibly) in fly tipping.

[Fun it 10]

@phili Buster: the idea sounds too good to be true, there's bound to be a snag of some sort which makes it not viable.

Edited August 19, 2012 by Fun it

[rtbcomp 10]

If ALL the black-bin waste is incinerated where's the extra going to come from? Altering the frequency of collections doesn't alter the amount of waste significantly as has been argued in this thread ad nauseum.

 

They could allow local skip operators and businesses to dump flammable waste free of charge at the ERF.

 

They could also charge neighbouring councils to use our ERF.

Edited August 19, 2012 by rtbcomp