Forum Topic

Bin collections to be fortnightly in Hounslow

Shameless thats all I can say after the constant scaremongering when they were in oppositionI dread to think what our area of Isleworth will look like after about 12 - 13 days without a collection judging by the state of the pavement by the shops near Redlees Park

Paul Fisher ● 3606d82 Comments

This is the first I have head about the proposed charging for using the Green Garden Waste Bags.  Currently my green garden sacks are full of the leaves from both Plain Trees and Lime Trees in our road (not on private land).  If I don't sweep the street and my front garden the pavement becomes extremely slippery if wet (particularly the leaves from the Lime Trees), or the street gutters get very blocked - water overflowing onto the pavement in times of heavy rain, and there is considerable build-up of dirt as the autumn progresses.  Why should I pay extra for leaves that are not mine and cleaning the street because it only really gets done properly once a year, and is occasionally swept the rest of the time.  I also pick up the litter in the street and where possible recycle it as well.As we live in Brentford, a trip to Space Waye to recycle our waste is not an option as we do not have a car.

Jane McKinnon ● 3576d

Which is why councils need to stop crowing about no rises in council tax and using hikes by stealth and increase the council tax by a modest amount across the board fairly and squarely.  It is creating a divide and rule society but not even managing that very well.Surely It needs to be focused solely on the services to council tax paying residents and not sidetracked to issues way beyond the borough.

Raymond Havelock ● 3579d

And it would be even quicker if the bags weren't in the bins in the first place, particularly if there is only one or two of them.

Anne England ● 3581d

Ctrl key followed by + key will make the print bigger.Ctrl key followed by - key will make it smaller again:)

Philippa Bond ● 3582d

Really sorry Philippa.  Old eyes maybe but I can't follow what you mean.  Pm me?  Thanks.

Sarah Felstead ● 3587d

In reply to yours of 25/9/15 about 5 down it seems to arrived under Dawn's of the same date a little further down and is dated 7/10/15.  You didn't have many of mine to choose from!!!  :)  :)

Philippa Bond ● 3587d

Hello Philippa.  Could you point out your rely or repost it here.  Just seen this posting.  Cheers

Sarah Felstead ● 3588d

There have been cuts to Local Government funding.There is a list here:http://www.mirror.co.uk/news/uk-news/budget-2015-50-cuts-tory-led-5354805There is a crisis in adult elderly social care.  The system does not work properly.  Vulnerable elderly are not getting their allocated time and care.  What exactly can a carer do in a 5 minute visit?  They can just about write in the book to say that they have visited.  I don't know if any of our local councils are still carrying out these ridiculously short visits but there are some areas of councils activities which we can deal with and help ourselves with better with little effort and some we can't.

Philippa Bond ● 3593d

Please see my reply to you much further up the thread.

Philippa Bond ● 3593d

SarahIn Ealing residents didn't want - as they often don't have enough space - so many wheelie bins and there was a campaign to be able to keep using the garden waste bags for the kerbside collection which they were able to do.  LBH has both the green reusable bags and the biodegradable sacks. This week I have been out of West London and watched a wheelie bin lorry collection.  The driver reversed into the car park of a block of flats and collected the wheelie bins whilst I could see in the street the other operatives walking along the street with two wheelie bins each emptying green recycling boxes of cans and plastic bottles (that's all they can recycle kerbside this week) into them.  Next week the recycling lorry will be doing the same with red boxes of cardboard and paper.  The black sacks are a real problem as they are full of plastic tubs etc which is very bulky.There is a food collection.  No glass collection but bring banks for bottles and jars and several other bring banks.

Philippa Bond ● 3593d

"I believe its £60M pa, with another >£60M to come. I will try to get a definitive view of that"I am astonished that as a councillor in the Hounslow administration you do not know the financial facts Guy considering your Party use these cuts/savings as an excuse for anything blamed on the Council

Paul Fisher ● 3596d

Plus the Rats & other vermin!!

Dawn Hardy ● 3596d

I'm sure it was the latter we wouldn't be so lucky!!

Dawn Hardy ● 3596d

That's nearly a quarter of a million a year to a Fun Park,whilst we are being threatened with the loss of our weekly Refuse Collection!through lack of Funds!!!See Guy money already saved & you didn't have to find it! Well done Lorne:-)

Dawn Hardy ● 3596d

To save on costs it would be more beneficial to have the old system of actual Council Workers instead of out sourcing to favoured & expensive companies!You disappoint me with your slight Ageist remark! way to save lots of pennies all you need to do is look at Council Records & you'll be bound to find an awful lot of waste:-)

Dawn Hardy ● 3596d

Surely those who move here pay Council Tax consequently those costs should be covered? So why would the Grants be reduced?However Hounslow Homes is a Subsidiary of LBH is it not? created to enable LBH to get those Government Grants,therefore any loss from Hounslow Homes must be covered by LBH eventually which brings our Council Tax into play?

Dawn Hardy ● 3596d

Find out about the circular economy here:http://www.wrap.org.uk/

Philippa Bond ● 3596d

They do more than collect the rubbish though don't they?  They have to take it away somewhere and deal with it.  "Rubbish Collection" is not a very accurate description of what you are paying for.The less waste you make the less you have to pay to have dealt with.  Some of it is worth more like the food waste which goes for anaerobic digestion.  There are fewer "somewheres" or "aways" for it to be taken to and more regulations.  The trick is to reduce your waste and for as much as possible of it to be used as resources.

Philippa Bond ● 3596d

We hardly ever find that food waste is smelly.  We have some that is this week because I had to stay looking after a sick parent and the half loaf of bread I'd left out went mouldy but I won't bag it.  I'll just put a layer on newspaper on top of it.  If it was a boiled down chicken carcase (after making stock) then I'd wrap it tightly in several layers of newspaper.  As long as it is kept somewhere cool it isn't a problem.  Meatsafes and pantries are coming back into fashion!

Philippa Bond ● 3596d

I believe its £60M pa, with another >£60M to come. I will try to get a definitive view of that.Your analysis of what a council does was, shall we say, flawed.Nearly 50% of what the council spends goes on childrens' and adult services and you also didn't mention (for example) maintenance of roads and parks, education, housing, leisure centres, public health, environmental health, trading standards....As far as I can see Council tax income in 2009/10 was £94.1M and in 2014/5 it was £85.8M which is not my idea of doubling but then my accounting qualification has lapsed and maybe I've lost the plot.Fish bones will indeed generate a stink after 2 weeks in the sun. This is why the council is encouraging you to recycle them so that they will be collected weekly, as now.I have no idea about payments to Chessington but I'll enquire.

Guy Lambert ● 3596d

looks like it's £60m in total over the 5 year period you mention; £12m per year, £56 per person per year and diddly squat (by which I mean 7.5%) in terms of my annual council tax bill.  I think I can handle another 7.5% reduction in government support over the next 5 years, bearing in mind Hounslow want to double the population of Brentford again.I also think bin collection is a core service that needs to remain weekly.  Can you imagine the level of stink a bag of fish bones will generate after 2 weeks in the sun?

Lorne Gifford ● 3596d

£60m a year, or £60m over 5 years?  I always forget to check if numbers are annual or government speak big totals derived over a long period of time to look impressively large

Lorne Gifford ● 3596d

Hi GuyIf I divide £60m by the 213,000 people that live in Hounslow it comes out at a reduction in central government support grant of £281 per person.  4 people in my house so £1126 per year loss of support grant for my household. My council tax is £2750 per year so the grant reduction equates to 29%.  I begins to see now why my council tax bill hasn't been reducing as much as I would like.I didn't realise there was a support grant part to it so thanks for noting it.So overall then, and speaking in broad terms, the reduction has been comming from a reducing level of central government support and Hounslow has been making up the difference by allowing more flats and hence more revenue.  Overall though the council is receiving about the same total funding, which implies there is more than enough to keep the same level of Priority 1 services.  ie a weekly bin collection.Incidentally, now I have your attention, could you clarify what the £20,000 monthly payment to Chessington World of Adventures is all about?

Lorne Gifford ● 3596d

oh I agree entirely, many costs will go up.  However a lot don't.  Since living in Brentford I haven't noticed the number of libraries increase proportionally to population, or the number of Police Stations, hospitals, roads, water and sewerage mains, and although schools and other services are increasing the percentage is lagging the rise in population.I don't really know what the local council is suppose to provide so I googled 'what do local councils do'. Here's the list, in the same order as written on the Gov.uk website:rubbish collectionrecyclingCouncil Tax collectionshousingplanning applicationsLooks to me like emptying the bins is a number 1 priority.

Lorne Gifford ● 3596d

Aside from all that, the support grant from central government has reduced by £60M over the last 5 years, with further reductions of at least as much again expected over the next 5 years.That's at least £450 for every man, woman and child in Hounslow so if there happened to be 3 in your household Lorne that would completely wipe out council tax revenue from you!Add to that, the pressures of an ageing population and the fact that councils are expected to pick up a number of costs previously part of (for example) the NHS, and quite frankly it's a miracle cuts to services are not a lot deeper.

Guy Lambert ● 3596d

Don't forget that when the population goes up, costs related to population numbers rise too - every new family or resident needs their bins collected. Of course, there ought to be some costs which are reduced through economy of scale, but the council's government grant may well be reduced to take account of this. PS The major fraud was at Hounslow Homes and affected tenants' rents or their services, not the council tax.

Ian Speed ● 3596d

Our waste is always in sacks before it goes in the bin! Food Waste is smelly & requires a nice bleach wash.

Dawn Hardy ● 3596d

Thanks Sarah if this is realised then we will definitely need another one.

Dawn Hardy ● 3596d

A breakdown of the Actual £1400 Council Tax per year my husband & I pay would be a start! Show us how the funds are used to the best of LBH ability?Also remember a Large Fraud was committed not so long ago that we the Electorate were not updated about,were the Fraudsters taken to Court in fact were they made to repay any that they took? This is in part where our Council Tax goes!I resent our hard earned money being fiddled & the fiddlers getting away with it.

Dawn Hardy ● 3596d

A question I asked!unfortunately no Councillor answered!!Refuse Collections cut to 1 a Fortnight will inspire Fly Tipping all over,it's bad enough at times already!As you say it's a necessity not a luxury & one that we pay for!

Dawn Hardy ● 3596d

Luckily though other Hounslow Council spending is quite easy to find:http://www.hounslow.gov.uk/invoices_over_-pound-500_final_16_march_2015.pdfSome awfully large sums going to some awfully strange companies

Lorne Gifford ● 3597d

Compounded inflation over the last 10 years has been around 20%. Brentford residential population over the same period have increased by about 80%. So purely on a mathematical basis, in actual pounds and pence council tax per property should have gone down by 34%.What has gone down in price over the last 10 years??1) Crude oil and natural gas has dropped by two thirds2) Commodities in general have dropped by around 30%3) Peoples after tax wages have gone down by 15%By how much has the wage bill for Hounslow Council gone down over the same period? That's a very difficult number to find.

Lorne Gifford ● 3597d

As the council tax has been 'frozen' now for a good many years, take into account that costs have risen then that is a cut in real terms. If we are to have the council tax constantly frozen then you have a plain and stark choice - you either pay separately for things you want or you face facts and the council tax rises and there are no charges, you cannot have your cake and eat it too. How many things that you buy can you honestly say have gone down in price over the last few years?

Vanessa Smith ● 3597d

Just to point out, the population of Brentford has doubled since I've lived here and with it the council tax revenue has also doubled.  I say this with confidence since my council tax bill hasn't halved!So double the income and the council are suggesting halving the services.  Where is all this council tax revenue going? Cleaning the streets and taking the rubbish away is a core service, not a nice to have.

Lorne Gifford ● 3597d

The librarian checked all the boxes and they had all been delivered grey inside the boxes.  I keep mine in a cool and dark drawer inside the house.  Maybe they had been exposed to heat?

Sarah Felstead ● 3597d

My garden waste bags are green, sort of canvas material. Will there be a new system under the new regime?

Susan Kelly ● 3597d

I thought that these were photo-degradable and were supposed to be kept out of the light when not in use - so new ones in a cardboard box shouldn't be deteriorating.

Philippa Bond ● 3598d

This week we have put out 4 bags and one white paid for bag I bought from Osterley library, which is the only time I have used the library this year.We have used our 4 because a neighbour needed some light pruning of an overhanging tree.The extra paid for bags are at their strongest when white, then they go grey and oily as they start to disintegrate.  The ones delivered to the library were all grey and we had a lengthy discussion as the librarian checked the other boxes which were all the same.  They were past their best usage date as they were being sold.  The one used today is just holding together with grass cuttings in it.  It splits where your fingers place pressure on the bags surface.  I wonder how to replace the remaining two I have left as I will need to use them n the next few weeks...

Sarah Felstead ● 3601d

Yes, you also get used to knowing which of your neighbours to approach for any extra newspaper you need.  For nearly the whole year I use newspaper in the food waste bin.

Philippa Bond ● 3601d

I worked out we only put 1 bag of garden waste out once a month but at certain times of the seasons 2 bags in one go.But total bags put out over 12 months?  about 15 bags.As for the black sacks we fill 1 a week about 75% full.Everything else is recycled.I really resent the fact that we are clearly subsidising other waste.All our neighbours recycle diligently so the question remains unansweredWhat is it that is really not being recycled or costing?My wife is convinced it is used disposable nappies  as it is aslo hazardous waste for landfills, and that it is too contentious to place a charge on those who use them.Is this the real issue?A baby waste charge would be far fairer. Apart from the fact that it is only for a short time per child.

Raymond Havelock ● 3601d

With a 30 foot garden where you probably put out a bag a fortnight won't you be tempted to save £50 a year by adding it to your general waste? ;)

Sarah Felstead ● 3601d

So we have a 30 foot long by 12 ft garden,Why will we be paying the same for garden waste as someone who has a 100 ft by 30 ft garden?This is back door council tax rises that are also discriminatory.Just like Ealing which uses arguments to actually divide and rule.And guess which German political movement invented this technique?And Which party uses it here when in power?Could not make it up, no-one would ever believe it!!

Raymond Havelock ● 3602d

If I take the top shelf out of the dishwasher the kerbside bin fits inside and I can run the quickest wash to clean it up.  I use newspaper when the bin is dry, or I have a few places where they pack things up in paper carrier bags, just the right size for the kerb bin ...primark is one ...

Sarah Felstead ● 3602d

and I should have added:3  Wash/rinse your food waste bin out after it has been emptied.  It is a helluva lot easier to wash out than a wheelie bin!  (Lining it with newspaper helps the contents to slip out when it is emptied.)

Philippa Bond ● 3602d

1  It is important to try to keep your food waste bin out of the sun - if you can!2  You can use the seedling logo compostable bags that you can buy at the supermarket (or cheaper online).  I only use these in very hot weather when I've got very likely to be smelly meat or fish.  You can also freeze anything likely to be smelly see above and then put it out straight from the freezer.  Obviously the less waste you have the easier it is to deal with.  To get to a point where it is easier to deal with may take some trial and error but it is worth it!The biggest problem for people in Fife could be for those who need to house adult and baby disposable nappies for a month.  Washable alternatives are available (for both) to some extent.www.therubbishdiet.org.uk    (see West London) can help.

Philippa Bond ● 3602d

It ought to be to make sure that the requisite containers and information are there!

Philippa Bond ● 3602d

Sarah one works very well for weekly collection but most certainly not for fortnightly collections. Has this idea really been thought out?I noticed Fyfe has just instigated Monthly collection although Heaven help them once Summer begins!!The Stench will be intolerable!!

Dawn Hardy ● 3602d

Families usually eat together if a House is being "Let" by Rooms then surely it's the LANDLORDS RESPONSIBILITY!!!

Dawn Hardy ● 3602d

Dawn this again works very well in the Borough.  They supply a small kitchen caddy and a larger bin to fill and leave at the kerb.  If you need a second kerbside bin you just ask for one by email or phone.  Seems the surrounding councils should be copying what Hounslow does not the other way around.

Sarah Felstead ● 3603d

Council very kindly supplied a bin for this & is filled to capacity on a weekly basis with Vegetable Peelings etc or the little that's left on a plate after meals.So again a Larger Bin will be needed!

Dawn Hardy ● 3603d

If a household is entitled to a single occupancy discount and gets a whole wheelie bin, what about a household with 3,4,5 or 6 occupants?  What about the legitimate, registered, multioccupancy houses with people in each room?  Do they get one each?

Sarah Felstead ● 3603d

As this is being spun as a green initiative as opposed to a simple penny-pinching exercise, would it be reasonable for us to assume that all monies saved by reducing the service will be ploughed back into improving recycling provision or promoting sustainable living in this borough?

Phil Andrews ● 3604d

Well Susan it is going to be a real hoot when somebody tries to tell us the Council tax has stayed the same or has only risen by 0.00000001% in April.I worry about how people will react to the garden environment as maintaining trees and shrubs will become more costly and more difficult to do and the more complicated things become the less they are used. Garden rubbish will end up in back alleys and more decking and paving will occur to make the garden easier to manage.Hounslow does not appear to be much interested in the environment anyway but the wildlife depend on back gardens especially as the wasteland is all being developed.  I think garden waste should continue as it is but as what people think does not appear to count.  I dread the introduction of wheelie bins.  We bought a couple from a Brentford company which we use for storage and they are uncomfortable to use.

Sarah Felstead ● 3604d

I'm a bit miffed about the garden waste charge but the only problem I have with general waste being collected fortnightly is that when you happen to be on holiday that week, then it's not collected for a whole month.

Susan Kelly ● 3604d

https://canalrivertrust.org.uk/news-and-views/features/help-us-keep-our-ducks-healthy/use-your-loaf-recipes-using-stale-breadhttp://www.theguardian.com/environment/2015/sep/22/one-in-five-uk-households-dump-a-loaf-of-bread-in-the-bin-survey-reveals

Philippa Bond ● 3604d

Yes, I'll use the garden bags until they fall apart.  They work well.  I prefer though to take what I have to the HWRC.  Using a shredder greatly reduces the amount - I hadn't realised until I had a large shrub that needed cutting right back.  It is the sort of machine that would be good to hire or share.I couldn't agree more regarding the rest of your post. The problems have been caused by both the Council and neighbours not helping and/or reporting homes where they obviously need help and encouragement tackling their waste problem.  There are problems with landlords who do not provide the requisite bins and bags. I've been told that the Council websites for ordering these can only be used by residents.  That wouldn't stop most of us.  Councils should be encouraging landlords to start their tenants off the way that they want them to continue.  They can't of course make them recycle. (However my son's landlord lived next door and used to make sure that they had put their waste and recycling out.  A mess would upset the neighbours.) We might find that we have fewer cuts to services as the Councils would have more money to spend without having to pay such a lot in landfill charges.  Quite a few Councils are going back to boxes/bags from wheelie bins because of the contamination and to increase their recycling rates.  Wheelie bins were designed to suit the few collectors with large lorries in wide streets and not many of the small Victorian terraced properties in narrow streets with nose to tail parking being collected from.  More work needs to be done with blocks of flats and with red routes where the recycling isn't always being collected by the right lorry early in the morning.  (Someone will have to get up early to check that out!)

Philippa Bond ● 3604d

Are you separating out your food waste?There is an awful lot of food wasted in the UK - and until you actually separate it out from the other residual waste you really won't find out what you are wasting.  You can then see where you are not buying/storing/managing it as well as you might do had you realised.  For us, I changed the way that we bought and stored bread. I usually now split and freeze half of a loaf. A larger loaf is cheaper than a smaller one which is irritating so we now don't throw away half a loaf of mouldy bread (which is quite bulky).  I also learnt some new recipes for things which often seemed to get left in the fridge.  You have to try it yourself to find out what you can do for yourself but there are many new recipes out there and websites.Apparently there is a lot of money to be saved. It is certainly also a lot less hassle buying less and having less rubbish!I've posted on one of these websites when I've been stuck for a solution/recipe.  Somebody has usually got a favourite easy one (not one of those trendy cookery book 20 ingredients ones)!The BBC series about the bin men showed a horrific amount of food waste at Christmas.  When you think that we have food banks now it just makes you want to weep.Understanding the difference between Best Before and Use By dates is also very important and something that I find school leavers still don't understand.  This sheet is very useful and is a good one to laminate and stick on the fridge door/send with new students to uni:http://www.moneysavingexpert.com/shopping/food-saver(Eggs can be cooked thoroughly and used shortly after their BB date.  A good excuse to bake a cake!)

Philippa Bond ● 3605d

Hello, Anita from the Hounslow communications team here. Kathy, I am sorry that you could not contact us using the wheeliebin email address. I've looked into this and there appears to be a technical error, which is currently being resolved. I have been told it will be up and running shortly so please try and contact us again later today or tomorrow. If this is not convenient please send your comments to waste@hounslow.gov.uk in the interim period. Apologies once again.

Hounslow Council ● 3605d

Will the Council supply everyone who have Wheelies with a Larger Bin,I fill my smaller bin to capacity weekly & our neighbours allow us to put an additional bag in their bin. We also Re-Cycle Cardboard-1 Grn Box,Tin & Glass-1 Grn Box,Plastic-2 Bags,Paper- 1 Bag!As you can see,we have a Full Load on a "Weekly" basis if it's Fortnightly it will turn into a nightmare especially in the Summer! Maggots Galore Argh!!!

Dawn Hardy ● 3605d

What is happening to our £1400 per year Council Tax it's not as if funds are being used for more Council Dwellings,we have a cut back on Road Sweepers,Rubbish Bins are no longer along the High Street. So what is our Tax be used for!!

Dawn Hardy ● 3605d

I went past Mc'Donalds earlier & recycle bins further up were a disgrace filled to capacity & all over the place! I would imagine a plague of"Rats" anytime if not now!!!

Dawn Hardy ● 3605d

I would prefer to keep the green garden sacks and pay for them instead, wheelie bins do not work in the same way.  I would pay £50 for my 4 bags a year easy to store, easy to use and easy to clean.  Maybe we could be given a choice of the 4 bags for £50, 2 bags for £25 or the wheelie bin for whatever.

Sarah Felstead ● 3605d

Philippa, the garden waste bags work very well as they are.  Many people around here put out one or two bags and some have paid for the extra and put out three or four because of a larger garden.  I love the style of the bags with the strap on the bottom, easy to use and to clean.I have wondered at how serious the council are about the recycling as the local recycling sites were all made impossible to use and maintain through contamination, yet they were very popular with many people who used them correctly.  Allowing the recycling to be mixed will surely lead to unwashed plastics and tins and bottles and other things contamination the waste, much in the same way.The biggest return on upping the recycling return would be to take note of houses which put out black sacks and no green boxes, food bins, plastic sacks and garden waste sacks.  At the same time it will probably identify houses which are multioccupancy.

Sarah Felstead ● 3605d

You are quite correct Phil as I recall Cllr Barabara Reid constantly having to laugh off and deny that the Administration had any plans to introduce fortnightly collections and and yet Labour still spouted week after week that it would happen and of course it never did..........until they took over

Paul Fisher ● 3605d

Just tried to email the wheelie bin email address that has been supplied throughout this proposed change and surprise surprise, it doesn't work!! Hounslow Council at its finest again!!

Kathy Riley ● 3605d

Like.

Keith Iddon ● 3605d

Well they are not going to pay the same number of people the same wage for doing half as many trips, that's for sure.  Nice to see the New Labour spirit living on in Hounslow in stern defiance of recent events within the wider party.  Having been falsely panicked by these very same people into believing that the 2006-2010 administration was going to lay them off, their nightmare will now be coming true at the hands of the very people who at that time posed as their friends.  The creatures outside looked from pig to man, and from man to pig, and from pig to man again...

Phil Andrews ● 3605d

I wonder how many bin men will be laid off.

Keith Iddon ● 3605d

This is in fact, a back door council tax hike. quite a significant one along with the hike in parking charges and so on.It is a very expensive option. Today I got stuck behind an Ealing dustcart.  I timed the collection.  It took 3 operatives 50 seconds to load 22 black bags into the truck. Not bad and with no spillage.This was from a block of flats where the access is restricted.I will now try and time a wheelie bin collection, I think it may well be worth videoing it.My colleague reckons it is 4-5 times slower in her street.That means it would have to be at least a 3 weekly collection to barely match the time and motion rate. She says to save time and appease the queues of traffic, that the operatives now tip the bins out onto the pavement and load up just one or two to the brim and then empty them. There is always a mess and a smell all over the place afterwards from two weeks of rotted slime. But the side loading trucks in use have damaged lamp posts and trees in narrow roads and some wheeliebin lids have even flown off and hit parked cars.  They are designed, like wheelie bins themselves for grass verged boulevards with homes with driveways, not narrow streets.Who will clean up after them? What about the health hazards posed from uncleaned wheelie bins? Especially for those with small homes that have no rear access?Will Cllr Curran be walking through his house with a bucket and brush and washing his wheelie bin out on the pavement?  Will the 92 year old in our road be able to do that? What a picture that will make for the Hounslow Missive.!!The free composter is an odd one. Hounslow have offered them before. They did not work terribly well being favoured as housing for vermin and wasps nests as well as being too big for tiny gardens.  They are only good for middle to large gardens where they can be placed safely away from children and living areasBut these are not good for composting just garden waste, it takes years and will be full in just one season. They are good for food waste and some types of garden waste.So exactly what is it that we are not recycling properly?We all recycle glass, paper, cardboard, tin, aluminium, plastics, food, organic,and all sorted for free to boot.  What's left?It is certainly not the garden waste that is costing as some has to go to landfill as a environmental necessity, the rest makes a profit.So what exactly is it that is not being recycled? What is it that those paying for garden waste are really subsidising?They really have not made this clear at all.I would rather they come 'clean' and just modestly increase the council tax across the board.

Raymond Havelock ● 3605d

Surely when the council tax levy for you house is calculated the fact that you have a garden increases the amount charged? So you are already paying more. I wonder how long it will be before this £50 will become £60 or £70?

Keith Iddon ● 3606d

Well they do that around here too! Not much point in the Wheelies is there? Don't want to put the kibosh on anyone but there's a report in today's 'i' that a place in Scotland is going over to MONTHLY refuse collections! I get it that councils are in dire financial straits, however, why not an increase in council tax instead of charging for bits and pieces? That at least might be a wiser way to go? I wonder if the cost of clearing up the fly-tipping that will inevitably ensue when people are charged separately has been taken into account?

Vanessa Smith ● 3606d

Interestingly after all the fuss in Chiswick the operatives have been taking black bin bags out of the wheelies by hand as it is easier and quicker.

Philippa Bond ● 3606d

I am not happy about this at all.  Rubbish collection is one of the key tasks of local government, so anyone seeking election as a local public servant should state such proposals before an election?Do we have time to vote these people out at the next local elections before these plans come into force?I recycle most of my rubbish - apart of my baby’s nappies I generate around one supermarket carrier bag of rubbish a week, but due to hygiene I still want a weekly collection.  Last week I returned from a fortnight away and we had a large number of maggots in the bin where my son’s nappies had been.  I do not want to face that every fortnight!One of the reasons why Hounslow only recycles 35% of its rubbish is because Hounslow council keep approving high density housing with inadequate recycling facilities.  I used to continuously point out the Hounslow Council that the recycling bins were overflowing as they were not big enough.  Instead of making them bigger they took them away as they said they encouraged people to fly tip!All fortnightly collections will do is cause more people to fly tip making the currently clean parts of the borough dirty!

Gareth Mitchell ● 3606d

I understand the food waste bin and recycling will be collected weekly.  They are trying hard to encourage householders to sign up for the garden waste collection - they need to or they may find that their recycling rate going down. Ealing are still trying.http://www.recyclenow.com/recycle/food-recycling Great little video:http://www.recyclenow.com/facts-figures/how-it-recycled/food-waste

Philippa Bond ● 3606d

I understand the food waste bin and recycling will be collected weekly.  They are trying hard to encourage householders to sign up for the garden waste collection - they need to or their recycling rate will go down. Ealing are still trying.

Philippa Bond ● 3606d

I understand the food waste bin and recycling will be collected weekly.  They are trying hard to encourage householders to sign up for the garden waste collection - they need to or their recycling rate will go down. Ealing are still trying.

Philippa Bond ● 3606d

I would have thought it would be easy to smuggle out garden waste in the wheelie bins as the bin tipping is supposed to be automatic by the machine. Thus individual bin men will not have a chance to spot bin bags with green waste in as opposed to ordinary rubbish.

Ian Speed ● 3606d

Jusdt because Ealing does it does not mean it is right.Ealing have deliberately introduced charges on the basis of if you have a garden you must be wealthy.Ealing Cllr. Bassam Mahfouz has pushed through a raft of nasty spiteful hidden charges in his portfolio to cover for some of the worst contract deals in the boroughs history, overseen by him. He has cost the borough dear with a woeful refuse service contract with the wrong equipment and spiralling costs not attributed to the landfill charges.Not a good example to hold up as justification.They have similarly introduced and hiked up CPZ charges by over 300% on the basis that people not in CPZs or without cars are subsidising those what are in CPZs. Pure creative accountancy and wholly untrue.  Heavily penalising households and the elderly who 'clog the streets with parked cars' yet selling premium permits the 'over capacity' to non residents. A total costly mess and erasing the whole point of many CPZsWhat is never explained is if people are not recycling enough, what are they supposed to do?  Not eat?  Not keep their homes clean inside and out?Exactly where is this waste supposed to go?Not so many years ago it all went in the dustbin. Now we all separate almost everything, effectively doing 90% of the sorting for free.The volume of waste will still be the same, or will we have to return to having bonfires in the garden?Garden waste is the most profitable area of recycling. It becomes compost and it is also mixed with landfill waste to allow the organic process to accelerate.As for leaves in streets from council trees, those leaves go into the recycling bag as they are rarely cleared by the council in autumn? Will we get a rebate for doing their job with their tree leaves?Again it is just clutching at straws and smoke and mirrors as a justification.The real problem won't get solved. It will stay the same or end up like Ealing with waste being dumped outside other peoples properties and the prospect of dirty smelly wheelie bins 24/7.

Raymond Havelock ● 3606d

I fail to see how charging for garden waste collection encourages householders to be green?  As you say residents will start fly-tipping or putting the green waste in the wheelie-bins.

Reg Ghosh ● 3606d

How long will it take before people start fly-tipping garden waste rather than pay? Look what happened when the Tidy Town scheme went west.

Vanessa Smith ● 3606d

Garden waste charge too of £50.

Keith Iddon ● 3606d

I suppose that if your wheelie bin' s lid can't close they won't take it...despite having 2 weeks rubbish crammed into it. No commensurate reduction in council tax, just in service delivery.

Keith Iddon ● 3606d