Forum Topic

Recycling at Christmas

Merry Christmas to all. Does anyone know where they will except recycling in this festive period? Wrapping paper, cards and packaging.Too much for my standard boxes unfortunately. Used to go down Morrisons but that recycling centre closed. Any others closeby to Brentford?Thanks in advance. :)

Steve Allum ● 2791d70 Comments

BLACK PLASTIC FOOD CARTONS & TRAYS  My daughter in Brentford received a note in the recycling box saying the council could not accept black plastic containers.  Here in Chiswick we continue to put these in the plastics recycling and they get collected.  I understand that it is the black dye that messes up the recycling.  Philippa what is the correct procedure?

Jennifer Selig ● 2771d

Philippa - I have assisted a few people and it's not all that complicated. Happy to help anyone that still has problems.The thing that I discovered and which surprised me is that the labelling of packaging is extremely deficient. I'd always assumed that, at least, was fixed.We considered the 'Ealing system' amongst Labour councillors at borough council and concluded that the system we adopted (on a free vote, before anyone suggests otherwise) would be better both in terms of maximising recycling and reducing landfill tax which is an ever-increasing burden on local authorities. It's no surprise that the change has brought some issues, especially as we were removing the previous private contractor at the same time, but it was the right change to make.

Guy Lambert ● 2777d

Have you seen this:https://www.hounslow.gov.uk/info/20128/household_recycling_and_waste_collections/1691/plastic_recycling_collections

Philippa Bond ● 2777d

Emma: Is it the plastics that you are having a problem with?Are you removing the film off the top of plastic containers?  According to Cllr Guy Lambert in his blog on his trip following the lorry this seemed to be a problem.  Most of this now peels easily off the easily recyclable see-through containers eg fruit containers.This is part of the info on the Hounslow website:"Please DO NOT TRY TO RECYCLE these items:We cannot collect any plastic that is in a bag or sackPolystyrenePlastic carrier bagsPlastic wrapping and packaging (for example crisp packets, plastic bread bags, plastic nappy packaging and any other plastic wrapping)Flower potsThese items should be placed in your black wheelie bin.Why we don’t accept plastic carrier bags:We can only recycle hard or rigid plastics, such as bottles and containers. Plastic bags are not accepted for recycling at our Waste & Recycling Centres. Plastic bags placed in recycling bins can become tangled in sorting machinery, potentially causing breakdowns, or even fires, and hindering the recycling process for other materials."(https://www.hounslow.gov.uk/info/20128/household_recycling_and_waste_collections/1597/plastic_recycling_in_your_red_box)Above the list of what they don't want is a list of what they do want:"Please present plastics and metal loose so that we can see if there is any of the wrong type.What we CAN recycle:Plastic bottles (e.g. drinks bottles, plastic milk bottles, bleach bottles, washing and fabric conditioner bottles etc.)Please rinse or wash bottlesPlease squash where possibleRemove bottle topsPlastic tubs, pots and trays (e,g. margarine tubs, yoghurt pots etc.)Please wash or rinse to remove food residuesTubs (e.g. margarine, butter, ice cream)Drink cansFood tins (pop tin lids inside the tin)Aluminium foil (e.g. for baking, covering food)Aluminium foil trays (e.g. take-away trays)Please present plastics loose in the red recycling box."I don't know whether LBH any longer has any Recycling Officers due to all the cuts that have had to be made in services.  You could email your Councillors for assistance.  I understand that at the recent meeting litter and fly-tipping there was not enough time for all the residents to ask all their questions. Why not ask Cllr Guy Lambert for assistance - he did offer!  (Though I think he may have discovered it is a little more complicated than he originally thought.  Brave man.)

Philippa Bond ● 2777d

" And for this I pay Council Tax.  Really!!!! "Isn't it going to increase in 20918?

Alex Shpinkov ● 2777d

It is the same in Ealing.  Tiny cottages with no room to manoeuvre wheelie bins swamped by them - completely ruining the streetscape. I don't believe it really increases the actual recycling in them as it is such an effort strugglng to get both out in order to have the right one out.  It is far easier to stuff whatever you have into the nearest bin. I'm sure it is OK and easier for the larger properties with space - but with the smallest ones there has been no sensible aesthetic or practical solution.  The old grey metal bin was and still is best!It has I am sure increased the amount of food waste separation and recycling because the black bin collection is now fortnightly and this leaves more space and avoids an obnoxious and embarrassing smelling bin.Separating food waste out shows people exactly what they have wasted that week allowing them to make adjustments to their buying, storing and eating habits.  I now must remind myself to FREEZE that half a tin of sweetcorn because I have twice now not got around to that second recipe quick enough. It's a journey.   

Philippa Bond ● 2777d

I am doing a January clean up, and have lots of excess rubbish, so will have to ask someone to take my stuff to the dump.  I have tried to explain to the person who is helping me about this separating of plastics etc, and its just so time consuming and complicated we have lost the will etc.  Just bunging into different bags to take to dump.  And will need to have fossil burning fuel in car to do this!!!  And for this I pay Council Tax.  Really!!!!  And don't even get me started on the mess that is currently my once pretty front garden, and my once pretty street.  Grrr

Emma Renton ● 2777d

It just makes no sense.Ealing and Hounslow are both members of the hugely secretive West London Waste Authority, and yet have completely different abilities on recycling.The Ealing System is far from perfect as well.  Trucks that cannot fit done streets, hitting trees and lamposts and parked vehicles as they are oversized and designed for grass verged suburbs.But they take almost all plastics.  It does not need to be sorted and is contained so it does not blow all over the streets.The boxes are hopeless. The white sacks were much better for containing the plastics .It is little wonder so many wheelie bins are overflowing. People are giving up and bunging everything into them instead.Who seriously has the time to be bothered sifting every bit of plastic to see if it's OK or not?Not most people that's for sure.

Raymond Havelock ● 2777d

It would make for a much simpler life for me with regards to recycling if we had the same sort of system as Ealing (which is only about fifty yards from my front door).  I just cant seem to get what plastics i can recycle under the Hounslow regime, despite MANY telling me what i can and cant do.  Each week i fail!!!!!

Emma Renton ● 2777d

Lots of plastic CAN be recycled and that doesn't mean having to be exported or incinerated.  Whether it is is something else.The sorting into waste streams is a problem as there are so many different plastics.  All we are doing for the kerbside collection is making a preliminary sort.  A lot of packaging has not been necessary as packaging changes have happened to reduce the amount of packaging being used.  The volume has been reduced as in the case of the cauliflower in the globe but there are more products now in plastic bottles which were once in glass. A lot of packaging is used for presentation and stacking and a lot has been reduced in the transportation of goods by using reusable crates.  I often visit another part of the country where the kerbside recycling is just plastic bottles and tins in one container and paper/card/cardboard in another.  Tins can be separated easily from the plastic bottles and then the plastic bottles I suspect go to the Dagenham plant.  But the Dagenham plant is NOT the only plastic recycling plant in the UK.

Philippa Bond ● 2778d

Trouble is, it's all very well to tell us do this or do that.But there are very good reasons why we have some of the packaging we have.We have to feed 60 million plus people.We have to feed them safely with food that the consumer demands is safe wherever and whenever in every part of the UK.And it's not just the 60 million on this Island, you can throw in all of Europe and beyond.60 million do not all have the same tastes or dietary requirements.Much of this would simply not be possible nor affordable if current packaging methods were not used. Right down to the most basic, Drinking water.The whole structure of overdense 21st century culture makes massive demands on  resources. It is seldom factored into any of our day to day infrastructure, so it has to fit and with what there is.Plastic packaging is vital and if it could be fully recyclable, it would be.Government intervention is pointless if the solution is not there or viable.The crisis with Diesel engines came about because of Euro 3--4-5-6-7 legislation being way ahead of research and development and the requirements could not be met.There was no flexibility and this led to the VW fiasco.Chances are with the now hysteria and diesel sales dropping, the probable achievement of 0% Diesel emission will never be developed.Electric vehicles simply shift the pollution and resource depletion elsewhere.Electric vehicles also emit toxins. But the current hypocrisy won't allow debate on that.The same is with recycling. Too many cooks and fingers in the pie have diluted the effectiveness of recycling. There is no magic wand. It's just been going to incinerators, landfill or China Korea and Japan. who can no longer cope with the volume.But too many on the usual gravy train of quangos are simply nodding heads that could not tell a Milk bottle from a Beer bottle.Even the spokesperson from a recycling authority on several BBC interviews last week, contradicted himself again and again in different interviews.No-one it seems, has a grasp of any of the issues.

Raymond Havelock ● 2778d

Usually the Council specifies that they only collect rigid plastic - but even with that definition you can get into trouble because they only really want food/toiletries/cleaning plastic bottles and tubs and trays - not flower pots and washing up bowls.Ideally no-one would be selling anything in non-recyclable packaging but you'd need more government intervention to really reduce that. The On Pack Recycling logos were originally owned by the British Retail Consortium but now I believe it is LARAC (Local Authority Recycling Advisory Committee). The opportunity to work together is there.When the first strangely shaped plastic covered plastic bottles for liquid washing detergent came on the market I panicked over whether they should be considered a "bottle", now I accept it but it took a while an I did decide to the stance that if it was longer than it was wide it was.  Apparently some - I presume those smoothie ones - totally covered in plastic are difficult to recycle - something that the manufacturers should deal with.  To add to the problem more foods are being packaged in those pouches.

Philippa Bond ● 2779d

I asked this question a long time ago but nobody has answered. Is LBH providing any replacements?  It also helps if you squash your plastic bottles and aluminium cans as this reduces the speed of their exploring tendencies in the wind.  Probably not such a lot in this though.WRAP UK has with government funding been trying to streamline the recycling collection instructions from across the country.  You can see sometimes how the various Borough Councils under each Waste Authority have similar collections.  Some areas are more successful than others.  WRAP supports the www.recyclenow.com website where you can get information on where you can recycle and what and how it is recycled - if your Council and other interested parties eg ACE UK (food and drink cartons) add the correct info!Work that WRAP has done includes working with major manufacturing companies to redesign and lightweight packaging.  Have a look:http://www.wrap.org.uk/about-us/about

Philippa Bond ● 2780d

My street is a mess.  An absolute mess.  It used to be such a well kempt street, but now we daren't pick any litter up in case it 'contaminates' our recycling.  Stupid ill thought out scheme.  I have just had to organise for someone to take all my Christmas rubbish to the tip, as yet again I couldn't get it right for the rubbish collectors.

Emma Renton ● 2780d

Yes you are right I have check on ours and one does and one does not. Both the same brand.Just noticed the same on a pack of celebrations and Cadbury's Caramels one bag does and one bag does not. But both are the same plastic.All are heavy gauge plastic and not as you have probably noticed, anything like film but are the same type of plastic used for Morrisons Containers ( the clear type )This is my point. How can anything actually be defined as suitable or not?And no, I am not blaming the Council for this more the actual recycling operations.What suites one facility does not suit another.What I do think the council has mucked up on is the method and system adopted which has made a real mess of the streets and created too much confusion and detritus that is everywhere to see 24/7.

Raymond Havelock ● 2780d

You're obviously an expert, Raymond, so I bow to your knowledge. However I just checked my dishwasher detergent bag - which is silent on the question of recycling - and my two bags of clothes wash detergent which both say 'plastic - not currently recycled'.

Guy Lambert ● 2780d

Simply that the film is too thin to manage.It apparently fouls machinery and is so thin that it evaporates during reprocessing.But this is a bit of a side issue as film is a very small amount of plastic and is made up from a differing group of polymers.Without these we would not be able to have the kind of quality and food hygiene safety that we have to provide for 60 million people.We have to remember that plastic is on of the few lightweight durable packaging that enable sterile and safe transportation of foodstuffs.However the film that is the main problem is used mainly on packaging for ready meals and intended for oven or microwave cooking.The film that seals ( for example ) Fresh chicken is a fully recyclable plastic. But is being deemed film by collectorsHounslow collectors are rejecting plastics that are not of this category.If they cannot tell what polymer group plastics belong to, How is anyone else?They reject the bags Dishwasher and Detergent refills come in.  They are the same plastics group as some milk bottles and are fully recyclable.  So are several types of plastic bag. Most thin plastic bags are bio degradable. They won't take them either.It should be simple. The problem film should be placed into a thin plastic bag no bigger than the sort for putting fruit and veg in and tied,  One household would probably take well over a year to generate 1kg of plastic film of this type.But the rejection of so much plastic makes the current collection method too wasteful and has become too convoluted.

Raymond Havelock ● 2780d

For once that's something I agree with Guy - we really do need a national plan for recycling so all local authorities do the same things in the same way. We also need some stricter rules on non recyclables and why and how they are allowed to be widely used. However, I lost count of the amount of people who'd put out their plastic for collection this week in all those high winds and NOT used the net to contain it. Result? Blew all over the place! Sometimes people are their own worst enemies,(but I still think this system is clumsy and ill-thought through.)

Vanessa Smith ● 2781d

You've reminded me that there is still some expanded polystyrene food packaging out there (banned in some countries). I've found it in those often pink boxes used for takeaways, pizza packaging bases, takeaway coffee cups, and also for some meat in Sainsbury's.  I can understand its use for insulation but there are alternatives...  Avoid it - or put it in your black/grey wheelie bin.A lot of goods are no longer packed with lumps of polystyrene to protect them.  If you are having an appliance delivered the company that you buy from will often install the new and take away the old (sometimes for a small fee) together with the packaging.  Check when you are buying to save problems later. Otherwise unless you reuse the polystyrene eg to put in the bottom of garden pots to reduce the amount of compost you need/make it easier to move them around that will have to go in your black/grey wheelie.Look out for those packing peanuts that look like "Wotsits".  Some just disintegrate when they get wet but others are plastic and if not reused/given to someone who sells on Ebay etc need to go in the black/grey wheelie.Don't forget about Freecycle where the person who wants something has to collect - or Next Door.www.therubbishdiet.org.uk    andwww.myzerowaste.com  (now also on facebook) are a great resource.

Philippa Bond ● 2781d

It is so much easier to remove the plastic film from trays and tubs now.  Many of these 'lids' just peel off cleanly.  The inner lids on plastic milk bottles now peel off much more cleanly.  A lot of work has been done - but not by all manufacturers...Most trays I've come across are marked with a recycling symbol showing what sort of plastic they are made out of - although many symbols are far too small to read easily. I reckon it is up to the recyclers to decide whether they want it or not. Either they sort it out later with optical recognition equipment or they specify more clearly.  Most including LBH have certainly made it clear that they don't want film including carrier bags in the KERBSIDE collection.  I know that they don't like these in facilities where they can get stuck in the equipment causing frequent expensive stoppages.The charge for carrier bags was for a reason!  If you use a food waste bin you probably don't need a carrier bag or small bin bag - you will only have film in your kitchen bin and can tip straight into a black bag in the wheelie bin.  You can keep on tweaking your methods to reduce your waste.  Using the food waste bin makes a huge difference.  Everybody has their own systems.  The Recycle Now website shows how many different families manage.WRAP has been and is trying to close the gap between the differences between different LAs. They have been funded by government to run the Recycle Now website.https://www.recyclenow.com/recycling-knowledge/packaging-symbols-explainedMany of these change as more facilities become available but if you don't understand what is on a supermarket's packaging - question them.  They are the ones who have the most packaging.  Why does the Coop wrap aubergines?  Sainsbury's doesn't.  Lots of us have been questioning and complaining about the amount of packaging and thankfully the cauliflower I complained about it 2006 now arrives in just a small plastic bag rather than a huge plastic globe.https://www.theguardian.com/business/2006/nov/14/supermarkets.ethicallivingPackaging needs to be designed for recycling and you will find that there is less now of mixed material - which always makes it difficult.There are producer packaging responsibility regulations to encourage minimal packaging etc but not all companies abide by them. If companies including those within a group have more than a certain amount of turnover and use more than a certain amount of packaging then they have to join a compliance scheme.  These have been updated.Every so often a list is published of companies that have been fined.  Some well known names can appear!https://www.gov.uk/guidance/packaging-producer-responsibilitiesOnline shopping can mean more cardboard packaging and overpackaged items ie in HUGE boxes.  Amazon has a feedback facility.  USE IT!Let's also embrace new and innovative packaging.  Please someone design an on-the-go drink packaging without plastic straws that separate and end up littering our beaches. 

Philippa Bond ● 2782d

Given this is all down to dastardly Hounslow and their incompetent contractor, perhaps you can explain why most food packaging with a film lid either is silent on its recyclability or says - film: not currently recycled.

Guy Lambert ● 2783d

There must be enough other stuff to burn.  There is talk of a tax on incineration.  Why produce unnecessary packaging to segregate and burn?

Philippa Bond ● 2783d

Brentford is a freight route turning off a Kew onto the north London line. The turn off is non electrified. I have seen quite a few class 37 and even 47,s going through. There was an article about our old trains in the paper recently avdrage age is 21 yrs. The HST that sometimes divert at Reading are diesel.

Nicholas Beard ● 2783d

Burn it! I read somewhere that Norway was desperate for plastic bottles to feed their incinerators.  Modern incinerators can burn pretty well anything and create useful energy rather than us painstakingly segregating everything and shipping stuff off to China and hoping for the best.

Peter Evans ● 2783d

Very few 40 year old diesels run on the Brentford Line or at all.Those that do now have particulate collectors. Even new diesels are but a few a day. Buildings are the biggest offenders. Taller buildings severely damage airflow and drag a lot of dust and dirt . Which is why they get such filthy windows so quickly.Electric Motors also emit toxins, Copper and Carbon create gases.  Regenerative braking does the same, so do electrical clutch retarders.No mention ever of these.  No mention of the emissions from cooling towers, air con systems, ancillary equipment but per person, the overall pollutant ratio in 8 plus storey buildings is far higher than in a 2 or 3 bed house.I think Adam will confirm that none of this is considered relevant or pertinent in planning applications and that a mere 'environmental impact' study is all that is required and is based on hypothesise of existing situations and usually dismissive of any issues. And like a gourmet Burger these reports are cooked up to suit the customer.Once built of course, not much can be done.

Raymond Havelock ● 2783d

I went around Closed Loop Recycling's Dagenham plant some years ago.  If you look on the web you can see the sad story of this.  This surely is because it is a market-run economy.I hope that this is now up and running again.  I remember them calling out for more bottles...  but not enough were being returned for recycling.  I believe that there are still far fewer being put into recycling streams than put on the shelves.There are other plastics recycling plants in the UK.  Plastic bottles certainly were the easiest of the plastic streams to recycle as fewer different plastics are involved in their manufacture.  A lot of sorting is involved and not just in the home or on kerbside.That the plastic milk bottle stream (and milk) was used to the detriment of the up to 10x reusable glass milk bottle and milkman's delivery service is something that I rue.

Philippa Bond ● 2783d

You are right about lorries etc and dont forget 40 year old diesel trains running past Brentford. Then there are huge poluters the SHIPS. CPZ is a much better target though certainly easier. Thats the way they think.

Nicholas Beard ● 2783d

The WLA ( West London Waste Authority ) Which has had more closed secret meetings than any other wast authority in the whole of the UK. Has consistently refused to answer any public questions about it's recycling terms and arrangements with contractors.It will be very interesting to find just where the plastics have been going as this was asked as long as 6 years ago when concerns were raised about the sheer cost and environmental impact of exporting plastics and other wastes to faraway places like China and Japan.China indicated it's intention to reduce imports of waste plastics nearly 10 years ago!Bu the WLA and local authorities have been more obsessed with meddling with targets and fiscal balances rather than actually achieving a proper solution, or even bothering to be plain and clear to the "idiot" public about the real issues.And which government fudged this in the first place? And would not listen?Not that the current one has proved any more capable either.A journalist acquaintance  told me quite a while back that during the construction of the Olympic stadium site, the land was so contaminated that millions of tones of sub soil had to be removed. A tip off led to then investigating and trailing trucks. It was supposed to all be sent to The Kent side of the Thames estuary where it was used for covering a land fill site and the worst to a dock for loading onto ships to Japan and China for decontamination.But needless to say many of the lorries did not find the correct junction of the M25 and found their way into Essex and Herts where their loads were deposited on Golf courses under construction.Other trucks headed to Hanwell where they deposited on a site accessible from Trumpers Way. Mixed in with legitimate loads so no-one could keep tabs.Authorities were alerted but did nothing - until the BBC revealed footage and still noting was really done.Where there's muck there's money. Serious money.But the issue returns to the same on of 6 years ago. Why do we not have any means of reprocessing plastics?Obviously a tonne of packaging plastic is a lot of bulky plastic. But once compacted, is a more manageable block.  Some plastics do rapidly degrade ( Morrisons and Tesco bags will simply disintegrate into dust over a short time outdoors, so are useless for storing things in.)But the issue of what is film and what is not is being completely misinterpreted by Lampton 360 who have clearly gone 360 on the issue.A rubble sack or thick plastic ( like some resealable food packages ) is made of the same polymer strings as milk containers and plastic trays which will be collected, but the operatives and tighter supervisors will reject anything containing these.Why?Is it ignorance?It seems from one operative not.More to do with the recycling contractors total inability to be able to process plastic sheet as it fouls the machinery.  Nothing more than that.That is why before it could be taken and why other authorities do take ALL plastics.So yet again, LBH have gotten themselves a lemon of a contract that leaves them with an inadequate service. And less recycling than was possible before.But the other major problem remains. No National domestic ability to recycle plastics effectively. That in part because we have no industry to use the recycled products and a 70 year inability to create export markets for our products, preferring to leave everything to service industries and no questions asked as to what and how they handle things.We do need to go back to the days of the electric milk float and glass milk bottles and very early deliveries. And if councils are really keen on reducing pollution, banning Diesel supermarket delivery vehicles and insisting on all being hybrid or electric. Far more effective than hitting CPZ residents with a stealth punishment charge for a parked car, when the pollution is caused by through traffic and the silver birds in the sky.

Raymond Havelock ● 2783d

Now, now that's a tad - just a tad - harsh Vanessa.  First thing in the morning or last thing at night residents may not be at their best and brightest!I have to admit though the hangers on the bins are probably the only saving grace as far as I am concerned that wheelie bins have for the neighbourhood.  You can't misplace those bin hangers in the same way or deny the fact that you've had one!  But I wouldn't bet that it was impossible...

Philippa Bond ● 2783d

Mind you - much as I criticise Hounslow - I have to say there are some really thick people out there- in spite of the little notices put on all our wheelies before Christmas, giving all the collection dates, I couldn't believe how many idiots have stuck their stuff out on the wrong day - again! There is only so much a local authority can do to inform - you can't factor in dealing with planks.

Vanessa Smith ● 2783d

is here - just in case you've never trawled through to find it:https://www.hounslow.gov.uk/info/20128/household_recycling_and_waste_collections/1656/your_questions_answered_-_weekly_recycling

Philippa Bond ● 2783d

I have asked our recycling contractor whether the Chinese ban will have an effect on LBH. Watch this space.

Guy Lambert ● 2784d

http://westlondonwaste.gov.uk/12-waste-free-days-christmas/12th-day-christmas/

Philippa Bond ● 2784d

https://www.recyclenow.com/what-to-do-with/wrapping-paper-1Try the Scrunch Test to tell the difference between paper and plastic giftwrap.  Flatten it rather than screw it up as it takes up less space.

Philippa Bond ● 2784d

I remember brown paper carrier bags with handels. Bio degradeable. They still have them in the USA why not here? Mad insnt it?

Nicholas Beard ● 2784d

I don't know about anyone else but the more I delve into our efforts to increase recycling rates the more confused I become.This article begs so many questions ....https://www.theguardian.com/environment/2017/dec/07/chinese-ban-on-plastic-waste-imports-could-see-uk-pollution-rise... including whether or not our exports of recyclable materials are included in our local and national recycling figures. Is any of Hounslow's recyclable waste exported overseas? Has any assessment been made of the environemtal impact of transporting material over such long distances? How do we know what happens to it when it arrives at its destination?If this is both alarming and confusing then you should try to make sense of this explanation of recycling symbols (what does and doesn't apply in Hounslow?):https://www.thisiseco.co.uk/news_and_blog/recycling-symbols-explained.htmlA final concern is the apparent failure to provide adequate, or indeed any, recycling facilities for very many small blocks of flats and maisonettes in Hounslow. I had made a New Year's resolution to give up the booze but excuse me while I pop downstairs to finish off those bottles that we didn't manage to polish off during the past week or so.

Jim Storrar ● 2784d

Recycling is a problem for this country. We have bbeen sending 500000 tons of plastic bottles to China for recycling and now they dont want them. And guess what? We dont know what to do!!!!!!!

Nicholas Beard ● 2784d

I had one extra black bag over the Christmas period, mainly with excess wrapping paper which i believe isnt recyclable due to plastic content, plus just misc due to the nature of Christmas ie buying more stuff generally!!  so the rubbish guys left my extra bag and took out another bag from my bin, so now i have a nearly full bin with another ten days to go until next collection.  I live by myself, generate very little rubbish, as i try to recycle, and have a HotBin composter which takes care of most of my food recycling.  I dont drive so now i am going to have to find a kind neighbour or someone to help me with my rubbish problem.  Yet i pay 75% Council tax for this (i get a measly 25% reduction in Council tax for being single!!!) - very cross right now.

Emma Renton ● 2784d

LBH doesn't seem to have much of an alternative to kerbside collections which with some of them at fortnightly intervals isn't good when residents may not be around to put their waste out at the right time.  If you are lucky you may have good and able neighbours who will and can put your boxes or wheelie bin out and/or can bring them in again but many may not. Also unfortunately I don't believe that supermarkets who run their own recycling banks are listed with what can be recycled at their stores - or it is harder to find!It looks like a lot of the problems in LBH come from people not taking note of the changes to the collection regarding not wanting plastic film in the KERBSIDE collection.  Plastic Bags for Life:The idea of these was that the supermarkets replaced them free of charge.  Not all of them are now but many of these thicker plastic carrier bags still can be returned to the supermarket to be replaced free of charge - when they are no longer usable.  Read what is written on them - sometimes underneath!This isn't the same as bags that are stronger and just reusable.  Many of these are gusseted and so will stand upright when placed on the floor, are much more comfortable on the hands - and washable!The supermarkets will sell these at a reduced price but you can also choose instead to support your favourite charities by buying from them or just promote your favourite slogans.  "I'm not a plastic bag" was the slogan on some several years ago.

Philippa Bond ● 2786d

I couldn't find anything on the LBH website allowing and encouraging residents to put out extra recycling over the Christmas & New Year period.  Other Councils do allow this - but not in black bags - in a clear bag or a cardboard box - so it is obvious what it is.

Philippa Bond ● 2786d

It is still a weekly collection of food waste and recycling isn't it?  What exactly does LBH no longer collect kerbside apart from plastic film and carrier bags?Squashing cans and plastic bottles and flattening boxes reduces their volume making more room in your recycling boxes. A lot of work has been done in redesigning packaging to lightweight it and to make it easier to dismantle and recycle.  (There is a lot less mixed material packaging.)

Philippa Bond ● 2786d

I haven't given up anything. The policy of bi-weekly collections for general waste is now used by many councils and is designed to increase recycling rates. It is more cost-effective and with weekly collection of food waste and recycling it's a perfectly good answer in principle.I'm not arguing that everything was perfect with the implementation and I have helped a number of people who have experienced problems, but there's nothing wrong with the policy and the majority of teething problems have now been ironed out. Most people have got used to it and many are quite happy with the changes. Of those that are not, some could recycle more and others with large households may need to apply for a larger wheelie bin.

Guy Lambert ● 2786d

Oh dear. “It is what it is”. It sounds like our friend Councillor Lambert has finally given up trying to justify the actions of his colleagues in the refuse dept at last.Ever since our great Leader’s Williegate court case, it was always going to end badly for them & us.

Robin Dickers ● 2786d

I'm not making comments about who's right or wrong, just trying to explain what the options are for those who are having problems. The system is what it is and it's unlikely to change given the extreme financial pressures and the strong pressure on councils to recycle more.

Guy Lambert ● 2786d

Mr Lambert and those who manage refuse at the Council seem oblivious to the issues here.Day after day on this Forum people share their frustration at Hounslow Council's refuse arrangements. All we get is an ongoing rubbish service (pun absolutely intended) from the bin people, and Mr Lambert explaining to us why they're right and we're wrong.We are the paying customers. When the vast majority advise that something doesn't work you should take head.***Meanwhile the trash piles up and we've already got more than the Council will collect come 10th Jan. What with  New Year, and another week of school holidays (both of which will generate more than the norm when it comes to rubbish) I can but hope for a proliferation of foxes to rip open more bags, and followed a big storm to redistribute the contents....My family may then finally be able to live it's life the way our Council thinks that we should....

Tim Barnes ● 2786d

"You can get a bigger bin if you need one and ask. It's not as if the council have not explained that they will not take general waste that doesn't fit in the wheelie bin."Although that's perfectly true - the fact is that over this - the biggest holiday period of the year - a fortnightly collection of the general waste wheelie just isn't enough, and we DO recycle as much as possible. But given the list of what is not now acceptable we also find we have to dispose of more in the general waste.Hounslow cannot have it both ways I'm  afraid. And the pickier they get with what they will and won't recycle now, the more people can't be arsed, Catch 22.

Vanessa Smith ● 2787d

In Ealing, they will take away any excess recycling put on or around the blue wheelie bin, but will only take what's inside the black rubbish bin and nothing extra.It's puzzling enough for residents when boroughs across London have different systems of bins and boxes, and different definitions of what can go in each, so imagine the confusion for rental tenants who move from place to place.

Peter Evans ● 2787d

It seems we lucked out. We asked the recycling crew if they would take our extra recycling and they took the lot and didn't make any fuss. I would recommend asking them, however we were lucky to be in at the time.

Steve Allum ● 2787d

The government is doing nothing about the situation going forward. It approves of houses with small rooms. We have some of the smallest houses in Europe and can you believe we are still building houses and flats with double glazing not triple glazing. Lets have space around the new houses. Every house should have a garage with a charging point for an electric car. Of course there  should be provision for up to five wheelie bins.

Nicholas Beard ● 2787d

... and what if there is barely space to keep a standard wheelie bin at one's home?Try living next to someone who has one of these even bigger ones right by your front door that absolutely stinks and is still overfilled wishing a week. 3 adults and 4 kids in a tiny terraced house, so they dump waste in others bins.I am sick of dodging these damned things left all over the pavements around here for days on end.This just does not work and it shows.

Raymond Havelock ● 2788d

You can get a bigger bin if you need one and ask. It's not as if the council have not explained that they will not take general waste that doesn't fit in the wheelie bin.https://www.hounslow.gov.uk/site/xfp/scripts/xforms_form.php?formID=84&language=enThe point of the restriction on bin sizes is to encourage recycling as too many people don't bother.

Guy Lambert ● 2788d

I was waiting for the council bin people today before posting in the hope that they'd do the right thing, but shouldn't have held my breath.They are beyond useless, and beyond lazy, but (sadly) exactly what I expected!We, they advise, "left out excess waste" so they left it.A year back we had one wheelie bin for 6 people per week. Now we have one wheelie bin for 6 people for 2 weeks, and this week for 6 people (plus guests and Christmas) one bin over over 2.5 weeks. So of course we have more than one bin full.We could have a bonfire. We could take it to the depot, or we could fly tip it (not to be condoned, but I certainly understand why people do). But we pay the council to remove it for us. But they don't.There's little or nothing I can do, and they're immune to bad publicity, as we're not customers to them; they get the money whatever happens.So, the rubbish will pile up, the foxes will have a field day, and the piles more that accumulate on the way to the next collection on 10th January will just make our town more of a scrappy dump than it it already looks.I would stick it all in a Councillors front garden. That would help the healing process, but someone did the before, and look at what happened that time.Hey ho.

Tim Barnes ● 2788d

Just a few ideas:http://home.bt.com/lifestyle/what-to-do-with-your-old-carrier-bags-13-alternative-uses-11364009028178https://experthometips.com/wow-39-unexpected-ways-to-reuse-plastic-bags

Philippa Bond ● 2789d

http://myzerowaste.com/2017/10/how-to-reduce-your-impact-on-the-planet/I see from Guy Lambert's column that he has learnt something new since following the recycling lorry!Only you can recycle some carrier bags BUT NOT in the KERBSIDE collection at present anyway.  If you search www.recyclenow.com you will find that the larger supermarkets have recycling bins for these.  You need to look at your packaging.  It is easier though if you buy naked!  REFUSE REduce Reuse and Recycle!

Philippa Bond ● 2789d

What's the point with some of it when it isn't enjoyed but just ripped to bits as soon as the stocking is spotted?The pink pages of the Financial Times used to make very trendy wrapping paper a few years ago - so much so that it featured in the press.  Now it is good to be able to reuse it to line the food waste bin.  No searching for a recycling bin.

Philippa Bond ● 2789d

OMGScrooge is alive & well & living in W London.Ba Humbug

Robin Dickers ● 2789d

I bet the PM does not wrap her Xmas presents in old newspaper.

Nicholas Beard ● 2789d

We don't need any more air pollution!  We live in one of the most polluted areas of London.Don't buy the plastic stuff.  See the Scrunch Test above - we used to use it for telling the difference between recyclable aluminium foil and the plastic stuff.  Use it carefully eg don't write someone's name in the middle making it more difficult to reuse.  Use tags - you can make them out of old cards or bits of old wrapping stuck to the picture side of a biscuit/mince pie etc box so you have a good clear piece to write on.  I can't understand why so much money is wasted on the wrapping.  It can be an awful lot of fun making the tags and playing with the packaging that gifts come in.We have had several years where we just used newspaper.  That's a lot less trouble to deal with and worry about!  You can try wrapping presents with the print on the diagonal.Keep just a few of the biggest and best bits for re-use.  If Father Christmas can reuse it why can't you?!

Philippa Bond ● 2789d

Thats what I said. Buy an incinerator  from B &Q and put all paper and cardboard in then the ashes go in the bin. 40 mins of fuel bit you forget the wear on your vehicle!!!!!

Nicholas Beard ● 2789d

Only certain types of wrapping paper can be recycled.Just found this on the recycling bank at Townmead road. No paper with foil laminates or plastic laminates.  Wasted journey so that's 40 mins fuel burned for less than 500 grams of paper and a load of plastics that LBH won't take.It is easier to just burn it or use it again.

Raymond Havelock ● 2789d

Thanks for all your help so far. If anyone does know of a paper recycling bin, please let me know. I know there was one at Tescos but think that went as well. They are too popular unfortunately. :o)

Steve Allum ● 2790d

is a useful website with info eg do you know about the Scrunch Test?You can put your postcode in to find out where your nearest recycling banks are - if your Council has uploaded the info!

Philippa Bond ● 2790d

Why bother cluttering up the garden and adding to air pollution?What exactly is difficult about the info LBH provide?  As Vanessa says there is info on a tag on your wheelie bin.I understand that card recycling is happening at Sainsbury's this year if you can't wait for your collection:  http://www.reducereuserecycle.co.uk/where_can_I_recycle/christmas_cards.phpAccording to that site they are also collecting wrapping paper and defunct Christmas lights.  Maybe somebody visiting Sainsbury's can report.  Essex Place is where I've often recycled stuff in the past - either just inside the store or in the car park.I think I always refer to wrapping "paper" but in fact an awful lot of it isn't paper any more it is plastic and so not recyclable anyway.  You will have more room in your wheelie bin if you don't fill it with stuffed carrier bags - which end up with all the space that marbles in a jam jar leave.  Plastic carrier bags can be recycled at a larger supermarket.  Line your wheelie with a black bag and tip unrecyclable waste into it then loosely tie until you empty more into it.Amongst the info I posted before was one with cardboard recycling.  If you flatten it it is immediately reduced in volume - don't forget to remove any polystyrene which is unrecyclable.

Philippa Bond ● 2790d

Go to B&Q and get an incinerator if you have a garden. Then the as can go in the wheelie bin.

Nicholas Beard ● 2790d

Instructions as to the dos and don'ts are on the little thing left on wheelies last week. It really would have been good customer service if over the holiday period they could have arranged for wheelies to be emptied weekly knowing that everyone will have more to be disposed of. Especially since we now have to sort Christmas cards and paper in case of glitter. Only a while back we used to be told to recycle everything - so what happened? I reckon we now throw more away than we ever used to - were we all wasting our time doing all that assiduous recycling prior to the new regime?

Vanessa Smith ● 2790d

If you have a garden why not buy a incinerator from B & Q.

Nicholas Beard ● 2790d

Thanks Guy. Yes I use this place a lot but not sure if they take wrapping paper. I will head down there in a few days and update this post. Thanks

Steve Allum ● 2791d

Thanks for the suggestions but I have already looked online and it all appears ambiguous on what is recycled and where. As for keeping the best bits, I have two children so the paper gets torn to shreds. I'm just after local info if anyone knows of a paper recycling bank that they have used? Cheers :)

Steve Allum ● 2791d

I find this one more convenient and it is open to Hounslow residents.http://www.richmond.gov.uk/townmead_roadClosed Boxing Day though

Guy Lambert ● 2791d

I've found this but of course I can't be sure that it is up to date:https://www.hounslow.gov.uk/info/20017/space_waye_re-use_and_recycling_centre/26/recycling_banks_and_organisationsSee if there is somewhere that you visit.Also be sure that your recycling meets the criteria.  There's plenty of info on the main page of LBH website - and don't forget that REUSE is even better.  Keep some of the best bits of paper for next year!

Philippa Bond ● 2791d