It's bin real, and it's bin fun...

Well, there she is. Our new wheelie.

And surrounding her is the last 6 months' worth of recycling accumulated while we waited or her.

Why? Well, in one picture you may notice the blue RE:boxes (making not to try and find and update a very out of date page), now late and very lamented.

I had been waiting as, without the wheelie, the bags provided were not going to accept glass, which provides the majority of out non-reused waste, after paper and a horrible amount of plastic film.

So I also segregated away, just to be helpful. Sadly, all for naught. As I had this note:

I have just had a look through the previous correspondence you have had with us and would advise against separating your recyclables into separate bags. It is great to see people doing all they can to improve the recycling process, but as the bags are emptied at our recycling plant, all contents end up being mixed before the automated sorting process begins. The different sorting processes and stages are very effective.

If you're interested, have a look at the following website which explains things further (and a lot clearer than I can).

http://www.envirosort.co.uk/

Oh well.

Bye bye RE:Box, hello wheelie

A long time ago, in a land, well, right here, I helped with the creation of a kerbside scheme:

The RE:Box

Worked pretty well.

However, we are now at the end of an era (must remember to mark on the site pages).

Not to mention 20,000 blue plastic boxes (seems we get to keep them. Yeah, right. Other than me I can see everyone keeping a bunch of additional dirty, smelly containers. Look out landfill!)

Because we are all getting wheelies.

Or not.

Because, in advance of 'W-day' in November, I got a ton of literature (all of which seemed to say the precise same thing - I guess they want to kick off the paper recycling with a bang) and... a 2kg roll of plastic bags.

So far, so 'Huh?'.

Then I read one of them.

No textiles... no problem (The Can Do Crew and REthreads - two other Junkk-assisted local services are alive, well and serving the community still... until the box tickers descend here too, when their mates see some profit in this no doubt).

But... glass?

As ardent reusers, this is the one category we do recycle a lot, simply because of the volume generated and lack of major reuses we can think of... yet.

Now, it seems this all arises due to a confluence of circumstances.

First up, though we have a big house and grounds, it is 'on the street'. Which apparently means our wheelie would block the pavement. How putting out a bag wouldn't, and RE:Boxes didn't before...?

Then there is the 'elfinsaftee of glass in the bag.

So.... a ton of plastic boxes are being scrapped (I presume) to make way for a ton more plastic boxes most in the town or flats can't use, so we end up with plastic bags that won't accept glass.

This is not making much sense to me at present on any level. I have demanded a wheelie and will have to resolve access to it on collection day.

The only positives (so far) are that they will take (some) plastics and there will not (for now) be a trained sniper across the way should we pop the wrong thing in by accident.

But I do note they don't want them squashed. So a big truck is still moving 95% fresh air?

I am looking further into this. There is the council website. No mention of reuse or Junkk.com I can see. Ta, guys!

And, having called to ask what happens to all this carefully sorted recyclate, and being told it is on the above site (not yet, it seems), there is this fun fellow to trawl: http://www.envirosort.co.uk/

Another blog later, I think.

New bins for old

In November, my area swaps recycling systems.

Out goes the RE:box, a two-container system that I helped name, design and market, and in comes the now ubiquitous green wheelie.

I have mixed feelings on this. So, following an invitation in the local paper, I trooped off t'other day 'to get all my questions answered'.

Well, I got a leaflet (Polish and Portuguese also available) and a free pencil, so it was not a complete waste, but sadly the questions I had (about recyclcate quality at the MRF (materials Reclamation Facility), etc) were not on the list. Nor what these 'new products' might be.

Still, I did learn a few things.

By virtue of having a house on the street, I may not be issued with one. I think I will manage by virtue of having off road space, but the issue is me getting it out for collection without blocking the footpath. Even a few minutes if I get up and get it out early might be a hazard.

So that's pretty much our whole road out, then. Strikes me as already a step backwards as the alternative is to lob out black binliners.

I am also 'required' to rinse and clean everything... apparently. No bin liners in the wheelie means that in the two hot weeks of summer between collections... 'I would want to anyway'. Hmnnn. Oddly, we get to retain our bin liners for 'other waste'.

There's also a leaflet on what they will take and what they won't. I could not get much feedback on what steps would be taken in the event of incorrect placement, either by self or 3d parties. Hmnnn 2.

What is good is they will now take plastics, but again we are in label territory. The lady said 'if it's a bottle we'll take it'. Not sure she, or consumers, will be getting their heads round this one any time soon. They also don't want biodegradables. Good luck with that.

We'll see. But even after what I am sure will be an inevitably troubled settling in period, I remain to be convinced that this has been thought through.

And as one who helped deliver them, I wonder what will become of 20,000 heavy duty blue plastic RE:tie containers after just a few years. Landfill?

Weights & measures

European trend to recycling leads to mass shortage of wheelie bins in UK

Just being naughty, but turtle-chocking aside, I wonder how many plastic bags' worth of plastic ends up in a wheelie bin?

And, more importantly, I wonder why I have not heard much on these things being made from recycled plastic, though I guess there may be QC issues under the elements.

Just hope the various designs have been thought through for the best enviROI with the most efficient collection and disposal systems and not just to meet targets or score a profit. What are the odds?