Rubbish Charges

[jambutty]

In Darwen we do it a bit differently. Well round our end we do. We have a grey bin (it is almost black but they insist on calling it grey) for stuff that can’t be re-cycled. We have a brown bin for garden waste. A green box without a lid for glass, metal and plastic bottles and a blue box with lid for paper. The paper is supposed to stand to attention in its box.

My black bin is an oddity in that it is larger than the standard so it only goes out once every two months. My brown bin protects my milk on the doorstep from passing eyes until I get up and bring it in. The blue box sits on top of my fridge (the only place in the whole flat) and washed and peeled cans and bottles get dropped in until it is full – about 6 weeks. The green bin never gets used, because I could never get the paper to stand to attention unless it was full. In any case there was no clear floor space to put it. So it lives on top of a kitchen cupboard out of the way and out of reach. It could make a pretty neat flower container with a few more holes drilled in the bottom. Instead I have a sack for waste paper and when it is full I take it to the local waste disposal place with a small detour whilst collecting my pension.

Any rubbish that can’t be re-cycled gets put into one of the many carrier bags that supermarkets give out and with the handles tied together to prevent stuff from spilling out, it gets dumped in my black (grey) bin.

Someone asked earlier on about who owns the bins/boxes. The local authority does but you the keeper is obliged to keep them clean and safe. Much like a council house. If someone nicks your bin you might be lucky and get another for free or you might get charged for it. However if you tell them that it went missing on the day of a collection whilst it was out in the street you will get it replaced for nothing.

Someone also mentioned something about if we are to be charged for rubbish that cannot be re-cycled will the council tax be reduced to compensate. Probably but you can bet your sweet life you end up paying more overall. Then there is the problem of those people like myself whose council tax is paid by the council/government. We won’t benefit from a council tax reduction, so in my view we shouldn’t be charged either.

It’s a whole can of worms or should that be a wheelie bin full of worms?