Council under fire over recycling collections

Cllr Dave Hockey, Lib Dem spokesperson on waste

Liberal Democrat Councillors have welcomed news that South Gloucestershire Council (SGC) is to think again about its revamped cardboard recycling collections.

Since November, local residents have no longer been able to put cardboard in their green wheelie bin, instead being asked to put it all inside a larger cardboard box or place it under another bin.

Jon Williams

Speaking after a meeting at which the Conservative-run Council said it was “looking again” at arrangements for collecting cardboard, Bradley Stoke Lib Dem Councillor Jon Williams said:

“On a windy day, cardboard put out by the road gets blown all over the place, making a terrible mess. People are getting fed up and putting their cardboard in the black bin instead, which means it will end up in landfill. This is no way to encourage recycling.”

Bradley Stoke Lib Dems’ latest Focus newspaper contains more criticism of the new recycling collections, claiming that on a ‘green bin day’, residents watch no fewer than three different vans turn up – one for the green bin, one for food waste and cardboard and a third for the green box (containing paper, glass, tins and more). Other areas manage with fewer vehicles, they say.

Labour Councillors, meanwhile, have criticised the fact that SITA, the Council’s waste contractors, will not empty residents’ plastic recycling bags if they contain anything other than plastic bottles.

Previously, residents could deposit any type of plastic container made of Type 1 (PET) or Type 2 (HDPE) at recycling banks but the Council has now withdrawn many of these, saying they are not needed.

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25 comments

  1. Thank goodness, at last sense is being seen! Every other week it is a complete mess in our road. Not only does the wind blow cardboard around, the bin men don’t pick up what they drop!

  2. I loved the change to allow putting food waste into separate containers. That was a really good thing. I no longer have a nasty smelling black bin with nasty stuff leaking out of it.

    However, I couldn’t believe they messed up the cardboard collection so badly tho. Definitely a retrograde step. I just put mine in the black bin now so I don’t get bits of soggy cardboard blowing around my drive for weeks on end.

    Putting it in the green bin, would, for me, work far better. I can easily fill the green bin in 2 weeks with cardboard boxes from various places.

  3. Just wondered if Cllr Dave Hockey had been put out for re-cyling or just demonstrating how cardboard is collected or both?

  4. Why not just stick the cardboard into a bag instead?!

    Much an easier way not mess, doesn’t get blow away!

    Everyone should just do that. 🙂

  5. @Will For the last collection, I neatly stuffed my cardboard into a spare green Sort-It bag that I had lying around. No sign of the bag after the collection lorry had been around. They either kept the bag or left it loose to blow around the streets with everyone else’s cardboard!

  6. we generate lots of cardboard each week due to packaging and it is a nightmare trying to keep it tidy for collection in bad weather. Definitely need some sort of water-proof container to keep it because a large cardboard box isn’t practical in wet weather.

  7. I put my cardboard in a bag for life, never saw it again and now use an Ikea bag, which I’ve found down the street on a couple of occasions!

  8. I too have lost a bag for life after using one on the councils recommendation being reported on this site.

    1st time it was returned, 2 weeks later it was gone.

  9. As it has been said before the council should have supplied an insertion for the green bin free of charge to put the cardboard in.
    Not charge for one.

  10. I lost my blue Ikea bag which I was using for cardboard last week as well.

    I haven’t put the green bin out for weeks as, amazingly, I haven’t created much garden waste over the winter……

  11. Must admit I was a bit sceptical about the cardboard situation – and I still think using the green bin makes more sense – but in actual fact I haven’t had much of a problem with it blowing about provided you’re able to wedge all the cardboard inserts into say a cereal box. And I’ve found that if you just put it on top of everything else in the green bin it does get collected.

    For me the big issue is still SGC’s refusal to take all plastic containers and not just bottles. I’ve taken to saving all ours up and taking it to my parents, 90 miles away,where all plastic is happily taken.

  12. Me again, and our Friend Mr Williams appears again! Why? What people dont realise is that the waste contract was negotiated by the Liberals and they didnt ask for plastic to be included in the contract! Not only that, but they gave Sita a ten year contract, which is unheard of. I bet, if you ask him, Mr Williams knew all about that. Everybody must understand how bad the Liberals have been will continue to be for Bradley Stoke and South Gloucestershire if we let them. They have no ideas and always sit on the fence, shouting about really good ideas that they caused to go wrong in the first place. I cant stress enough that we need to get behind Labour candiates who will care about our town and not vote for the Tory Lap dogs (Liberals), who pretend they care. Please Mr Editor, this is starting to look like a Liberal online rag and not the well respected impartial site of old.

  13. @Dave Allan, You’re wrong to infer any sort of political bias in The Journal. The article simply reports views expressed by opposition politicians, without expressing an opinion of our own. And judging by the comments so far, there does seem to be a certain level of agreement amongst the readership. That said, I don’t have a problem with you widening the scope of the discussion, provided you are able to substantiate your claims.

  14. Dear Editor, I believe Dave Allan should be banned from making comments on the journal as he seems to be targetting an individual. This type of dirty politics should not be allowed in this day and age.

    Mr Allan, I dare you to sort out your personal enemity with Cllr Williams by contesting elections against him in May. That I believe should be the way forward of settling your issues with him.

  15. Dear Bakri, its not a personal attack, but Mr Williams is the Liberals in Bradley Stoke. Its only him although you may be made to think otherwise. For your information, I will be standing, But Mr Williams wasn’t my target. Based on what you say then maybe I should take him on? Local Labour are on the increase and the type of politics you say I use is only what Mr Williams is well known for. @ The Editor, thanks for your response, I accept what you say but like I said before, you dont have to dig too far too uncover the facts, if people can be bothered. I can back up all I have said on here but I’m not sure that was or is required in this forum. But seriously, keep up the good work, The Journal is a good thing.

  16. The thing is, Dave (may I call youe Dave? I think there’s another politician who’s happy to be called Dave!), if you do your research, you’ll know that the one thing that the general public despise in politics is politicians who rely on criticising other politicians to win the debate. I want a politician to tell me what they promise to do, and only what they promise to do. The minute a politician stops concentrating on their own policies and starts telling me what’s wrong with the policies of their opponents, they lose my vote, because it is frankly insulting to infer that I cannot digest the promises, track record and choices for myself.
    There endeth the lecture on the basics of modern public relations.

  17. @Mr Allan it is good to know that you have decided to throw your hat in the ring and contest the elections. This is the best way to serve the community and I agree with Bert that “The minute a politician stops concentrating on their own policies and starts telling me what’s wrong with the policies of their opponents, they lose my vote”
    So I hope you will concentrate on what you can do for the community rather than criticising others.

  18. I wasn’t aware cardboard shouldn’t be in the green bin until I read this article. I,ve checked the SGC website and it says I should have a sticker on the bin to this effect, and also a collections calendar. Obviously I live in the wrong part of BS as I received neither. Never mind though they are collecting cardboard in the green bin anyway, so I guess the collectors don’t know about his change either!

  19. This is a typical example of public sector over-complication, woolly thinking and inefficiency. We don’t want them to “look at it” (non-committal council-speak), we want them to “fix it”. Aside from food waste there should be one recycling container for all recyclables. Just one recycling collection vehicle would be required and residents would be far more inclined to recycle, yielding lower overall cost even though a bit more sorting would be required. The socialist desire to mess people about dates from the previous national government and the conservatives should know better.

  20. @Janella

    “This is a typical example of public sector over-complication, woolly thinking and inefficiency.”

    How? Sita is a private company, they designed and implemented the recycling scheme.

    “Aside from food waste there should be one recycling container for all recyclables. Just one recycling collection vehicle would be required and residents would be far more inclined to recycle, yielding lower overall cost even though a bit more sorting would be required. ”

    And you know this because…? In reality, the more sorted recycling is; the greater its value and the less you pay in council tax. If you stick glass bottles in with paper, the glass smashes and contaminates the paper which paper mills won’t accept because the abrasive glass particles ruin their machines. Same goes for recycling cardboard and you don’t exactly want bits of tin can and glass in with the compost.

    “The socialist desire to mess people about dates from the previous national government and the conservatives should know better.”

    LOL, you do realise that recycling is a local authority matter with zero input from central government. South Glos council has always been libdem or tory run, they’re the ones who devised the recycling schemes.

  21. I use a plastic storage box, similar in size to the ‘green box’ provided by SGC. It’s always returned, well tossed into the garden.

  22. At the risk of upsetting D. Allan again!

    I can confirm that new recycling bags for cardboard are on order after Lib Dems raised concerns about the mess being created by loose cardboard. Unfortunately, they won’t be with us yet (probably May), but on the positive side they will be FREE to residents.

    Another piece of good news is that unwanted green bins will be collected by the Council after Easter.

    Jon

  23. @Chris

    You said

    Sita is a private company, they designed and implemented the recycling scheme.

    I’ll tell you how: The council, on behalf of we who pay them, subcontracted this service to SITA. They were supposed to make sure that service served their customers (us). Many of the real customers believe this servcie leaves much to be desired and given a choice would spend their money on an alternative. There is nothing “Private Enterprise” about committing other people’s money to a private supplier. Private Enterprise exists when customers (not the council, but those who pay their wages and taxes) pay directly for a service for which they have a choice of supplier. I was the council’s responsibility to ensure the real customers got what they, those customers, required.

    “Aside from food waste there should be one recycling container for all recyclables.[..] . ”

    And you know this because…? In reality, the more sorted recycling is; the greater its value and the less you pay in council tax. If you stick glass bottles in with paper, the glass smashes and contaminates the paper which paper mills won’t accept because the abrasive glass particles ruin their machines. Same goes for recycling cardboard and you don’t exactly want bits of tin can and glass in with the compost.

    I know this because in many parts of the USA, this is what happens. Over there the customers would not stand for this complicated nonsense. We just have to do the supplier’s work for them. Again this is down to how well the decisions were made on commissioning the service and how hard a bargain was struck on behalf of we who the council serve.

    “The socialist desire to mess people about dates from the previous national government and the conservatives should know better.”

    LOL, you do realise that recycling is a local authority matter with zero input from central government. South Glos council has always been libdem or tory run, they’re the ones who devised the recycling schemes.

    LOL indeed, but I will make allowances for your apparently limited grasp of English. It should be obvious to you that I was referring to the general ethos of that period. You should know that the confusion of activity and spending with achievement and accompanying creeping incompetence throughout the public sector gathered pace between 1997 and now, when it has spread to large parts of the private sector. Being Libdem or Tory run does not help: it is a question of the subsititution of subjectively-measured targets in place of the demand for real achievement.

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