The Past



The past is a foreign country: they do things differently there.

L. P. Hartley   1895-1972 

Monday 23 June 2008

ABC Wednesday - W for Wheelie Bin

This is actually a double W   ... Wednesday is collection day for the Wheelie Bin

Politically the collection of these refuse bins is at a local level more important than the Iraq War, Inflation, Unemployment and raises passions ( and violence ). Many a local Councillor has lost his Council seat over the issue come election time.

Once upon a time in the UK your dustbin was collected weekly and contained all your rubbish - the bin collectors actually entered your yard or garden to collect the bin. In order to cut costs the wheelie bin  was introduced - the onus on the householder was now to take it into the road on collection day. ( it has small wheels )


In order to encourage more recycling of waste material  more wheelie bins were introduced. Dark green for non recyclable waste , light green/blue for tins, bottles  ( glass or plastic) and brown for garden waste plus a blue bag for paper.

Collections were reduced to fortnightly - normal waste one week then the other wheelie bins the following week. This of course led to many complaints - bins smelling , bins stolen , bins just not collected by the Council. 


I use my brown bin for storing rain water ! I compost all garden waste.

You must follow Council regulations - bin to be placed 6 inches from kerb edge, lid to be down flat, handles facing road, do not leave loose rubbish nearby. 

If what you read in the Tabloid Press is correct then the Council employ " Bin Police " to check that residents are following all the rules and regulations.

I could discuss wheelie bins at great length but do not want to bore you any more ...

14 comments:

Daniel Chérouvrier said...

Interesting subject for W which is one of the most difficult letter for French speaking people.
So we have to borrow foreign words or names like Wolfgang, Winnie, water, Who...

Petunia said...

I learn something new every day! Today the English word: Wheelie Bin!
LOL!
Thank you for telling me!

Texas Travelers said...

Nice W.
We also have 2 bins.

Our "W's" are big today.
Come visit,
Troy and Martha

imac said...

Just put mine out.lol.

Pop and see my "W"

EG CameraGirl said...

We recycle too. Three different kinds: a blue box for recyclables, a green bin that looks like your wheelie bins for food scraps, and paper bags for yard waste.

It's a touchy subject here in East Gwillimbury (Canada) too.

Anonymous said...

Ha! So many wheelie rules...
And I just reminded daughter to put the yard waste wheelie out!

me ann my camera said...

Wow.... sounds quite confusing but worthy and worthwhile I would say. Actually this has been a very interesting text to read.

varying seasons

Unknown said...

Woeful wheelie bin worries - it seems all of our councils are looking at this issue through tax coloured spectacles!!

Great post

Gary
Bodge's Bulletin

Rune Eide said...

We have a comparable system - and it works very well, although we keep our bins in the garage between the collecting (no police...).

Liz Hinds said...

Good subject! We don't have wheelie bins here. But we have weekly refuse collections of black bags and fortnightly recycling.

Gordon said...

We have a 3 bin system here (in Adelaide); one for all recyclables and one for garden waste - collected on alternate weeks. A smaller one for normal waste is collected weekly.

Sara at Come Away With Me said...

"Wheelie Bin" is a new term to me....I like it. We've got something similar, a brown one for trash and a purple one for recyclables. We've always had to drag our trash cans (as we call them) out to the curb and were happy when they gave us these big ones with wheels!

Patty said...

Very interesting Our cans here are just called trash cans.

Neva said...

A very good "W"... I missed ABC Wednesday due to a house guest and no time for blogging! The trash bins here have the directions written on them and the people still don't get it right (as to where and how far and how to place them....they even come with pictures!)

Penguins - move your cursor and take them for a walk !!

Say it as it is ......


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Look around !!!

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We have no time to stand and stare?


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