| Topic: | Re:Warning ! rubbish bins collections from flats above shops | |
| Posted by: | Philippa Bond | |
| Date/Time: | 05/01/26 23:34:00 |
| David - have you ever actually looked up and seen the Waste Hierarchy? We learnt how to reduce our waste years ago. We worked with Mrs Green of myzerowaste.com and Karen Cannard of The Rubbish Diet - both of whom were quite well known at the time. One of the most important things is to separate any food waste and any other likely to be smelly waste and double wrap it before disposal. We used to refer to a BRAG (Brentford Recycling Action Group) list to find out where to recycle various things as we could not recycle as many things kerbside. Kerbside recycling is a luxury - in fact a kerbside collection of any waste at all is a luxury that many countries do not have! Nowadays with more Producer Responsibility legislation there are shops selling various things which also collect the spent products eg batteries, light bulbs, empty blister packs, printer cartridges etc. Larger supermarkets have special bins for soft plastic packaging. Even more can be returned to bigger stores which sell electrics and electronics and DIY stores. Landlords and their Agents should be advising their tenants on the facilities available and if they aren't then we should be looking for more legislation to make them more responsible too. In this case the OP has complained that there is not enough space ie not enough grit bins to put her waste in. She already has Councillor Jo Biddolph on the case. Perhaps since it appears that a grit been has been moved this should be further investigated. What cannot ever be disputed is that the less waste you make the less of a problem and anxiety it is to deal with. I'm looking at Jo Biddolph's list which needs updating but there will be other people who can contribute to other very local recycling opportunities. We used to swap things amongst friends we couldn't reuse and repair and recycle with friends who could and vice versa. We used and still use various websites including www.lovefoodhatewaste.com, www.recyclenow.com and www.londonrecycles.co.uk. For over a week I've had a bad cold but I don't have the black bin bag of spent tissues that a friend has. I gave up tissues years ago. I use loo paper which when used can be flushed (not in great quantities at a time and when a flush is otherwise needed). I use reusable cloths which go in the wash with everything else but which can also be microwaved (if you have one) when wet in a bowl of water. Refill shops are good if you want to use liquid soaps but there are also refill pouches available as well as larger bottles to refill smaller bottles etc. There are also bars of soap and shampoo which avoids all those plastic bottles and pumps. Unfortunately the Govt has again delayed the implementation of street deposit return schemes for drinks containers: https://defraenvironment.blog.gov.uk/2025/01/31/introducing-the-deposit-return-scheme-for-drinks-containers/ We're still waiting as it puts a value on what otherwise is just treated as waste by so many people leaving them just littered around - when they should be treated as a resource. Your waste depends so much on what you buy so to reduce it you need to do a waste audit to see what you are throwing out which you needn't. |