FUN WITH A BLUE BOX (NOT DR WHO)

[i*Rate]

Hello,

Has anyone had problems with their blue recycling box, like it being thrown into the front garden onto the plants or left half way up the street on collection day?

I'm a very fussy recycler and because I'm worried about getting fined for not sorting it into two compartments I took the trouble to call Southwark for a replacement divider twice. It seems that they just empty the boxes into wheeley bins then sort it out themselves, I think the dividers just get carted away too. This week I was left with a box full of bits of broken glass after they used it down the street for sorting, then it was left two doors away in spite of having a very clear number painted on it.

I've told Southwark I'm fed up now and I'll probably take my stuff to the local recycling centre myself - don't know why I bother really. Global Warming - what the hell - bring it on!

[Loz]

Ring up Southwark and get a second box. No divider needed then.

[Sue]

Yes re bags and boxes thrown onto plants.

Yes re getting other people's bins.

But you don't have to sort it any more, cans and glass go in together, so no need for a divider.

[James Barber]

Hi sue,

some streets are comingled and some are NOT comingled yet.

Please don't make generalisations as Southwark and East Dulwich espeically is patchwork of different recyclnig options.

[Sue]

Really? That's bonkers.

I thought it was just the food waste recycling which differed ie some people can recycle and some can't.

[kford]

In our street, cans & glass go together, plastic separate. Paper/card (but not cartons) in the bag/spare blue box. They don't collect otherwise.

[Penguin68]

When people complain about the lack of recycling vim shown by the great british public - I think they forget that every council, indeed with us every street, apparently, has its own recycling rules - I used to look after my mother's house outside London, it had different boxes, different things that could be mixed together in boxes (paper and cardboard couldn't be disposed of together) - trying to remember which rules I was working to was a nightmare. Some councils recycle plastic, other's don't, and so and so on.

If a single set of rules were instituted across the country we would all be clear what we should be doing, and the only issue then would be what our collection days were. Then we could get on with it. Some hope, eh?

IMHO

[toast]

Found myself with 5 blue box lid tops this morning, my neighbour had 3 brown bins. Madness, where will it all end.

[shmurgy]

I think recycling is important, no matter whether yours gets collected or you decide to drop it off yourself, but what I do find somewhat irritating is the emphasis Southwark council places on their messaging about what goes into the blue box, what goes in blue bag etc (with stickers on bins, flyers and all sorts of effort) only to then collect paper, glass, plastic in one big bin and dump it all into one big van... (as witnessed in SE15 today). Why not give out adequately sized bins for each of us to put everything recyclable into rather than asking people to make an effort and then ignoring it?

[LiLi23]

I just moved into the neighborhood, Can someone explain to me what exactly goes in the blue bins and what goes into the blue bags?

[Loz]

Sounds like it depends where you moved to, LiLi23. But, for us, it's paper/cardboard in the Blue Bag, and glass on one side of the divide in the blue box and cans/plastic in the other.

[ianr]

>Hi sue,

>some streets are comingled and some are NOT comingled yet.

>Please don't make generalisations as Southwark and East Dulwich espeically is patchwork of different recyclnig options.

It's a very understandable generalisation though, given that any switch to togetherness hasn't always been publicised. In fact I made it myself, having only learned about the commingling on the forum, here. Even then it's still only an inference on my part, partly confirmed by the unexplained disappearance of a bin divider and the lack of complaints about illicit commingling, but still gainsaid by the Southwark web page, which would have us all still using blue box dividers.

Is the tendency to leave the blue box lids lying around, rather than back on the box, a universal one? And to leave the green bins on the path rather than in their usual place? It's a very useful way of indicating to potential burglars that an occupier's away or inactive. One more thing, like letters stuck in the door, for careful neighbours to look out for.

PS "All recycling and waste services will operate as normal, as will our call centre" on the Bank Holidays. http://www.southwark.gov.uk/news/article/302/easter_and_may_bank_holiday_opening_hours

PPS And why, earlier today, did I read the title as Fun with a bluestocking? That would have been interesting.