My council is going to change to a fortnighly general waste collection!! While green bin is changed to every week. My 80 litre red bin is full every week. How do people cope with this madness!?
Council Changing General Waste Collection to Fortnightly!!
mrvaluepack on 21/03/2023 - 06:43
Comments
Maybe they mean "stuff that will be putrid". I.e freeze the prawn heads before they get stanky.
Better yet - make a bisque out of them first!
Either:
- engage counsel to see what your legal options are
- see a counsellor to help with your mental anguish
- speak to your local councillor to discuss
I don't see how their sexual orientation is relevant to this conversation
City streets are full of human faeces so why not rubbish, just throw it in the street like most of the world does.
It's not quite time to give up on life yet.
WOW this is Australia not a 3rd world country. If we start acting like that we’ll come one though.
This arrangement would suit our family perfectly. Our garbage bin is rarely even 1/4 full, but our recycle is often pretty full at the end of 2 weeks.
Start to recycle a bit more…..Maybe the council could develop something like a carbon trading emission scheme whereby, I trade you my space in my recycle bin for space in your red bin?
Find your nearest park bin
Thanks for the tip, it seems people have been already doing this.
https://www.news.com.au/technology/environment/residents-rep…
Everyone saying put your food scraps in the green bin like that will make a huge difference. How much food are you scrapping each week for it to take up so much space in your red bin??
My green bin is always full every fortnight in the summer as the grass grows so long which fills up half the bin and other general garden waste fills it up to the top.
Exactly. The volumetric footprint of food scraps takes up only like 5-10% of the space in the red bin.
Good news, I've figured out a way for you to save 5-10% of the space in your red bin.
May be your household rely too much on take away and repack food, since I started composting my weekly rubbish barely fill the 60l garbage bag. Before that it was double that easily.
Food scraps and composibles are now more than my General waste bin.
Even I was surprised until we were forced to make the change.
So overall, I'm happy with the green waste being weekly and general waste fortnightly.
I'd be happy if my council actually supplied a green waste bin.
We get a red topped general waste bin and a yellow topped recyclables bin.
All green waste has to be placed in the general waste bin.When we moved into this suburb my wife phoned the council to see if we could obtain a replacement for the 'missing' green waste bin only to be told that one is not supplied.
Their reasoning was that sometime in the past they had tried it but the residents were unable to understand the system.
This was their genuine response.I really feel uncomfortable putting garden/lawn clippings in with the general waste after separating it for so many years before moving here.
In case anyone doubts there are councils that do this -
https://www.fairfieldcity.nsw.gov.au/Services/Waste-and-Recy…
Ridiculous isn’t it.
However they probably got the green waste so contaminated they couldn’t offload it as green waste
@JimB: Found a post by the mayor in 2021 where he states that they can't do anything about a green bin due to a 20 year contract they signed for waste disposal in 2005. Now I don't know whether to believe the mayor or the phone answerer at the council. (to be honest, I don't beleive either of them)
He was proposing a survey be carried out to see if there was any interest.
Pretty sure even the survey wasn't done.
Seems to be how it works around here.
Makes a huge difference. We used to fill ours weekly but since we compost everything that can be composted we can easily go without 2 to 3 wks. We started 8 years ago and now our kids are teens and still no issues. If u haven't tried then u just don't know what you are talking about.
If you're scrapping that much food maybe you have bigger issues to think about.
really? bigger issues then someone who fills up a full bin of what? adult diapers? like seriously what is going in the bin? its either scraps that can go into the compost or into the recycling bin mainly. Put some money into some compost bins. No grass goes into our green bins it all goes into our compost. Change is scary I know but its coming so get used to it… or pay up for a bigger bin.
Good thing about grass in spring/summer is that our green waste and food scraps are collected weekly.
My green bin is always full every fortnight in the summer as the grass grows so long which fills up half the bin
Are you mulching at all? You don't need to be tossing away your clippings every time you mow.
Does your council take food waste in your green bin?
I noticed this dramatically reduced the amount in my red waste bin, which is fortnightly like you
Yes, im already doing this but the volumetric footprint of food scraps takes up only like 5-10% of the space in the red bin.
if you request audit data on bin composition in your area you will find the average is 40% of the volume of your red bin across all households, Your waste management habits are not the norm by the sounds of it. Some of the stuff in your red bin may be eligible for disposal in community recycling centres
Hi,
Sounds like you are not telling the full story as you may not be aware of what is going on.
- First of all the 80L bin is the smallest size you can get from your council, You can upgrade this if you require a larger size, (Every council's domestic waste policy is different)
- Second All council's in NSW have been mandated by DPIE/EPA to go with FOGO (Food Organics Garden Organics) waste management, Which means your food scraps should now go in the green bin which will significantly reduce the contents of your red bin.
*Thirdly is to reduce what goes to landfill , Currently all food waste is ending up in landfil which could otherwise be recycled into compost.
*Not all Council's are trying the methodology that your advising above but over 90% will as the costs of collections and landfil are significantly increase
*Last fun fact is that half of the cost per ton going to landfil is state government taxed which increases every year. FOGO is a way around this as the costs to Council;s is astronomical
*Also your waste levy is what pays for all of this which averages $500 to $700 per year on your rates, Which includes 104 (Maybe more Council depending) kerbside pickups , household bulky waste bookings , Waste Education in school and Community Recycling Centre (Some Councils), You can barely spend that for 1 skip bin these days so the value is there.
How do i know? I work in the industry
I reckon my entire waste for one year will not fill a skip bin. I rather get one skip bin for my money then if thats the case.
Also, maybe if councils start putting on their big boy pants and bring waste collection services back in house and not just contract every bloody work out, we would have cheaper rates with better services!
It works on an average across all households , Average red bin weight can be 10 to 12 kilos per week per household , You need to factor in labour fuel , plant expenses ect, 1 ton of general waste at landfill can cost around $300 per ton, (Thats just for red bin)
Also, not all Council's outsource collections , but most op to do so to avoid unions ,
Not only collections but everything else, gardening, painting plus any other maintenance works. Same with water corporations as well.
This is very simple math. If you are filling OVER an 80L bin every week, 80L x 52 weeks = 4.16m3+ per year
Skip bins range from 2 to 6m3 - You will fill a skip bin. If you go for a 6m3 the smell and other issues that come with storing waste for this long will be crazy.
I've been on that deal for 20 years.
what council is that if you dont mind sharing?
Lakemac for @ 5-6 years
Nambucca Shire Council - Coffs Coast Waste Services.
They even cut out our one … count 'em, ONE bulky household waste pickup for years. But the council would loan you a trailer, woop de doo. I only found that out after the annual pickup resumed.
You can get a bulky pickup whenever you want last time I was in Sydney, in the Inner West Council area. Still can - just checked.
But at least I'm better off than friends of mine 50k out out town. All they get from their rates is the dirt road graded once in a blue moon.
My 80 litre red bin is full every week. How do people cope with this madness!?
Sort your rubbish better. Split out all recyclables, and food waste etc. Make sure you squash your rubbish bags down BEFORE putting them in the bin.
But yeah its pretty crappy.
But yeah its pretty crappy.
It's rubbish if you ask me.
Just upgrade to a bigger bin size. I was sick of trying to find extra bin space in the neighbours bins on the weeks ours was full. $80 for a year for the bigger bin. Hardly goes out full now but gives some flexibility for weeks it's needed.
Does this come with a reduction in rates?
Are insinkerators legal where you are? It won't reduce the volume of rubbish significantly but will help with the smell.
Can you get a compost bin?
Compost.
Monash in VIC?
When they introduced the smaller red lid bins, there were already complaints that it wasn't ergonomic and everyone had to get used to reducing their landfill waste. It was honestly difficult at the start but we've had no issues after adapting our shopping and recycling more / utilising the hard waste collection.
I still think weekly is best, especially after seeing the recent riots effect on garbage collection in Paris and in Auckland. The smell is atrocious during the warmer months and the new green bin use cases aren't going to help much when proper composting would be a better solution.
That said, you'll just need to change your habits, starting from the kitchen bin/inner household bins. If components can be recycled, strip it out and into the recycling tub, compress any garbage and look at reducing food wastage.
I still think weekly is best
Agree for all bins.
The problem we have is the time frame between pickups.
We have moved to a FOGO (Food Organics and Garden Organics) bin, so food scraps go into what was the old 'green waste' bin as well as green waste. But it's only picked up fortnightly, so in summer the bin is pretty gross by the time it comes around to be picked up from the rotting food as the bin is outside in the sun.
Shortly we'll be moving to fortnightly waste pickup as well, and new bins too…. oh but smaller ones too YAY, gotta love that, so a smaller waste bin picked up half as often. Lovely. Oddly yet my council rates keep going up every year!
Our FOGO bins are collected weekly.
General waste and recycling is fortnightly.
This works well enough for us.
My only complaint is the costs of the composable kitchen bags at around 20 cents which totals about $70 per year.
My 80 litre red bin is full every week. How do people cope with this madness!?
There lies your problem. I could empty my red bin after many months; depends on if there if foam packing, etc.
What do you put in yours?
Rubbish.
What kind of rubbish is the key?
General rubbish. lol
Stuff that doesnt go into green or recycle bins
@mrvaluepack: yeah i feel like you're intentionally not telling people though?
that indicates to me that you know there are things you put in there that fill it up that you really shouldn't be buying or using, but you don't want to stop. ie takeaway stuff every day, pre-prepared/overpackaged foods, maybe just buying too many non-food items that have lots of packaging? online shopping?
do an audit of your rubbish for a week or two and get back to us.
i have a small red bin and we rarely fill it. fortnightly we'd still not fill it.
@jrowls: lol rubbish audit? seriously who does that.
what is 'we' for you? 2 people in the household? mine is 4. So i dont really believe others in the comments with 6 people in the household surviving on fortnightly 80L general waste bin collections.
seriously who does that
the bloke who is too cheap to pay for a bigger bin and has no room in his current bin? not such a ridiculous idea. how is it any different to noticing your spending is high and auditing it?
we is two adults and a 40kg dog, yes, less than four people, but my point wasn't that we don't fill the bin, but that we don't even come close to it. if we use less than half without even trying, you should be fine.
i absolutely do believe six person households can survive on a fortnightly 80L bin.
so, what are you putting in your red bin?
@mrvaluepack: If you're mindful of what you and your family are putting in the red bin, you may actually start reducing the waste you put in the red bin.
@mrvaluepack: Family of 4 here with kids in our teens and Ill call on your bs
Won't even fill half of our bin in a week.
Unless you are filling it with adult diapers which Knox council already said they will provide you with a free second bin if you have a valid reason such as that
I've already got this cycle of collection. It's not too bad, but you have to spread your waste across the four bins in play. Becomes a real pain up the jacksie if you have a party or something just after the fortnightly collection has come around.
4? i only have 3.
Normal, green, paper, glass/plastics for me.
our bin cycle is green/yellow one week and then green/red the next week. It's fine for us.
Same, same.
Time to separate food waste, once you do that and recycle properly you will find that the general waste bin hardly fills.
A lot of people don't recycle properly. They don't separate the soft plastics, leave sticky tape on boxes, don't clean out food scraps sufficiently. It makes me wonder what happens to the contents of all the recycling bins. Does it actually get recycled anyway?
Our council just went around on bin day, looked inside people's recycling bin and put a big sticker saying "your recycling bin was not taken today because it is contamination with incorrect items"
Almost half the street had the sticker on it and now they have to deal with 2 weeks of crap
Best thing I've ever seen.
this would be an awesome idea if my council did this.. guarantee that 3/4 of the area would not get their bin taken
See so many people putting plastic bags into their recycling bins@87percent: Yep! Look at this shit. You can see the plastic bags just sticking out. Zero fks given.
https://photos.app.goo.gl/5twfCcTnUKo97ftr6
I hope they do this every collection day
Yep! Look at this shit. You can see the plastic bags just sticking out. Zero fks given.
Sure maybe Zero fks given but the council didn't pick it up, so I'm 100% sure the owner of the bin will have fks given in the future so it doesn't happen again!
So what will happen with all that stuff they didn't collect? My guess is it will get crammed in the general waste bin, which, in OP's case, is going to exacerbate the problem. I bet even the stuff they say is recyclable isn't ultimately recycled most of the time anyway. The council will say that it is because they will hand off the waste to some global waste management company. The global waste management company will ingest it into its global network never to be seen again and most of it will end up burned, in landfill, or in the ocean.
@djsweet: Take the non recyclables out and put it in the garbage bin properly. Waste is waste, that's a seperate issue to contaminating recyclables and making that process harder to do properly.
If recycling wasn't feasable they wouldn't be doing it. They did stop for a while and are back to doing it now it seems, or else they wouldn't care about these offences which ultimately make it less feasible
@Herbse: The recycling (and waste management in general) industry is worth a fortune. Everyone can feel good because recycling, whilst we don't really have any real visibility of the lifecycle. Some dodgy company that operates offshore outside of any meaningful laws or scrutiny will be disposing of the majority of recycling - do you trust them? The council will claim it has a 75% or higher recycle rate, the people who live in the council will feel good about putting their takeaway containers in the yellow bin, and everyone will have a big environmental circle jerk. Meanwhile who knows what is actually happening with all that plastic.
My old council did this twice a year, but it didn't really work :( Lots of medium density apartments that had a bunch of shared bins that would always fail. Too many people coming and going to care.
I think fines are issues by some councils already, would be good to see it done more. Or at least an education drive with frequent warnings for a few months/a year then fines.
@mezje: Or how about the council just gets off their virtue signalling ass and does their job (which residents pay them to do btw).
Is there a chance that you left out the part that you also can now put food waste in the garden bin, therefore reducing your rubbish bin usage?
Since they implemented that in our area and when there was the plastic recycling program at Coles, we were down to one garbage bag a fortnight.
Even with the plastic bag recycling program over we are still on one garbage bag a week at the most.Having kids we have a lot of boxes and recyclable materials so I'm paying $40 a year for 2 recycling bins. Best thing ever, especially around birthdays and Christmas.
Read my earlier responses, im already doing that.
Walk your bin to a street/area that has collection on the alternate week.
There will be garbage ninjas going around lol. I know my bin has been filled with other people's garbage and it's just going to get worse.
They’re not gonna fill your bin if it’s already full.
I'd prefer garbage ninjas than garbage crows like I have. Too many people overfill their bins and the lids don't close. All the grows roam around in groups picking at the binstuff and then on the floor once they've managed to rip food out. It's quite shamefully (on the crows and the people) and disgusting on the streets.
You can pay extra for extra bins
With the rates discount the council will definitely give you for halving their collections, you will be able to buy a larger or second bin.
your council collectively voted in favor, it needs to be voted against, then tell them to reduce the rates if they are picking up less, you all need to join together and kick up a fuss otherwise nothing will be done
If they pick up less it costs them less in state govt waste levy.
they pass waste levy in your rates. check it
ms paint of your bin
Not sure how people are filling up their red bin every week. I have a family of 3 and we at most fill it up about 20% each week. How much waste are you producing?!
lots of plastic, and amazon orders, uber eats takeawy big
I cant remeber a time in the last 20 or so years where I have ever filled my rubbish bin to full, on a regular basis. I mean, once every few years I get close, but never on a basis were it is weekly.
I recycle everything I can. I always sort my rubbish and have a recycling bin, a greenwaste bin and a composter. If my local council moved to fortnightly pickup, I still think I would hardly fill my regular waste bin.
Sort, compress, and buy products that dont come with shit loads of packaging. It really isnt that hard.
what about all the sh8t people buy off ozb. What they supposed to do with all that soft plastic and foam which seems to come with every aliexpress, amazon and ebay order.
Reduce your waste?
It's not hard.Our council gives us an option to order an additional bin
Yeah, I've got options too but it gets exponentially more expensive the more general waste bins you get (size and numbers wise).
I'd expect them to at least reduce the rates in line with the reduced frequency though.
hahaha that 80L red bin in Vic is a joke
When my council went from weekly to fortnightly they also changed our bins from 240 litre to 140 litre so you ended up having to reduce your general rubbish by around 75%.
They also made the recycle bin fortnightly and the green bin weekly, our green bin was never more than 30% full but the recycle bin was full.
Not easy for a family of 5, I rang them up and they offered us a 240 litre bin fortnightly or the 140 litre bin with a weekly service, we took the weekly service.The council negotiated with you and you didn't need to pay extra?? You must live in a regional council. 140L for general waste is not too bad, the default size in my local area is only 80 litres!
You probably don't know how to recycle. Most people don't even fill a red bin
Good I can’t wait for that to happen to our council. How on earth can you fill the red bin? We are a family of 4 and don’t even fill it a quarter each week. If everyone is responsible with their waste usage this wouldn’t be an issue changing to fortnightly.
Wouldn't that contaminate your freezer?