Cornwall - we want more recylcing, but..

Soldato
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We need to have a coordinated nationwide recycling policy so that the same things can be recycled in every part of the country instead of this crazy system we currently have where some councils will take glass and some won’t.

I think the reason we don’t see it is because it has quickly been realised that recycling is expensive and doesn’t really have the desired environmental impact. There’s a reason recycling is the last of the 3 Rs.
 
Soldato
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Someone at the council is getting a Jiffy bag stuffed with £20 notes every month from someone at Biffa. I bet the contract says Biffa gets to keep the vehicles at the end of the contract as well.
 
Caporegime
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We need to have a coordinated nationwide recycling policy so that the same things can be recycled in every part of the country instead of this crazy system we currently have where some councils will take glass and some won’t.

I think the reason we don’t see it is because it has quickly been realised that recycling is expensive and doesn’t really have the desired environmental impact. There’s a reason recycling is the last of the 3 Rs.

I agree.

Fed up looking at packaging for something that says "Check local recycling"

Like I know what plastic trays can and can't be recycled.
 
Associate
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Even during lockdown and with a family of four I'm able to easily cope with bins being picked up every two weeks (recycling one week, normal waste the other week). You can even ask for bigger wheelie bins here if needed, but I haven't had to yet.
Family of 5 with the same collection cycle as yours and we don’t have an issue either.
 
Soldato
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But to answer your other question.. we don't get wheelie bins here. Just regular black sacks for landfill and small "bag-for-life" type things for recycling that we have to pay for..

And the contractor keeps finding excuses why they shouldn't take it anyway ("not the right bag", "over-filled", etc).

Well I agree that is a stupid system, write a letter to your mp and ask why Cornwall doesnt have a proper recycling collection like most places.

We have recycling and garden waste (paid for and currently frozen) one week and general waste the next. Food waste goes in the general waste.

Nice and simple and means you dont need bottle banks as all the glass just goes in the recycling wheelie bin.
 
Soldato
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We have been told to put all food waste into the green bin, including chicken carcasses. It all gets composted and sold off.

Is the green bin recycling? Bagged up I take it or that sounds pretty horrible.

Our general waste goes to an incinerator for energy production which makes a lot of sense to me.

We really do need a national system though, even if it just starts with the same bloomin colours :p
 
Soldato
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Is the green bin recycling? Bagged up I take it or that sounds pretty horrible.

Our general waste goes to an incinerator for energy production which makes a lot of sense to me.

We really do need a national system though, even if it just starts with the same bloomin colours :p

Indeed. Green in Newcastle is your general waste bin. Blue is the recycling.
 
Soldato
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It seems inefficient for a council to pay a middleman to do the council's work while also paying for the equipment to do that work. Why not just do the work and save the money paid to the middleman? Maybe then they could afford to do the job better.

Because privatising public services always results in market efficiency delivering better services, for a lower cost.

Definitely not worse services, at a higher cost, and taxpayer money being funneled to shareholders. That never happens.
 
Soldato
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We have been told to put all food waste into the green bin, including chicken carcasses. It all gets composted and sold off.
It's weird how some councils are different. South Bucks didn't empty my green bin a couple of months ago because there were some carrot peelings on the top of all the garden waste!

They aren't collecting garden waste at all now during this lockdown.
 
Soldato
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It's nothing to do with party affiliation: Wokingham's council has been dominated by Tories for years and it's utterly atrocious. It's so bad with incompetence, poor money management, lies, probable corruption and malice that I honestly don't know how it hasn't made the national news.
 
Caporegime
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Cornwall
It's nothing to do with party affiliation: Wokingham's council has been dominated by Tories for years and it's utterly atrocious. It's so bad with incompetence, poor money management, lies, probable corruption and malice that I honestly don't know how it hasn't made the national news.
No but up until the new contract was signed, the Lib Dem council were making a big PR song and dance about how there would be more collections, more recycling.

Then when the drew up the contract, we got

* All recycling banks scrapped
* Less collections
* Council bearing all the cost of buying Biffa a fleet of new vehicles

I was just pointing out that you can never trust a promise made by the Lib Dems :p

And to add insult to injury they said they'd listened to the people who said the wanted "more recycling", and were "excited by the new contract and the prospect of recycling more than ever".

It's just meaningless words from them. Essentially the Lib Dems are full of it.
 
Soldato
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It's nothing to do with party affiliation: Wokingham's council has been dominated by Tories for years and it's utterly atrocious. It's so bad with incompetence, poor money management, lies, probable corruption and malice that I honestly don't know how it hasn't made the national news.

It's not exclusive to the Lib Dems - it's the nature of many of the people who want that sort of job.


The problem here, that most people miss, is that councillors do not run the council.

It is the council officers who run the council. The councillors are more a sort of board of directors, and the extent that they can exercise their will over the council officers is really quite limited.

Its a bit like Yes Minister, Sir Humphry can really **** up your day if you try to do something that Sir Humphrey really doesn't want you to do. And replacing Sir Humphry with somebody more cooperative/compliant is neigh on impossible.

If there are envelopes of cash changing hands anywhere, it is more likely going into the pocketses of the Sir Humphreys rather than those of the elected Councillors.
 
Caporegime
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17 Feb 2006
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29,263
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Cornwall
The problem here, that most people miss, is that councillors do not run the council.

It is the council officers who run the council. The councillors are more a sort of board of directors, and the extent that they can exercise their will over the council officers is really quite limited.

Its a bit like Yes Minister, Sir Humphry can really **** up your day if you try to do something that Sir Humphrey really doesn't want you to do. And replacing Sir Humphry with somebody more cooperative/compliant is neigh on impossible.

If there are envelopes of cash changing hands anywhere, it is more likely going into the pocketses of the Sir Humphreys rather than those of the elected Councillors.
If you believe that then what do you think councillors do, exactly? The councillors are making these decisions, or at the very least voting to approve the terms of the contracts after being drawn up by officers.

Normally it goes like this - councillors vote to save costs by outsourcing. Vote passes. Officers instructed to tender and draw up options. Councillors vote on final proposals.

So to say the councillors are "not responsible" is a massive over-simplification. The councillors drive strategic direction, and they vote to approve or reject specific contracts.

The councillors are elected on promises made to the electorate.

Either way if what you were saying is true, then they would have no business making promises that aren't in their gift to make. But the truth is that councillors do set strategic direction and do approve/deny contracts. Obvs the officers are involved, but they aren't all-powerful.
 
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