Plans To Charge For Household Rubbish

[Kymba]

Do what I do Paul.. take the wrapping off and leave it in the shop... I leave it where i get the item from.. let them dispose of it

[Kymba]

Well good news on My back Alley!! yesterday the enviromental people from Council turned up... Apparently he came out to look last week and couldn't believe how much more stuff had been dumped since then!! and at last we have success.. they are comming to completely clear the Alley within a month and then cleaners will regular clear and clean it after that!! I went and introduced myself to the headman.. and he said " You dont need to go to the press.. as it is my top priority to get it sorted by end of Feb!!!
I told him i will hold off but if it isn't done within nxt 5 weeks i will phone my contact and get him to do an article on it ....

[slowef]

I have just moved to WIltshire. In our village we are allowed 2 bags of rubbish a week and cardboard waste if tied up and left out. We have to take glass, cans and paper to our nearest centre which is 4 miles away. I don't mind doing this but what do we pay council tax for if we have to do most of the removals ourselves?

We are composting most of our green rubbish and burning whatever we can't re-use. Any thoughts on bonfires we live on a hill with no neighbours to annoy but are we being ozone friendly, is this better than adding to landfill I am not sure if we are doing the correct thing.

We do not put plastic on the fire, the only thing I have found no other way to dispose of and unfortunatly it is part of a shop no matter how hard you try to avoid it.

S

[nightshade]

Surely if it burns it could be composted?
bonfires are not the best way to go but
sometimes the only way

[WildGarlic]

You could send the packaging back to the manufacturers - freepost of course - together with a note explaining why you are returning it and suggesting that they reduce their packaging - especially if it's excessive.

Try not to buy stuff with packaging in the first place, and take your own bags with you when you go shopping.

Go green for £100 council tax discount

EDDIE BARNES
POLITICAL EDITOR
HOMEOWNERS who recycle their rubbish and insulate their houses properly will get council tax discounts of £100 a year, Jack McConnell has vowed.

The First Minister's pledge, to be contained in Labour's forthcoming election manifesto, will form part of a Climate Change Bill which the party will table if they are returned to power after May's Holyrood vote.

The actual reductions being offered would be left up to individual councils to decide. However, officials say they believe the £100 figure to be appropriate, amounting to a 10% reduction from the average Band D rate.

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[Paul mabbott]

Well, if you want to leave your compost heap for a hundred years or so!
There are biodegradable plastics which, I estimate, take 2-3 years to degrade in a good compost heap.
Most plastics will take far longer and are more likely to be broken down physically i.e. fragmented into small pieces by worms &c than degraded chemically. If you have the time, you can shred plastics and use them to incorporate into compost or mulch - but who has the time? Also, of course, plastic shreddings look rather untidy!

Originally Posted by nightshade

Surely if it burns it could be composted?
bonfires are not the best way to go but
sometimes the only way

[slowef]

Originally Posted by WildGarlic

You could send the packaging back to the manufacturers - freepost of course - together with a note explaining why you are returning it and suggesting that they reduce their packaging - especially if it's excessive.

Try not to buy stuff with packaging in the first place, and take your own bags with you when you go shopping.



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Yes it would be good to be able to buy only stuff with no packaging but a bit difficult with shampoo etc, in an ideal world maybe but not realistic. I do take my own bags and refuse extra packaging where possible

[WildGarlic]

Originally Posted by slowef

Yes it would be good to be able to buy only stuff with no packaging but a bit difficult with shampoo etc, in an ideal world maybe but not realistic. I do take my own bags and refuse extra packaging where possible

Wouldn't it be great if there were large containers of shampoo etc so that we could just take in our empty bottle and get a refill.

I run a food co-op and we try to buy the larger quantities and share them out - including refills of liquid soap, washing up liquid, and more.... but not shampoo as far as I've seen - must check that out.

Ahhh and while we are on the subject, you've just reminded me to put out my paper recycling bin - that's all that is collected from here as we are fairly rural. The rest we have to drive a minimum of 5 miles to dispose of at the nearest SMALL recycling centre.

[cybershot]

With regard to this subject it's time to name, shame and boycott the companies responsible for totally unnecessary extra wastefulness: The day before yesterday four (4) separate identical items of unsolicited junk mail, all franked at 22p, arrived on my doormat from our local branch of Mann Countrywide estate agents.

[svenrufus]

Originally Posted by cybershot

With regard to this subject it's time to name, shame and boycott the companies responsible for totally unnecessary extra wastefulness: The day before yesterday four (4) separate identical items of unsolicited junk mail, all franked at 22p, arrived on my doormat from our local branch of Mann Countrywide estate agents.

Someone locally got in the papers a few months ago for returning all his junk mail to whoever sent it to him. If it had a reply paid envelope, he would stick it all back in that and post it to whoever sent it. If it was delivered by Royal Mail (unadressed mail that is) he shoves it back in the post box for Royal Mail to collect again. Neat thinking.