Waste collection – how often?
May 7, 2007
Controversy looms nationwide over the frequency with which general household refuse should be collected and over the most efficient way to encourage recycling as opposed to sending most waste to landfill. One of the most important factors driving this is the Government’s Landfill Tax which is set to ratchet ever upwards and which bears directly on the Council Tax.
Earlier entries on this site have spelt out the view we take on the current Berrylands trial, using multiple recycling containers and collecting general household waste fortnightly.
It is very important to us to know what constituents think on this issue as the Council enters into contracts which will determine the future of this service for the next quarter century.
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Surbiton Forum 
I’m happy enough with the Berrylands trial.
Don’t listen to the scaremongerers!
The extra recycling collections are welcomed by all of the neighbours I talk to.
The only genuine gripe would be that the bins provided are too small for a number of families.
If you have over 5 in the household, you get a bigger bin.
We are a family of 4 (2 under 2 in disposable nappies) and fill the bin with nappies alone in just over a week.
We followed this up with the Council and, after a visit, they gave us a bigger bin with no problem.
The council could make a slight adjustment to their rules on who gets a bigger bin to accomodate households where multiple kids are in nappies.
‘Paul’ is not Cllr. Paul Johnston.
The comment about availability of bigger bins is a new one on me. Have any other people in the trial area had the same experience as ‘Paul’?
“ward councillor”,
surely as a councillor you should know how the scheme works – I can’t believe you feel qualified to comment on the scheme if you didn’t know that larger bins are available on request.
I know of two other young families on our street who were originally given smaller bins, but were then given larger ones. The second family didn’t have an interview, so maybe the council have dropped that stage as unnecessary.
As a councillor, I’m sure you could always pick up the phone and find out if it interests you.
Oh btw, I got your scaremongering survey through the door last night. Very negative, a very predictable attempt to generate political capital out of a constructive attempt to increase recycling rates.
Oh, and I loved your description of yourselves as local councillors.
I could be wrong, but I thought the voters of Berrylands had voted the tories out of office at teh last election. Afaik, my local councillors are Liberal Democrats.
Surely you should have described yourselves as neighbouring councillors instead.
‘Paul’
We are ward councillors for Surbiton Hill as we clearly state. I don’t think anyone is in doubt about that. FYI, however, the ‘Berrylands’ trial is not confined to Berrylands ward – much of which is excluded from it anyway – but it takes in large chunks of Alexandra, which has 2 Conservative cllrs – as I’m sure you know. We are seeking an informed debate and reporting factual information as it is reported to us in order to stimulate such debate. Our constituents in SH aren’t affected by the trial now but they have an interest in what is planned as it will affect them from September 2008.
The vehemence of your post (for which many thanks) suggests you are aware of being on a sticky wicket on this issue.
It environmental nonsense to have up to 4 vehicles to collect rubbish/recycling on dual pick up day.
All recycling including all plastic trays that are recyclable but not on the “approved list” should be place in one bin and sorted at the recycling plant as happens in many other areas.
Why not build a giant incinerator on the Tesco site it seems likely to remain empty for many years and reduce landfill even more?
Even better lets just send all the rubbish to fill big holes in China and India as is ahppening by stealth already.