Green Bin Collection

Hi all,

Just wondering with what frequency green bins are collected in other areas.

We have a black and a green bin. Black bin tag costs EUR10 and they are collected weekly. Green bin tag costs EUR4 and is only collected monthly.

We do a lot of recycling but the green bin fills up rapidly and we end up having to put a lot of the material into the black bin that should go into the green bin.

Wondering what kind of a contract the local authorities have handed to these collection companies and if they have any obligation to provide somewhat better green-bin collection services.

paulocon

Hi Paul

Mine refuse collection is the very same as yours - Black bin once a week and green bin once a month. I find as well that the green bin normally fills up very quickly, luckily enough we have a garage to keep any excess rubbish.

HTH

Our green bin is also only collected monthly. I try to cut down on the amount going into it by not putting drinks cans into it. Since I have to bring plastic and glass bottles to the bring centre anyway I bring the cans then and occasionally newspapers if we have a lot of them. Our green bin is always full to bursting even so at the end of the month. Might be worth getting on to the county council and/or your local representatives to see if there are plans to increase it. Our black bin can be collected every week although we only need it to be collected every secod week normally.

janet,

Don't think our local bring centre provides for newspapers, must check that out.

Emailed local county council today with that exact query - will probably here from the around halloween!!

Seems like the collection company are providing the most basic service they can to keep within the terms of the contract...

"We have a black and a green bin. Black bin tag costs EUR10 and they are collected weekly. Green bin tag costs EUR4 and is only collected monthly"

Seems expensive enough. Our grey bin is €6 and green bin is free. Hear everyone complaining that the green bin is definitely not frequent enough and it was ridiculous that ours was six week collection interval over Christmas. At the same time as this 6 week gap there were advertisments in the daily newspapers warning people not to leave recycle items beside the containers in the Bring Centres if they were full.

Reply received from Local Authority...

'Further to my acknowledgement of your email, I have spoken with <name witheld>, Senior Engineer. He says that the uptake on use of green bins in your area at the moment is poor, therefore, it would not be economically viable for the collector to provide a more regular collection of green bins. However, if there is a significant increase in the use of green bins in the future, the matter may be reviewed.'

Nice to see they are really pushing recycling in a big way....

I live in Galway city and the Green and Grey bin are collected together every second week (obviously in different trucks).
The brown bin is collected in the week inbetween. Our green bin is usually quite full while our grey bin is usually less than half full.
Think its terrible that you have to put green waste into a grey bin. Collection once a month is ridiculous. You should keep an eye out next time its a green bin collection and see what proportions of households are/are not leaving out green bins. I guess when they have to pay per bin lift people are less enclined to leave out the green bin. In Galway at the moment we pay a yearly fee covering all 3 bins so the issue of a price per bin does n't arrise. Most of our neighbours leave out a green bin every 2nd week.

Janeom

Contacted the council and in fairness, they were very helpful.

Gave me a list of all Bring Centres in the county and turns out that I actually pass close to one on the way to work each morning (far closer than the one we were using).

Also gave me a location that takes papers and cardboard so it's time to start stockpiling in the shed!

paulocon