Council recycle bins

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Permalink Reply by Kerrie on January 6, 2009 at 4:09pm

Hi Martin

I don't know the law about this but I use customers green bins on smaller jobs, it is after all their waste from their garden regardless of who cuts it down! As for using a neighbours bin with permission, think the same would apply.

This seems like common sense to me so it's bound to be illegal!!

Kerrie

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Permalink Reply by Nick Steele on January 6, 2009 at 7:29pm

I guess its almost certainly against the rules to put "commercial" waste into your domestic green bin - its denying the council the revenue stream they'd enjoy if you paid a fee at their dump like you're supposed to .... but how would they know if the rubbish in your bin was not from your garden???

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Permalink Reply by Kerrie on January 6, 2009 at 7:35pm

Oh stupid me, I read it all wrong. Personally my green bin is always full of our own household waste so no room for 'commercial' stuff. Would the council really care if the waste didn't actually come from your garden surly the most important thing is that is recycled in who ever's bin?

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Permalink Reply by Robin Ainsworth on January 6, 2009 at 8:00pm

Thet are for PUTTING GREEN WASTE IN ....Put any in if you have permission if its from their gardens ,
dont worry about it. just ask if they mind first and you will find most customers have no problem as they hardly use them every time.
rob

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Permalink Reply by kkgardendesign on January 6, 2009 at 8:15pm

On a similar thread... a funny story re the council ruling on 'green bins' - we live on a busy main road in Edinburgh and took delivery of a brown 'green waste' bin [in Edinburgh they are brown!]back in 2006 or so when they were first introduced. I filled it up with the usual garden prunings etc -surplus to what I could be bothered chopping down to fit in the compost heap - and put it out on the pavement on the night before the relevant collection day - only to find it left at the kerbside after collection. I phoned the council to find out why, only to be told that it had been 'contaminated' and therefore not collected. 'Contaminated?...yes, the refuse collector had spotted a single crisp packet on top of the bin. After a bit of a heated discussion re the advantages/disadvantages of living on a main road and that some passing stranger had dared to deposit a crisp packet in my brown bin [rather than just throwing it on he ground, as others do!] and my unwillingness to go out before 7am and check that such an event had not occurred...we agreed to part company...we no longer have a brown 'green' waste bin and I now make time to compost all my garden waste!

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Permalink Reply by Lara Warner on January 6, 2009 at 9:50pm

Technically as soon as it becomes waste you need a licence and have to take it to a licensed waste transfer station. Its a bit pants but rules is rules. In our area there are a large volume of travelling communities and they are really hot about rules being broken but you use domestic bins at your own risk and the fines can be up to £10,000.

Personally we never risked it but if you think you can get away with it then its your discretion. I think if the customer "asks" you to leave it for compost it is not waste and if they then choose to put it in their own bin you are off the hook if that helps.

kkgardendesign said:

On a similar thread... a funny story re the council ruling on 'green bins' - we live on a busy main road in Edinburgh and took delivery of a brown 'green waste' bin [in Edinburgh they are brown!]back in 2006 or so when they were first introduced. I filled it up with the usual garden prunings etc -surplus to what I could be bothered chopping down to fit in the compost heap - and put it out on the pavement on the night before the relevant collection day - only to find it left at the kerbside after collection. I phoned the council to find out why, only to be told that it had been 'contaminated' and therefore not collected. 'Contaminated?...yes, the refuse collector had spotted a single crisp packet on top of the bin. After a bit of a heated discussion re the advantages/disadvantages of living on a main road and that some passing stranger had dared to deposit a crisp packet in my brown bin [rather than just throwing it on he ground, as others do!] and my unwillingness to go out before 7am and check that such an event had not occurred...we agreed to part company...we no longer have a brown 'green' waste bin and I now make time to compost all my garden waste!

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Permalink Reply by kkgardendesign on January 6, 2009 at 11:00pm

Sorry, didn't mean to confuse the issue -our problem with the local council was in relation to our home garden waste from our home address [we have been here 20 years!- nothing to do with my business waste management -of which I have none, being mostly design only] - just thought I would highlight the ridiculousness of the system i.e. some nerd-to-well can walk down our very busy main road at 6am, suddenly become eco-aware, deposit a crisp packet or such in our 'green bin' on the kerbside, therefore rendering it 'contaminated ' unless I go out to check for such additional contents before collection at 7am! Doh... I don't think so ... and the council wouldn't agree...hence we parted company... and I compost with much vigour!!

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Permalink Reply by Tim Haywood on January 7, 2009 at 8:20am

When I was querying waste carrier licenses with the Environment Agency I was told that I could use a customers garden waste bin for waste arising from the customers own garden but not my own garden waste bin for waste from customers.

You can register for a paragraph 15 'Beneficial Use of Waste' environmental permit exemption which will allow you to reuse 'waste' and not have to take it to a disposal centre. For instance, if you take old paving slabs away from a job you can reuse them elsewhere. My allotment is nicely paved (albeit multicoloured!) with slabs taken away from previous jobs.

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Permalink Reply by Pro Gard on January 7, 2009 at 1:52pm

I often utilize the customers green waste wheelie bin.

Personally I couldn't give a stuff about the technical legality's of it, the waste is arising from work in the customers garden and the only difference between the customer using the bin to me is that I'm being paid to create the waste.

Would be impossible to prove anyway.

The one thing I wouldn't do would be to load waste into a neighbors bin even with permission or to transport waste back from a job to go into my own household green bin.

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Permalink Reply by Nick Steele on January 7, 2009 at 6:56pm

Tim - the para 15 exemption is a new one to me - would this allow removal of green waste for 're-use' in your own compost heap ? Or would that turn you into waste processing station ?

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Permalink Reply by Tim Haywood on January 8, 2009 at 7:25am

Nick - as far as I can make out, there is another exemption that covers composting - paragraph 12. This is a little more complex as you need to provide a risk assessment including bioaerosol risks and a site map showing distances from other dwellings etc. However, if the total capacity is less than 10 cubic metres a year then it seems a bit simpler. I downloaded the forms late last year to register my allotment, but looking again this morning things seem to have changed - not sure if it is just the website though: http://www.environment-agency.gov.uk/business/topics/permitting/347...

I agree with what the env. agency is doing to track waste through the system and make sure it doesn't end up in a hedgerow somewhere but it's far too complicated, and this is after a recent simplification review!

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Permalink Reply by Debbie Britten on January 8, 2009 at 8:00am

Morning all
personally as long as what goes in the wheelie bin is the proper stuff, I don't see a problem. Most waste can be chipped and composted , so we're only talking soft (perrennial weed) waste and bigger branches. None of my customers would object to me using their brown bin for somebody else's rubbish, and our council allow us to put out bags of green waste as well, so there is never any left over.

The council in the neighbouring borough, however, do not have wheelie bins. We have to bag their rubbish, and put on labels from the council costing 50p per time. Only then will the council remove the bags. I do sometimes bring home bags from these jobs and put them out with my rubbish.

Last year I did a clearance job and the lady walked along the road knocking on doors to ask for use of their wheelies - we had 6!!!! Saved her paying for rubbish removal!!!

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