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Post by alf1951 on Nov 9, 2017 8:13:00 GMT
We bought a few plants this Summer - all came in plastic pots.
We're unlikely to do much gardening let alone plant propagation but our kerbside recycling collection run by the local City Council specifies "No Plant Pots". I contacted the Council to ask why and they said they refuse to accept plant pots because the "quality of the plastic is poor so the companys who process plastics will not accept them". They have to go in "general waste" ie. landfill.
So I tried the County Council who have a recycling centre in Carlisle. They will not accept them either. They will only take "food trays, margarine tubs, plastic bottles and yoghurt pots". Go to Allerdale (West Cumbria) and only plastic bottles are accepted for plastic recycling.
So tried giving them back to the garden centre - "No thanks" all their plants come from large suppliers and already in pots with no means (or no inclination?) to pass used ones back to the supplier. The same seems true of all the stores and garden centres selling plants locally. There are no old fashioned nurseries left in the area.
Since then I've offered them on Freecycle through which I've recycled lots of items in the past but weeks have passed with no takers. OK - maybe not the best time of year for plant pots but surely landfill is not the best, or only option? For now they will reside indefinitely in a corner of our garage.
Alf
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Post by rowanberry on Nov 9, 2017 9:52:54 GMT
I put some of those same sort of pots on Freecycle last year... it did take several tries before I had any takers. Someone with an allotment came, and he was happy to have them. I'm afraid that most do end up in landfills, and I wish there was some way to put pressure on garden centres to not supply plants in these plastic pots or styrofoam trays... surely there must be a biodegradable option. The whole point of gardening, (well, for me it is) is that it's supposed to be good for nature... not to make things worse!
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Post by Tringa on Nov 9, 2017 12:36:58 GMT
Unfortunately your experience illustrates the throw-away culture we have now, Alf.
I'm sure quite a few here remember getting money back on pop bottles and beer bottles, and the real early leader in domestic recycling - the doorstep milk delivery.
This country appears to be behind the times in recycling. About 10 years ago we visited The Netherlands and saw in supermarkets (even quite small neighbourhood ones) recycling machines for drinks cans. The cans were tipped in, crushed and weighed and, based on the weight, the customer got a credit note to get money off their next shop. It seemed a very sensible idea but it has not caught on here.
I also recall being in Normandy, probably 20 or more years ago, and being able to buy wine in some places by taking my own container and having it filled.
There is also the problem of so many different types of plastics, some can be recycled, some not.
There needs to be a very wide ranging look at the whole process.
Dave
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Post by accipiter on Nov 9, 2017 20:38:22 GMT
You could put them in in the bottom of a none recycle bin Alf as a one off, I appreciate you would rather not do this but I cannot see as you have many other choices. But we too have a problem with our council, in short we been told the brown bin i.e. garden waste is now going to be charged at the cost of £40 a year. But I was under the impression this is what I pay my council tax for, of course I could stop cutting the grass, or better still dump the cuttings outside the council offices! But what can I do once I am no longer fit enough to drive (assuming I live that long) set light to it perhaps thereby creating pollution, mind you it would save on the cost of a cremation, hmm. Alan
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Post by alf1951 on Nov 10, 2017 8:24:18 GMT
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Post by rowanberry on Nov 12, 2017 19:27:33 GMT
Our local council have started charging £65 as of October this year. I simply can't afford it... looked like we'll be taking garden waste to the local dump every few weeks. I am expecting fly tipping will increase in the alleys that run between gardens- someone set fire to a dumped mattress a few years back and burned down a fence and garden shed. I dread to think what will happen when bags of leaves and branches start piling up.
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Post by NellyDee on Nov 15, 2017 10:46:08 GMT
Luckily the council here do not charge, but they have changed to collections of general waste and recycle to every two weeks and garden waste and food to monthly. Can't actually see where they are making savings as now two separate waste cart come twice weekly and two come monthly, where as before there was one that did general waste and one that did recycling, garden waste and food, alternately, so still two week for one or the other, with two men. Now we have 4 carts with three men on each. Obviously being rural we don't have problems but in the villages and town they do. Particularly with the food being monthly. Having said that any businesses have to pay to have all their waste removed.
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Post by rowanberry on Nov 15, 2017 19:41:55 GMT
Food monthly?!! Oh, now that's just not right- in the summer when it's hot that must really create problems for people living in towns... the smell, if nothing else! (first time I've ever felt the need for this emoticon... but it's certainly appropriate. I think I'd be tempted to start keeping a goat, just so it could eat the potato peelings and carrot tops. Their excuse about garden clippings here is that people without gardens are complaining that they have to subsidise those with gardens... but by that same excuse, people could say if they don't have children why should they pay taxes that go towards schools and education? The way I see it, is that gardens benefit everyone (helps with cleaner air, for a start) and certainly helps birds and wildlife that are struggling in the countryside survive in towns.
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Post by alf1951 on Nov 16, 2017 10:10:08 GMT
Food waste collections? I didn't know anywhere in UK was doing this. Some years ago I came across this in Canada where my mother in law used to put out a small box with a tight fitting lid for collection every week or two.
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Post by NellyDee on Nov 16, 2017 11:24:57 GMT
We have had food waste for quite a few years, we are supplied with a small bin and special bags for in the kitchen and larger bin outside for collection. what I am puzzled is that food waste has now got to go in the same bin as garden waste, so basically it is garden waste mixed up with the smaller food waste bags and they have removed the larger food waste bin. now we have a grey bin for general waste, a brown bin for garden and food waste. a blue bin for plastic and containers. a green bin for cardboard and paper and a small blue box with a silly plastic pull down cover for glass, which collects the rain beautifully till it sags and drops into the box. Just waiting for them to refuse to collect as the box is full of water. They look inside the bins and if there is anything in them that is not supposed to be there they don't empty the bin. Going to have a rant now! I have to put heavy stones on the bin lids as the strong wind blows open the tops and turns the bins over, then of course the contents strew down the road. If I forget to remove the rocks before they come they hurl the rocks into the scrub where I have to go and look for them - scream!
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Post by rowanberry on Nov 16, 2017 19:31:37 GMT
Rant away, Helen- it is getting ridiculous! When I house-sat for my friends in Manchester last June, I had to constantly refer to the list to make sure I was putting the right rubbish in the right bin. They've got three, (I think) Blue, pink, and brown... and on collection days the pavements are impassable because of all the bins everywhere. There has to be a better solution, and it ought to be a nation-wide scheme because how can they collect certain types of plastic for recycling in some places but completely different things in another? They should require plastic things to have proper labeling, too... the number of times I stand by the bins, wondering if it can be recycled or not. Is there any way you could attach something like this to your lids so they don't blow open? I found this method being recommended by American park wardens to keep the raccoons out. www.nparks.gov.sg/~/media/nparks-real-content/gardens-parks-and-nature/animal-advisories/garbage.png?h=393&&w=400&la=en
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Post by NellyDee on Nov 17, 2017 9:28:35 GMT
Yep tried those straps but when the bins are empty they get blown over and a couple of times the full bins were not picked up - presume they could not be bothered to unclip the strap. They do need a heavy weight on them so they stay put. There are some fearsome winds blowing down off Fiarach (that is the mountain on who's slope I live). Why the B....... men cannot just move the rock onto an adjoining bin that is not being picked up I do not know - would be easier than hurling up slope and into the scrub. Maybe they are training for tossing the bale at the Highland Games:)
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Post by alf1951 on Nov 17, 2017 15:05:06 GMT
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Post by alf1951 on Dec 16, 2017 17:13:34 GMT
Winter again and we've had a few days of sunshine, frost and ice alternating with several days of continuous rain. Either way most properties in the village have chimneys belching out noxious fumes - wood or coal, it makes little difference to the persistent, unpleasant stench that pervades and stops one opening a window for ventilation. The village does have both electric and gas supplies and if they can have smoke free zones in the City, why not in the more rural areas?
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