Why do we expect our rubbish to be collected?

Latest Articles

Why do we expect our rubbish to be collected?
Page 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6 Next

Downsizer Forum Index -> Reduce, Reuse, Recycle

Author

Message

Rob R

Joined: 28 Oct 2004
Posts: 31902
Location: York

Posted: Tue Feb 15, 11 6:51 am Post subject: Why do we expect our rubbish to be collected?
Given that we are quite capable of transporting all this rubbish into our homes, why do we expect a bin wagon to come to our door and pick it up? If shopping centres has waste collection points we could return all the junk when we're on our way to buy more and save a whole lot of money and fuel making regular collections.

mochyn

Joined: 21 Dec 2004
Posts: 24585
Location: mid-Wales

Posted: Tue Feb 15, 11 6:57 am Post subject:
Where my folks live in SW Ireland they don't. Dad takes it all to the dump when he needs to. Seems to work fine. We have to take ours to the end of the lane: about half a mile. ETA thanks for reminding me: it's bin day!

Green Rosie

Joined: 13 May 2007
Posts: 10498
Location: Calvados, France

Posted: Tue Feb 15, 11 7:08 am Post subject:
Interesting point - I used to argue the same this on a NT site I worked on that had a litter issue, mostly caused by picnickers leaving their rubbish behind. Have more to write but I must get the boys to school ....

gz

Joined: 23 Jan 2009
Posts: 8919
Location: Ayrshire, Scotland

Posted: Tue Feb 15, 11 7:23 am Post subject:
When my father was warden of Wilderhope Manor youth hostel, which is also a National Trust property, rubbish collections were once a month.

Green Rosie

Joined: 13 May 2007
Posts: 10498
Location: Calvados, France

Posted: Tue Feb 15, 11 7:37 am Post subject:
... boys delivered. I do wonder though how much more litter and fly tipping there would be if collections stopped? Does anyone know when collections first started? What happened before then (although I realise that this was very much pre the packaging and wasteful society that we now live in).

mochyn

Joined: 21 Dec 2004
Posts: 24585
Location: mid-Wales

Posted: Tue Feb 15, 11 7:40 am Post subject:

gz wrote:

When my father was warden of Wilderhope Manor youth hostel, which is also a National Trust property, rubbish collections were once a month.

Ooh: I stayed at Wilderhope once! Lovely place.

Rosie: we have two dumps on our land: one from the first part of the 20thC and earlier and one from the second half. Full of bottles, broken china, bits of metal... That's clearly what happened here!

jamanda
Downsizer Moderator

Joined: 22 Oct 2006
Posts: 35057
Location: Devon

Posted: Tue Feb 15, 11 7:42 am Post subject:
It would be doable if you have space to store rubbish and a way of getting to the tip. Less so if you live in a small house in a city.

Brownbear

Joined: 28 May 2007
Posts: 14929
Location: South West

Posted: Tue Feb 15, 11 7:46 am Post subject:

I think it was part of the great sanitary cleanup of the Victorian age, a way of ridding the cities of disease. Imagine the piles of filth that would build up if people had to do their own rubbish dump runs, and the tens of millions of disease-ridden rats that would feast on the bounty of idleness.

A 'refuse police' that would ensure lazy gits didn't just let it pile up in the back yards, would probably cost as much or more than the collections.

gz

Joined: 23 Jan 2009
Posts: 8919
Location: Ayrshire, Scotland

Posted: Tue Feb 15, 11 7:49 am Post subject:

1388 England English Parliament bars waste disposal in public waterways and ditches.

1820's London, England Almost 100% of the waste collected by "dust-men" is recycled/recovered/reused through manual separation and sieving in "dust-yards", the main product being the fine fraction of coal-ash, remaining after coal burning in households ("dust").[4] The system had many similarities to informal sector recycling, prevailing in today's environmentally developing countries.
8 1842 England Edwin Chadwick's Report of an Inquiry into the Sanitary Condition of the Labouring Population of Great Britain linked disease to filthy environmental conditions. The "age of sanitation" begins.
9 1874 Nottingham England A new technology called "The Destructor", patented by Albert Fryer and built by Manlove, Alliott & Co. Ltd., provides the first systematic incineration of refuse in Nottingham, England. Until this time, much of the burning had been incidental, a result of methane production.

Turn of the 20th century Waste problem seen as one of the greatest problems facing local authorities.

Thanks Wikipedia!

Rob R

Joined: 28 Oct 2004
Posts: 31902
Location: York

Posted: Tue Feb 15, 11 7:49 am Post subject:
If collection points were near/at retail centres perhaps it would have more of a joined up effect. Given the provision of council tips round here I can't understand why people fly tip at all - some even drive past a tip to fly tip. In the old days I guess there was more of a culture of returns and even rewards for reusable packaging. Here is an interesting history of waste.

Went

Joined: 19 Mar 2006
Posts: 6968

Posted: Tue Feb 15, 11 7:50 am Post subject:
Here in Spain we have communal bins in the village where you take your rubbish as and when required, the same happens with recylcing. In our village of about 30 people we have at least 4 collection points dotted around. They empty the communal rubbish every two days and the recycling about once per fortnight. Works well.

Bulgarianlily

Joined: 01 Jun 2008
Posts: 1667
Location: South West Mountains of Bulgaria

Posted: Tue Feb 15, 11 7:51 am Post subject:

Surely it is better for the environment for one special wagon to make the journey than everyone in cars? And what about those without cars?

The only things that used to be collected were 'dust' i.e. ash, cinders metal etc. Think of the sorted dust heaps of the 'golden dustman' Mr Boffin in Our Mutual Friend that were value enought to be left to him in a will.
https://u.cc.utah.edu/~tsk2/omfpage.html

Rob R

Joined: 28 Oct 2004
Posts: 31902
Location: York

Posted: Tue Feb 15, 11 7:52 am Post subject:

mochyn wrote:

gz wrote:

When my father was warden of Wilderhope Manor youth hostel, which is also a National Trust property, rubbish collections were once a month.

Show an archaeologist a refuse dump and they'll wet themselves with excitement...

When we dug the small field pond out we found some interesting bottles, as well as the remains of a bonfire.

Rob R

Joined: 28 Oct 2004
Posts: 31902
Location: York

Posted: Tue Feb 15, 11 7:55 am Post subject:

Bulgarianlily wrote:

Surely it is better for the environment for one special wagon to make the journey than everyone in cars? And what about those without cars?

Only if that same bin wagon delivers your groceries and packaged goods - people manage very well to ship all this crap into their homes without outside help, if you return it on those same journies it is much more efficient than running a bin wagon- it comes to us every week, and we put the bin out every month so three times out of four they are picking up nothing.

mochyn

Joined: 21 Dec 2004
Posts: 24585
Location: mid-Wales

Posted: Tue Feb 15, 11 7:57 am Post subject:

Rob R wrote:

Show an archaeologist a refuse dump and they'll wet themselves with excitement...

We often find pop bottles in good condition with local names on. They're quite exciting in a peculiar sort of way!

	Downsizer Forum Index -> Reduce, Reuse, Recycle	All times are GMT Page 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6 Next
Page 1 of 6

View Latest Posts