Sydney & Recycling

[Kooky]

For a country so hot on green issues, they make it very hard to dispose of refuse that can be recycled and don't seem to do it in a very green manner.

Each council has its own ways; we're under North Sydney and they collect refuse and recycling once a week. We have a wheely bin for non-recycling, and two crates for different types of recycling - all collected by somebody different. If you have a large amount of household waste you can request a special pick-up, done once a fortnight.

So how come nobody will take the flattened cardboard packaging from our wardrobes?

[Morrolan]

you have to bring that to the tip yourself and pay $25 per trailer load...

[Kooky]

you have to bring that to the tip yourself and pay $25 per trailer load...

I would if I could find one. I think I may have to cut it all up so it fits in the crates.

I rang the council and they said the recycling guys should take it, but we tried that and it just ended up in a soggy mess on the verge.

[JJ]

Bane of my existence (well one of them) - cant believe NS council only come once a week to collect - EVEN IN SUMMER!!!!

Ref the cardboard, ask around at the local restos and other businesses, as sometimes they will include with their waste which they organise private collection of - thats what i did with the boxes i had.

[daffodil]

The once weekly garbage collection is meant to "improve our service" according to Woollahra council.

[Tas]

having only been on the 1/week like for ever I was amazed to even hear of 2/week anywhere??!

[Burbage]

If the CO2 people are right, then recycling paper is bad for the environment.

[Kooky]

If the CO2 people are right, then recycling paper is bad for the environment.

Ok, but how the hell do I get rid of it?

[BoD]

Burn it

[Bender]

NS council only come once a week to collect - EVEN IN SUMMER!!!!

You must generate a lot of waste - we (2-person household) chuck out, on average, 1 supermarket bag per week of non-recyclable (mostly plastic) rubbish, and the reycling bin goes out every 4-6 weeks. Everything else gets composted. Nothing gets burnt.

[Tack]

Shredding and using for mulch or composting is the way to go. In the UK we're having to get really serious about recycling at our house there. We get a collection of rubbish OR recycling once a week (ie each once a fortnight). In summer the rubbish bin is practically a no go zone

[JJ]

Bender - indeed i must. 1 person 2 cat household and i have a huge bin full plus the recycling bins every week but i do change the litter every second day. Winter not so bad. Summer, just makes me feel quite ill thinking about all the weeks rubbish festering away in all the houses in the street. so not hygenic.

[Bender]

JJ - eek - I just reread my post. Didn't mean to come across as judgemental or 'holier than thou'. We're not rampant greenies or anything like that.

Some time ago we decided to get as efficient as possible with what we chuck out, recognising that food in the rubbish is money thrown away, so we make sure that virtually nothing is wasted and we make best use of the freezer. We compost everything we can. When we had a cat, she was trained to use the people toilet to save on litter and cleanup.

The household wheelie bins in Canberra have an RFID chip embedded in them so that the bin can be scanned as it's collected. Although it hasn't been implemented yet, the idea is that the full bin is weighed as the truck picks it up, and again when it's empty, and we will be charged for the waste by weight.

[Fat Bob]

Bender, you'll be happy to know a similar idea was tested in the UK and failed dismally. The system works for big loads rather well, but a small domestic wheelie bin and the multiple times it was done just crashed the system. So talking of money down the drain!

Like the Singapore system. Down the chute it goes! And only the odd (well, there were two, so even in number) rat to come back up. Lovely, eh?

[daffodil]

Think there was talk of scrapping weekly refuse collections in the UK in some councils, and going to fortnightly. Now that would be a horror in Summer.

Yes, even in the Great British Summer!

[Tack]

Daff, you've set my posts to 'ignore' haven't you. sniff

[daffodil]

You don't think I've got time to read all the rubbish on this site do you?

[Tack]

I don't but do anyway

[Kooky]

A weekly collection in the UK never seemed to be a problem, but then I didn't have bags of cat poo in the bin then and rarely cooked.

I've been thinking about this - presently we don't fill the wheelie bin so more than once a week would seem wasteful. Then I realised that from necessity the bin is right outside the patio doors to the bedroom. Roll on Summer.

We're doing our best to recycle but a lot of the things we think they'll take end up left in our crates or dumped in the middle of the pavement along with but not necessarily in the crates. I've had to print a list off the council's website of exactly what they will take, rather than look at the packaging.

[JJ]

Bender - you rampant greenie you I am "spoilt by Asia" princess - in the nam the rubbish was taken away every day. No doubt to be resold down the local street market. Come to think of it, my neighbours here hardly have any rubbish on a sunday - pretty sure they wonder at so much rubbish produced by my household (of 1+2minis), but maybe thats just the weekly output of empty wine bottles in the recycling bins.

I have been thinking about training the cats. hmmm. Thinking more hassle than its worth tho?

[Bender]

I have been thinking about training the cats. hmmm. Thinking more hassle than its worth tho?

It's not that hard, but takes a bit of patience and was covered in an earlier thread.

Although they can be a bit more strong-willed than dogs, cats can be trained to do all sorts of stuff. I had a siamese that could even open and close doors by jumping up and swinging off the door handle. It totally frustrated her when we moved to a house with round knobs on every door.

[Fat Bob]

Or changed the handles to push up instead of pull down ones....

[Bender]

Like the Singapore system. Down the chute it goes!

No denying that I found the chute handy, but it's a bit 'out of sight, out of mind'. It immediately becomes someone else's problem. People aren't conscious of how much, or what, they throw out, and (this may have changed) I don't think any of it gets recycled.

[Fat Bob]

Difficult to recycle things in Singapore. What industry would use the recycled material? There's little that's manufactured here so to have recycling working you need to use it in the country that recycles.

[Bob the Builder]

Speaking of which, does anyone know where you can properly dispose of an old PC monitor in Singapore. Alternatively, it's free to anyone who wants it - 17" CRT in perfect working order