recycling collection query

chuckles30

I'm not sure if I'm allowed to name the bin company I deal with, but I'm sure most of you will guess which one I deal with. I happened to be at home this morning when my bin was collected. I had my plastic bag of recyclables left beside the bin and when the lorry comes along, both the bin and bag are thrown into the one lorry I thought those lorries squashed all the rubbish once it was thrown into it - if this is the case, what is the point of separating out the recycling to have it squashed in with all the other stuff in the back of the truck??? Maybe I'm missing something and there is a separate chute for the recycling - I couldn't get a decent enough look at the back of the truck to figure this out. Anyone got any ideas?

I know that before the rubbish used be collected in one truck and they came along and collected the recycling later in the day, but not anymore obviously.

irishguy

They have two seperate compartmets side by side, they do recycle the contents of the bags

bazz26

Interesting. Usually there are two colllections on my estate, one truck for the recycle bag and about half an hour later another truck for the normal rubish bin.

irishguy

The one here has two compartments, mabey a newer one?

Inge Binge

It's not a big secret in Germany that they just burn a certain amount of opti-bags there. Now we have big bins (container-like) and I'd be surprised if they have seperate cars to collect them. I think they just can't handle the amount of this type of waste. Was a big scandal in Germany because people are forced by law (!) to separate this marked rubbish (it's called "the green dot") and finally it goes to the chimney together with all other rubbish.

Maybe the same here?

IB

chuckles30

thanks irish - I didn't get a good enough look at the lorry. I'd hate to think of my recycling finishing up with the rubbish.

Delphi91

I've been wondering the very same thing for ages.

The last time I saw my recyclables being collected, they were thrown into the back same as the contents of the bin.

But when I was in the city-centre office paying my bill, they have a video running which shows a 2-compartment lorry. And I saw one around town somewhere also.

I gotta say that I'm also curious as to how the weighing is done. Anyone ever get a printout of the weight of their bin each week???

Inge Binge

got the new binman bill yesterday. they increased prices again. their excuse: the gov raised the VAT so they had to do it as well...
and for the "weight less-pay less": i think this is just to muck and twit people. we never have a full bin and sometimes we are bringing it out every 2 weeks but we are paying always the same (ore even more now). binman is rubbish! bandits!

IB

Irish Wolf

Delphi91 wrote:

I've been wondering the very same thing for ages.

I gotta say that I'm also curious as to how the weighing is done. Anyone ever get a printout of the weight of their bin each week???

Inge Binge wrote:

sometimes we are bringing it out every 2 weeks but we are paying always the same (ore even more now). binman is rubbish! bandits!

Thieves, charlatans and crooks... imo.
Weigh and pay? more like pay and pay.

chuckles30

Well I have dealt with them before and tbh, we always got a reduction for the pay & weigh thing on our bill, but that might be 12 months ago at this stage. We used only have a bag or maybe two in the bottom of the bin, so we were happy with that. I think I read that you have to put the bin out at least 20 times in the 6 months for the weight to be right. I know that we used put it out every week even if there as only one bag in it. I can't remember the exact details now.
But bad and all as they are, when I phoned up their main rivals for a quote I asked about the price for the standard bin & also for the smaller bin. Both prices are the same!!! How ridiculous is that!!! I knew the smaller bin would be enough for me, but no way I was paying the same price for it!!

sioda

The pay by weight thing is crap how about the weight of the actual bin itself is that taken into account. Plus how do they identify each bin cant imagine the truck knowing which bin is which. Personally I feel like i get ripped off every week i put my bin out. As for the recycling lately mine hasn't been collected and i have seen recycle bags thrown into the exact same place as wheelie bin rubbish.

Basically as per usual the ordinary Joe soap is getting shafted

Inge Binge

sioda wrote:

The pay by weight thing is crap how about the weight of the actual bin itself is that taken into account. Plus how do they identify each bin cant imagine the truck knowing which bin is which. Personally I feel like i get ripped off every week i put my bin out. As for the recycling lately mine hasn't been collected and i have seen recycle bags thrown into the exact same place as wheelie bin rubbish.

they claim that every bin is chipped and the truck is reading the chip. therefore you have to move the bin if you move to a new house. we did this once: walking with the wheely bin up o'connel street! unbelievable!!! and the newest thing is: the say the trucks are working now with GPS so they can identyfyeach single bin from the location! but we bring them to a collection point - so there are 10 bins at least in a row and GPS isn't that accurate! they are soooo bananas!!!

IB

Irish Wolf

Inge Binge wrote:

they claim that every bin is chipped and the truck is reading the chip. therefore you have to move the bin if you move to a new house. we did this once: walking with the wheely bin up o'connel street! unbelievable!!! and the newest thing is: the say the trucks are working now with GPS so they can identyfyeach single bin from the location! but we bring them to a collection point - so there are 10 bins at least in a row and GPS isn't that accurate! they are soooo bananas!!!

IB

I never had such a larf... you had the whizz totally taken out of you IB- oh what a sight that must have been, you wheeling the bin up O'Connell St... Seriously, where'd ya hear that? I would have expected a CNN broadcast for that kind of announcement...

But in fairness, where the fk do you start with this shower - even when landfill fees went down they raised their charges, I'm in an email dispute with them at the moment - updates to follow (if there's any comic value).

lmao.... GPS! :rolleyes: Bananas? more like fruit cocktail!

pokerwidow

Lmao, sure you got a few looks in O'Connell St. If the bins are chipped then why did we not get a new bin when they took over the council route. I always thought it worked on the bar code on the sticker. It depends on what day you ask them. Shower of buggers. So glad I have changed over.

Delphi91

The bin I have is chipped - well at least there's something attached to it.

When they started doing this pay by weight thingy a couple of years back, they came around one day in a van following the main truck and after each bin was emptied, this guy from the van seemed to punch a hole in the rim around the top of the bin and then hammered in this black disk thingy. No idea what it is, but I haven't seen any extra gadgetry on the bin, especially on the section that lifts the bin which suggests that it is reading/detecting something.

Like Chuckles30, I've usually gotten a reduction, but it's been around €9 or so each time. I'd love to know if you can get a list of the weekly weights. I sem to remember someone challenging the company on the radio or in the local paper a year or so ago and she asked for a list of weights and the company stalled it quite a bit or did not seem to be in a position to provide it. One wonders!!!

sioda

The chipped bin thing is a load of rubbish pardon the pun i have an old ipodec bin so i know there is no chip and the barcode on my bin is completely worn away HATE BINMAN :-(

chuckles30

I got a span new binman bin only recently as it's a new account - I must have a look tonight, but I don't remember seeing any chips. I always thought it was the barcode, but then that wouldn't be very practical as everybody has their sticker in different places on the bin, so it would be hard to read it. It's a strange one alright Must have a look at my bin again tonight!!!

chuckles30

I did have a look at my bin last night - delivered new by binman less than two months ago - and definitely no microchips in the bin. The only identifying mark is the sticker and the bar code on that

Delphi91

chuckles30 wrote:

I did have a look at my bin last night - delivered new by binman less than two months ago - and definitely no microchips in the bin. The only identifying mark is the sticker and the bar code on that

Hmm, the plot thickens!!!

Wonder what's inside that black disk thing on my bin then????

I just checked my bin - the barcode is on the side of the bin where the handle is, i.e. what I would term the back. Now if memory serves me correctly, this part of the bin is facing away from the truck when the bin is emptied, so it can't be reading it.

So, lets summarise:

1. Not all bins appear to have chips on them
2. Bar codes are not in the same place on all bins
3. People are getting charged based on weight of contents.


Let me be devils advocate here and suggests that the truck knows the weight of an empty bin (they're all the same size, right?). So maybe it has a built-in sensor which measures the force required to lift the bin, hence the weight of the bin, etc, etc.

Ideas?

bullets

I was with Mr. Binman (never saw a chip on my bin) but when they hiked up their prices I switched to ipodec when they went out of business
I looked to goto another place which also went out of business so
now I am back to the Microsoft of waste disposal.

Most of the time there are two seperate collections for the
bin and opti bag. a few times on the Saturday morning before
a Monday bankholiday I have seem them chuck the opti bags in with
the same rubbish and I am pretty sure I did not see a seperate compartment.

Also this morning (I have nothing better to do today!! )
A bloke was going around collecting the bins from that other place
that went out of business.

Have looked and Looked but never seen the chip in my bin.
I know they are supposed to be scanned when they are placed on the
lifting arm. Some dude that used to work for the company I work for supposedly designed the system and made a fortune out of it

From Looking at my bills there is not a whole lot of discount
for using the recycleing bags. The only motivation I have of using the
optibags is that I have a half size bin so dont have the space to dump
all the rubbish I have. I put glass in the opti bags and they are always
taken away fine. The only thing I dont put into them is Batteries and I can
recycle them in work.

~B

Irish Wolf

Delphi91 wrote:

Hmm, the plot thickens!!!

Wonder what's inside that black disk thing on my bin then????

I just checked my bin - the barcode is on the side of the bin where the handle is, i.e. what I would term the back. Now if memory serves me correctly, this part of the bin is facing away from the truck when the bin is emptied, so it can't be reading it.

So, lets summarise:

1. Not all bins appear to have chips on them
2. Bar codes are not in the same place on all bins
3. People are getting charged based on weight of contents.


Let me be devils advocate here and suggests that the truck knows the weight of an empty bin (they're all the same size, right?). So maybe it has a built-in sensor which measures the force required to lift the bin, hence the weight of the bin, etc, etc.

Ideas?

Yep, I'd assume that the truck weighing system can compensate for the weight of the empty bins (afaik there are two sizes of domestic bins).

It may be that some bins are chipped - but just from looking around on collection days around the city, there is nothing to suggest it's the norm.

So yes, the sticker's barcode is the only identifier on the bin to relate it back to its owner. It's completely arbitrary where you place this sticker - I was also of the impression that a barcode reader will log the bin owner and the weight - but I have never seen the barcode being scanned.

I'd be very interested to see a receipt showing a breakdown of a households waste disposal by weight from this company - anyone out there? Especially anyone who's actually gotten a discount, after all that's why the system was put in place in the first instance - to offer an incentive to people to recycle more.

From my experience the "pay by weight" system is a load of codswallop, you could fill your bin with lead every week, and still be charged the same as if you filled it with feathers.

bullets

I cant find my latest bill but am just after pulling my Nov 05 bill
out of the drawer.

It has weigh less pay less plastered all over it in big black bold print.
yet it as absoultly nothing at all about the discount I recieved due
to using the opti bags.

It states for a half size bin per 6 months.
landfill charge 260kg per half year = 45 euro
service charge per half year =125 euro
Total of 170.50 for 6 months.

Its since gone up but I dont know the exact charge
as I cant remember but the one thing I do remember
was I thought I was being scr*wed royaly.

~B

Irish Wolf

bullets wrote:

It states for a half size bin per 6 months.
landfill charge 260kg per half year = 45 euro
service charge per half year =125 euro
Total of 170.50 for 6 months.

~B

So it looks like they are basing the charge around a 10kg (just over 1.5 stone) limit per week per household going to landfill.

Is this really a proper pay-by-weight system until they can give a record of the weight of waste you send to landfill?