The binmen refused to take my grey bin because it had a pizza box in it with a left over pizza crust about 3 inches long.... leftover by my two young children. My wife asked them to wait for a minute and would remove the "food waste" once she checked the children were fine carrying on with there breakfast. She quickly went out and the binmen had just drove off. Now we have a full grey bin and numerous black bin bags with the recycle items in. Besides tipping it, what are we supposed to do? If the binmen just waited a minute this would have been resolved in an instant.... has anyone else had 'rubbish' problems like this?

The binmen don't have time to wait while folks correctly sort their waste, it's your fault, get over it.

Bit harsh that Lud . You know what kids are like and some of these binmen can be right jobsworths. Common sense should have prevailed. Instead of leaving ALL the bags and bin undealt with , it wouldnt have hurt them to just quickly take out the pizza box/crust and leave it for the householder to deal with after giving her a gentle warning .

Look at most of Lud posts and you will see he likes to try to go against the grain. Yes the binmen can be a little less than helpful,if you go back as far as when they used to knock for their Christmas box you will remember they were much more helpful. (If you are old enough to go back that far )

Yes but privatisation and repeatedly changing competitive contracts to reduce costs have taken their toll. The bin men don't have time to wet nurse their customers any longer.

The pizza box must have had traces of food stuck on it.therefor it's non recycled.

Everybody keeps saying the binmen used to do this and that, well the bins have been privatised since the 80s, remember the bin strike, they call it privatisation a product of the Thatcher government, then we had deregulation of the buses, remember the boast from Maggie, soon you will be able to jump on a bus at the bottom of your drive, well we all know how that worked out, anyhow enough of the history lesson.

When the grey bin thing started four of my neighbors had their bins left on one day, they phoned up the council and a supervisor came down in a van, he inspected the bins and said the binmen did the right thing as the bins were contaminated, he went on to explain that if on arrival at the tip the load was found to be contaminated the bin company would be charged for the disposal of that full wagon load as general waste, now there is enough information out for people to know and understand what does or does'nt go in the bin and I think there may have been more to it than just a 3 inch piece of crust, as to the binmen should have waited, why? the onus is on the householder, its not the binmens fault they would get repremanded for not doing their job properly, by the way they are not obliged to take bin bags left at the side or on top of the bin and never in the grey bin, sorry to sound pedantic, but it annoys me when people dont take responsibility and blame someone else.

I totally agree with you Casper.
The bin men are up at silly hours in the morning,On the bin collections.They have not got time to sort every households wheelie bins out.
Maybe be a good idea to print out a copy of what goes in what bin.
So Ludi has got a point.

Yes, there is another point which is that leaving the bin is likely to make sure you don't make the same mistake again.

Your problem is your problem, not theirs.

Lud may well have a point but there is no need for his get over it comment, little wonder there are only a handful of members that post when people make replies like that. He could have made his point without the nastiness.

I completely concur with Lud said, both in sentiment and wording. The bin men just don't have time to sort everyone's rubbish, you have 2/3 bins, surely it's not difficult to sort it yourself and know that pizza crust is non-recyclable?

Just to add on to what I wrote earlier, if the lady was out speaking to the binmen then why did'nt she take the pizza box or maybe just the crust back in with her if that was the problem? it just doesnt make sense that she would ask the binmen to wait, go back into the house and then come out again to remove the offending 3inch crust.

Attitude!

Bin men are lazy compared to years ago.
They were 'proper' bin men.



Do what we have done, buy another grey bin and another green bin.
We got sick of having to go the tip every week due to their stupid bin collection system, they do not get emptied often enough, it's pathetic.
So we bought an extra 2 bins, make them work for their money.

Maybe she should have simply taken the pizza box out of the bin at that moment, but if the bin men should start to search all the bins for pizza boxes, empty bottles of coke, that aren't empty, margarine tubs that aren't washed, plastic milk bottles that have residue, soup tins with veg stuck to the sides, cake boxes with cream on the lid, or sauce bottles, not quite empty, for example, they might need to spend a whole lot more time at the job they so lovingly attend.

I dare say none of us are quite the perfect recycling operative that we try to pretend.

I don't wash empty coco cola bottles, I'm trying to save on the water bill.

Poor old Lud, always being attacked, eh?

Noticeably, all comments on here but one have been made by the male of the species, which brings me to think that they must be the ones who wear the pinnies and do the washing on a daily basis, as they are so clued up on what goes where and how . Well done girls, another job from the land of subservients passed to our equals.

The way things are going at being fined at the drop of a hat,it wouldn't surprise me if eventually that folks will get fined for putting the wrong stuff in the wrong bin or not cleaning cans and bottles properly with water.
I'd like to know where the recyclable stuff ends up and who profits from it.
18 tons of plastic could be used to make a 3 bedroomed house - less for 1 and 2 bedrooms to which I suppose sections could be added to as a family needs more room

click

Dont think it was a matter of them having to search the bin granny,I doubt theybother to do that, they must have just seen it near the top because they dont tip them up till they get into the lorry. I doubt it was a case of not being able to reach down into a half filled bin if its a family ,so perhaps a bit of lack of the obvious action, on both sides. It wasnt a matter of polluting a recycling receptable, the grey bin is the default bin for rubbish.

Ouch! granny no prisoners , no they dont search the bins they just lift the lids up and look in, so it suggests that the pizza box was on the top, it just annoys me that people are so critical of someone doing a job, Ste has made comments quote: they are not "proper binmen", lazy, make them earn their money, were does all that venom come from toward another? or is it jealousy? question for today how do you define a proper binman? is he born or was he trained from a very young age somewhat like a ninja to be a "proper binman."

PS Some councils do have women refuse collectors and roadsweepers.

Good afternoon Granny, please don't worry yourself about me being attacked. Think Healey, Howe and dead sheep.

Oi! who are you calling a dead sheep Lud ! Howe could you!

Dilly quick, we're being necrozoomorphed !


(and yes I make up my own vocab to suit)

Sorry Venice I can't respond,too busy looking up necrozoomorphed

Venice, my point was that should they do so, they would find a whole lot more with food residue that would not pass the 'rules'.

Only a couple of weeks ago, I asked about which bin polystyrene should go into. Yes, I'd put it in the green bin, as was correct, but the bin men didn't empty the bin , still don't know why.

Is dog excrement ok to go in the green bin ? That's not mentioned anywhere. Other towns have bins provided especially for dogs , but when I tackled this council about it, a number of years ago, they said it was too expensive to put into place and to operate. So , what's the difference if it goes into green bins , or the bin by the bus stop ? That must just mean a certain amount of non-degradable plastic bags will be going into landfill.(unless they are all degradable now)

Yes,.... it's Saturday and I'm bored. Tell me to shut up !

Dilly, I think we're being insulted , dont worry about the finer points, just scowl hard at Lud if he looks at you . Do your best. I have to go out now , so Ill pick up any wool or chops remnants when I get back later .

Oh Lud you've done it again , upset someone! I suspect you're giggling away at your keyboard and thinking hard , what can I throw in the mix now. Think your sympathy is wasted on Lud Granny, he's well able to defend himself.

Items allowed in your grey bin
cans (drink/food)
card
cardboard boxes
cardboard packaging
catalogues
cereal boxes
corrugated card
cosmetic bottles (glass/plastic)
egg boxes (card)
envelopes (remove plastic window)
fabric conditioner bottles
glass bottles/jars
greeting cards
junk mail
magazines
medicine bottles plastic/glass (empty)
metal jar lids
newspapers
paper
pizza boxes (clean/not greasy)
plastic bottle tops
plastic bottles (including milk)
shampoo/shower gel bottles
telephone directories/Yellow Pages
toilet roll tubes
wallpaper (unused)
washing powder boxes
wrapping paper (not foil)
Bleach bottles
Cleaning bottles
Soap/toothpaste boxes

Download a printable list of what goes in which bin

I have got 2 medium sized household bins in the utility room.
one for recycling and one for food waste etc,
It does make life easier when taking it to empty in your wheelie bins.

Nah, As granny said its a boring bleak Saturday, Lud will know that Im only playing

but no-one wanted toplay

Oh ignore my illiteracy, I was merely being lazy in my response.
Hardly rocket science though is it?
The original bin men where hard workers, they didn't just have to pull a cart on wheels and pop it on the back of a machine which then emptied the bins for them.
They didn't refuse to take anything, they just took it.
Jealousy? One has to wonder what goes through another's mind to come out with such drivel.
*shakes head*

Its not as easy as it looks, the handle and wheels are at the wrong end for the binman. Try manoeuvring a full bin from the wrong end

You of all people should know I handle these bins everyday at work and they are full of a lot more than 'household items and cardboard'.

We also don't have a machine to haul them onto the truck for us.

If your on an early bin collection and put bin out night before it can be sods law specially if your street is a suitable distance from the local chippy. Often find things put in my by "passers by".
I make sure I bury anything questionable (often the wrong type of plastic)underneath things. Never quite understood No broken glass because I don't think the bin wagon and machinery at the tip are that gentle with jam jars etc.

Think council is clamping down a bit--was at clatterbridge tip and got grilled by new inspector (think he was trying to impress a trainee girl). Asking if I had removed the seats from my car (7 seater) ( I permanently have 2 taken out and flatten the others when needed) Quizzed me if the rubbish was mine --I didn't lie --it was the guys in the car behind me. I was helping him empty his late mothers house--free of charge of course . At Bidston tip earlier they were "inspecting papers" . If they came up with a more sensible way I am sure most people wouldn't begrudge just paying a nominal fee per visit.

Ste, so what you are saying because the method of collecting and emptying bins has progressed along with instructions from their employers and the council not to take various things have been put into place, some of it no doubt to comply with HASWA,this now classifies them as lazy because they dont have to carry or drag metal bins? I cant for the life of me see how you can connect an improved modernised cleaner refuse collection system with being lazy, but the comment you made about putting extra bins out quote "to make them work for their money" signifies that you have a downer on binmen, thats why I put jealousy, it may not be rocket science but it is certainly a dirty thankless job out in all weathers, good luck to them.

Sod "recycling" - just put everything household ie non-garden, in the green bin!
THAT should raise a few hackles
Snod

Maybe we should be thankful. This is the recycling agenda for the Abergele area. still trying to figure it out. White bag, brown boxes, wheelie bins and stuff.

Have A Peek

Good point granny, lots of local authorities have different systems for recycling some even have seperate boxes for papers, so they maybe have two or three boxes on seperate days, all in all our system isnt perfect but its not bad they always come around the same time and on bank holidays, they take stuff left by bins which they dont have to according to council guide lines, I think its got a lot better since Biffa took over.

I think they dont have the time to think any more. Targets targets pressure from the bossess. Same across most council departments.makes workers unhappy in their jobs.
I always thank them just to make them feel appreciated for a moment.one heck of a walk each day

You must be joking: maybe you're too young to remember when the bins were steel and had to be carried on the binman's back up the back alley to the dustcart and back again.

Just to put some figures on the job the binmen used to do.
On the map, take Linwood Rd. between Town Rd. and Well Lane. The nearest the bin lorry could get would be the end of Linwood Rd. at either Town Rd. or Well Lane. There are about 24 houses on each side of Linwood Rd. and the average distance to carry each bin is about 90 feet and two trips with each bin, once full and once empty. That's a total of 4320 feet. That's just over 0.8 of a mile. I don't know how many roads were in a round but I know you'd be pretty tired at the end. The bins would be heavy too, with ashes and cinders from the coal fire, and smelly with food scraps. At least, the milk bottles were recycled.

But they do far more roads per day now than they did then and they don't have time to stop and chat like they used to.

I think you forgot to mention that they had six man crews and more vehicles at that time and the refuse went to landfill unlike the present system at Bidston transfer station.

Certainly not Casper, I'm merely comparing them to the bin men of yesteryear.

The reason we have two extra bins is due to the fact we produce more than two bins can handle, as already mentioned we got sick and tired of going to the tip every week as to keep the garage entrance and driveway clear of bin bags.

We have nothing against bin men, we have a friend who work as a bin man.

The only reason we now have to separate items and put them in different bins it the Good Friends of some on here. The EU directive regarding heavy tax on land fill. That's as well as all the other rules they impose on us.

But as we import the raw materials of much of what we recycle, it makes economic sense as a country to recycle.

It annoys me that Wirral don't collect all metal in the grey bin only food tins!

Well why is it a lot of what we recycle we ship out to china.
I agree a lot of metal could and should be put in the grey bin. Then again go and look at the mountains of scrap metal sitting on the quay sides waiting to be shipped abroad.

That's not a bad thing. Land is at a premium and we can't waste it by burying our rubbish, especially rubbish that can be re-used.

The truth can sometimes be hurtful.

Something I never understand ..... when metal was at its highest price (about double what it is now), you'd expect all the scrapyards to have been emptied but they just seemed to keep piling it up.

Binmen my arse... Henchmen working for another gang of golden handshake thugs.
Fines? More like another highway robbery "Stand and deliver!"
Take a look into this private company, see the money they make, yet your council tax will go up. Take a look into the houres and pay of these guys. Up early, why? When do they get home? See if you can find out what their pay is for the hours they work.
Grey bins... you are being conned suckers... Put it all in the green bin and take back control.

ps. idiots asking "since when has organic matter (pizza crust) been recyclable"

Well hello Icabod! Dont hold back - get it all out of yer system!

We seem to have more rubbish these days but going back when people used to have coal fires,some rubbish would of been burnt,probably more ashes & cinders than actual waste though

Top tip....just fill the recycling bin with any old crap and then put a layer of "recyclable" material on top....it fools the halfwits all the time!

There seems to be a downer on binmen on this thread, let us try to remember that they do an unpleasant job under onerous conditions, I don't think many on here would trade places with them.

Yes Icabod. Next time you respond, try to have an opinion.

Ichabod = "Sin Disobedience Idolatry", well I suppose using the wrong bin is not exactly revolutionary but it is a start.

I don't suppose binmen are paid much. I find the service OK. It's no trouble to have two bins and decide which one to put items in. Recycling is in all our interests and I am all for it. The only problem is remembering whether it's a grey bin or a green bin collection, but luckily Cortana reminds me of that.

It is interesting that in Japan, the children clean the school before they go home every day. The result is a society where cleaners are respected rather than reviled as seems the norm here.

I don't see what all the fuss about the bins. It's not exactly hard to do is it? I find the service ok and if do put wrong stuff in , well I soppose that's the only way to get the message out by not taking it. I used to put mine out night before but as Fish said people coming along sticking their rubbish in so put out in morning. Some people just do not like rules..

Usually the bin men stick a sticker on the bin if they find anything that was not supposed to be in the recycling stuff.

Really?

Cleaners in Japan are treated very differently to uk. A friend went to a Trade Fair, and the floor cleaner, with his machine accidentally caught the side of her shoe, which caused damage. She was told she had to buy a new pair. Because she didn't find a pair similar she didn't bother. 6 hrs later she was told that the cleaner was still waiting. He'd hadn't been allowed home until he'd paid her out of his pocket for her new shoes. Normal policy. She was horrified, and wouldn't accept it, but unfortunately he had to pay a days wages anyway. Then he could go home.

There appears to be a lot of comments on here regarding binmen, usually about how much work they do or how much they are getting paid, I wonder how those that are so critical of them would like to be put under a microscope about what they do or earn? or pulled to pieces for earning a living, the world is getting a sadder place if all we can do is pull somebody to pieces for earning an honest living or for losing their job

His opinion seems clear enough to me.

sorry it went over your head chris.

Not sure what your issue with binmen is but if your green bin wasnt emptied it was either too heavy to move, lid open so spilling everywhere and if it was the grey bin it will deffinately be contaminated which are wirral council and government rules! 'They' do a good job! I guarantee you wouldnt like it! The average bin loader is on £24000 a year, drivers £28000. 5 times pay for bank holidays, 3 days pay for saturday and 4 days pay for sunday overtime, and 32 days holiday a year! Whats the problem? £35000 for drivers is normal. Its not all work out of the council tax budget, it has private trade work. The fact of a 'job and knock' working day where they work 5 or 6 hours a day is neither here nor there! So their not paid poorly and not in a poor job. How do i know........? 😉

I wonder? There is something you said there which is highly misleading and/or inaccurate.

He's winding you up DD, the figures he has given are wrong, I know two people who work on the bins and one is a driver, I think the term I was looking for is is misleading.