Forum Topic

White plastics bags - Hurrah !

At the ungodly hour of 7.05 this am, there was a shuffling noise on our doorstep, quickly followed by the familiar click of our letterbox flap.  Curious to see what was afoot at our front door, I was pleasantly surprised and thankful to see a rather wet and bedraggled man from the Council refuse dept walking out of our front gate - he'd been delivering those excellent white bags for future plastic collection. Well done Ealing Council!  I'm sure the white plastics bag is going to be as successful and sensible as our pink garden rubbish bags are and continue to be.  Good thinking and delivery Ealing Council and a pat on the back to that nice rain sodden man who was working so diligently and early on our behalf! Please take a bow!  ;-)

Gerry Tan ● 6658d17 Comments

I echo your thought Gerry, my plastic sack arrived yesterday I now have very little to put in a bag for landfill. I still think the food box is one of the best  ideas also.

Mavis Walker ● 6658d

I echo your thought Gerry, my plastic sack arrived yesterday I now have very little to put in a bag for landfill. I still think the food box is one of the best  ideas also.

Mavis Walker ● 6658d

We got our white bag today, good idea from Ealing. Has a very strange strong smell, sort of smoky creosote. Garden bags had same smell, any idea what it is?

Chris Edwards ● 6658d

My question too. Ours is in the porch and the stink pervades the house when I come down in the morning.

Graham Weeks ● 6658d

It'll wear off - was even stronger on the orange garden ones and they took about a week outside to become virtually odour-free.

Sara Nathan ● 6658d

Interesting development. Gerry hold your breath, I agree with you on the provision of bags for plastics, as the various shapes that plastic comes in lends itself more to bag collection. Barnet will be starting in October.Also as none of this is perishable, Freddy Fox would have to be extremely hungry to open such a bag.Perhaps the smell might be a deterent anyway.Rats have been known to chew plastic cable sheath, unless someone has been using them already to dispose of their socks!!

Colin Vaughan ● 6657d

Some people in our road seem to have a green bag for glass too

Viv Ellis ● 6654d

Take a look at the London Borough of Brent's site to see clear instructions on what you can recycle in Brent!They run the list in a better order as well - waste is last as it should be what is left after you have recycled.http://www.brent.gov.uk/services.nsf/CAT/Environment%20&%20Planning

Philippa Bond ● 6653d

I hate the things. Yet another thing to clutter up my small front garden. Where exactly are you meant to keep all these bags and other recycling devices? Might be ok for all the people with garages or big gardens.(I still reckon it all goes in the same landfill)

Al Stuart ● 6649d

... still reckon it all goes in the same landfill...                        ... or the same container to China.

Alan Brainsby ● 6649d

I had a look at the LB Harrow website this morning.  They are one of our neighbouring boroughs and seem very organised. However I was horrified to see that they have THREE wheelie bins.  Although their site is very clear about what should and should not go into each bin and when it is collected I would hate to have three large wheelie bins to deal with.  Their food waste appears to go in one of these with the garden waste.  From my experience of wheelie bins they do nothing to encourage reduction of waste and whether empty or full take up such a lot of space are difficult to clean and as they are nose-high are left outside often in the sun and so become and are more noticeably smelly.I reckon we are lucky with what we have in Ealing.  At least you can squash up the garden and plastic reusable bags. The food waste bin is under my sink in place of one of the small Ikea bins I once had there.I understand that recyclable plastic is sorted out of our white  bags.  I would still expect this to be done by hand.  There is a new plant in Dagenham that has just opened/is just getting going which I think will be mechanically doing this.  However there is still a big problem with plastics and I wouldn't blithely buy it expecting it all to be recycled.  I'd avoid it where possible.  The Slough (Lakeside) energy from waste incinerator won't be opening for another year.See the WRAP website:http://www.wrap.org.uk/blog/closing_the_loop_for.html

Philippa Bond ● 6649d

Perhaps a member of the Council would like to put these conspiracy theories to rest??

Colin Vaughan ● 6649d

http://www.guardian.co.uk/society/2005/mar/28/environment.uknewsI know this news snippet is 40 months old and comes from that dreadful newspaper "The Guardian" but waste mismanagement has happened.

Alan Brainsby ● 6648d

There are supposed to be tighter controls now. There have been several court cases over the illegal export of waste.China no longer imports household plastic bags/film for recycling. http://www.letsrecycle.com/do/ecco.py/view_item?listid=37&listcatid=217&listitemid=9755 http://www.letsrecycle.com/do/ecco.py/view_item?listid=37&listcatid=320&listitemid=9582

Philippa Bond ● 6648d

Oh dear Philippa! I must confess that 3 bins might be a bit much, but by your own admission you say that Harrow is well organised, thats why, no mess, I know we cannot see eye to eye over this, ,and farther back in the thread I think you will see that the idea of white bags for plastics met with my approval,and the reasons why, but how you can say that somehow the use of wheelie bins does nothing to encourage the reduction of waste beats me, a case of trying to justify your point of view? With a wheelie there is no hiding place, lift the lid and there it is. With your beloved bags the fiddlers can put anything they like in them and whose to know.So as we had in Enfield the ludicrous situation of Council officials ripping open bags to find out who is fiddling the system. To say nothing of Freddie Fox doing the same thing for other reasons. So we have Enfield, a mess, Barnet, neat and tidy, Harrow the same, Ealing? well I don't know, except the 'Filthy Acton'thread that ran and ran might be a straw in the wind!!(Ouch).No system is perfect, I conceed that, but I'm quite happy with ours in Barnet, and if the idea of Wheelie Bins upsets you so be it. All I know that as I walk through Cockfosters on a windy Winter's day,one half in bag strewn Enfield and the other in neat and tidy Barnet I know which I prefer!

Colin Vaughan ● 6648d

The website seems well organised. I don't know how all their residents cope with their waste or finding the space for three wheelie bins. We need to reduce our waste not just separate, sort and protect it. An increasing problem is the lack of provision of anywhere to put any bin at all.I also don't know where they stand in the recycling tables but they do have compulsory recycling.  They also have a food waste collection.  It was interesting to read this about food waste collections recently:http://www.letsrecycle.com/do/ecco.py/view_item?listid=37&listcatid=217&listitemid=10202We find one ordinary sized dustbin more than adequate for several weeks of residual waste.  The Ealing systems work very well - IF and when people use them properly - and if there is a good crew working your street. 

Philippa Bond ● 6648d

The Recycle Now website has at last been updated.  It also seems to have grown up a bit.  I always felt it was written in words of one syllable.The info on packaging is good.http://www.recyclenow.com/why_recycling_matters/what_packaging_does.html

Philippa Bond ● 6648d