Reuse and Recycling Centre
Nathan Way, Plumstead, SE28
This is the bit of the Council's refuse site that we used to call "going down the dump." A few years ago it was changed to being slightly more recycling-friendly, but it has had quite a facelift recently and though not quite perfect yet, is definitely going the right way for my money.
Firstly, you now drive up onto a ramp and drop your waste into the various skips rather than risking life and limb climbing those slippery metal steps with giant bin bags. Secondly, they've designed it for fewer hold-ups (though there were still a few traffic jams when I was there.) Thirdly, they've got more different sections so that more things can be separated, which is A Good Thing. Everything from household batteries to paint and household chemicals can now be separated - which means that toxins don't leach out into the water supply whilst they're in landfill.
The big change is that they're introducing a new bit which is not dissimilar to Greenwatch, but for household items rather than office furniture. There's a new area for unwanted white goods, furniture etc, which will be reconditioned - either just cleaned if they're still working or mended if they're repairable - by young people who are being NVQ trained in this field and then either used by the council for helping needy people or young families or re-sold to the public.
I understand that goods will be on sale at the reuse and recycling centre itself, but I've also heard rumour that there will be a dedicated shop at the industrial estate in Bugsby's Way on the Peninusula. Goods will be very cheap (naturally) and if you have a Greenwich Card, they will be subject to further discounts. I think this is a great idea - and can only hope that they will expand the project to other, smaller items that might turn up in the "household waste" bins which still go to landfill. I still weep when I see what is being thrown in them. The other day I saw huge planters (the sort that cost a fair whack in B&Q,) a not-unsalvageable bicycle and some good-looking plastic boxes, all of which, given a hose-down, would have gone very happily if they were placed on Freecycle.
I totally applaud Greenwich Council for introducing all this. I believe it's a good move - especially since any money raised from the sale of these goods will go to help train young people.
They're also going to be changing our rubbish collections - or so I've heard. The blue-top recycling bins (which, by the way, can take virtually eveything except polystyrene, organic material and those cardboard fruit juice packs with the aluminium linings) will be collected once a week.
They will be converting our green-top bins from general rubbish to organic - so everything from chicken bones to hedge clippings, eggshells to left-over pizza. These will also be collected once a week and taken to a special, covered, ENORMOUS compost bin-type thing where they will collect the methane and sell it to gas companies, and the compost which they will sell to local developers for topsoil. There shouldn't be any smells as people can either collect their organic waste in paper bags or cardboard boxes inside their bins or use special cornstarch bags which will rot down with the rest of the waste.
Anything else will be picked up in bags every other week - theoretically there will be virtually none of it.
I also think this is a good idea. The more the council can collect, recycle and sell, the less our concil tax will be and the less guilty I'll feel about throwing things away. They're making an effort - albeit because Governement and EU directives are forcing them to.
So - that's household waste well on the way to being dealt with soundly, but we still have a problem. There are no Governement directives about small and medium-sized businesses recycling waste, and until shops, businesses and offices are also forced to recycle the huge amounts that they accumulate, the work the council's doing with our household stuff will be less effective than it could be. Some businesses are doing it anyway, but they need to be given more incentives - carrots and sticks. We're all in this together, whether we want to be or not.
This is the bit of the Council's refuse site that we used to call "going down the dump." A few years ago it was changed to being slightly more recycling-friendly, but it has had quite a facelift recently and though not quite perfect yet, is definitely going the right way for my money.
Firstly, you now drive up onto a ramp and drop your waste into the various skips rather than risking life and limb climbing those slippery metal steps with giant bin bags. Secondly, they've designed it for fewer hold-ups (though there were still a few traffic jams when I was there.) Thirdly, they've got more different sections so that more things can be separated, which is A Good Thing. Everything from household batteries to paint and household chemicals can now be separated - which means that toxins don't leach out into the water supply whilst they're in landfill.
The big change is that they're introducing a new bit which is not dissimilar to Greenwatch, but for household items rather than office furniture. There's a new area for unwanted white goods, furniture etc, which will be reconditioned - either just cleaned if they're still working or mended if they're repairable - by young people who are being NVQ trained in this field and then either used by the council for helping needy people or young families or re-sold to the public.
I understand that goods will be on sale at the reuse and recycling centre itself, but I've also heard rumour that there will be a dedicated shop at the industrial estate in Bugsby's Way on the Peninusula. Goods will be very cheap (naturally) and if you have a Greenwich Card, they will be subject to further discounts. I think this is a great idea - and can only hope that they will expand the project to other, smaller items that might turn up in the "household waste" bins which still go to landfill. I still weep when I see what is being thrown in them. The other day I saw huge planters (the sort that cost a fair whack in B&Q,) a not-unsalvageable bicycle and some good-looking plastic boxes, all of which, given a hose-down, would have gone very happily if they were placed on Freecycle.
I totally applaud Greenwich Council for introducing all this. I believe it's a good move - especially since any money raised from the sale of these goods will go to help train young people.
They're also going to be changing our rubbish collections - or so I've heard. The blue-top recycling bins (which, by the way, can take virtually eveything except polystyrene, organic material and those cardboard fruit juice packs with the aluminium linings) will be collected once a week.
They will be converting our green-top bins from general rubbish to organic - so everything from chicken bones to hedge clippings, eggshells to left-over pizza. These will also be collected once a week and taken to a special, covered, ENORMOUS compost bin-type thing where they will collect the methane and sell it to gas companies, and the compost which they will sell to local developers for topsoil. There shouldn't be any smells as people can either collect their organic waste in paper bags or cardboard boxes inside their bins or use special cornstarch bags which will rot down with the rest of the waste.
Anything else will be picked up in bags every other week - theoretically there will be virtually none of it.
I also think this is a good idea. The more the council can collect, recycle and sell, the less our concil tax will be and the less guilty I'll feel about throwing things away. They're making an effort - albeit because Governement and EU directives are forcing them to.
So - that's household waste well on the way to being dealt with soundly, but we still have a problem. There are no Governement directives about small and medium-sized businesses recycling waste, and until shops, businesses and offices are also forced to recycle the huge amounts that they accumulate, the work the council's doing with our household stuff will be less effective than it could be. Some businesses are doing it anyway, but they need to be given more incentives - carrots and sticks. We're all in this together, whether we want to be or not.
Labels: Green Greenwich, Services
posted by The Greenwich Phantom at
08:31
14 Comments:
Can I ask where you heard about this?
In theory it sounds like a great idea. I'm making big efforts on the recycling front and manage to fill my blue bin every two weeks while making perhaps half a sack of other rubbish. Weekly collections will be great, especially as new neighbours are now using the blue bin.
Is there going to be a new bin for non-recyclable and non-compostable waste? Unfortunately there's still a reasonable amount that falls into that category and the idea of just putting it out onto the street in sacks is a bit disconcerting.
'fraid I can't reveal my sources!
According to the person who told me though, there is very little indeed that cannot be either composted or recycled - it seems to boil down to polystyrene and juice boxes (though I'd like to know where they stand on corks and wire - not that I'm an alcoholic or anything ;0))
I agree it would help to know that for sure. I too am slightly concerned about the sack thing, but since I don't think this will be happening for about a year yet, hopefully they will come up with something a little more robust to do with what's left over. My own concern is more to do with education - changing an "ordinary" bin to an organic-only will run the risk of people not really understanding and putting stuff in that will contaminate it rather than keeping it separate in a bag. I really hope they can sort it out.
More news when I get it...
BTW - just saw your blog. Nice one.
Can't do a link just now as I need to get the links bit working on my page (all v. complicated)but will attempt it soon...
Off the top of my head I can also think of things such as yoghurt pots that I've been told can't be recycled.
I also don't recycle things, such as cheapish plastic or meat packaging, that don't have the recycle sign on them. Maybe I'm wrong on that....
In the bin also go things like tissues, cotton buds and other things that we can't flush down the loo but don't want to see getting blown around the streets....
The council does need to push recycling, I see so many bottles and things just dropped into bins around where I live.
I really do applaud the Council on this and am doing my absolute best to recycle whatever I can. I even bought a lovely compost bin that looks like a beehive. Not too keen on the little flies that swarm out whenever I open it though. I am down to one small sack of rubbish a week and five recycle sacks, collected fortnightly.
With respect to your original comment about businesses, all the time that they are charged by the Council to collect their rubbish I dont think they will bother too much.
There's a huge amount of education needed. I know that yoghurt pots are now fine (a swirl round with a spot of water will stop nasties going on) - apparently they banned them to start with because people weren't cleaning them first and bins were getting smelly. In fact all pastics are good, I'm told, though the meat dishes that are polystyrene can't go in. Tissues cotton buds etc are also fine - but I hear what you're saying about nasties blowing around the streets. maybe a plastic bag?
But everyone seems to be getting this confused. I'm as puzzled as many over some things. We really need to have some definitive lists or something made as most of us are just guessing.
So used paper tissues can currently go in the recycling?
Well, I'd *hope* the council does this.
I took some electrical goods down to Nathan Way (by bus, natch) after getting a council flyer telling me they'd take them down there.
They looked at me like I'd just come from Mars.
I applaud Greenwich Council for locating the rubbish dump as far away as possible from all of the nice parts of Greenwich. I went to Plumstead once. Once.
As far as I know yes, tissues are fine (I guess it's up to individual conscience as to the contents...)
I think it might take a while for the guys who actually work at the place to cotton on to what's going on. It's all very new and I don't think the new refurbishment scheme has started yet. But I think it's starting imminently. (I hope.)
Going back to the small-business-reycling bit, when we last had rubbish collected as a business (i.e. when I wasn't working from home) we didn't have a recycling collection at all, just a "normal" weekly collection of sacks. I took the "easy" recycling stuff (cans, bottles) home and recycled it there.
This will definitely vary from area to area, though. The council into whose area the office fell had outsourced business waste collection (and maybe residential as well) to a firm who were stupendously disorganised at the job (and the billing, and the ceasing of billing...)
Hmm. And this is someone who actually WANTS to recycle. There are enough hurdles already - there need to be easy solutions created for businesses the way that they have for householders (well in this borough anyway.) So far Greenwich Council have been working hard at getting down household waste - but until they actually HAVE to, councils will never see it as a priority.
I fell out with the Council when I had a very small business in Greenwich (actually I was always falling out with them) but on this particular occasion I said that I would take my rubbish home and re-cycle it rather than buy their sacks. As I both lived and worked in Greenwich I didnt see the problem but they did. I was threated with legal action for putting business rubbish in a domestic bin. You can`t win with this lot.
There has to be a bigger picture. Rubbish is rubbish and needs to be got rid of, and preferably recycled, by any means necessary. I guess that we pay for household recycling through our council tax, perhaps they need to hike up the business rates if they want to 'hide' recycling costs to businesses. Whatever it is, it needs to be done soon.
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