Oh, The Shame...
My name is Greenwich Phantom and I am a trash-o-holic.
It all started innocently enough. I had a Green Bin and a Blue Bin and bought a supply of black bags. I put the organic stuff in the Green Bin. I put the recycling in the Blue Bin and the Bad, Evil Stuff in the black bag. I was a Good Phantom. Honest.
But then it started. I didn't notice at first, but then came The Smell. I looked in the bottom of my blue top bin in search of the source of said whiff, and there it was - a single, super-dooper-cost-a-packet Bio-Groove-Deluxe-O-Matic bag full of potato peelings and cabbage leaves, sitting forlornly cooking in its own heat long after all the other, good little bags, had been collected. I had been missed out.
So I called the council. I had to give my address and house number. Ah yes. They have us all on file. And the answer? My innocent-looking little bag was, according to their records,
CONTAMINATED
Oh My God. What on earth had I done? Had I deposited nuclear waste into the food chain? Secretly slipped a dead dog into my bin? Cleaned it out with Cilit Bang?
No. My super-duper bio-groove-deluxe-o-matic liner was merely the wrong kind of bag.
I had stupidly seen the words "bio" and "degradable" and assumed that biodegradable was good. I should have chosen "compostable." The difference? That would be an ecumenical matter.
Of course, I did know about the compostable thing and I've always made an effort to get the right bags (I just can't face putting slimy food remains directly in the bin and there's only so much you can wrap in old copies of Greenwich Time.) But I blew it. One second's loss of concentration in Sainsbury's (I long ago gave up trying to buy any from the council) can lead to misery and rejection. My super-duper-bio-groove-deluxe-O-matic bags aren't even black so the council won't take them as non-recyclable bags.
Oh why didn't I see it? Why didn't I notice before I went on the Council blacklist (which must be gigantic by now) as being The Evil Household That Doesn't Recycle? The villainous Phantom determined to CONTAMINATE the world because I just don't care if we all go to hell in a handcart...
I should have noticed the second I got the bag out of the little green bin and it wasn't dripping with goo (That's the real difference between compostable and bio-degradable, btw - 'compostable' is little better at keeping-in slime than a string bag...) Now I have the indignity of an uncollected bin and I will be marked for life. How will I bear the shame?
Folks. Learn from one who has been there. Shop wisely for your compostables. You never know who's watching...
It all started innocently enough. I had a Green Bin and a Blue Bin and bought a supply of black bags. I put the organic stuff in the Green Bin. I put the recycling in the Blue Bin and the Bad, Evil Stuff in the black bag. I was a Good Phantom. Honest.
But then it started. I didn't notice at first, but then came The Smell. I looked in the bottom of my blue top bin in search of the source of said whiff, and there it was - a single, super-dooper-cost-a-packet Bio-Groove-Deluxe-O-Matic bag full of potato peelings and cabbage leaves, sitting forlornly cooking in its own heat long after all the other, good little bags, had been collected. I had been missed out.
So I called the council. I had to give my address and house number. Ah yes. They have us all on file. And the answer? My innocent-looking little bag was, according to their records,
CONTAMINATED
Oh My God. What on earth had I done? Had I deposited nuclear waste into the food chain? Secretly slipped a dead dog into my bin? Cleaned it out with Cilit Bang?
No. My super-duper bio-groove-deluxe-o-matic liner was merely the wrong kind of bag.
I had stupidly seen the words "bio" and "degradable" and assumed that biodegradable was good. I should have chosen "compostable." The difference? That would be an ecumenical matter.
Of course, I did know about the compostable thing and I've always made an effort to get the right bags (I just can't face putting slimy food remains directly in the bin and there's only so much you can wrap in old copies of Greenwich Time.) But I blew it. One second's loss of concentration in Sainsbury's (I long ago gave up trying to buy any from the council) can lead to misery and rejection. My super-duper-bio-groove-deluxe-O-matic bags aren't even black so the council won't take them as non-recyclable bags.
Oh why didn't I see it? Why didn't I notice before I went on the Council blacklist (which must be gigantic by now) as being The Evil Household That Doesn't Recycle? The villainous Phantom determined to CONTAMINATE the world because I just don't care if we all go to hell in a handcart...
I should have noticed the second I got the bag out of the little green bin and it wasn't dripping with goo (That's the real difference between compostable and bio-degradable, btw - 'compostable' is little better at keeping-in slime than a string bag...) Now I have the indignity of an uncollected bin and I will be marked for life. How will I bear the shame?
Folks. Learn from one who has been there. Shop wisely for your compostables. You never know who's watching...
Labels: Green Greenwich, recycling
posted by The Greenwich Phantom at
12:22
22 Comments:
If you are deemed eligble for a wheelie bin the council will no longer give you any recycling bags. I have gone from recycling pretty much all my waste to recycling absolutly nothing. This new system is absolutly bizarre!
I didn't know they didn't give out recycling bags any more. That's a bit daft. Sometimes there's more recycling than will fit in the bin.
I confess that my green top bin is never full - I only ever manage one bag at most of organics - it would be much better if we could just put out our little caddies if there wasn't enough to collect - much easier to clean too. I'd try it - but the idea of not being collected in this weather is too whiffy to contemplate.
Generally I like the new system, but I wish they wouldn't just leave my bin without a note or something explaining why they haven't collected my organics. I made a mistake, for heavens sake. "Contaminated" is a loaded word at the best of times - but not to even tell me what I'd done is crazy.
Ah the wonderous world of Greenwich recycling. Not having been included in the first drop off of "compostable bags" it only took a mere 10 weeks before a knock at the door and a kind lady from the council said "heres your recycling bags" "ah thats kind " I said in a rather miffed manner "but I actually wanted some of the compostable bags for the left over veg my wife wont eat" she looked at me as though I had asked for some Class A drug, "it doesnt say that here on my list" "the list may be in error" I replied "I can show you the dozen emails to your department with confirmation of my request for compostable bags, if you would like to step inside...." she continued staring at her clipboard as if willing something to appear magically from the computer print out." I might have something on the van" and she came back with....very large brown paper garden waste bags."Will these do" "I'll take'em" and she ran up the street as fast as she could.
Great you might think, but no, not really, the sacks are so big that it takes a month to fill them only half full by which time the bottom of the bag has rotted as well! So this week I had to transfer everything from a plastic rubble sack to the brown bags, got crap all over me, made me feel physically sick, first thing on a monday morning, got it all over the yard which then needed hosing down........all I wanted was some of the little "compostable" bags....I dont contaminate like some people , what could be so hard...I'm off for a gentle weep.
I have got the little paper compostable bags from the Council - Although, I'm sure you're all going to faint at this information - THEY DON'T FIT IN THE CADDY!
So silly... Plus, even though I'm using the paper bags, and also previously the compostable bags, my organic waste bin outside STINKS! So horrid! Ewww! Are Greenwich council going to clean it for me?!
PS - Phantom, had a great image in my head of a big list of names with PHANTOM in red pen!! The naughty list!
I'm rather fond of the caddy system and take some delight in engaging in what somebody I know insists on calling 'the medieval practices' (No- I only recycle food waste in the greentop bin and have not yet taken to taken to emptying chamber pots or defenestrating bags of shite from upstairs- but if Greenwich Council would like me to do that...).
On reading the piece from THE NEWLY SHAMED GREENWICH CONTAMINATOR I now feel rather smug that I managed to buy the right sort of bags- Sainsbury's own brand 'Home Compostable's' which come in a green box and fit 10 litre caddies. They don't come cheap at about thirty bob for 10 though.
Is it OK to put bones in the caddy? Its all a bit of a fad anyway (cue angry response from more highly evolved beings).
I gave up on the council system the first week they tried it - by the time you've lined the compost caddy with newspaper, you have enough room left for an apple core at most.
We now have two bins in our kitchen - one is a 'black bin bag' bin, the other is a split recycling bin with two 30 litre compartments. I found compostable bags in all sizes at http://www.biobags.co.uk/ and ordered 100 of them. So organic recycling goes in one side, plastics/paper in the other. So far no problem, though I think I'd probably buy a 2x20 litre bin next time, we don't fill the 30 l bag in the 3 days it takes before it needs emptying (major downside with compostable bags - they start composting the second you put food in them!).
Selectrics in Blackheath now stocks BioBags of sensible sizes (i.e. not just compost caddy or wheelie bin), but they're charging a similar price for a roll of half the number of bags.
I think the answer is to eat only microwaveable ready meals. Then there's no organic waste left over... ;-)
YOu know, Gwladys, maybe I should change the title of this blog to The Greenwich Contaminator. It has a certain ring to it.
My downfall came when I ran out of compostables and, since I was at a posh garden centre in Ware (it's a long story) I thought I'd get some there. They didn't have any usual brands and the store was closing, so I just got the one that had pretty printed ties saying "bio" along them. I try not to remember how much I paid for them.
But I've learned my lesson now. Neighbours pass me in the street looking the other way. They just don't know what to say to me. I'm a leper, a social outcast. Bless me, Chris Roberts, for I have contaminated.
TGP - it could have been worse. When the original two bin recycling system was brought in, a friend who was suffering from severe post-natal sleep deprivation accidentally slung a dirty nappy in the blue-top recycling bin. Unlike you, she didn't have to phone to find out why it wasn't collected - they'd taped it up with pseudo-police crime scene tape and attached a huge CONTAMINATED notice to it. Shame is all relative...
Subtle.
Ahh Phantom, the EXACT same thing happened to me a few weeks back.
I foolishly thought bio-degradable bags were fine but oh no. They don't even tell you or leave a note or anything. I got back from work and just thought they'd missed me.
Even funnier was that after this event my bin was due to be cleaned the next day, but I got a note through the door from the cleaning company saying my bin was "CORRUPTED" - Haha!!
The way the council's approaching this is through its usual top-down we-know-best style - and because it doesn't communicate with its residents properly, it ends up discrediting a worthy scheme which clearly hasn't been thought through properly.
Someone in our street leaves out their little caddy, and it seems to get collected.
I have the correct little brown bags (which I do put bones in). Most of my green waste goes into my own compost bin, so I only have a very small amount left over. The council often fails to collect it! I chased after them with it last week and made sure that they recognised the bag as a proper council supplied one. They dutifully promised to collect it from now on, we wait to see!
Compost recycling? Ooh, the luxuries of Greenwich residence! This Lewishamist doesn't even get paper/plastic recycling collected and has to carry it all the way to the banks down the road.
Andy - where do you get your bin cleaned?!
the shame...the shame...
The biggest shame is that Greenwich Council never provided our whole street with the so called free caddies. Chasing the council has resulted in two of my neighbours receiving a personal delivery but that's it.
I'm not a huge fan of the new policy...I think it is too complicated for many people and as such has been counter productive.
Worse still it means innocents such as the Phantom will now forever be known as a Contaminator...oh the shame..
A friend who works for Greenwich Council but doesn't actually live in the borough asked if she could have a kitchen caddy but was told there weren't enough to go round even for residents. So imagine my surprise at seeing caddies being given away to anyone who asked for them at the two recent council Great Get Togethers.
I got my 100% bio-degradable 100% compostable bags from Asda in Charlton. I think they were about £1.50 for ten.
I do like the new system, but the first week I was so embarrassed by how little there was in my green bin (having a compost bin in the garden for peelings, etc) I started hacking back the shrubbery in the front garden and ended up with a very full bin and a very sore back.....
I have a LOT to say about this. I have been having problems for months (since January anyway) - I haven't got any bins because the front of my house in unsuitable, but nevertheless I diligently fill the clear recycling bags, food waste bags and black bags each week/fortnight as per the new Regime. But most weeks the binmen artbitrarily leave one bag, whether it be recycling, food waste or Other, either outside my own house, or they leave one or two others up and down the stret. I've emailed and phoned, several times, and was never given any answer such as 'contamination'. Perhaps because there IS no answer?? Is it sheer caprice on the part of the binmen? I have no idea. But eventually I received in the post a very long (and no very environmentally friendly) form asking to know all about my religion, ethnicity etc. and then finally at the bottom a little box about what had prompted me to contact the Council in the first place. Recent efforts to procure more clear recycling bags have also been difficult, and have necessitated many emails to 'prove' that I can't have a wheelie bin. Sorry for the rant but last week outside the Richard 1st some drinkers were complaing about it and I so wanted to share my grievances but was, believe it or not, too shy.
Also what are these 'compostable bags'? I've heard of or seen these before!!
"Compostable bags" mme giry are a mythical carrying device for food waste, I have heard stories about them but have never seen one.
Does anyone know if they recycle cat fur, I've got loads.
Hi Eleanargh - Lewisham council should be able to supply you with either a small green box for all recyclables or a big green wheelie bin. They don't take everything but it's better than having to trog down to the banks.
Benedict - I believe if you google 'cat + hair + hand made jumper' you will get some inspiration.
The whole system aka chaos is very flat-unfriendly.
We have 10 flats all emptying their crud into a few bins. It honks. Incidentally has Council (ITIW = In Their Infinite Wisdom) outsourced rubbish collection to private cos? I often see non Council rubbish trucks emptying (or not) our bins.
Collectively, we refused to pay £9 for a black bin so just took off the red stickers and wrote 'black' on them. They do get collected occasionally, but as they contain nasty stuff like baby nappies and cat litter, it ain't lavender out front.
Read an article in some or other national newspaper that your contaminated bags are actually better for the environment than their compostable ones. Clear as mud.
PS who chooses the words for the word verification? Today's is a cracker.
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