No cardboard in Shropshire’s green bins
Friday 21st October 2011, 11:30AM BST.
Families in more than 130,000 Shropshire homes who recycle cardboard in their garden waste will no longer be able to do so from the end of next month.
Changes to national composting rules mean that cardboard cannot be mixed with garden waste in a move which is designed to improve the quality of compost made for the gardening market.
The new regulations mean Veolia Environmental Services, Shropshire Council’s waste contractor, will no longer be able to collect green bins that contain cardboard.
Council officials said cardboard collections would cease on November 28 affecting 131,000 households. Residents who wish to continue recycling cardboard will instead have to take it to one of the county’s five household recycling centres or to recycling banks.
The change is being implemented because the inks used on some cardboard mean it can produce toxins during the recycling process which will not meet the new national composting regulations.
To inform residents of the change, a leaflet will be put under lids of all rubbish bins from the end of October. A permanent sticker will then be put on garden waste bin lids to act as a reminder for people not to put cardboard inside.
Councillor Mike Owen, the council’s cabinet member for waste and recycling, today said: “We’re really disappointed with this change as it means we will have to change a system which has successfully reduced the amount of waste going to landfill in the county over the last few years.
“The change in regulations being imposed at a national level will undoubtedly cause some inconvenience. However, residents can continue to recycle their cardboard by taking it to one of our recycling centres.”
Donald Macphail, managing director of Veolia Shropshire, said: “We are committed to finding new ways of collecting cardboard so that this material can continue to be recycled from the kerbside.”
He said they were working with Shropshire Council to explore different ways of collecting cardboard.
By Russell Roberts
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In that case, they may aswell take my Green Bin away! I don’t have alot of Garden Waste and it is mainly used for cardboard. And how on earth are people with disabilities supposed to get to a recycling centre? We have to stock pile the stuff now in our own homes, and rely on someone else to take it for us???
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Same here…
But let us rephrase what the council are saying:
You can recycle it, but at your own cost: in time and petrol.
I take it that the price of cardboard has fallen. This is a disgrace: how about the dog wagging the tail for a change?
All this will mean is more jobs at shirehall in dealing with the dumped cardboard, or more landfill… either way we pay.
Disgusted.
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If you read the article it is nothing to do with the cost of cardboard going down or anything.
The main concern is that many cardboard items have printed ink on them. When this ink decomposes and goes into the compost it can then also put toxins into the plants where the compost is used. It is like growing your veg in a scrapyard. Some of the ink used in cardboard printing is extremely toxic and the concern is that it shouldn’t be mixing with food.
My sister will never put cardboard into the recycling bin anyway unless it has no ink on it for this reason as she wants to ensure all these chemicals don’t go into the ground, instead she takes it to the recycling centre.
Of course a simpler solution would be to have an extra bin for both cardboard and paper, and send it to somewhere like Shotton paper for recycling into new paper. Cardboard is only thicker paper so can be recycled along with paper.
There is also another solution – if you’ve got a coal fire use it as firelighters, you will then probably see all the extra chemicals that the council is trying to stop going into the ground – the lovely colourful flame burning printed cardboard gives off and then the wax effect as the lamination melts off the board, all this is going into your food when you put it in the compost bin.
And if you really want anyone to blame, blame Europe as it is Europe that introduced this concern about what goes into the ground, they started with electrical waste, now they’re carrying on with chemical waste.
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its nowt to do with the EU
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yeah right cardboard is toxic
what a rediculous comment
i eat pizza out of a carboard box and no harm yet!
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Shouldn’t we be regulating the use of these inks at source?
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The council must have known that this was on the cards and didn’t take the responsible decision to provide an additional collection to be made. I suggest the taxpayers leave the cardboard on the street and let the council arrange to collect it.
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i find it hard to beleive that major uk corporations use toxic ink. that is a strong accusation for the council to level at some big players.
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Yeah great idea. There’s not enough litter about so let’s leave food-contaminated cardboard laying around. Bring on the vermin.
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what about those of us who can’t get to the recycling centre?? my partner works every day and does 12 hour shifts most of the time. we have 3 children and all we put in our green bin is card. they can have our green back then and give us another black one. fly tipping will be on the up. the council really need to think about this one i am mad that the weekly collections on the black went and now this!!
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Read the article again and you will see that it is a NATIONAL decison not down to the Council. It appears the contractor are left with no choice!
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Yes darth, read the article againand read it correctly and you’ll see that it is not a NATIONAL decision not to collect cardboard! It is a Violia decision, there is nothing to stop them collecting cardboard, only to stop them mixing it with garden waste!
This is the final straw, I’m just going to pile everything into the black bin bags we have now!
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there is nothing to stop them composting cardboard and garden waste together
many other councils do this, wrexham and chester for example
there is no problem with adding cardbaord to compost they are making it up as an excuse to cut services
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WRONG Darth
its not a national decision
my mum lives in wrexham and they collect cardboard there
if they can do it so can shropshire
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I used to live in Warrington and they collect cardboard there as well, the main reason though is because Shotton Paper is in Deeside and they do deals with the council over in Cheshire, and Wrexham for collection of the cardboard and paper, Shropshire council and Veolia should get in touch with Shotton paper and arrange some kind of deal with them for collection and recycling of both paper and cardboard, although Shotton may be too far for them to bother.
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No Darren – i mean that in wrexham they collect cardboard for composting with the green waste
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shropshire councils website says they send all their paper to shotton paper mill
they also accept cardboard there too
so if they are sending a lorry there every day why not add card in?
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i used to live in watford and they collect cardboard and garden waste together for composting there too. just spoke to my mate who still lives there and the council are not chaning anything there. so if watford can do it why cant shropshire? clearly its not a national change then is it
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I’m a little confused by this.
So is Telford the only place that has designated blue bags for recycling cardboard? I’ve never put cardboard in the garden waste bin at any point…
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Yes, I thought everyone had the blue bags.
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National composting rules?. What a load of twaddle.
You have to have “browns” within a compost mix. I always compost, especially when using grass. If you don’t use paper/cardboard/straw etc the compost goes poor.
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I never put my browns in the compost bin!
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Great timing this, just before Christmas.
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T&W have been collecting cardboard from the kerb for a while now. I’m surprised SC don’t do something similar, they seem to be lagging behind.
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Telford is light years ahead of shropshire on recycling in so many ways particularly plastic, the main reason why? because they have their own in house service to collect and arent tied into a 20 year contract to veolia
you should blame the muppets who privatised shropshire waste services this is their fault no profit comes first and service comes last even though we are the paying customer
like the bins
it stinks!
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huw should check his facts telford has been using private contractor for years.
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Telford & Wrekin Services isn’t an in-house service. Its a subsidiary of the Focsa group.
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grey bin it is then…
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Totally agree, may as well use the grey bin for everything.
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I think there will be a few recycle boxes on bonfires this year in Shropshire here. I know mine will be!
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i think i’ll just put all by cans in the grey bin too just to spite them
thats where the profit is the value is all in the metal
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good idea
the best way to make them listen is to not bother recyclign anything any more and put it all in your bin so it ends up costing them more money to landfill it – only then will they listen and provide a half decent mixed recycling shcme like more sensible councils do
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SO DOES THIS MEAN THE GREEN BINS ARE NO LONGER ANY USE NOW , WE DONT HAVE GARDEN WASTE WE ONLY USE OURS 4 CARDBOARD , I CANNOT SEE MANY PEOPLE GOING TO RECYCLING BANKS I THING ALL OUR CARDBOARD WILL GO IN THE NORMAL RUBBISH BIN . HOW STUPID
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but i bet that the council tax prices will stay the same. mind you saying that they will probley go uP.
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They will have to remove the green bin from my property then as it now has no use and takes up too much space. Can the bins be recycled? Is there a bus service to the recycling centre? Otherwise it will have to go in with the household waste.
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Look over there at the conclusion. C’mon everybody lets jump over there.
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Like most Market Drayton residents we have to travel a round trip of 22 Miles to get to Whitchurch and back, Surely this will impact on “The carbon footprint” more by lots and lots more trips to Whitchurch from Market Drayton? Come on Guys you need to implemnt more joined up thinking on this one. Not so long ago i had to wash all glass jars using lots of hot water before the recycling crews would take my glass and jars away.
God help our beautiful Shropshire countryside. I bet there will be lots of dumping going on…..
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you miss the point: its YOUR carbon footprint, not theirs.
They can pat themselves on the back for this using the usual statistical dissimulation to obscure the obvious: that this will cost in “green” terms.
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try living in cleobury we are more like 30 miles both ways from the tip in bridgnorth
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Thats so stupid.
But expect more fly tipping and waste appearing on the pavement.
There is no way I can fit all of our cardboard waste into the Black bin.
Suddenly weekly black bin collections seem a great idea! :(
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well i hope they will be giving us a box/bin for putting cardboard in then,as people will be just putting it in there general waste bin,which will cost us tax payers more in the long run.its about time we had better recycling facilities in oswestry like a separate box/bin for plastics rather than sharing them both together in the metal box as some of us have loads of metal and plastic.some places in the uk have these as well as one for batteries,cardboard,etc.
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I live in Oswestry and we have a black box for plastic bottles. I only discovered these existed when we we moved house, but if you ring the council they will have one delivered for you (mine came the same day).
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What a farce. Bin collections are one of, if not the most visible services the council provides. To cut these collections means we are getting less for one of the highest council tax bills in the country. In addition to that, the council heavily advertises that we should all be recycling, spends money on public transport, encourages us to ditch the car and use a bike instead then tells us that if we want to recycle we’ll all need to use our cars to get to the recycling centre. Disgraceful.
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This is really rather poor! The majority of my green bin waste is cardboard and that will now be going into the general bin I’m afraid. Surely this can be collected separetely as with glass, paper etc??
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This seems like a very sensible request. Could someone from Veolia answer sara’s question?
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Painting the bin black it is then, then I can have a bin for both weeks worth of rubbish instead of putting on my ‘Bin Jumping’ wellies and squashing a fortnights worth of rubbish into a bin shaped modern art structure
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Excellent Idea..
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Very Annoyed.
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Apperently the reason is that the inks and dyes used in cardboard packaging has been deemed potentially harmless as it does break down in the soil or during the composting process. Doh!
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It seem that your grasp of the language is as advanced as your mode of transport!
have been deemed
potentially harmful
does not breakdown
DOH!!!
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I thought it was D’oh!
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Utter tosh rick shaw
ive compost for years and run an organic farm there is no problem with putting cardboard in the mix it helps bulk it out, adds carbon and the (vegetable oil based) inks biodegrade
i have my farm and my composted tested and certified and it is not i repeat not a problem / excuse
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It is TRUE that cereal boxes have toxic dyes in them – i read it in the Daily Mail – they can cause cancer – so dont eat any cereal from boxes with print on them (which is most all of them) http://www.dailymail.co.uk/health/article-1364068/Recycled-cereal-boxes-contain-dangerous-levels-cancer-causing-mineral-oils.html
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must be true in the mail then
LOL
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That’s the problem with Shropshire, too many people believing the Daily Mail. They must have been running out if ideas with the toxic dye story as they have reported virtually every substance in the world as either causing or curing cancer. Who is putting the toxic dyes on the packaging,illegal immigrants? How will it affect house prices and what place does it have in the conspiracy to kill Diana!
There are strict rules regarding food packaging as well as the General product safety regulations. The story is complete Bulls***
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Not true
all newspaper ink in the uk is 100% soy and linseed based
also virtually all printers in the uk have now switched from petroleum based to veg inks
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Not true rick shaw – printing inks break down in the composting process and are HARMLESS
you have swallowed the corporate line clearly!
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I’m sure that they will just provide us with a bag or something to put the cardboard in.
Can’t see them putting up with the additional landfill costs.
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What a backward step! why can’t they collect it kirbside and recycling it anyway on the same day. No more work for the bin men and it’s keeps up shrewsbury recycling figures up.
Come on Council gt your thinking heads on and work something out !!
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Next you will be told to stand on your head and sing the national Anthem backwards when your rubbish is collected. Come on people, don’t put up with such nonsense. If they are so bothered about it all, let the council take the cardboard to a recycling centre themselves. Since when did we all become dustmen?
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I did not realise that taking your own cardboard etc to the recycling centre makes you a bin man, I will have to ask the council for a weekly wage!!! Its not just the council who are responsible for recycling, its ours as well.
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Dont forget your “gold plated” pension! :)
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You miss the point, Louise. We PAY for the service. Now they are withdrawing the service and expecting us to do their job by driving to the tip, ie shifting the financial burden onto us. I doubt very much if we’ll get a reduction in council tax for the reduction in service. We should not stand for it.
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Told you all its just one big waste of time , before long they will be asking you to take your own rubbish to the recycling plant.
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A backward step by a backward authority. Pathetic.
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Another backward step in Shropshire!!
Ludlow Biodigester, opposition to Biomass, and now cardboard.
Most serious gardeners know that cardboard is an essential `brown` in making good compost. On the scale of the domestic collections cardboard should be a benefit to the end product
I’m sure the experts at Shropshire Council will now think of a way of recycling cardboard, and introduce it before the end of November (or not?)
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Whilst I understand the decision not to continue to include cardboard with green stuff, I would have expected Veolia to organised an alternative means of roadside collection. The result of this decision is that more cardboard will end up in landfill.
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Or perhaps this decision was made by the Government over last few days so alternate methods could not be made in time!
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No Darth that is not true
the government have not done this it is veolia / shropshire council decision because they are incompetenet
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the issue of toxic dye in cereal boxes was flagged up in the press in march 2011 it was big national news all over the place so i am amazed no one at the council / veolai noticed
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My granddad was a dustman when they used to collect metal bins full of rubbish once a week – if this is such a problem why dont we go back to that. At least the rubbish got taken away.
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perhaps you can sort something out with your grandad then?
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In those days the dustmen collected the bins from the house and brought them back. Now we are expected to take the bins out ro the road and bring them back in. We get a reduced service at a vastly inflated cost.
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what of course isn’t said in the article is that this has been forced upon the council at short notice.
And as someone has said above it’s because of the dyes and inks in the cardboard causing an issue.
They will be trialling new services to compensate post november.
And you do have to realise, that to take the cardboard seperatly, would mean another crew, another wagon for every area currently, so unless you want council tax to go up until it’s sorted, please realise what’s actually happening instead of “i must blame the council for this”. To the star’s credit it actually says it’s not the council’s change, it’s a NATIONAL Change for any council doing the same as Shropshire.
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nonesense
its NOT a national change is it
its just shropshire council cutting services
my mum lives in wrexham and if they can do it why cant shropshire
oh dont tell me wales isnt part of the national set up is it?
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Get your facts right.
It IS a national problem. The government have forced this on 60 local authorities:
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-shropshire-15400474
It seems that with the changes forced on them, Shropshire council have no provision to deal with cardboard.
Also you will find that T&W council do not have the problem as they ship their cardboard abroad for re-use, which may be the case for your mum in Wrexham!
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Get your facts right Dio
it is not a national problem, shropshire is alone is dumping cardboard into the waste stream other councils have set up recycling schemes instead
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other councils affected by this clearly http://www.highpeak.gov.uk/news/press/2011oct2116.asp
BUT they have the rational, logical, green, grown up, customer focused response of putting it in the paper instead
why is Shropshire council alone asking people to landfill it instead?
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The charge is landfill tax which has been in place for over a decade. The issue is that commercial cardboard is no longer wanted in commercial compost (EU directive). However, there is a very simple answer, collect cardboard seperately. Unfortunately this will need the issue of another collection box.
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LOL really, a national change for ENGLAND, last time I checked, Wrexham was in Wales. Jog on.
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But Chester is in England funny and they compost cardboard with their garden waste there. DOH!
looks like ur wrong then, its NOT A NATIONAL CHANGE!
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there is NO problem with ink and dyes in cardboard – they break down in the composting process through natural biodegredation aided by humic acid you can test the resulting compost for traces of any chemicals and they are just not there
trust me i work in the composting certification industry, i have tested thousands of samples from local authority sites for a whole manner of pollutants and its just not the case they are not present
do you really think food manufacturers would package their food in material with toxic ink on it, come on its not the case
this in bourne out in particular by the fact that many farmers / councils are continuing to compost cardboard as usual
shropshire is more or less unique in taking this decision
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@Carol. You are either unique or you are not. Clearly in this case Shropshire is not unique in making this decision.
http://www.south-derbys.gov.uk/housing/recyling_rubbish_and_waste/composting/default.asp
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SURELY WHAT THEY DO IN DERBY IS NOT RELEVANT! shropshire council should sort something out with shropshire farmers to process this waste mixed with manure and stuff it would rot down in no time
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But the better reaction to this is what Derby has done and put on a recycling service instead
if they can do it why cant shropshire council do it? its not rocket science is it
http://www.derbyshiredales.gov.uk/our_website/latest_information/information/information_about_cardboard_recycling.asp
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i think the point is that ever other council faced with this issue is organising a recycling collection to replace it so shropshire is unique in just saying that its too much like hard work to even collect it at all
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But how can this possibly be regarded as good for the environment if it involves countless extra car trips to the recycling centre?
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SHORT NOTICE?! Don’t give me that! Cereal box manufacturers have been concerned about using recycled board since March. Jordans, for example, are not using recycled board because of the potential risk of dyes making its way into the food chain. This is clearly what compost manufacturers are also concerned about.
This was always going to happen and the Council have failed to forward plan.
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Forced on the Council at Short Notice!!????
I dont think so matey
The issue of compliance with composting standards where cardboard is included has been a ‘hot topic’ in the waste / composting industry for about 6 years
With the development of PAS100(2005) standard many compost producers stopped adding sawdust, paper, cardboard etc to their process due to the presence of large chunks of undegraded cardboard and paper in the final end product, the material being treated with inks, china clay and other glossing agents and in some cases laminated struggles to become saturated in the composting process and requires costly and time consuming addition of water to break the material down fully, it also requires the maturation period to be extended for months in some cases which again increases the cost to the compost producer
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There is considertable amount of research dating back to 2005 that has flagged this up as a problem
For example http://www.wrap.org.uk/downloads/Feasibility_of_Composting_Wood_and_Card_-_Guidance_Document.882883e5.3946.pdf
for shropshire council to ‘claim’ they were ‘caught on the hop’ by this is scandalous to say the least as many of my collegues in the composting industry have been discussing this issue for atleast 5 years or more
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no worries BONFIRE NIGHT is coming lets have a fire with it all
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Read the full facts as given by Shropshire Council and Veolia here:
http://shropshire.gov.uk/news/2011/10/important-change-to-kerbside-cardboard-collection-service/
As part of the solution I hope that Veolia will allow placing cardboard in the kerbside black paper box used here in N Shrops.
The fact that Telford collects cardboard in blue bags shows the absolute nonsense in having Council decreed methods of waste recycling. If the same collection and sorting systems were in place across the UK then I am certain recycling rates would increase, and implementation costs fall.
I did wonder if the National changes have been made due to the increasing number of green composting waste recycling site fires this past year. Composting Green Waste is done using accelerants, Cardboard igniting at a lower temperature might have been a contributory cause.
Cardboard in Shropshire…. more fuel for the Battlefield incinerator?
#devilsadvocate ;)
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what a bloomin disgrace, to cut schools like wakeman is bad enough but to cut bin collections shows a lack of imagination and creative accountancy skills – it reeks of poor leadership from the walking pr disaster of barrow and ryley aka laurel and hardey.
there is ample savings to be found with the bloated management and back office at shire hall – they should not be cutting front line services and bin collections in partiuclar should be sacrosant they are the most front line of front line, they are the only real service the council still does
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So what’s most environmentally friendly;
1. Cardboard in grey bin
2. 15 mile round trip to tip in car
3. Bonfire
I’m afraid it’ll be no.3
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Option 4
dump it at shire hall in protest!
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Option 5
Build an incinerator and generate electricity to power your homes.
Win-win
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Call it a coincidence, but this is the date when they will start to collect plastic bottles in the Bridgnorth area.
So is one material being swapped for another to ensure the council maintain their recycling quota, without incurring extra costs?
Just a thought!!!
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I have a small garden and ample compost bin.
Just about no garden waste goes in my brown bin which they might as well take away now as all my cardboard – cereal packets, etc – will have to go in the green with general waste.
One step forward to steps back.
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I LIVE ON A COMPLEX WITH 36 HOUSES WE ONLY USE THE BINS FOR CARDBOARD NO GARDEN RUBBISH HAS WE HAVE CONTRACT GARDENERS . WHAT DO WE DO WITH 36 BINS ?
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Use them like I do , just fill them up with compost and press in 6x8ft canes and plant a dozen runner bean plants in June and you will have enough beans all summer long.
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This should help Veolia get nearer the target of waste needed to make the Battlefield incinerator viable.
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i recall an article in the star written by viola stating they had to employ someone to take the cardboard out of the green waste because there was too much and not enough garden waste
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Why tell us at such short notice ?
Surely they new this weeks ago !
For those of us who have already put cardboard in our bins for next Mondays collection and have garden waste on top of it this is a real pain in the nose.
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It comes into effect from 28 November. I sticker will be placed on each bin and a leaflet explaining the change.
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omg
that is embaressing
get a grip council
its not hard is it
they couldnt organise a drink up in a brewery
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nice one another cut to the service from the council which has cut batteries recycling, clothing collections, freddy the freighter, community skips, weekly food waste collection, weekly rubbish collection, what next? cut the bin service to monthly?
they wont stop collecting metal though with the scrap prices will they – funny that!
Its a complete pain and a massive massive cut to the service. I live in a flat so dont have any garden waste the green bin is half full most weeks but is used only for just cardboard so basically i now just have a fortnightly bin collection and no other service at all – i tell you they can have that green bin back i wont use it
all for £1,500 a year!
great service, seriously great
thanks
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Would one of you lovely people who have responded on here like to ring your local Councilor and remind him/her WHO THEY WORK FOR.
You pay their wages and they are there to do what you want NOT the other way round.
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Complete Hogwash! Most people will have now have no option but to put cardboard in the black bin and then the council will complain that too much is going to landfill.
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Here in Gwynedd county (Wales) all cardboard and paper is taken away weekly in the same blue recycle boxes (and same wagons) as glass, tins, plastic etc
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Cardboard is excellent for making compost
the guidance from the Composting Association suggests it should be no more than 10% though otherwise its too dry hinders the composting process
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Madness.
Well, I shall continue to put my cardboard in the green bin (at the bottom, under the garden waste) – only when tons of valuable garden waste is landfilled will the Council listen:
WE WANT OUR CARDBOARD COLLECTIONS. Box or another bin, we want it taken.
It seems to me that it is Veolia who pull the strings on this 27-year contract – and not our Council. If anyone else were touting for business, you’d quickly get the tools in to do the job – simple as that. If Veolia cannot come up with a solution, then boot them off the contract and lets get the Telford guys in.
The excuses coming from Shropshire Council are not good enough – there is no need to ‘trial’, plenty of authorities collect card separate from garden waste. Those managing the contract would have us believe collecting our Kelloggs boxes is as complicated as splitting the atom; its not. Just get a wagon and get on with the job you’re paid to do.
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I totally agree. So called professionals should be able to figure out how to collect cardboard without. Go and look at Telford who collect card seperately. Worcester who collect card mixed with other recycling. Or Powys who collect card with the paper. Or Wrexham or Chester who collect card with garden waste. There are plenty of obvious solutions. My 3 year old could figure them out.
I just feel frankly ripped off again as a taxpayer we pump hundreds of millions into Veolia shareholders profits each year. If these jokers are not up to the job get another lot in like the company that run the telford contract or SITA always used to do a good job in Shrewsbury or BIFFA in South shropshire. Or best of all when the service was run in house by council staff it was much, much more customer focused.
Anyone will do. Just get rid of Veolia. Surely they are in breach of their contract on this one? there should be break clauses which allow termination with such failures.
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when do people relise that veolia are just contractors for the council and have no say in what happens
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well with a kid in nappies i have NO space in my rubbish bin so i will be dumping mine at Shire hall, i guarentee they have a cardboard collection service for their own ivory towers so they can damn well take mine while they are it we pay them enough
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same old tories
cut cut cut
the environment be damned
vote blue and go green (NOT!!!!!)
greenest government ever only because of the green mould growing on your bin after tory cuts to bin collections
same old tories
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Telford and Wrekin collect in a blue bag. I also burn alot of rubbish at the end of my garden, then put the ashes on the garden,its great for the soil.
btw this cr#p about global warming is a load of old tosh,insineration is the way forward,the heat can be used to make a steam power station.
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This all seems a bit strange to me. Could it be a coincidence that Veolia are saying they can no longer recycle cardboard with our garden waste at a time when they are trying to justify building a incinerator in Shrewsbury when it is being put to them that Shrewsbury does not create enough of its own waste to justify the need for it.
I would also like to put it to Shropshire Council that maybe they need to seriously consider the governments efforts to reinstate weekly general waste collections nationwide, as i read an article a couple of weeks ago where the leader of Shropshire Council suggested he would not be considering moving back to the weekly collections in our county.
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Thats rediculous.
Surely they could make some alternate arrangements for us? Cardboard is probably the single biggest amount of waste we produce
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what a rediculous and infuriating response by the council to announce cuts now and then trials later. sounds to me like they arent interested in making trials a success then
they should be trialing it NOW or months ago ideally or looking at telford council who collect cardboard already so they cant put in place alternative collection methodology before cutting the service
this suggests a very poor lack of knowledge of basic elements of waste collection. who is in charge of this service? the council? or veolia?
either way they are clearly not very capable at doing their job and should be sacked
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first i have heard of this
suspect it relates to this previous star story
http://www.shropshirestar.com/news/2011/10/11/shrewsbury-incinerator-would-need-waste-shipped-in0/
which showed how there is not enough waste in shropshire to justify their incinerator. so now veolia are trying to deliberately create more rubbish to burn, cardbaord is (by sheer coincidence) nice and flammable
very suspect imo
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Clearly the middle class managers and councillors at shire hall are missing a point here
for real people in shrewsbury and the other towns this isnt a garden waste service with added cardboard, its a cardboard service with the odd dead house plant thrown in for luck. my garden unlike their 2 acre smallholdings is a 4 ft sq paved area. I dont have any garden waste at all so the green bin is a cardboard recycling scheme pure and simple. Cutting it is disproportionately affecting people like me and others in the towns where as for rich people in the country they still get the majority of their waste taken away
So taking it away means one week i get my rubbish collected and the other week i get NOTHING at all
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It all seems like a ploy and a plan to make the people of Shrewsbury accept their incinerator by making people moan about the collection of cardboard! Maybe they have decided to use cardboard as a form of fuel to fire this plan, some people don’t have gardens so only use the bins for cardboard anyway.
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if the ink and dye is the problem then i assume we can still compost brown cardboard boxes, egg boxes, toilet roll tubes and white card like any without print on it?
Perhaps we should all write to the cereal box manufacturers too? I mean after all if its a contaminant for the compost it cant be healthy for the kids to eat can it?
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Hi Brian as a keen home composter i would advocate composting only brown card as you say i have tried various types of shiny card over the years with mixed results. some does breakdown eventually but only if you get it really soggy but i have found some bits that are still in the compost bin after about 8 months when everything else has rotted down. i beleive its treated with additives and glossing agents made from china clay which stop it getting wet and so this is why its not good for home composting. we were always told by the council that it was not a problem for industrial scale composters though because of the extra heat they get on their giant compost heaps it was meant to be Ok but i guess the rules have changed
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In March 2011 there was lots of national press about toxic dyes in cereal packets but i thought the food standard agency ruled it was OK ? http://www.guardian.co.uk/uk/2011/mar/08/recycled-cereal-packaging-health-risk
have they changed their minds now? obviously if this compost goes on farm land then it gets into the food chain and so could cause major health problems with the local food netwrok
(mind you the council dont seem to care about the harmful effects of the incinerator on local agriculture and food places)
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So it cant be recycled or composted then if the dye is toxic. How come every other council in the country runs either a cardbaord recycling or cardboard composting service then?
Shropshire council is unique in taking this backwards approach to the issue
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I think thats the point m8 because of the dye you cant recycle or compost card any more so its all going to china
what do you think the chinese do with it? they are not exactly short of land for landfill there are they?
so at least shropshier council is honest to say all their card has to go to landfill now the councils like telford collecting card for “so called recycling” are just conning us
half of all recycling goes to landfill anyway
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i am most upset about this and will be writing to my MP about it. i dont care how they deal with the cardboard but simply to stop collecting it is pathetic
find a solution
NOW
we pay you enough they are spending hundreds millions on incinerators and public art and they cant afford to set up a cardboard recycling collection for us?
#bunchofclowns
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I am surprised that Shrops Cllr Martin Taylor-Smith, cabinet member, is not on here giving the council’s point of view. He seems to be on most Star news items when it concerns the council.
Perhaps he believes he can’t score any political points on this one….wonder why.
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he’s probably to ashamed to speak up for the recycling service after all its something in ludlow which the lib dems made a huge success of and since MTS came in to represent ludlow he has done nothing for us but cut the services here
we will remember this come the election
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i suspect he’s keeping his head down on this one as it shows up the council is incompetent for contracting to veolia who are unable to figure out a way of collecting cardboard until they have thought about it in the new year. Are they stupid or what?
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i think its refreshing that mts comes on here to be honest but he is not in charge of waste so i guess he is very glad not to be associated with such a dreadful decision
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When the price of cardboard goes back up and Veolia decide they want our cardboard again, will Shropshire Council replenish the boxes we have thrown away because they are no longer of use?
This is what happens when you privatise services.
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yeah too true
funny they are not cutting scrap metal or can collection though are they?
i wonder why that is then?
they profit from our waste and then charge us for it
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cardboard is currently worth £100 a tonne
if they cant make a profit from that then they must be not very bright or not very efficient at collecting
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Reading through the comments on here makes me wonder if we have turned into a nation or at least a County of whiners?
No matter what the issue, somehow the Council is always the villain of the piece – because it’s managers are overpaid, under-worked and stupid to begin with, and hand in glove with venal stupid councillors who are only in it for what they can get out of it. On the other side we have the armchair pundits, who from the comfort of their own home, without actually wading through the mountains of paperwork which usually accompany any decision, can infallibly supply the answer to every question!
In this case our dear friends in the EU produced a new directive. Regardless of whether or not the metallic inks on the cardboard do, or do not contaminate compost, regardless of whether cardboard is essential or not to the process of composting, the UK government decided – as we always do, to implement it in full and possibly more.
As usual very little notice was given of the change which impacts on the way Shropshire (and other local authorities) chose to recycle cardboard. It will not affect others like Telford, which decided to ship all their cardboard to China, rather than compost it.
Shropshire now has to work out how to change its collections, and given that it costs the council (which means the residents of Shropshire) to dump stuff in landfill, will no doubt be burning the midnight oil to find a solution with Veolia.
Residents can still put cardboard in the green waste bin until 28th November which gives them a breathing space too.
Yes it will be inconvenient in the short term. My green bin is more often filled with cardboard than garden waste given than manufacturers have switched from tins to cardboard for packaging, so I guess I won’t be putting it out as often, but neither am I going to have a hissy fit and demand the Council take it away.
Keep calm and carry on – if it got us through a war maybe it can get us through the great Shropshire Cardboard Disaster of 2011!
Oh and with the next elections coming up in 2013 maybe some of the armchair pundits would like to declare their candidature for Shropshire Council and show they can put their actions where their mouths are?
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wrong oswestrian its not an EU ruling you are wrong on that one PAS100 was developed by the UK government through the government funded waste and recycling company WRAP
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or they could just ask telford for their data and copy their system
surely with hundreds of councils out there collecting card there is no need to reinvent the wheel and no need to do a trial really, jsut get on and do it
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Well said. its not a crisis is it.
just chuck it in the black bin, who cares the council can pay for the landfill im not bothered really i might chuck all the rest of my bottles and cans in there too to be honest who cares.
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the problem is the congestion and cost
if 132,000 people all get in their car and drive ten miles to recycle thats a million miles a year not exactly good for the environment is it?
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why do they need to do a “trial” to collect cardboard – it isnt complicated really is it. Just who are these so called experts in waste management at veolia and the council that they cant honestly work it out off the top of their head about how to collect it. Im no expert but it would seem to me that you just get a truck with two compartments – one for garden waste and one for cardboard.
simples
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or they could just ask telford for their data and copy their system
surely with hundreds of councils out there collecting card there is no need to reinvent the wheel and no need to do a trial really, jsut get on and do it
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where the heck are we meant to put it then?
i agree with the comments above they should provide another box or a bag for it like virtually every other council in the country manages too
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I reckon if you locked a couple of chimps in a room with a map of shropshire and some felt tip pens they could come up with a better plan for collecting recycling than the incompetent folk at shirehall
Its really simple, bolt a compactor onto your recycling vehicles and just add the cardboard in with the paper
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If its inks are toxic to the soil then surely it is too toxic to recycle it either?
The only option is landfill then? I guess all the other councils doing cardboard collections are in the same boat then?
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no john this is the annoying thing
EVERY single other council in the land collects cardboard either for recycling or composting ONLY shropshire council has chosen to completely cease collections others have put in place sensible alternative arrangements
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oh dear yet another pr disaster from the council which bought you the i pad fiasco and the concrete slinky
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pathetic excuses from a pathetic council. i tell my children to act better than this. dont make excuses just get it sorted out.
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there is a bunch of adults with special needs in powys who collect paper and card. They can and yet the finest brains at veolia really not able to figure it out when they can?
Maybe we should get the disabled guys to do it for them then?
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Veolia have a solution – extra fuel for their incinerator
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what a simply barking idea – where do they want us to put it? two weeks worth of cardboard boxes takes up loads of space and im not storing it in my house on their behalf unless they pay me ground rent or discount my council tax
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Another failure from the Council which still pays it top brass more than the PM
the PM is fighting 3 wars in the middle east the council cheifs cant even organise a cardboard recycling service
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Greetings fellow Salopians!
Here in Califonia we have neighbourhood composting sites run by local church and volunteer programmes. Through my involvement in Sacramento I know that the National Organic Program (NOP) rule states that newspapers or other recycled paper may be used as compost feedstocks, so long as it is not glossy or contains colored inks. The NOP rule governs the production or handling agricultural products that are intended to be sold or labelled as “organic”. Colored inks often included heavy metals, although soy- and other vegetable-based inks are much more widely used now, especially in newspapers. Glossy paper is more often produced with a chemical pulping process, bleached to increase its brightness, and coated with calcium carbonate or clay minerals and may be treated with other additives to improve its printing characteristics. Colored inks used in magazines and other things like advertisements you receive in the mail may still use heavy metals. These may be present only in trace amounts in the finished compost
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Greetings Yank,
You forget that the U.S.A. is light years ahead of the U.K.
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ASHES TO ASHES…..carboard is made from wood and after burning as wood will return to ash. Throw the ash on the ground and wood will grow again.Then we cut the wood and start over………..renewable energy.
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i do recall having a long phone conversation with someone at SABC about this 6 years ago or more when they introduced it and i said the dye may be a problem but was absolutely categorically reassured that it was fine.
seems i was right all along you cant meddle with nature in this way
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this is a terrible decision
the council has a problem with its farmers so it is putting the problem on to you and me the taxpayer asking us to take stuff to battlefield (i live in pontesbury so its about 35 mile round trip!)
thats the wrong way round, it should be there problem to solve not ours, at there expense not ours
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According to DEFRA website, cardboard represents between 5 and 10% of municipal waste so thats about 8-15,000 tonnes of extra waste to landfill which will cost the tax payer about a million pounds a year.
They are meant to be saving money.
Are they thick or what?
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i dont understand this because their press statement says they cannot meet PAS100 composting standard but then their own website says you cant buy the compost because its all spread on land
Well if its all spread on land it doesnt even need to meet PAS100, you can spread waste on land directly as any farmer round here will tell you
so there is no need for the PAS100 standard to be meet, they could continue to compost cardboard and garden waste together and then spread it on any farm land under an exemption or with a waste management licence / environmental permit
this is what they do in many other local authority areas still to this day its a simple low tech cheap and local solution to create work for farmers and improve the land
ok so you dont make any profit selling the compost but its a very green closed loop sustainable system which supports sustainable agriculture and the local economy
you would have thought they would have checked the basic facts with the Environment Agency before starting a public panic
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As a seriously hardcore recycler i am very very upset about this and will punish the local councillors at the ballot box for this. that said i am so into recycling that i will still recycle it. but i might just take it over to telford as they seem to be a more switched on and green council i’ll let them have it
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SCC say WRAPO guidelines are driving this change. I have looked at WRAP website and they are satisfied with cardboard composting. I suspect, as previously stated, that this is more to do with Veolia justifying the need for an incinerator!
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my first concern with this stock piling cardboard is that wont it be a fire hazard if its all piled up everywhere ?
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one word – pathetic
sums up shropshire council in general really, no imagination, no skill, no entrepreneurship, no leadership, no common sense.
there is money to be made in cardboard recycling it should be an opportunity not a headache they just need to think smart to organise some kind of compartment on the back of the garden waste trucks to collect it seperately it should be pretty simple really they keep paper and plastics separate on one truck so why not do that with card and paper or card and garden waste?
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no two words – VERY Pathetic
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of all the bad things shropshire council has done in the last few years (the list is long) just think this has to be the worst ever
how to make friends and influence people (NOT)
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why not tell the cereal manafacturers to use non toxic ink, there is always an alternative.
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this is what happens when you elect tories shropshire people they cut cut cut just for fun because they are the nasty party
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But Shropshire is a Tory council with Tory MPs and a Tory government. And all those who voted for them are now feeling the effects.
If you voted Tory then you supported the Big Society” i.e. getting people to do the work of councils or government. Put your Tory principles into action – sort out cardboard collections and trips to recycling centre yourselves.
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they can take my brown bin away then frankly because i only use it for cardboard especially in the middle of winter and with xmas coming i get loads of cardboard boxes then and xmas cards
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from here in minsterly our nearest tip is north shrewsbury which is a 30 mile trip
can that really be considered adequate provision?
i think they are taking the micky there and inviting fly tipping and bonfires
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Just put it in the normal waste bin because I asked the council today if I would be able to do that and they said yes it was fine. Or you could just burn it like I may do also, have a garden bonfire to get rid or stick it in a garden chiminia type thing. Watch people start moaning if that happens with all the smoke etc.
This is just another stupid rule and regulation. To be honest I don’t knwo whay we bother to recylce at home they actually sort through it at the recylce centre anyhow, so whats the point have tubs and bins for different things…
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if ur a real vagrant perhaps you could help us out and take all the cardboard for building a “cardboard city” of affordable housing for tramps in shropshire?
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can i just debunk the myth that this is an EU regulation. IT IS NOT!
PAS100 was developed by the environment agency of england and wales along with WRAP who are the UK wide quango for recycling funded by the Condem government through DEFRA.
They have developed a compost standard to guarentee that when you buy peat free compost from the shops it is top grade. This has NOTHING to do with the EU, its a UK rule. It also has nothing to do with cardboard. It does not prohibit cardboard from composting. It merely requires the outputs to be free from lumps of plastic and broken glass etc which sometimes get into municipal waste. The simplest way to make this happen is to seive the compost to a very fine grade or to litter pick out any contamination like this either before or after the composting process. Its not a ban on cardboard this is just how veolia and the council interpreted it. Many councils are still collectign and composting cardboard all over the UK and EU.
So lets not have the right wingers portray this as an EU ruling please it just isnt.
The other thing as rightly highlighted in postings above is that this only applies to shop bought bags of compost it does not apply to on farm composting operations who spread the compost on their land. They can do what they like frankly as farms are excempt from virtually all waste legislation.
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im suprised this isnt national news if the inks in cereal packets really are a health risk shouldnt they be pulling them off the shelves? are they safe to eat?
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If all those disposable nappies wear sent to an incinerater instead of landfill for years to rot there would be plenty of room in the general rubbish bin for cardboard.
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Better still, Don’t be lazy and use washable terry ones. like my wife did, boiling them in a saucepan on the gas cooker.
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modern cotton nappies are much better now john jones – no boiling they can go in the washing machine and they coming in cool funky modern colours and have easy use velcro etc so they are neat tidy clean and better for babys skin than disposables – more people should do this it would save them hundres of pounds a year and the council should do alot more to encourage it – it would save them millions on landfill costs
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wow shocking i assumed most food packaging would be safe but i guess its not. i didnt realise it was so bad. if the inks are really that toxic then we cant put it on the land, but if they are really that harmful then i guess it cant be recycled either it will have to be incinerated and treated as hazardous waste. i certainly will be making sure i wear gloves when i handle cardboard in future. i cant beleive we used to wrap our fish and chips in newspapers so i must have eaten all sorts of toxic inks over the years. i am getting really worried about health risks now
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its not unsafe to handle ruth its unsafe to eat ruth
its all about proportion isnt it its not toxic to you to touch one peice of card but if the farmer has 5000 tonnes of the stuff all in one place its concentrating all the pollution in one place and then when they spread it on the land it makes it contaminated land so it cannot be used for food production as it could get in the fod chain its all about the heavy metals that they add to paint and ink mainly its mercury, cadmium and zinc. ironicly people take these additives as health remdies in low concentrations as a supplement but it can be VERY harmful in high doses if you eat it
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why cant shropshire just collect cardboard for recycling like telford does? all they have to do is pick up the phone to telford and wrekin bc and ask them how to do it. if they are so bad at it maybe we could ask the good folk from TWBC to come and run the recycling service in shropshire as well
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david cameron says we need to export more to the growing economies of india and china
so why not send them our cardboard? its greener than landfilling it!
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they are meant to encourage recycling
this is just irritating especially for cardboard i dont mind taking some stuff to the supermarket but cardboard is so bulky its the one thing they should collect for us and i’ll take the bottles to tesco
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not good
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we should be on to the supermarkets to get these deadly dyes banned really. i compost card at home but from now on i will only put the unprinted card in
thansk for the warning
lets organise a boycott on all products which use toxic ink! make the take it out so we can all compost cardboard again
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well they can have their green bin back then its no use to me now
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Can i just say with the above photo where the heck is that because they have both the black and green bins out on the same day! where i live its black one week, green the next.
maybe is this the future for shropshire council? just put all your bins out we dont know what were collecting any more card in the black bin food in the green bin, no maybe the black.
in out, in out shake it all about!
im confused. the above comments that recycling is “simples” are wrong. in south shropshire recycling is incredibly complicated and they are making it harder by the day
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sounds like there is still alot of confusion out there about whether or not cardboard can or cannot be composted. personally i plan to keep composting it until i hear different from some expert organisation i have been composting it for years will no ill effects so it cant be that bad for you
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simply get telford to run the waste services for the whole of shropshire
massive savings for both on economies of scale and you get a decent pick up including all plastics, batteries, lightbulbs and cardboard and they are running weekly food waste collections now (another thing shropshire council cant afford any more because it pays its management so much more than telford does) and telford charge less council tax
TELFORD 1
SHROPSHIRE 0
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this is so typical of the council
right arm doesnt seem to know what the left arm is doing etc
in one department they have an army of people employed to make us ‘green’ and yet the other part of the council is urging us to get in our cars and drive 20 miles to recycle cardboard – surely someone should be coordinating things at a higher level so all departments work together and pull in the same direction
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Yes, that is the role of the Cheif Executive. In Shropshire he earns over £180,000 p.a. MORE THAN THE PM
and yet they cant even run a basic doorstep collection of cardboard
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the timing of this is nuts
so basically for the next 3 months of winter there will be countless trucks running round shropshire collecting thin air? how is that valuing taxpayers money how is that green
they would be better off stopping garden waste collections except in summer and doing cardboard collections instead especially at christmas when we all get loads of cards
i dont think they have really thought this through very well
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im not very happy about this i do think even if they wont collect it they should give us another box because storage is a major issue
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where i live the collect recycling and rubbish one week and cardboard the next so now we have nothing collected at all that week. Even in the summer i dont really make any garden waste im just not into gardening. So frontline service is just stopped just like that. I want some money off my council tax then please.
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As the saying goes “you don’t know what you’ve got ’til it’s gone”.
We used to get such a good service from the district councils but its gone down hill fast since it was privatised by shropshire council
Bring back the old set up I say
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It clearly is a national problem because I found this on the interet from Bath Council doing the same thing (albeit Bath are replacing it with a bag for recycling)
http://www.bathnes.gov.uk/environmentandplanning/recyclingandwaste/newsandupdates/Pages/cardboardandplasticsummary.aspx
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Wigan seem to have a slighter better approach to this in that they have only banned the carboard with the toxic inks on them. So I assume in Shropshire we could do the same and atleast people can still add brown card?
http://www.wigan.gov.uk/Services/Environment/WasteRecycling/Recycling/GardenWaste.htm
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Is private sector always best? Certainly there are pro’s and con’s to outsourcing council services. I do hope this will make people think about the disbenefits of private companies running basic frontline services like bins for a profit. I dont mind them doing some stuff but there are certain things which the public sector are better at because they dont have to stress about profit they can focus on outcomes instead. It should not always be about what is the most commercially viable option it should be about what is best for people and for the environment. After all we pay the piper we should call the tune not them.
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All the more reason why we should pull out of the EU completely yet another reason not to vote for conservative traitors. Get out of the EU now and bring back the perfectly good system of composting cardboard with garden waste which works well in england what ever they want to do in wales or europe
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read above its not the EU ruling its a local decision by shropshire council / veolia
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…it’s actually a National Decision, neither EU or Local.
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how can it be a national decision if other councils in england wales scotland and europe are continuing to compost cardboard with garden waste then? EXPLAIN THAT!
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looks like its just shrop council doing this so cant be a national thing other councils still doing cardboard collection like telford (see other Star story)
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i wud like to see veolia say what the french do with their compost
i guarentee the same EU rules dont apply to the french
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Jean, darling, National refers to ENGLAND.
Wales, Scotland and the rest of Europe are different nations.
Plus Other councils in England that collect garden waste with cardboard are bieng forced to change as well. Read the BBC’s story as opposed to this. Any council collecting the gardne waste and cardboard seperatly will be unaffected.
EXPLAINED.
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omg that stinks
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however they spin it as a paying customer my service level has just been massively reduced and i still pay the same bill – i find this totally unacceptable
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if we in shrewsbury do not have any doorstep cardboard recycling, what is the point of the green wheelie bin for the next 5 to 6 months.If the ink is so toxic, how many people have been ill through handling cereal boxes. Have the council come up with any other plans to pick the cardboard up(in telford i think they have a bag to put the cardboard in). My normal bin is very full without the c-board, am I supposed to take the excess rubbish myself, will the council provide extra vouchers for people with trailers/ pickups. Has any one thought any of this through.Is this a cost cutting exercise in disguise!!!!!
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not happy about this
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has there actually been any incidents of poisoning from these dyes or is it just potentially toxic , like crossing the road is POTENTTIALLY dangerous
personally i will still add carboard in the bottom of the bin and green waste on top
i am not convinced the dye is truly toxic
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Also there are strict limits on packaging under the Packaging (Essential Requirements) Regulations which would never allow things that harm human health to be in contact with food stuffs
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what a shame it used to be a good system they better replace it with something soon
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veolia is currently trying to justify an incinerator nearly 5 times as big as is needed to deal with all the rubbish in shrewsbury and now this!
Cock up or conspiracy???????????
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Hears what i think of shropshire councils approach to recycling.
what a load of rubbish.
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pathetic excuses about toxic inks and dyes btw
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this sounds to me like more red tape from brussels which has been over zeolously implemented by some petty town hall beurocrats on a power trip who have this ‘elf and safety gone mad’ culture and have misred the regulations. the fact that telford can still collect it when shrewsbury cant just shows how different councils read the rules differently.
what possible health risk could result from newspaper inks and cardboard? I handles them every day when i read the paper and get my cereal box out in the morning for breakfast. Am i now at risk of getting ill?
I dont think so – its just beaurocracy gone mad. They will ban us recycling glass next incase we cut our selves or something.
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why dont they just have blue bags ?
i used mine just the other day and the lads do a great job picking up to be honest im happy with the service aint broke dont fix it
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totally confused as to what to recycle now think i’ll just put it all in the grey bin
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so the council cant sell this compost to the agricultural market because of new rules to improve the quality of compost sold in the shops for the horticultural market?
I think some one has messed up their facts here and got it badly wrong
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This national change I think it must only be for England because in Scotland they are still composting cardboard wih garden waste http://www.stirling.gov.uk/brown_bin
this is why we need an english parliment to make rules for England only and not have Scottish MP’s meddling with our waste collections whilst they have their own system unaffected
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plenty of space in my blue bin for it
just goes to show why we need an incinerator in shrewsbury then we can get rid of all these silly boxes and bins and just burn it all much simpler
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Another disasterous advert for Private Finance Initiatives – Gordon Browns legacy – £10m hospitals which cost £500m to build and are useless recycling service for the people of shrewsbury – thank god the days of clown brown and his debt fueled PFI folly is over for good
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But the days of P.F.I. in Shropshire will be a legacy of huge debt repayments on the incinerator for 27 years to come. So sadly my children and my grandchildren will be paying for Gordon Brown and Shropshire Councils ill thought out incinerator.
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i compost with a wormery and i put a layer of cardboard on top to keep the moisture in. eventually the wormys all eat their way through the card and i have to add another layer. the cardboard is all eaten up and my little worms are happy as can be and make great compost and juice for the garden
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dunno about EU rules but seems shrop interpreted guidance differently from others & over reacted? hard 2 beleive toxic inks allowed on food items?
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it seems like organised chaos at shropshire council i phoned up today waited over minute on hold to speak to a real person and they just told me to put it in the rubbish bin without any decent explanation of the reasons behind their decision
yours grumpily Jen
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rubbish rubbish rubbish
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They can have my green bin back then and i’ll have a weekly collection of black instead
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this is a really retrograde step
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WE NEED TO KICK THESE COUNCILLORS OUT COME THE NEXT ELECTION. SCC IS SO BADLY RUN IT CANNOT BE ALLOWED TO CONTINUE LIKE THIS
VOTE THEM ALL OUT
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with plastics just come in this is one step forwards and two backwards
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I’ve read the comments with interest and agree with many. One thing as far as I can see no-one has commented on the fact that we have so much cardborad to recycle as there is always too much packaging on everything we buy, let manufacturers cut the amount of packaging so we don’t have so much to recycle in the first place – win win ??
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what a waste i simply refuse to throw cardboard away like that its criminal to landfill it. they should set up an alternative collection this instant. its a frontline service for everyone and it really matters
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this is totally inconsiderate in the middle of winter my green bin has nothing but cardboard in it
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if they want me to take it there they shjould give us a bag or box for it
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Whatever the issues with the compost [and it seems from this blog that the Council has got alot of explaining to do] I think that people have a right to have it collected with the recycling. The Council should be able to collect it with the other recycling like many other councils around here do.
Personally I am a fan of the systems where you put all the recycling in one bin and the council separates this for you. This is the way most councils are going now, it is the modern sensible way to go. It would allow cardboard to be included with recycling and then there would be less in the grey bin and no problems with the compost.
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i predict a riot
this is just getting everyones backs up at a time when they should be doing everything that they can to make it easier to recycle (this would save the council millions on landfill costs)
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i am suprised the farmers are worried about spreading cardboard inks on their land because they spread chemical fertilisers on there which are surely much more harmful for the environment and food chain
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if the cardboard is toxic then it would be bad to send it to landfill too because landfills leak into the surrounding soil and water and so the only real way to solve the problem is to regulate the inks and dyes and only allow natural colourings from plants to be used in the first place
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what has shropshire council got in common with my bin?
its full of rubbish
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yet again our local councillors vote through cuts without thinking through the changes more waste to landfill will cost us all more in the long run they have a duty to check the facts out and not just beleive what violia tells them on these things
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