Thoughts on making recycling weekly and rubbish fortnightly

Maya123 said :

Fortnightly rubbish pickup would be a health hazard and stink.

Only with careless, lazy housekeeping. My bin rarely smells, even if I don’t put it out for several weeks, which is quite usual. This is not difficult. It only takes a change of attitude. Perhaps less rubbish collection would lead to this.

I am sure you have the best managed garbage bin in Canberra but don’t be surprised if the government mandates fortnightly garbage collections soon.
This may be the only way they can control the amount going into the Mugga Lane landfill to avert another crisis like they had in the past 6 months.
It would appear that they have underestimated the capacity for other Canberrans to generate rubbish.

Fortnightly rubbish pickup would be a health hazard and stink.

Only with careless, lazy housekeeping. My bin rarely smells, even if I don’t put it out for several weeks, which is quite usual. This is not difficult. It only takes a change of attitude. Perhaps less rubbish collection would lead to this.

wildturkeycanoe said :

bd84 said :

Based on what I’ve seen of other people’s “recycling” habits, the reason that the bins get full so quick is that people don’t use the bins properly and just dump everything in there, then complain about the bin being full.

People don’t bother flattening boxes, just dump it in the bin with the non-recyclable plastic bags and styrofoam/polystyrene inside. Put all the recyclables in a plastic bag which isn’t recyclable, takes up more room and will get chucked in the rubbish bin by the recycling people. Put everything inside other boxes, also takes up all the room and probably will get chucked out as rubbish too.

Then there’s the people putting shoes, clothing, pillows, kitchen appliances in the recycling bin too. All not recyclable.

Use some common sense. Put only individual items in there, flatten everything. Take big boxes etc to one of the many recycling drop off stations. Doing that, I’ve never had a problem with an overflowing recycling bin.

One problem with flattening stuff is that it tends to try and resume its previous shape over time and after a while, it becomes a clog for the rubbish underneath. So frustrating to see the bin emptied and have a third of the stuff still stuck in the bottom due to box expansion.

I flatten things, but fortunately I’ve never had that happen in my bin. If it’s problem, cut the box open. I also flatten milk cardboard containers. That helps keep the bulk down too.

bd84 said :

Based on what I’ve seen of other people’s “recycling” habits, the reason that the bins get full so quick is that people don’t use the bins properly and just dump everything in there, then complain about the bin being full.

People don’t bother flattening boxes, just dump it in the bin with the non-recyclable plastic bags and styrofoam/polystyrene inside. Put all the recyclables in a plastic bag which isn’t recyclable, takes up more room and will get chucked in the rubbish bin by the recycling people. Put everything inside other boxes, also takes up all the room and probably will get chucked out as rubbish too.

Then there’s the people putting shoes, clothing, pillows, kitchen appliances in the recycling bin too. All not recyclable.

Use some common sense. Put only individual items in there, flatten everything. Take big boxes etc to one of the many recycling drop off stations. Doing that, I’ve never had a problem with an overflowing recycling bin.

One problem with flattening stuff is that it tends to try and resume its previous shape over time and after a while, it becomes a clog for the rubbish underneath. So frustrating to see the bin emptied and have a third of the stuff still stuck in the bottom due to box expansion.

As someone who usually only puts a bin out after several weeks, and then it’s rarely close to full, that’s okay with me. The bin rarely smells either. Smelly bins and maggots mean the owner is too lazy to compost and likely throws in wasted food. That problem is usually solved by composting and not wasting food. My bin is mostly full of empty plastic packets (the CT is the biggest source here), and as those take up little room and don’t smell, that’s why my bin doesn’t go out most weeks. Less bin collections might make the lazy less lazy.

There is definitely a need for weekly recycling collection. I am happy to forego weekly garbage collection as a trade off, since there would no longer be any overflow to the garbage. I won’t lose any sleep if the status quo remains. It gives me an excuse to fill the ute up and go for a drive.

No way! Rubbish bins often stink after a few days. Recycling bins don’t.

recycling bins don’t attract flies, maggotts, vermin, and stink after 2 weeks.

I’m in favour of fortnightly garbage collections.
That way, all Canberrans can share the putrid smell peculiar to the failed land-fill in Mugga Lane that up until now has been the exclusive right of residents of East O’Malley, Isaacs, Fadden, Wanniassa, Macarthur and Chisholm.

Rollersk8r said :

I should have said – I never ever put recycling in the garbage. That’s lazy. Any recycling overflow can easily be put aside for the next collection – or taken to a recycling centre if you’ve just bought something with heaps of packaging.

Unfortunately you’re in a minority. A lot of people couldn’t care less. I don’t have bins as I live in a unit block we have hoppers. Every time I go to put stuff in the recycling hopper there’s normal garbage in it, often even when the normal garbage hopper is not full. I think it’s because some weaklings just don’t like the smell when you open the normal one.