Its official our bins are being spied upon

Corby, Kettering and Wellingborough councils have started to employ bin snoopers. Yes these people are actually being paid to have a little rummage through your wheelie bins. The councils see it as a more hands on approach to see what exactly is filling our landfill sites.
The greater goal of the project is to find more information about the waste and help to find cleaner, greener ways of treating and disposing of it in the future to cut down on the waste that is being sent unnecessarily to landfill sites.
Collectors have photographic identification on them and there is always a uniformed member of staff on hand to deal with any issues that may arise.
A large consensus of residents however see this as the next step towards a big brother attitude by our governments and councils with one quoted as saying "I was quite annoyed. It feels like an invasion of our privacy."

Invasion of privacy? or necessary steps to reduce our landfill waste before it is too late?

Big cardboard recycled bins on sale now!

I'm Rubbish are proud and pleased to announce our new range of cardboard bins.
The bins come in 3 sizes and are sold in flat packs of 5 bins:
60 Litres - 700 x 185mm
100 Litres - 700 x 230mm
120 Litres - 700 x 260mm

The bins are very environmentally friendly as they are manufactured from unbleached board which mostly consists of recycled material.

Key features:
Includes single colour recycling logo, other logos and colours are available on request.
Ideal for high volume waste areas
Low recycling set up costs
Bins are also ideal for events such as exhibitions as a large amount can be put up at a relatively low cost and then can be recycled at the end.

Free Gift Click Here

If anyone has anything to say or any news that is on topic relating to the environment or recycling similar to our other posts then please send it to jon@imrubbish.co.uk and if we publish it on our blog we will send a free gift and a discount coupon.

Bin men refuse to collect bin 3 inches out of position

The latest in a string of negative stories surrounding bin men comes from Worcester. Here a resident put his wheelie bin out as he does every collection day only to return from work and see it had not been collected. When he asked why it had not been collected he was told that it had been left in the wrong place, 3 inches wide of the right place.

The resident was rightly very angry and Worcester city council did reply to say it was not their policy to leave bins that was not in exactly the right place.

Best before end throw away facts

Following on from our last post we have further facts as to why the environment secretary is so desperately trying to reduce the amount of perfectly good edible food we throw into our bins every day.

• 5 million potatoes
• 4.4 million whole apples
• One million loaves of bread
• One million slices of ham

The total amount is a mind boggling £10 billion every single year!

The Food Standards Agency believes that under European law use-by dates were still required, so the key seems to be arming consumers with more knowledge so they can make better informed decisions about what foods are OK to use after their use-by date and which foods are not.

Among the plans suggested by the Government yesterday include the following:

• To report supermarkets that use "excessive" packaging to Trading Standards.
• Retailers will be asked to use more recycled material and provide smaller portions to stop single people having to buy too much
• Recycling rates will be given a boost by collecting more bottles and tins from pubs, clubs and restaurants and providing "on-the-go" recycling points at airports or street corners for people to put in newspapers and plastic bottles.
• Councils will be encouraged to start collecting more materials for recycling, for example different plastics other than plastic bottles

Rubbish Banned!

The latest government proposal aimed at easing the overflowing land fill sites is to ban food, glass and drinks cans from our rubbish bins. This would most likely be enforced by fines to anyone who falls foul.
It is widely expected that this will be one of a number of plans to be introduced by the Environment Secretary Hilary Benn later today.
Another expected proposal is likely to be clearing up the mystery that surrounds "best before" and "use by" dates on perishable goods which would help towards reducing the average family waste of £610 of perfectly good food each year, a statistic that has to change if the government are going to really tackle the our throw away society.

Following on from this story we have heard that a company in the US Boxed Water Is Better plans on selling water in cartons (if you couldn't catch that from the title) which they believe will reduce the carbon footprint normally associated with bottled water by up to 80%. The only problem which industry experts see from this is the Tetra Pak carton which holds the water can't even be recycled here, they have to be shipped abroad, whoops!

Gift voucher rewards for recycling

An innovative US recycling project is soon to hit the Royal Borough of Windsor and Maidenhead in the UK. This project involves offering incentives in the form of gift vouchers and money off coupons based on how much and regularly each household recycles.
It would work by putting an identification chip in each bin or box that when partnered with the recycle truck that takes the recycled goods away would record how much was recycled on that occasion.
It has a lot of similarities to a recent attempt from some councils to tax residents based on the amount of rubbish they threw away into there wheelie bins however this recent incentive scheme is likely to go down a whole lot better than the tax ever did.

The results from the US users on this scheme have been staggering and it is likely to work just as well over here with the public seemingly willing to break a normal routine when a tangible benefit such as money or coupons is dangled in front of their face. Some examples include surveys, clubcards and questionnaires.

If you would like further information on this please go to Veolia Environmental Services

Flashing Bunny Bins the Key to Solving Waste Disposal?

No one can doubt Paul Smith as the great designer that he is, i am pretty sure he has the bank balance to prove he has been doing something right. However while searching the Internet today i came across a strange story from the BBC entitled Flashing bunny bins tackle litter naturally i read on.
The City Of London have collaborated with Mr Paul Smith to come up with this flashing bunny as a means to solving the capital city's litter problem. Admittedly something needs to be done with a reported equivalent of 100,000 dustbin bags of rubbish discarded every day! I for one am just not sure it is in the shape of a 5 foot bunny that's ears flash every time someone puts a piece of rubbish in.
I'm not doubting that there may be some psychological reason why its ears flash perhaps its comparable to when you give a dog a treat for doing something right in the hope of it forming a habit.
I would have loved to seen the brainstorming session behind it. Yes i think a bunny with flashing ears will definitely resolve London's litter problem and why not get Mr Paul Smith to endorse it. It sounds like the type of conversation that would of happened over cream tea (on expenses of course)
If anyone can think of a better idea for a litter bin than a bunny with flashing ears we would love to hear from you. Maybe we will even put it into production!

Facts Facts and More Recycling Facts

• Up to 60% of recycling that ends up in our rubbish bins could have been recycled
• This unreleased energy in our bins would be enough to power a television for up to 5,000 hours (far more than any self proclaimed coach potatoe could handle in a month.) In fact it adds up to 30 days of non stop television day and night!
• The largest lake in Britain could be filled with rubbish from the UK in 8 months. Just for the fact lovers, the largest lake in Britain is Loch Lomond at 71.2 sq. km
• On average 16% of the price you pay for a product is packaging costs which ultimately ends up in our rubbish bins anyway.
• As much as 80% of any vehicle could be recycled
• As much as 50% of the average dustbin
• 9 out of 10 people would recycle more if it were made easier.

Some astonishing facts that really does put even further emphasis on recycling for a better future.

Did you know...

• 1 recycled tin can could save enough energy to power your television for up to 3 hours.(cinema sized screens excluding)
• 1 recycled glass bottle would save enough energy to power your computer for 25 minutes.
• 1 recycled plastic bottle would save enough energy to power a 60 watt light bulb for 3 hours.
• 70% less energy is required to recycle paper compared with making it from scratch out of raw materials.