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Today's rubbish rubbish

(18 posts)

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  1. SRD
    Moderator

    One side of my street has communal bins. one side has semis with their own collection. Of course, they all prefer to use our bins.

    Today I found our bin full of very long lengths of wood. filling the bin from side to side. I cannot see how it will be emptied.

    I then saw a neighbour (a cyclist! also a car owner) casually strolling across with more stuff. Randomly `I said 'was that you that filled it with that wood'. "yes".

    ARGH. the guy has a garden and a drive way and a car. He could take it to the tip. or arrange an uplift. or put it in the skip on the adjoining property to his.

    but no, he chooses to inconvenience all his neighbours.

    I do not understand people.

    I mean, I know we are probably unusual in actually booking a car club car to take stuff to the recycling centres. but this guy has a car. he is just lazy?

    ARGH.

    Posted 2 years ago #
  2. gembo
    Member

    As Nick Cave says

    people they ain’t no good.

    I guess that’s well understood

    Get the cat to saw it so it will get emptied?

    Wood also burns which is good for the fire pit and the soul.

    Posted 2 years ago #
  3. chdot
    Admin

    “which is good for the fire pit and the soul“

    But is it good for ‘the environment’?

    Posted 2 years ago #
  4. chdot
    Admin

    “very long lengths of wood“

    Sounds reusable(?)

    Posted 2 years ago #
  5. chdot
    Admin

    “One side of my street has communal bins. one side has semis with their own collection. Of course, they all prefer to use our bins.“

    Sounds like a job for SuperCouncillor...

    Posted 2 years ago #
  6. steveo
    Member

    But is it good for ‘the environment’?

    Significantly better than in landfill emitting boat loads of methane!

    Posted 2 years ago #
  7. crowriver
    Member

    1. - It will not go into landfill, it will be incinerated at Millerhill CHP plant.

    2. - If someone is brazen enough to actually admit fly-tipping, then report them to the council. They will get a fine and may be deterred from doing it again.

    3. - Builders' vans occasionally pull up in our street and the blokes fling all their bits of wood, plasterboard, etc. into the communal bins. Fly-tipping epidemic since they've had to pay extra to get waste disposed of...

    Posted 2 years ago #
  8. crowriver
    Member

    "But is it good for ‘the environment’?"

    No.

    ---

    Wood burning at home now biggest cause of UK particle pollution

    Fires used by just 8% of population but cause triple the particle pollution of traffic, data shows

    https://www.theguardian.com/environment/2021/feb/16/home-wood-burning-biggest-cause-particle-pollution-fires

    Posted 2 years ago #
  9. SRD
    Moderator

    We get a lot of builders rubbish too. I’ve complained occasionally. Difficult when it’s neighbours.

    Have offered to put their cardboard in
    The recycling for them a couple of times too. I figure maybe next time they might think about it. One of the big cardboard offenders had Green Party posters up last week...

    Posted 2 years ago #
  10. gembo
    Member

    Burning wet wood in a stove would seem to be the biggest environmentally unfriendly wood infringement.

    Loving the Green Party Poster Person chucking cardboard in the bin.

    Posted 2 years ago #
  11. steveo
    Member

    - It will not go into landfill, it will be incinerated at Millerhill CHP plant.

    Only if it is gets as far as the tip and then put in the right skip.

    Posted 2 years ago #
  12. crowriver
    Member

    @steveo, pretty sure CEC doesn't do landfill any more except in emergencies. It all goes to Millerhill. Food waste goes into the digester to be turned into methane and compost. The mixed rubbish from communal bins will be mechanically sorted and magnets used to remove metal objects etc. then the rest ends up in the incinerator.

    Yep, a quick glance at CEC web site confirms this.

    ---

    Non recyclable waste

    All waste that is collected from grey bins or black lidded communal bins is taken to our new Energy Recovery facility at Millerhill, where it is processed into electricity, instead of being landfilled.

    https://www.edinburgh.gov.uk/whathappenstorecycling

    Posted 2 years ago #
  13. crowriver
    Member

    More details of what happens to your communal bin rubbish.

    ---

    The Millerhill Recycling and Energy Recovery Centre (RERC) is a thermal treatment plant which will process up to 155,000 tonnes of residual non-hazardous waste each year, approximately 135,000 tonnes of which will come from households within the Edinburgh and Midlothian regions, and the remainder from businesses.

    When the waste arrives at the Millerhill RERC, more than 2,500 tonnes of recyclable materials will be recovered and removed. Once this process is complete, the remaining waste material will be thermally treated to produce electricity and heat. The thermal treatment process will also produce approximately 38,750 tonnes of ‘bottom ash’ – a coarse, granular, incombustible by-product of incineration. This will be recycled off-site for use in the construction industry.

    https://www.fccenvironment.co.uk/green-energy/millerhill-rerc/

    Posted 2 years ago #
  14. chdot
    Admin

    Well yes but

    Incineration can’t/doesn’t burn everything.

    “processed into electricity, instead of being landfilled“ is just a part of the process instead of going straight to landfill.

    Much as I am looking forward to the former Powderhall line becoming a path, it’s perhaps a shame that the waste trains didn’t divert to MidL rather than EL.

    Posted 2 years ago #
  15. steveo
    Member

    @crowriver interesting, I didn't not realise that.

    Full disclosure, I'll still have my little fire pit on occasion to get rid of offcuts but I'll feel less guilty if something ends up contaminated or is treated and has to go in the bin.

    Posted 2 years ago #
  16. ejstubbs
    Member

    @chdot: Incineration can’t/doesn’t burn everything.

    Doesn't the stuff that can't be completely combusted form the "bottom ash" that is referred to above as going to the construction industry? (Known as "MIBA" apparently: Municipal Incinerated Bottom Ash.)

    There may be stuff that can't effectively be incinerated. Concrete is one material that comes to mind, though it can be re-used in various ways e.g. to protect shorelines vulnerable to erosion e.g. in gabions or as "rip rap" aka rock armour (and thus reduce the need to quarry rock for this purpose).

    Re-use is often the forgotten cousin of recycling. Of course, if you're an interior designer on TV you call it "upcycling" (and as a result your name is added to the list of those who will be first against the wall when the revolution comes).

    it’s perhaps a shame that the waste trains didn’t divert to MidL rather than EL.

    Point of information: Millerhill is in Midlothian.

    Posted 2 years ago #
  17. chdot
    Admin

    “Point of information: Millerhill is in Midlothian.”

    Yes (MidL)

    CEC used to send some/all(?) landfill to EL in recent years, previously WL.

    Posted 2 years ago #
  18. the canuck
    Member

    Went out for a curry a few weeks ago, and the bins nearby were clearly the scene of local ire; I read about 6 posters advising homeowners of the bins being reserved for the tenement residents.
    I'm guessing their neighbourhood facebook page is not as friendly as mine.

    Posted 2 years ago #

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