Spy chips in wheelie bins!

[dexterdoglancashire]

Sorry guys just had to get this off my chest - and find out what you all think about it as well! Following the article in the Mail on Sunday re: the spy chip in your wheelie bin, how many of you did what I did and checked my grey "non recyclable" wheelie bin? Yep, I did, and my mother in laws - and guess what? there was the offending article - just under the rim! Don't get me wrong, as I've recycled as much stuff as I can for years (way before my local council asked us to) and will continue to do so, but I really object to finding a "snooper chip in my waste bin" to check on whats going on! what does everyone else think? dexterdog

[Shortie]

Oooo.... never read about that Dexter.... we don't have wheelie bins by us. What are these chips things about?

[Squirrel]

New one on me too! What are the chip things - surely you don't mean they are puting computer wizzery in wheelie bins!

[mandyballantyne]

I have a green wheelie for normal rubbish, blue for recycling and brown for gardening. Off to check mine now!!

How terrible to do that to us though we all do our bit and as you say DexterDog it is only reacently that we have these bins and don't have to carry things for miles!! The cheek of them!

Mandy

[Peter]

Calm down dears...

its only a passive chip, much as your pet dog or cat may have implanted by the vet, yes bigger, but the same technology, costs very little.

However once your corporation dustcart has been fitted with 15 to 20 thousand pounds of extra kit, to weigh each wheelie bin as it is lifted, read the id chip off the bin and log the weight and id in a computer on the dustcart, then your friendly local council can start to charge you for putting out more than the permitted 25Kg of waste per person per week......


Alternatively they could reward you for putting out the lowest amount in your bin-round. Oh there goes the RAF in their new Gloucester Old Spots.


Basically a means to start charging by weight and thus drive up fly tipping and sales of wheelie bin locks.

[dexterdoglancashire]

Its a shame that the councils have decided to do this without telling anyone. Why not reward those of us who do recycle as much as we can by reducing the council tax? gotta go and put out my wheelie bin ready for collection!............... dexterdog

[bootie]

If packaging contained no plastic, if there were no window envelopes, if there was no polystyrene protecting white and brown goods recycling would be much easier. It is upto to manufacturers as well as consumers to cut down on non-recyclable waste.

[blackkitty]

I had a very frustrating phone call to our local council the other day. Everyone else in Burton has a recycling box except a few streets around us. I queried this asking why we still had to lug everything to a recycling centre. I was told that our council tax doesn't pay for recycling and that its all dependent on government grants. Needless to say I'm not impressed and not finished yet. I dare anyone in our council to suggest charging us by weight at the moment

[CarolineSonning]

I agree with you bootie. Maybe they should start to charge the manufacturer of the waste we have to throw, rather than us middle wo/men

[Shortie]

Oh gosh, hope I'm not going to be shot down here...

I agree that manufacturers have a lot to answer for in reducing waste, but I also truely believe many (not all) of us are guilty of a throw away culture. ather than fixing something or seeing if it can be put to use somewhere else, we'd rather replace things because it's easier and nice to have sparkly new things. Okay, not everything can be fixed, but a lot could

I always think of the Gambia where my Mum and Dad have spent quite a bit of time.. car parts are expensive and hard to get hold of some times. If something goes wrong they fix things themselves or make do with what they have. It's totally the norm to find one make of car with bits and pieces from other makes welded in/adapted to fit.

[CarolineSonning]

Oh gosh, hope I'm not going to be shot down here...

I agree that manufacturers have a lot to answer for in reducing waste, but I also truely believe many (not all) of us are guilty of a throw away culture. ather than fixing something or seeing if it can be put to use somewhere else, we'd rather replace things because it's easier and nice to have sparkly new things. Okay, not everything can be fixed, but a lot could

I always think of the Gambia where my Mum and Dad have spent quite a bit of time.. car parts are expensive and hard to get hold of some times. If something goes wrong they fix things themselves or make do with what they have. It's totally the norm to find one make of car with bits and pieces from other makes welded in/adapted to fit.

Nice idea Shortie, but not only do most of us not have the expertise to do that, but I suspect that passing an MOT might be a bit difficult .

[Lesley Jay]

We often send a huge box to The Philippines of things that are no longer needed or bought and never used. When you see how little people have in the way of possessions it makes you realise just how lucky we are.

[Palustris]

Not going to get involved in arguments about what other people do in other countries, so here goes my tuppenceworth on the issue.
We have always recycled stuff as far as possible. We are fortunate in having a proper fire (woodburning stove) so all combustible material is used as fuel, etc. etc.
It does bug me that after spending hours sorting out material and taking it to the tip, to find that it all has to go into the landfill skips, 'cos the others are too full or not even there!
BUT for me the chip and pay by weight scheme is totally silly. All that will happen is a major increase in fly tipping and inter neighbour disputes.
One thing it would stop here. We have had little problems with fly tipping, except on rare occcasions, but we do get a lot of Supermarket picnickers. They buy their lunch at the Supermarket in a nice set of wrappings,drive down our country lane and eat, then throw their neatly tied up supermarket bag into the hedgerow. I often collect these up on my morning walk and put them in our bin. The council never ever clean our tiny litttle lane. That would have to stop, so the road gets more and more littered.
Another point is that the worst offenders in our lane, for leaving a trail of rubbish are the refuse collection vehicles AND don't get me started on the contract tractor drivers at harvest time Urrrrgh!
It strikes me as being the idea of some mddle class do gooder with no concept of what goes on in the real world.
Big brother strikes again eh?

[SueA]

I had a very frustrating phone call to our local council the other day. Everyone else in Burton has a recycling box except a few streets around us. I queried this asking why we still had to lug everything to a recycling centre. I was told that our council tax doesn't pay for recycling and that its all dependent on government grants. Needless to say I'm not impressed and not finished yet. I dare anyone in our council to suggest charging us by weight at the moment

I would have thought they were keen to recycle Blackkitty as I understand from our council that they are set targets by the government for percentage of waste recycled & get rewarded or penalised depending on how they do.

[Grumbleweed]

Ive just been home for lunch, I went to check for a "chip" in my wheeliebin didnt find one, but there was two big bunches of maggots wiggling around at the bottom , no idea what they were up to, the bin is empty!!!
We are lucky (I think) we have three wheelie bins, one for garden waste, one for paper and plastics (i have to rip all the windows out of the envelopes other wise im sure they just send them to the landfill when they get sorted at the recycle plant), one for garden waste and one for non-recycleables, I only put a small amount in the non-recycleable bin. I walk to work and drop any glass off as I pass a supermarket on the way.
Thanks for the idea about the two person bins, im off to the council offices this afternoon to find out if they are available in our area.

The conclusion - No chips here.