“THOUSANDS of tonnes of recycling waste collected in Cambridge will be shipped to Peterborough under the new blue bin system.”

http://www.cambridge-news.co.uk/cn_news_cambridge/displayarticle.asp?id=456900

I have taken the superfluous “e” out of the title.

It remains in the URL for anyone wanting to see where it was.

Dear Richard,

The contract to sort the waste has gone to a plant in Peterborough, but the waste will be bundled in Waterbeach. Prior to a couple of weeks ago it was anticipated that the waste would be bundled in Waterbeach but unknown where it would go to. This amounts to one extra round trip on the A14. The impact of the site location was included as a part of the tender.

As to the other issue: the officers have different recollections to you of what was said. However there is scope for confusion.

Food waste ideally goes in green bins. People can use black bin if it causes a problem (during the summer say).

Food waste should not be put in the blue bin.

The MRF can cope with some contamination but we need to keep this as low as possible as it can affect how much it costs the City and hence tax payers. The technology is amazing but it works best With no contamination.

This leads to enforcement:

We will use our usual education first approach, but we may charge people for the cost of dealing with a contaminated bin. This is £20 from memory, I will check. I doubt this will be used much.

We will step up the information effort as the bins are rolled out and look out for problem areas.

We will of course monitor the situation and make changes if needed.

All the best,

Mike Pitt
City Councillor for King’s Hedges

I’m sorry you had a bad experience with a full green bin. Taking some out isn’t very helpful, as it means you have even more green waste two weeks hence!

Could I suggest that you contact one of the managers at the City Services depot if this happens again, or your local councillor? see http://www.cambridge.gov.uk/ccm/content/council-and-democracy/councillors/councillors-details.en

Thanks Richard for highlighting this issue. I am concerned that waste might not be handled locally, shipping to Peterborough is not very ‘green’ is it?

I am very careful to put the correct items in the green bin, I hope that clear instructions will be given for using the blue bin.

When my green bin was once considered “too heavy” by a ‘Refuse Team Leader’ the solution seemed to be that the bin would be left in the street until I removed some of its contents.

Presumably if I had refused to empty the bin then I would have been committing some kind of offence by leaving rubbish in the street.

By the way, the reason that my bin was “too heavy” was that there was too much soil attached to the weeds that I was recycling. No maximum weight was ever provided to me so I just have to hope it doesn’t happen again!

Jen Robertson reported last night that some level of liquid spillage was acceptable. The recycling process for paper products involves adding water to turn the paper into pulp (as in the normal papermaking process), so any liquid residue should be well diluted in this process.

I guess it’s a matter of degree as to how clean is clean but I hope you won’t find my last night’s snack in tomorrow’s newspaper!

Do I have to wash the inside of Tetrapak cartons rather than just drain them?

Does a 12″ pizza carton with a finger smear of tomato sauce on the inside count as dirty?

How about paper kitchen towels which have been used for mopping spilled milk?

Newspapers which have been left out in the rain? Plastic food trays with raspberry juice on the inside?

How much water will all this extra, individual washing use?

Cllr Pitt,

I attended presentations on the new co-mingled recycling blue bins at both the East Area Committee on the 3rd of September and the South Area Committee last night. There were two significant points of disagreement between the presentations; I am writing to ask if you are able to clarify the situation and let me know what, if anything, has changed:

1. On the 3rd of September Jas Lally said that food waste could, technically, be placed in the blue bin though that wasn’t what the council was proposing; he said that the technology was fantastic and separation was not a problem. He went as far as to say the only reason for keeping the green bin was because some people preferred composting, and composting wasn’t possible with mixed recycling. Last night however lots of stress was put on the importance of items in the blue bin being clean; the officer giving the presentation said that dirty items would be washed by hand.

2. At the South Area committee the officer reported that a contract had been signed earlier this week which would result in Cambridge’s mixed recycling being processed in Peterborough. Prior to this presentation it had been strongly suggested the waste would be dealt with in Waterbeach.

The South Area committee was told that the council was going to be tough on people who put the wrong things in their blue bins (the example given was anyone who put items in the blue bin in a black plastic bag); is this true? Is the council intending to step up enforcement action as the blue bins are rolled out?

–

Richard Taylor
Cambridge
http://www.rtaylor.co.uk