Leekbrookgull
Well-known member
As many area,s of the U/K now have fortnightly dual waste bin collections. What is the actual legal postition. Recycling is it just a U/K choice or has Europe told HM Govt what is has to do ? 
Got something to say or just want fewer pesky ads? Join us... 😊
Dustbins/recycling and the law.
- Thread starter Leekbrookgull
- Start date
surrey jim
Not in Surrey
europe has set quotas and as i understand it, the goverment have set local althoroties quotas on recycling. Hence fortnightly recycling and apparantly bin snoops in mid sussex whose job it is to ensure we are recycling
Lord Bracknell
On fire
New Recycling Targets Set in Europe
Under new rules, governments will have to achieve waste management targets by 2020. Greens call the agreement weak
by Lucia Kubosova
The European Parliament has adopted binding targets for the recycling of waste that the European Union's 27 member states will have to include in their national plans or face legal action by Brussels.
Under the rules agreed by the Strasbourg plenary on Tuesday (17 June), national governments will have to "take the necessary measures" designed to achieve a concrete set of waste management targets by 2020.
These include the re-use and recycling of 50 percent of waste materials such as paper, metal and glass from households and similar waste streams, as well as 70 percent of non-hazardous construction and demolition waste.
The European Commission praised the result of the vote.
"This legislation marks a shift in thinking about waste from an unwanted burden to a valued resource and helps to make Europe a recycling society," said environment commissioner Stavros Dimas.
But the Greens in the EU assembly said that the deal was too weak, expressing doubts that the adopted wording would force national authorities to meet the targets and criticising the lack of binding rules for manufacturing and industrial waste, as well as for waste prevention.
"The final compromise does not have a legally binding target for waste reduction. A study on waste prevention is no alternative to stabilisation measures. The continuous growth in waste is unsustainable and without this measure it will continue to grow," said Jill Evans, MEP from Plaid Cymru party in Wales.
But British Conservative MEP Caroline Jackson, charged with leading talks with member states on the matter, said the sheer fact that concrete targets had been accepted despite strong opposition in some capitals was a victory for MEPs.
"The Council [representing national governments] is getting increasingly difficult to negotiate with. As the recession bites, it realises that this legislation is going to cost money and it is reluctant to accept parliament's amendments."
For his part, commissioner Dimas was clear about the EU executive's role in pressing for the green waste goals to be fulfilled. "If these targets are not met in 2020, the commission can take member states to court for non-compliance with the requirements of the directive," he said.
The new rules will oblige member states to develop national waste management and prevention plans five years after entry into force of the new directive. If analysis shows that it is needed, the EU executive is also due to set waste prevention objectives for 2020 by the end of 2014.
According to Brussels estimates, Europe generates around 1.8 billion tonnes of waste, meaning an average of 3.5 tonnes per person, mainly from households, commercial enterprises such as shops or restaurants, industry, agriculture and construction and demolition projects.
New Recycling Targets Set in Europe
Business Week 19 June 2008
Under new rules, governments will have to achieve waste management targets by 2020. Greens call the agreement weak
by Lucia Kubosova
The European Parliament has adopted binding targets for the recycling of waste that the European Union's 27 member states will have to include in their national plans or face legal action by Brussels.
Under the rules agreed by the Strasbourg plenary on Tuesday (17 June), national governments will have to "take the necessary measures" designed to achieve a concrete set of waste management targets by 2020.
These include the re-use and recycling of 50 percent of waste materials such as paper, metal and glass from households and similar waste streams, as well as 70 percent of non-hazardous construction and demolition waste.
The European Commission praised the result of the vote.
"This legislation marks a shift in thinking about waste from an unwanted burden to a valued resource and helps to make Europe a recycling society," said environment commissioner Stavros Dimas.
But the Greens in the EU assembly said that the deal was too weak, expressing doubts that the adopted wording would force national authorities to meet the targets and criticising the lack of binding rules for manufacturing and industrial waste, as well as for waste prevention.
"The final compromise does not have a legally binding target for waste reduction. A study on waste prevention is no alternative to stabilisation measures. The continuous growth in waste is unsustainable and without this measure it will continue to grow," said Jill Evans, MEP from Plaid Cymru party in Wales.
But British Conservative MEP Caroline Jackson, charged with leading talks with member states on the matter, said the sheer fact that concrete targets had been accepted despite strong opposition in some capitals was a victory for MEPs.
"The Council [representing national governments] is getting increasingly difficult to negotiate with. As the recession bites, it realises that this legislation is going to cost money and it is reluctant to accept parliament's amendments."
For his part, commissioner Dimas was clear about the EU executive's role in pressing for the green waste goals to be fulfilled. "If these targets are not met in 2020, the commission can take member states to court for non-compliance with the requirements of the directive," he said.
The new rules will oblige member states to develop national waste management and prevention plans five years after entry into force of the new directive. If analysis shows that it is needed, the EU executive is also due to set waste prevention objectives for 2020 by the end of 2014.
According to Brussels estimates, Europe generates around 1.8 billion tonnes of waste, meaning an average of 3.5 tonnes per person, mainly from households, commercial enterprises such as shops or restaurants, industry, agriculture and construction and demolition projects.
New Recycling Targets Set in Europe
Business Week 19 June 2008
surrey jim
Not in Surrey
Leekbrookgull
Well-known member
- Thread starter
- #5
Heavens,Surrey dont let other Nsc user,s know you read The Daily Mail ! you,re be shot at dawn. 
Tom Hark Preston Park
Will Post For Cash
- Jul 6, 2003
- 71,897
It's the usual cost-cutting bollocks from our paper tiger economy. Go to Spain for your holidays and the binmen come round EVERY NIGHT. OK, it's at 2am or something, and really noisy, but they got their priorities right ie providing a proper service for the community. All we do is try and get away with providing the absolute minimum level of service on the cheap. It's pathetic really.
surrey jim
Not in Surrey
Heavens,Surrey dont let other Nsc user,s know you read The Daily Mail ! you,re be shot at dawn.
lol the mail is a bit high brow for me, i porefer the sun/sport!! A person at work had the middy tried to find the link to that but ended up with the mail instead.
Leekbrookgull
Well-known member
- Thread starter
- #8
So Lord B whatever U/K councils think THEY have to have fortnightly collections ? I ask as i seem to have read some councils have gone back to weekly collections. 
Lord Bracknell
On fire
That's just a re-run of the idiotic, anti-council story that claimed - quite falsely - that "bureaucrats" were recording the identity of the households where the samples of rubbish were collected.
Typical Daily Mail LIES.
surrey jim
Not in Surrey
but then we would moan if council taxes were raised, it is the way tax is distrubited is where the problem lies.
an example is the mp who employed his wife and children. had he worked for a normal company and they found he was fiddling the books like that not only would he be fired more than likley taken to court for fraud, but because he is an MP he seems immune and so further taxes spent. (in the grand scheme of things i know it is a small ammout but as the saying goes every penny counts)
Tom Hark Preston Park
Will Post For Cash
- Jul 6, 2003
- 71,897
Totally agree. Should be spent on core services first.
Leekbrookgull
Well-known member
- Thread starter
- #12
Lord B. Do you know the answer to my point ? Please.
Lord Bracknell
On fire
No.So Lord B whatever U/K councils think THEY have to have fortnightly collections ? I ask as i seem to have read some councils have gone back to weekly collections.
Round our way, Lewes District Council has a weekly bin collection, and a fortnightly collection of recyclables.
It will probably stay that way as long as LDC contrive to make it impossible for some recyclable materials to be put in the fortnightly collection.
Personally I would prefer better recycling and a reduction in the quantities of rubbish that get put in the old-fashioned bin. Fortnightly collections would then work. But rural Lewes isn't the same as central Brighton. Out here, we should be encouraged to do domestic composting. But this isn't a practical (or even worthwhile) thing for multi-occupancy buildings in a city centre.
Agree. Germany is the same. Plus they have first class and simple recycling...which the locals just do without all the British moaning.
Lord Bracknell
On fire
The most APPALLING bit of non-recycling that I have ever come across was when I discovered that the unwanted piano that I had paid Lewes District Council to take away was delivered straight to Beddingham Landfill site, before it even got back to LDC's depot in Newhaven.
No wonder available landfill is running out so quickly.
No wonder available landfill is running out so quickly.
Leekbrookgull
Well-known member
- Thread starter
- #16
Anyone know,where all that rubbish that way piled into Imberhorne tip is going too ? Now the Bluebell Railway are pushing towards East Grinstead.
Cheshire Cat
The most curious thing..
Try this little lot for starters
Defra, UK - Environmental Protection - Recycling and Waste
Defra, UK - Environmental Protection - Recycling and waste
Strategy & Legislation: Legislation / Directives
EU Waste Framework
This Directive provides the overarching legislative framework for the collection, transport, recovery and disposal of waste, and includes a common definition of waste. The Directive requires all Member States to take the necessary measures to ensure that waste is recovered or disposed of without endangering human health or causing harm to the environment and includes permitting, registration and inspection requirements. The Directive also requires Member States to take appropriate measures to encourage firstly, the prevention or reduction of waste production and its harmfulness and secondly the recovery of waste by means of recycling, re-use or reclamation or any other process with a view to extracting secondary raw materials, or the use of waste as a source of energy. The Directive's overarching requirements are supplemented by other Directives for specific waste streams.
Electrical and electronic equipment (including WEEE and ROHS Directives)
This Directive aims to prevent waste from electronic and electrical equipment and promote collection, re-use and recycling of WEEE. It also aims to improve the environmental performance of all operators involved in the life cycle of WEEE.
Waste Oil Directive
This Directive aims to promote the safe collection and disposal of waste oils, and was significantly amended in 1987
Hazardous Waste
This Directive seeks to define hazardous waste and provides additional controls on its tracking, movement and management
Packaging, Packaging Waste and the Packaging Waste Regulations
This Directive aims to harmonise national measures concerning the management of packaging and packaging waste to provide a high level of environmental protection and to ensure the functioning of the internal market.
Landfill
This Directive aims to prevent or reduce as far as possible negative effects on the environment from the landfilling of waste, by introducing stringent technical requirements for waste and landfills and setting targets for the reduction of biodegradable municipal waste going to landfill.
End-of-life vehicles (ELVs)
This Directive aims to prevent waste from end-of-life vehicles and promote the collection, re-use and recycling of their components to protect the environment.
Batteries Directive
This Directive sets targets for the collection of portable and nickel-cadmium batteries and sets recycling targets for portable, automotive and industrial batteries.
Waste Incineration
Environmental Protection Act 1990
Environment Act 1995
Information on the Waste and Emissions Trading Act 2003
The Producer Responsibility Obligations (Packaging Waste) Regulations 1997
The Finance Act and Landfill Tax Regulations 1996
Waste Minimisation Act 1998
Defra, UK - Environmental Protection - Recycling and Waste
Defra, UK - Environmental Protection - Recycling and waste
Strategy & Legislation: Legislation / Directives
EU Waste Framework
This Directive provides the overarching legislative framework for the collection, transport, recovery and disposal of waste, and includes a common definition of waste. The Directive requires all Member States to take the necessary measures to ensure that waste is recovered or disposed of without endangering human health or causing harm to the environment and includes permitting, registration and inspection requirements. The Directive also requires Member States to take appropriate measures to encourage firstly, the prevention or reduction of waste production and its harmfulness and secondly the recovery of waste by means of recycling, re-use or reclamation or any other process with a view to extracting secondary raw materials, or the use of waste as a source of energy. The Directive's overarching requirements are supplemented by other Directives for specific waste streams.
Electrical and electronic equipment (including WEEE and ROHS Directives)
This Directive aims to prevent waste from electronic and electrical equipment and promote collection, re-use and recycling of WEEE. It also aims to improve the environmental performance of all operators involved in the life cycle of WEEE.
Waste Oil Directive
This Directive aims to promote the safe collection and disposal of waste oils, and was significantly amended in 1987
Hazardous Waste
This Directive seeks to define hazardous waste and provides additional controls on its tracking, movement and management
Packaging, Packaging Waste and the Packaging Waste Regulations
This Directive aims to harmonise national measures concerning the management of packaging and packaging waste to provide a high level of environmental protection and to ensure the functioning of the internal market.
Landfill
This Directive aims to prevent or reduce as far as possible negative effects on the environment from the landfilling of waste, by introducing stringent technical requirements for waste and landfills and setting targets for the reduction of biodegradable municipal waste going to landfill.
End-of-life vehicles (ELVs)
This Directive aims to prevent waste from end-of-life vehicles and promote the collection, re-use and recycling of their components to protect the environment.
Batteries Directive
This Directive sets targets for the collection of portable and nickel-cadmium batteries and sets recycling targets for portable, automotive and industrial batteries.
Waste Incineration
Environmental Protection Act 1990
Environment Act 1995
Information on the Waste and Emissions Trading Act 2003
The Producer Responsibility Obligations (Packaging Waste) Regulations 1997
The Finance Act and Landfill Tax Regulations 1996
Waste Minimisation Act 1998
withdeanwombat
Well-known member
My mum is a disabled 82 year old .Lives in Hove,never had any strife with anyone.
But she was scared **itless by the refuse collector who inspected her bin and told her she was in trouble because there were some hamster cage leftovers in her bin.
Correct,she doesn't have a hamster,it was someone else putting their stuff in my mum's bin cos it was nearly empty.
So she was told to drill holes in her bin,and get a padlock.
Then she got a letter with stickers to attach to the bin which she had not requested.
Officialdom scares lots of old people.
The refuse collector also told her there was a 25 yard limit on the distance he could walk with the wheelie bin,so he left it at the bottom of her path.She could not possibly retrieve it,so somebody else had to complete the job.
Luckily for the workperson,I live in Somerset,or he could have had a nasty accident in the back of his dustcart.
As for the generality of the new style of refuse collection,it is ,of course,scandalous.
Where I live we have little bins to put our food waste in,pay extra for garden rubbish removal,and are limited to a wheelie bin for the rest once a fortnight.
It's a fcuking joke,eh?
We pay our taxes,have to do most of the job ourselves,and are then,in my mothers case,met by arrogant little sh*ts who should be sacked.
Believe me.I know.I'm an ex dustman (Hove,actually) from the days when the dustmen had to REALLY collect the bins,up fire escapes,down deep cellars.
Old disabled people were treated better then.
And everybody else.
But she was scared **itless by the refuse collector who inspected her bin and told her she was in trouble because there were some hamster cage leftovers in her bin.
Correct,she doesn't have a hamster,it was someone else putting their stuff in my mum's bin cos it was nearly empty.
So she was told to drill holes in her bin,and get a padlock.
Then she got a letter with stickers to attach to the bin which she had not requested.
Officialdom scares lots of old people.
The refuse collector also told her there was a 25 yard limit on the distance he could walk with the wheelie bin,so he left it at the bottom of her path.She could not possibly retrieve it,so somebody else had to complete the job.
Luckily for the workperson,I live in Somerset,or he could have had a nasty accident in the back of his dustcart.
As for the generality of the new style of refuse collection,it is ,of course,scandalous.
Where I live we have little bins to put our food waste in,pay extra for garden rubbish removal,and are limited to a wheelie bin for the rest once a fortnight.
It's a fcuking joke,eh?
We pay our taxes,have to do most of the job ourselves,and are then,in my mothers case,met by arrogant little sh*ts who should be sacked.
Believe me.I know.I'm an ex dustman (Hove,actually) from the days when the dustmen had to REALLY collect the bins,up fire escapes,down deep cellars.
Old disabled people were treated better then.
And everybody else.
Gully
Monkey in a seagull suit.
Mind you, with a country like Spain it is far hotter in the summer, if you had food waste hanging around in a bin for a week the whole neighbourhood would stink...and probably be over-run with rats.
footychick
Nicola
So Lord B whatever U/K councils think THEY have to have fortnightly collections ? I ask as i seem to have read some councils have gone back to weekly collections.
We have weekly collections of normal rubbish and every two weeks recycling.