I am an elected councillor in Newcastle, UK. We have a system where 2 good-sized 'wheeled' bins are provided to each household - one for their recycling, and one for their 'residual' waste. The bins are placed in the back lane which runs behind streets, and are emptied there by the wagons. This works well, except for one thing - virtually no-one brings their bins back into their house after collection!!! They simply stay there semi-permanently.
Why is this a problem?
(a) it creates a real visual eyesore
(b) it allows burglars to use them to climb over boundary walls into residents' rear yards
(c) bins are regularly set on fire by vandals, costing the Fire Service tens of thousands annually in 'event' callouts, plus the cost of bin replacement.
(d) it causes blockage for emergency services if they need to access houses from the rear in a real emergency.
We have tried to tackle this through straightforward but resource-intensive 'education' campaigns, which tend to work for a short period and then the effect gradually tails off, ending up in the same situation again.
The problem is exacerbated by the fact that there is a very high turnover of residents in the neighbourhood, specifically students.
Has anyone got any 'initial' obvious ideas for how to try and tackle this through CBSM?
Thanks,
Steve
Stephen Psallidas
United Kingdom
Bringing in Waste Bins
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There are a lot of good suggestions already posted here and so not getting into any of those.
I have an "out-of-the-box/bin" approach. I am not sure how your collection vehicles are equipped/designed. Is it possible to re-design the vehicle so that after emptying the bin, the bin can be "thrown"/dropped into the yard over the compound wall. (not a high powered ballistic shooter.....that can break their windows). And for the extra labour, add that cost into the property tax.
(Good thing, in Canada we don't believe in compound walls!!!)
Madhu Nair
Northern Health
Canada
Off the cuff thoughts...you could create a "roll in your bin and win" contest and take note of all those participating.. than for those who roll in their bins have them place a sign in the alley indicating that they are "winners" or create some other cheeky campaign solans... AND incorporate this with a marketing campaign that illustrates the losses that can occur as a result of residents inaction to bring the bins fires, delayed emergency services, buglars, etc
You could also consider creating a local bylaw that enforces a fine to residences who do not bring the bins in using all reason you stated, most notably due to vandalism and the inability for emergency services to get down alley ways (this approach assumes you have a way of determining which bin belongs to which residences)...
All best - hope you'll post the outcomes? :)
Brooke Carere
Environmental Technician
Squamish-Lillooet Regional District
Canada
www.slrd.bc.ca
Thanks for your reply Rick.
Yes I have considered the possibility that we might have some sort of modest 'fine' created (enough to remind people, but not enough to annoy them too much). Regrettably in the UK we have for many years had a very centralised government structure, which does not allow local councils to create their own 'by-laws' (sounds like what you call an 'ordinance') without Government approval. Naturally this is expensive and time-consuming and there are a lot of hoops to jump through in terms of justifying the need for it etc etc!!
The current Government is trying its best to decentralise powers, but this does not stretch to the creation of by-laws... yet!
Thanks again - good to hear that a 'fine' system has at least been implemented successfully elsewhere.
Stephen
Stephen Psallidas
United Kingdom
While not really a CBSM idea, I can offer an example of a behaviour modification approach to this topic from my city. The local politicians here HATE when people do not return their garbage carts to their storage location, so they created an ordinance and it is enforced. Carts left out are tagged by a Sanitation Inspector, incurring a fine for an inspection fee; then if the household does not return the cart within 24 hours, a higher fee applies for the Inspector to return the cart for them. Now a major difference from your situation is that here this only applies to those households that do not have an alley/lane and thus collection occurs at the front of the property. (40% of our households are front-collected.) For those with collection in the back, leaving a cart at the alley line is considered proper storage of carts here.
Rick Meyers
Recycling Specialist
City of Milwaukee
United States
Thanks all for your comments so far. Yes, I had thought of some sort of community engagement/event so that's useful support.
There is not really enough room at the front of the houses for the bins - or more to the point there is, but most residents far prefer to have dirty things like this at the rear of their properties!
I did think that there was a possibility of doing something where we would put stickers on the bins, go down the back lanes regularly, and enter into a prize draw those houses where we did NOT find the stickers. Anyone got any views on this proposal?
Thanks.
Stephen Psallidas
United Kingdom
Put the bins in front of the houses instead of behind.
Jane Hinds
Admin. Assist.
City of Columbia, MO
United States
I am assuming that you provided the 360 litre wheeled bins to the residents. Some of the problems with these large bins is that there is no space inside a garage or inside the home to store them. Residents who have not had any input in the type of bin chosen will not demonstrate pride of ownership in its care or storage. If you are offering a weekly pickup of garbage and recycling you should check if the bins are full on collection day, if not you could consider a smaller size bin which might be easier to store in a garage.
Areas where there is a large turnover of residents can prove challenging in getting them to respect cleanliness issues. Activities where you can bring the residents together and have them work on a community project (laneway beautification challenge - with prizes) might help them feel connected to their neighborhood and take pride in its appearance.
marina peter
City of Westmount
Canada
g'day
couple of questions:
does it really matter if the bins are left out the back apart from aesthetically?
With high turnover of residents any non-structural fix will only be temporary; is there an option to permanently put the bins in a bin room accessible from inside yard and from the lane?
If residents don't like the bins out front for aesthetic reasons, would they be more likely to bring them in? this may also help with other suggestions eg prizes and fines and it would be more public and so easier to re-norm.
Peter Tait
Australia