I know how it feels

[STEED]

Council hands out THINNER bin bags in desperate bid to slash costs

Thinner bin bags are being handed out to homeowners in the latest desperate cost-cutting measure by a local authority.
The plastic bags will be around five per cent slimmer than standard sacks.
Sevenoaks District Council, in Essex, blamed the move on the soaring cost of oil, which is used to make polymer-based products.
It says it is facing a £17,000 overspend on its refuse budget unless cuts were made.
But council tax campaigners and residents have complained that the new, flimsier bin bags are more likely to split, increasing the risk of rubbish blowing around streets and residents being fined for littering.

Mark Wallace, of the Taxpayers' Alliance, said: 'Councils are increasingly treating ordinary people like criminals if they put their rubbish out more than a few hours before it is due to be collected, do not entirely close their bins or put the wrong waste in bins.

'In that context, residents of Sevenoaks will rightly be worried that they are going to get fined because the council's new, flimsier bin bags break.

'Council tax has doubled over the last ten years and families struggling to pay those mounting bills should be able to expect that basic services won't be compromised.

'If council's want to save money they should cut back on the bureaucracy, work to get expensive local government pensions reformed or scrap costly publicity spending.'

Local pensioner Alf Morley, 71, said: 'I think it's a bit of a joke to be honest after all the tax I've paid.

'The least I expect is a proper bin bag. What on earth are they playing at?'

Mother-of-two Hilary O'Donnell, 41, added: 'If the binbags split the council will have hell to pay.
'It beggars belief that they are so hard up as to scrimp on binbags.

Sevenoaks Council delivers rolls of 20 black bags for general waste and 25 clear recycling sacks to all its 46,500 households every 20 weeks.

Extra bags are available at the council headquarters and from parish council offices.

These were reduced to 0.023 mm after contractors BPI Recycled Products said it
would need more money to supply standard sacks.

The Tory-run local authority is yet to introduce fortnightly wheelie bin schemes which have become popular with other councils across Britain.

Cllr Avril Hunter, who is responsible for refuse collections, said the switch was 'forced upon us'.
'The council has had a contract with BPI for years but they came to us and said they needed to charge us an additional £17,000 on top of the agreed figure because the price of oil had gone up,' she said.

'Obviously, we had to make a choice between paying the extra or getting an alternative and this is the decision we have made.

'The difference we are talking about is a hair's breadth. I will keep a careful eye on the situation and if there are any difficulties we will have to think again.

'Of course we are going to be monitoring the price of oil and if it goes down to the previous levels we expect to go back to the original thickness or a decrease in the current level of payment to the contractors.'


http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/arti...ash-costs.html

We had the same problem last year but in our case the bin men used Health & Safety against the council saying we are not picking up these bags if they split and we trip over the rubbish and land up in hospital. Three weeks later the council backed down and good buy to the silly thin bin bags.

[Jimbuna]

Sounds like a load of old rubbish to me

[Digital_Trucker]

Gee, I wish I got my garbage bags for free

[STEED]

Originally Posted by Digital_Trucker

Gee, I wish I got my garbage bags for free

Your joking it comes out of your council tax.

Unless you pinch them.

[Kapitan]

If your ever hard up for black sacks steed give us a shout one thing i did do before i left the council refuse section was to steal sorry did i stay steal i ment permanantly borrow) a pallet of them

[UnderseaLcpl]

Providing garbage bags is a government function? Insanity!

[STEED]

Originally Posted by Kapitan

If your ever hard up for black sacks steed give us a shout one thing i did do before i left the council refuse section was to steal sorry did i stay steal i ment permanantly borrow) a pallet of them

I'm OK.......Try Sevenoaks residents I'm sure they would be very happy.

[mrbeast]

Originally Posted by UnderseaLcpl

Providing garbage bags is a government function? Insanity!

Not where I come from, in Bolton we have to buy our own.

[jumpy]

*snif* we have to buy our own bin bags to put in our wheelie bins *snif*

And I am all too aware of the consequences of overly skinny bin bags... all that used cat litter over my shoes and the lounge carpet... if you buys cheap you not only buys twice, you'll be down on yer knees a-scrubbing

[UnderseaLcpl]

Originally Posted by mrbeast

Not where I come from, in Bolton we have to buy our own.

That's what I'm talking about. Since when was it a government function to provide garbage bags? Or garbage service?
I thought all they did was provide garbage.

[SS107.9MHz]

Eheheh goood one, I've got an idea, get a pair of hyenas or vultures to eat up the organic trash, a pair of goats to down the card and paper (they'll it anything...) and one of those guys who eat lightblbs to do the glass recycling... Just need to get something to take carre of the plastics... All provided by the local government off course!

[bookworm_020]

Originally Posted by jumpy

*snif* we have to buy our own bin bags to put in our wheelie bins *snif*

What??? We don't need to put bags in our wheelie bins. The standard rubbish bag is fine, as you tie it up and toss it in to the bin. The driver doesn't even get out to empty the bin as it's all automated.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Image:C...e-truck-08.jpg

[jumpy]

Your bin men seem to be a lot more high tech than ours - ours have to place 2 wheelie bins at a time on a jig at the back of the lorry. I guess a mechanical arm is not so practical here due to narrow streets and pig **** thick bin men who'd probably smash up all of the parked cars with the mechanical boom arm.
Where I live, if you put loose rubbish in the bin it doesn't get collected. Odd huh? Big plastic bin, but you still have to have a bag.

[Jimbuna]

Originally Posted by jumpy

Your bin men seem to be a lot more high tech than ours - ours have to place 2 wheelie bins at a time on a jig at the back of the lorry. I guess a mechanical arm is not so practical here due to narrow streets and pig **** thick bin men who'd probably smash up all of the parked cars with the mechanical boom arm.
Where I live, if you put loose rubbish in the bin it doesn't get collected. Odd huh? Big plastic bin, but you still have to have a bag.

Same system here but no requirement for the plastic bag. :hmm:

[Schöneboom]

Arrgh! So this is how they sneak Communism in the back door! They give you bin bags and wheelie bin commissars! Before you know it...

"Comrade, the Council has made its decision. You're going to the re-education village until you learn to place your bin correctly! It's for the good of the community. Take him away!"



"Bloody hell, not the Village!"