Wet wipes

[Ben@Forest]

I don't know the coverage but we don't have any council food collection bins - only anything recyclable (in same bin) or landfill.

That surprises me. This end of Norfolk has food collection now, as did North Somerset before (which is a council I don't think can be accused of being green of any shade) and I thought councils had been pretty strongly encouraged to keep food waste out of landfill, so I'm surprised anywhere still doesn't collect it.

I'm pretty sure no North Yorkshire council collects food waste and that's the biggest county in England. But the bigness must be an issue, though the trucks are multi-functional the population is spread out - they'd spend a lot of time collecting a comparatively small amount of food waste from a small population - I can imagine the time/effort/diesel burned in idling refuse trucks would not be worth it. Plus they seem to sort out at least some of our organic waste at the other end.

https://www.northyorks.gov.uk/allerton-waste-recovery-park

[mjr]

I'm pretty sure no North Yorkshire council collects food waste and that's the biggest county in England. But the bigness must be an issue, though the trucks are multi-functional the population is spread out - they'd spend a lot of time collecting a comparatively small amount of food waste from a small population - I can imagine the time/effort/diesel burned in idling refuse trucks would not be worth it.

I don't see why that would be. We do not have food waste lorries circulating in addition. The food waste collection is just a pod on the bin lorries. It's the same volume of waste as when people put non-home-compostable food into the mixed waste bins. The main difference is one extra tipping action every so many households. One bin man (I guess whoever drew the short straw) seems to collect from the small food bins into a standard wheelie bin which then gets tipped into the food pod once every few houses, similar to https://www.dover.gov.uk/Recycling--Was ... where.aspx - so I guess the main reason not to do it is to avoid employing an extra bin man per crew.

[Ben@Forest]

I'm pretty sure no North Yorkshire council collects food waste and that's the biggest county in England. But the bigness must be an issue, though the trucks are multi-functional the population is spread out - they'd spend a lot of time collecting a comparatively small amount of food waste from a small population - I can imagine the time/effort/diesel burned in idling refuse trucks would not be worth it.

I don't see why that would be. We do not have food waste lorries circulating in addition. The food waste collection is just a pod on the bin lorries. It's the same volume of waste as when people put non-home-compostable food into the mixed waste bins. The main difference is one extra tipping action every so many households. One bin man (I guess whoever drew the short straw) seems to collect from the small food bins into a standard wheelie bin which then gets tipped into the food pod once every few houses, similar to https://www.dover.gov.uk/Recycling--Was ... where.aspx - so I guess the main reason not to do it is to avoid employing an extra bin man per crew.

Yebbut, nobbut, and that's why I said the trucks are multi-functional. My sister lives on a street in South London and has a food bin. But in about a hectare of land along her street are more houses than if, from where I live, you took a radius of 1,500m and drew a circle. That's 700 hectares, obviously the truck doesn't have to cover all the 700 ha but you can see why collecting anything is less efficient - and that's probably why they don't do it.

[mjr]

Yebbut, nobbut, and that's why I said the trucks are multi-functional. My sister lives on a street in South London and has a food bin. But in about a hectare of land along her street are more houses than if, from where I live, you took a radius of 1,500m and drew a circle. That's 700 hectares, obviously the truck doesn't have to cover all the 700 ha but you can see why collecting anything is less efficient - and that's probably why they don't do it.

And I live on the edge of the flipping fens, which aren't exactly densely-populated, but food waste is collected. For comparison, West Norfolk Borough has 270/sq mi, while Harrogate Borough of North Yorks has 310/sq mi.

I don't understand what population density has to do with it anyway. The collection trucks are coming anyway so it's basically dividing up the truck and having someone to empty the extra food bins - or do councils not collect from the kerb in North Yorks?

[Cunobelin]

Please rethink that one, even if the packaging says flushable.
[youtube]cd7XPLNiNrk[/youtube]

That video is rather mystifying. At the start the camera scrolls quickly past a purse, a pair of glasses, an apple core, an unidentifiable brown object, a toy (Action Man?), a golf ball, a live rat , a scent bottle, a lego toy, a smartphone, a Rubik cube, a necklace, a car key, a watch, as well as a packet of wipes! Are they implying that all of these are objects which people routinely flush down the loo?

Actually I wouldn't be at all surprised...

You are Brucie AICMFP

[Cunobelin]

In some countries like Greece, it it doesn't actually come from the body - it doesn't go down the loo

Pedal bins for loo paper are the normal recourse.

[thirdcrank]

Re food waste collection, in checking about this I see Leeds claims to be the second largest local authority in the country. We don't have waste food collection as a general service.

Whenever the council is considering introducing something like this they tend to trial it in one of the outlying districts. eg When they started with recycling, it was tried out first here in Morley (a former borough in what is now the southern part of Leeds.) More recently, they've been trying food waste collection in Rothwell. It's something I only vaguely knew was happening. I've searched and come up with an update saying the trial was successful and will be continued indefinitely but that dates from 2010, which suggests it's not being extended citywide. I do know they still do the food waste collection there because one of my sons lived in Rothwell until quite recently.
https://www.leeds.gov.uk/docs/rothwell% ... 5B1%5D.pdf
I think they have settled on incineration with a posh name.

[Psamathe]

I'm pretty sure no North Yorkshire council collects food waste and that's the biggest county in England. But the bigness must be an issue, though the trucks are multi-functional the population is spread out - they'd spend a lot of time collecting a comparatively small amount of food waste from a small population - I can imagine the time/effort/diesel burned in idling refuse trucks would not be worth it.

I don't see why that would be. We do not have food waste lorries circulating in addition. The food waste collection is just a pod on the bin lorries.....

Where my parents live it's a dedicated lorry (though not a full sized one but a smaller one).

Ian

[JohnW]

This is all quite enlightening. I use wet wipes when on the bike - as has been said above, they are handy for wiping oil and grease off the hands, and sticky substances that are left after eating various items of sustenance. Henceforth, I will put the used ones in the bread bag I carry for my on-road rubbish, like crisp packets and bonk-ration wrappers.

[661-Pete]

You are Brucie AICMFP

There are two alternative theories that you might like to consider:

1. That I have eidetic memory - like Dustin Hoffman's character in Rain Man. I.e. I have absolute recall, with perfect detail, of any sequence I have watched just once before at high speed. The Rain Man guy uses his gift to win at cards, IIRC. Pity I'm not a gambling man then.... Having said that, I do play bridge - and remembering what cards have been played in a hand, is a must.

2. That I clicked the Pause button several times as I ran through the video...

So. Which one do you think?

[landsurfer]

We use wet wipes to clean our babies bum when he is changed, and his other bits and bobs. They go in the nappy bag with the nappy ... and are never flushed.
I 've had to rod our drains out twice due to visitors flushing "flushable" wipes ...

[horizon]

Selecting a single item from the “Fatberg” is devious

The biggest factor was cooking fat (90%).... I hope no-one on this forum cooks either using fats, or with products tat produce fat during cooking

AIUI, the reason why the wet wipes were considered the main culprit was that they attached themselves to the layer of fat that itself coated the wall of the sewer. This then slowed down the flow and created the berg.

The general problem with wet wipes is that many (though perhaps not all, though that is often not clear) don't break down in water - in fact they musn't as they are already wet. However, they don't just clog up sewers, they are found everywhere from streams to beaches.

My own problem with wet wipes is that they provide a convenient solution to a problem that doesn't exist by creating a huge problem that never existed before. It is a strange kind of human logic.