Cyclists banned from using local recycling centres

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mjr
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Re: Cyclists banned from using local recycling centres

Post by mjr »

thirdcrank wrote:Around here, we had the extra complication of the abolition of the short-lived West Yorkshire County Council which had been the refuse disposal authority. We have the silly situation of lots of households near a site but not being authorised to use it because it's in another metropolitan district.

Do they restrict access like that? I never knew.

Similarly, should I have brought my recycling home instead of putting it in another district's bins?
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Cyril Haearn
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Re: Cyclists banned from using local recycling centre

Post by Cyril Haearn »

NUKe wrote:
mjr wrote:
NUKe wrote:If I was banned I would dump it in front of the entrance.

That would probably leave you open to prosecution for flytipping :-(

Nr.

My intention would be to make a point, so would face prosecution if necessary. Not just to get rid of the stuff.

Might be a very expensive and unpleasant matter, how high are the fines?
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Re: Cyclists banned from using local recycling centres

Post by thirdcrank »

mjr wrote: ... Do they restrict access like that? I never knew.

Similarly, should I have brought my recycling home instead of putting it in another district's bins?


For long enough they didn't enforce it, then, several years ago they started. At the time, I still had my Berlingo which had the added complication of some thinking it was a van. A system of residents' permits was introduced - including making allowance for anybody using a van as a private car - Kirklees being the first. I know some people who simply borrow a permit from a friend/ relative living in Kirklees. Leeds introduced a system with stick-on windscreen permits, like a tax disc. Fewer people have them displayed.

I've never tried to test the checking in Kirklees - too much hassle. The one in fairly central Leeds - just along Kirkstall Road from Woodrupp's FWIW - is near where my mother used to live so I combined it with my frequent visits to her, especially as a lot of it was clearing out her unwanted accumulation of stuff.

There's a very efficient if informal collection by "itinerant scrap metal collectors" and I seem to see more fly-tipping than ever.
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Re: Cyclists banned from using local recycling centres

Post by Tangled Metal »

We have a jambo. He's a guy with a flat bed that takes things away for you. In fact he'll take things away even if you didn't know you wanted them taken away! I assume he flytips stuff that's of no value to him. But he is free whereas council designated bulky matters collection costs.

Personally I've always used family / friends and an estate car to shift my own scrap. Although certain waste like rubble and soil is now limited to 10 small bags a year with a permit being needed to drop the bags off. If that's the way they want it then I can understand domestic customers fly tipping at times. All cost cutting / revenue generation schemes IMHO.
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Re: Cyclists banned from using local recycling centres

Post by Vorpal »

In Essex, they ask your address at the entrance. If you have the wrong one, they tell you which recycling centre you're meant to use :roll: They limit how much of certain kinds of waste each household can deliver per month and for some things in a six month period. When I took a full bathroom suite (not by bike), I was told I could not take any more large / ceramic items for 6 months. The limit was 3.

When I did take things by bike, it caused some consternation. After convincing them, first that I was not an HSE risk, and second that if I got a puncture, I would take it out of the facility to repair it (and would *not* hold them responsible), they let me in with my trailer full of old tiles and lino.
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Tangled Metal
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Re: Cyclists banned from using local recycling centres

Post by Tangled Metal »

That leads to the question, what tyres for a trip to the tip? Marathon pluses or is that still overkill?
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Graham
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Re: Cyclists banned from using local recycling centres

Post by Graham »

I was naive . . . when filling in a consultation survey relating to the Recycling Centres, I suggested that anyone who transported their waste without using a motor vehicle should be exempted from the charges ( that are now applied to certain items e.g. building rubble ).
Dream On . . undermining the foundations of society . . .

Anyhow, the overall public strategy appears to be that those who create waste should be directly responsible for that waste ( and the costs thereof ).
This is a major change from the old socialisation of waste costs.
The old model is broken. The cost of waste is crippling. We don't know how to deal with the waste. Too many people relying on "someone else has to pay because I'm not" .

PS. I lately find that there is a nominal ban on entry to my nearest Recycling Facility on foot or by cycle. Fortunately, this is not enforced, but may explain my paragraph 1 disappointment . .
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Re: Cyclists banned from using local recycling centres

Post by brooksby »

mjr wrote:
thirdcrank wrote:Around here, we had the extra complication of the abolition of the short-lived West Yorkshire County Council which had been the refuse disposal authority. We have the silly situation of lots of households near a site but not being authorised to use it because it's in another metropolitan district.

Do they restrict access like that? I never knew.

Similarly, should I have brought my recycling home instead of putting it in another district's bins?


Bristol and North Somerset both restrict usage to 'their' residents - I think you need to show a badge or something (or maybe a special handshake...).
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Re: Cyclists banned from using local recycling centres

Post by Richard Fairhurst »

Last year we replaced the fridge on our narrowboat with a new one which we bought at the chandlery in Stourport-on-Severn. Getting rid of the old fridge wasn't trivial. The Canal & River Trust won't take fridges at their canalside recycling points; even if we backtracked to our mooring (where the car was parked), getting a fridge into a Fiat 500 wouldn't be easy; and though the Stourport recycling centre was within carrying distance from the canal, their website says "Customer [sic] are reminded that, for their safety, pedestrian access is not allowed and no waste is allowed to be carried on to the site."

So I phoned the tip and asked what to do. They said: no problem, just bring it to the gate, then buzz the bell at the gate and one of our staff will come out and collect it. Which I guess doesn't strictly contradict what the website says - I didn't walk or carry any waste onto the site - but they could be a bit more explicit about it.
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pete75
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Re: Cyclists banned from using local recycling centre

Post by pete75 »

NUKe wrote:
mjr wrote:
NUKe wrote:If I was banned I would dump it in front of the entrance.

That would probably leave you open to prosecution for flytipping :-(

Nr.

My intention would be to make a point, so would face prosecution if necessary. Not just to get rid of the stuff.


If the powers that be decided to make a point and took you to Crown Court you could get several years in chokey. They also have unlimited fining powers.
Admittedly it does seem a bit stupid banning people from taking rubbish by bike but the authorities seem to like making stupid rules.
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NUKe
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Re: Cyclists banned from using local recycling centre

Post by NUKe »

pete75 wrote:
NUKe wrote:
mjr wrote:That would probably leave you open to prosecution for flytipping :-(

Nr.

My intention would be to make a point, so would face prosecution if necessary. Not just to get rid of the stuff.


If the powers that be decided to make a point and took you to Crown Court you could get several years in chokey. They also have unlimited fining powers.
Admittedly it does seem a bit stupid banning people from taking rubbish by bike but the authorities seem to like making stupid rules.

Sometimes you have to make a stand and take the consequences . Fly tipping is serious, so if I felt the need to protest at stupid rules I would, you all seem to have got hot under the collar at a throw away remark (Perhaps I should have recycled it).

I don't have to worry about it our local recycling centre are quite happy with pedestrians cyclists and MPV's, the latter we won by complaining to the local council (Not me alone) .
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ThePinkOne
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Re: Cyclists banned from using local recycling centres

Post by ThePinkOne »

Hmmmm, I have not yet tried taking my cargo bike to either of the two the local recycling centres, but the Council interweb site says:

"The following vehicles are not accepted at either recycling centres - lorries with a GVW exceeding 3.5 tonne, triple axle vehicles, twin axle trailers, horse boxes (either single or double axle), vehicles with a tail lift (except those cars, 4X4 cars, people carriers or caravanettes adapted with tail lifts for use by disabled residents), vehicles with a tipping body, large box vans (Luton type), long wheeled based vans or high top vans"

Nowt about banning cycles, although from memory there is a sign on the gate telling you not to "walk in" stuff, but equally nothing to say no cycles.

I did once ask the staff there and they were laid back about it (before recent rule changes tho) however they were not sure if the rule of "need a permit- for £15- if you use a trailer with a bike."

Maybe an email to the council first, sent on to the local paper to embarrass them if they say no bikes..... :twisted:

TBH, one of the main reasons I kept my (small) car when I acquired the work van (I originally planned to sell the car which would have forced me to make all non-work journeys by foot, bike, bus or rail) was because tax issues aside, even with a permit I can't take the big work van (long wheelbase hi-top) to the recycling centre, and unless I know for sure I can take a cargo bike or bike + trailer as an alternative that makes it impossible to legally dispose of some types of occasional household waste. Fact is though I could get as much on my bike + trailer or cargo bike as in my small car! I wonder if cargo bike with a sidecar would get around the trailer rule....? :lol:

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Re: Cyclists banned from using local recycling centres

Post by Mick F »

Nearest one to us is in England, and they don't stipulate that bicycles - or even pedestrians - aren't allowed.
https://new.devon.gov.uk/wasteandrecycl ... trictions/

We have some stuff to take there, so I may see if there's a notice up about bikes and peds. Can't say I've seen one, and we've been using that site for yonks.
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Re: Cyclists banned from using local recycling centres

Post by MikeF »

Tangled Metal wrote:We have a jambo. He's a guy with a flat bed that takes things away for you. In fact he'll take things away even if you didn't know you wanted them taken away! I assume he flytips stuff that's of no value to him. But he is free whereas council designated bulky matters collection costs.
He's not free if he fly tips. That cost of clearance falls on the local district council funded by council tax. :wink:
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Re: Cyclists banned from using local recycling centres

Post by MikeF »

thirdcrank wrote:Around here, we had the extra complication of the abolition of the short-lived West Yorkshire County Council which had been the refuse disposal authority. We have the silly situation of lots of households near a site but not being authorised to use it because it's in another metropolitan district. I live in Leeds just over a mile from one in Kirklees. None of the three nearest sites in Leeds are within the sort of distance you might want to take a larger item by using, say a BoB Yak, especially taking into account hills en route. However, in adition to things like bottle banks, we do have council receptacles (I don't know the right name) which will take smaller stuff of the sort you might move easily without a car.
That's not uncommon. Some of the neighbouring districts, but not all, near Reading contribute to Reading BC so that their residents can use the Reading facilities. Around here I'm sure there is a lot of cross border use of facilities, but I don't think the council checks the source at the moment. For those on the wrong side of the border it can mean a long (car) journey to the "correct" tips.
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