Sir – I live in a block of flats in North Oxford. I have lived here for more than 10 years. When I first came, we had two 1,100-litre green bins in the bin store. As recycling has been introduced, we have slowly dispensed with one of the bins and have four 370-litre blue bins, which makes about 1,500 litres I believe.
I thought the idea was not to increase waste disposal by bulk but to transfer more to recycling. This, I feel, we have done successfully, and still have a little to spare as the requirement by OCC is 50 per cent.
However, two weeks ago, a large, 1,100-litre blue bin appeared in our bin store without any notification or consultation — just an approximately £250 bill!
What are we supposed to put in it?
The idea over all is to cut down on waste in general, not to increase it. These bins are no good for households anyway, as you cannot retrieve anything from them that is accidentally put in — this would mean the whole batch would be contaminated. The smaller ones are much more manageable and, after all, just 370 litres would be spoiled not 1,100 litres.
Having made enquiries, it seems that this has been done by our management in "consultation" with the refuse and recycling department who have said that, if we do not have them, we will have to go to private waste management at a cost of £70 per week. Management also have no business either without consulting the residents but that’s another story. I cannot see the logic in this as we are, according to the website, meeting their requirements. It smacks of ‘Big Brother’ or is it the cash incentive offered by the Government ?
Barbara Bailes
Oxford