Bin bags

Yesterday was breezy here, which is why, as soon as the binmen had emptied the recycling boxes and bags, I went out to put ours away, only to find that the blue plastic bag for recycling paper and cardboard (but not corrugated cardboard), had mysteriously disappeared, along, it seemed, with those of my neighbours, as there was not a one to be seen anywhere. I am casting no nasturtiums, you understand, but within those few minutes, no-one but the binmen had been in the road. Now why they would want to make off with a load of recycling bags is a mystery to me. Maybe they have acquired a vastly inflated street value or are regarded as collectors items among certain sections of the community.
Anyway, later on I rang the council and explained that I was now sans bin bag. "Well, we don't send them out any more," said the lady on the phone.
"So how do I go about getting an new one?" I enquired.
"Well, you can come to the council offices for one," she said (An extra journey into town - I don't think so.) "or you can ask the binmen for another one next week." (Our binmen have all the charm and social interaction of a black bear with toothache.)
"That would mean I would have no recycling bag for a week," I pointed out.
"Oh, you can use ordinary carrier bags for now," came the reply. (That would be the bags that we don't get in shops any more in Wales unless we pay for them.)
By this time, I was bored with the conversation and brought it speedily to an end, deciding to look out for the binmen this morning on my walk with Paddy.
As luck would have it, I spotted the bin wagon parked in a road nearby and right by it was a white van, seemingly a council van, with a man in a high viz jacket standing by it. I asked him if he had a spare blue bag and explained my conversation with the council lady the day before. He looked slightly mystified but disappeared up the drive of an adjacent house muttering that he was sure he had one somewhere.
"You do work on the bins?" I said when he came back.
"Oh no, I just live here," he said, "but I do collect any green bins and bin bags I see abandoned," and he handed me a much used but serviceable blue bag.
When I had made my apologies and crawled off up the road, I turned into the new housing estate and, hey presto, there was a pristine blue bag which had blown from somewhere onto the grass. As it was nowhere near any of the houses, I decided to liberate it forthwith.
So now, much to Keith's amusement, I have two. At least I shouldn't have to bother the council again.


7 comments:

Shooting Parrots said...

Very enterprising of you! We don't have bags any more, but four wheelie bins. All very well, but where are supposed to keep them if you have a small house and no garden? Many live outside and it isn't surprising that they get stolen then the council charge £30 to replace a bin that wasn't your property in the first place.

Yorkshire Pudding said...

How do you dispose of toxic corrugated cardboard? This stuff is a blight on the western world and it's surprising that only Wrexham Council have singled it out for exclusion from normal recycling processes. Here in Sheffield we put our corrugated cardboard in our stupid blue boxes along with any other paper and cardboard before the plastic blue hat blows off allowing the material within to blow away.

Jennytc said...

I don't know where we would find room for four bins, SP. Two plus a box is bad enough.
YP, the corrugated cardboard, for some reason known only to the council, has to be put in the green, garden refuse bin, which also takes food scraps initially collected in a small grey bin in the kitchen. Confused? You will be. ;)

Shooting Parrots said...

Three of our bins are kept in the garage -- black (non-recyclable), blue (paper and cardboard, including corrugated) and brown (plastic, glass and aerosols).

The green bin lives outside on the drive (food and garden waste).

Of course, that means there is nowhere for the car to go, but I suppose that is expose my other environmental crime for all to see.

Jennytc said...

Method in your madness, SP. ;)

Anonymous said...

Jenny, you crack me up with your linguistic gymnastics ! Spent tonight reading and catching up on your world. For what it's worth, our blue bag disappeared in the first week of distribution - I guess someone has it as a collector's item now, the swines !! Merry Xmas to you and yours xx CraigyBaby

Jennytc said...

Lovely to see you on here again, Craig. Merry Christmas to you and your mum too.

Plaster board and dust

So, we're still no further forward on the British Gas smart meter front and I've given up making non-existent appointments with them...