General Waste & street litter

 General waste

 A big business waste metal bin of the type the council formerly had here would present us with a significant expense that we believe we could do without. Moreover, we are morally opposed to the level of waste produced by communities. The government is attempting to address this overconsumption of resources, but often in a wasteful manner. We aim to lead the way in tackling our community's waste issues.

At the hub, we've started by replacing the former massive, non-recyclable general waste only bin used for business waste with a single green wheelie bin designated for general waste—similar to those used by households. However, while it’s the same size as those bins, it’s still classified as trade waste, meaning it gets picked up on different days from the residential bins in the area. This has created some confusion. The bin has a yellow sticker on it to indicate to the collectors that it's for trade waste. 

On one occasion, when we put it out on what we knew to be the month's day, the council waste collection team claimed we hadn't set it out, even though we are certain that we did. We requested another pickup, which never occurred; we were left with a full bin. for two months of waste! Our zero-waste champion approached the bin men for assistance on the household collection day -but they refused to take the bin, stating it was classified as trade waste. We all like a laugh the lorry had a humorous name—Chitty Chitty Bin Van. and the men were happy at their work, but we didn't find this lack of cooperation funny, we are aware of the reason though, our district council waste is catalogued for its carbon footprint and the council is fined by the government on tonnages from different waste categories, IE household or trade,

This situation is particularly frustrating as our charity is trying extremely hard to achieve better waste management. Many of our groups are still unsure about how to recycle properly, so we are left to fix the recycling, to reduce the volume of general waste produced, to manage our once-a-month general waste bin more effectively. The management team often feels exasperated by what we observe, especially regarding recycling habits. We wonder what recycling bins must look like in homes across the district. 

That month, one of our groups decided to place an additional bag beside our full bin because there was no more room inside. This led to a litter issue on the street outside the Hub. It’s ironic, as we, the unpaid volunteers who manage the hub, take waste management very seriously. We also participate in Community Council-led litter picks. Just days before the bin issue arose, one of our volunteers had gathered a bin bag of waste from around the perimeter fence, then placed one of our stickers on it, indicating it was part of a community litter pick event. For entry into the fun litter lotto

It seems society is divided into two groups: consumers and wasters on one side, are community-minded, environmentally conscious citizens on the other. is people who just don't care. At the hub, we strive to create a zero-waste environment—aiming to send nothing to landfill, and focusing on reuse and repurposing. However, some consumers seem to expect us to clean up after them, an attitude that we believe hinders society from achieving governmental targets for resource conservation and ecosystem protection. The simple act of a litter pick is environmental activism

This bag that had been left next to our bin on the street, our management team dealt with as it had been torn open, potentially by a local fox or cat searching for food inside. Upon taking the bag to the hub, we started separating recyclables and compostable food and materials. To our surprise, we found that the street-dumped bag contained almost no true general waste—most of the bag's space was taken up with a large cardboard box that hadn't even been flattened, simply shoved into the bag with a knot tied at the top. What a waste!

However, we accept that people can't change wasteful habits overnight; we all need to learn and grow together during this transition. It's essential to move away from being mere consumers and instead become community-minded citizens and environmental protectors.

we are getting better and have approached Zero Waste Scotland for assistance. We are looking into better signage and further CCTV coverage for fly tipping that has occurred