Wednesday, January 28, 2009

Welcome to Lisburn (now updated)

The kind of town city where you can put newspapers, magazines and dry cardboard in the recycling bin, but you can’t put normal paper or envelopes (even ones with the windows torn off). So that means that most post will end up in the bin (and the local landfill) and not be recycled. Correction - Mon 2 Feb - the Waste Management Officer has got back to me and although office paper isn't mentioned on the literature, it can be put in the green bins.

And unlike Belfast, Lisburn City Council don’t seem to run a home composting scheme where households can pay a small amount to purchase a compost bin for their back garden, further reducing the kitchen/food waste that gets thrown into the black bins? Correction - Mon 2 Feb - they do run such a scheme - just not advertised on the website - and composters are available by calling 0800 092 0246 and paying £5 for a voucher that will allow you to collect a composter from their Altona Road depot (or +£10 for delivery).

Found them:

  • 75% of 1995 baseline levels by 2010
  • 50% of 1995 baseline levels by 2013
  • 35% of 1995 baseline levels by 2020

After all, don’t Councils have waste reduction targets, and fines from Europe if they don’t meet them in a few years time?

Anyway, at least they posted through the information about the normal/recycling bin rota, even if they didn’t mention which day our street is collected!

5 comments:

Anonymous said...

Alan, the council certainly did offer compost bins. We got one last year and didn't have to pay.

Alan in Belfast (Alan Meban) said...

Sounds good.

However, no mention on the Council website or literature, and they didn't reply to that question in my email.

Nor have they yet fixed the broken links I pointed out in the email.

Alan (still in his angry Lisburn phase)

Timothy Belmont said...

The silly sign in the middle of the countryside, towards Ballynahinch, which proclaims "Welcome To The City Of Lisburn" never ceases to amuse.

Anonymous said...

Yes, they DID do the bins - there was a limit of two per household and they were a fiver each if you collected them yourself from the depot in Altona. There was a delivery charge if you couldn't make it there.

I got two of them, expecting them to be tiny and not at all useful but in fact they are MASSIVE and the sort of thing you would pay big money for in the likes of B&Q.

I'm not surprised you weren't offered them, I certainly got the impression the council is set up in a "the right hand doesn't know what the left hand is doing" system.

There was a leaflet put round the doors for this feature with a *gasp* 0800 number on it. It indicated which day the bins could be collected - I think it was Wednesdays.

The 0800 number went straight through to the depot - rather than the Civic Centre.

The first girl who answered my query knew nothing about it but on my second try I found a lovely, knowledgeable, friendly girl who knew everything. She invited me to "come down anytime" and didn't make me stick to the Wednesday idea.

I was impressed with the product - it would be a shame if it was now discontinued :(

I am currently filling my first one with lovely chicken manure :D

Susan

Anonymous said...

Yes, they DID do the bins - there was a limit of two per household and they were a fiver each if you collected them yourself from the depot in Altona. There was a delivery charge if you couldn't make it there.

I got two of them, expecting them to be tiny and not at all useful but in fact they are MASSIVE and the sort of thing you would pay big money for in the likes of B&Q.

I'm not surprised you weren't offered them, I certainly got the impression the council is set up in a "the right hand doesn't know what the left hand is doing" system.

There was a leaflet put round the doors for this feature with a *gasp* 0800 number on it. It indicated which day the bins could be collected - I think it was Wednesdays.

The 0800 number went straight through to the depot - rather than the Civic Centre.

The first girl who answered my query knew nothing about it but on my second try I found a lovely, knowledgeable, friendly girl who knew everything. She invited me to "come down anytime" and didn't make me stick to the Wednesday idea.

I was impressed with the product - it would be a shame if it was now discontinued :(

I am currently filling my first one with lovely chicken manure :D

Susan