It is grey week!

Sat 14 Oct 2017, 17:40

How appropriate. 70 years after the partitioning of India, albeit on a much smaller scale. Perhaps it will lead to the mass migration of bins and boxes.

Sat 14 Oct 2017, 13:57

For what it's worth, I think I've got to the bottom of our own #binfail. Half of Bayliss Yard puts its bins out on Sheep Street, the other half on Pooles Lane. But the WODC bin calendars say this week, for example, is grey week for Sheep Street and all of Bayliss Yard, whereas for Pooles Lane folk it's green week. So we either need to put out the 'wrong' bins, or put them out in different (inconvenient) place. This is clearly a consequence of the town being split into two factions. (Obviously I couldn't condone residents gaming the system and getting both sets of bins collected every week by choosing where to put different bins out...)

Fri 13 Oct 2017, 16:39 (last edited on Fri 13 Oct 2017, 16:42)

I've just been told by someone from the council (via Facebook - this and Twitter seem to get a response) that crews are coming out tomorrow to meet the backlog. We'll see!

Fri 13 Oct 2017, 16:10 (last edited on Fri 13 Oct 2017, 17:36)

The Council were under the impression that all bins had been emptied, but ours haven't so if you're in the same position you might need to let them know again.

Fri 13 Oct 2017, 15:52

Our recycling and green waste bins, too, have still not been collected, despite council promises they would be. If this goes on I seriously suggest getting a van and filling it with this waste, then dumping it at the WODC offices. Perhaps that will wake them up.

Fri 13 Oct 2017, 15:38 (last edited on Fri 13 Oct 2017, 17:39)

Liz, we were also promised that our rubbish would all be collected today, but I'm afraid no joy so far! I agree it appears that the council believe collections have been accidentally missed rather than deliberately not collected, yet I know this is not the case because a neighbour's blue bin was emptied right next to our black boxes, which were left untouched. This just goes round in circles and I can't quite see how it will be resolved ...

Fri 13 Oct 2017, 11:46

Richard I have just snagged my cardigan on your box lid !

Fri 13 Oct 2017, 10:42

Market Street has now been done - hooray.

Fri 13 Oct 2017, 09:56 (last edited on Fri 13 Oct 2017, 09:57)

On re-reading (yawn) the booklet I now see that I transgressed by putting a small plastic flowerpot in the recycling wheelie bin. We are only allowed to put "soft" plastics in, not "hard" plastics. Not sure I can use my layman's discretion on that one. Anyway all the other stuff was taken so that's good.
I'm surprised that the "operatives" (or whatever they are called these days) have time to rummage through a full bin.

Fri 13 Oct 2017, 09:56

I hope and pray the residents of Charlbury can get through this crisis......

Fri 13 Oct 2017, 09:53

Sarah, Phone Ubico direct. You'll see how to do it on yesterday's post by me. It has obviously worked for Stephen Andrews (see yesterday's post by him), and I think you should do it straight away. The transitional arrangements are for 3 weeks, but there was an option to cut these back somewhat if everything is going OK. Liz Leffman's post yesterday suggests that Ubico haven't been notified of any problems by WODC. They need to be told!

Fri 13 Oct 2017, 09:16

I'm on Hundley Way, we were meant to be grey week this week, bins due to be collected Tuesday. Food waste was collected, but our grey bins are still out in the street waiting to be collected. I've emailed the council and am currently on hold on the phone trying to get through to someone. My grey bin is already full, no way I can wait another 2 weeks! This situation is literally rubbish.

Fri 13 Oct 2017, 09:07

Ubico are local council owned and WODC was applying to become an equal partner, with quite considerable savings. Staff were being transferred to the new company, and I do wonder if some of the confusion about the transitional arrangements is due to this.

Fri 13 Oct 2017, 09:00 (last edited on Fri 13 Oct 2017, 09:00)

Sadly no, they didn't want the contract as they lost money on it. Which is why their management of the Spendlove was so....rubbish.

Fri 13 Oct 2017, 07:44

Can't we go back to the previous contractors with whom I never ever had any problem

Thu 12 Oct 2017, 20:29

I have been assured this evening that any black boxes not collected on Tuesday will be collected tomorrow so please leave them out!

Thu 12 Oct 2017, 18:08

Following Christine's helpful email about Ubico's intended response during the changeover I have contacted them direct and am promised a call and action to collect excess green waste. In common with others on the forum, I can report that WODC officers have stopped responding and clearly either knew nothing about the transitional arrangements or choose not to inform us - why aren't the staff up to speed?

Thu 12 Oct 2017, 17:33 (last edited on Thu 12 Oct 2017, 18:51)

At the WODC Environment Committee meeting today, I raised many of these issues with the officer in charge of the new recycling system. To my surprise, she said that she had had a meeting with Ubico this morning and that according to them all was going well. I then explained that those of us who have been given "permission" to continue using black boxes had been ignored completely and our boxes were still unemptied. She did not understand at first and said that these were "missed collections" but I explained that this was not just a case of odd boxes being accidentally missed off the rounds, they were just not collected, full stop. She finally understood what I was saying. This was all the more surprising as I e mailed her on Tuesday about it - she clearly had not read my message.

If your recycling was not collected on Tuesday please leave it out as someone should be round to collect it in the next few days. By the way this is not just happening in Charlbury - I was at a meeting in Churchill yesterday and they have had the same problem - and the problem of the bins being left any-old-how in the road.

I was also told in Churchill that bags of textiles and batteries had been left out and not collected. I was told that a separate team comes round to collect these after the main recycling collection, but of course, since no-one has been told that this is how it works, people took their uncollected items back into the house. If you want to recycle clothes, shoes, batteries etc, please leave them out after the main bins have been collected in future.

No doubt the problems will be ironed out over the next few weeks.

Thu 12 Oct 2017, 12:27

If you look at Ubico's website, you'll see that the reorganisation was to cut one collection vehicle & one collection crew. It is, in other words, to cut costs - as are nearly all local government changes now that central Govt grants have been cut.

Did you know, for example, that from November, staff at WODC will be working for a new local authority-owned company, Publica? This is from WODC's website which also tells us that Publica includes staff from WODC, plus the Cotswold & Forest of Dean councils. Apparently the transfer will be "seamless" & we won't notice any difference. Well, we'll see ...

Thu 12 Oct 2017, 11:22

What a mess!
I wonder why it was necessary, or if it really was necessary, to change the type of collection from grey to green for only half, or whatever the fraction was, of the town?
It seems like almost a certainty that things would go wrong somewhere, and "Oh boy", they certainly have!

Thu 12 Oct 2017, 09:18 (last edited on Thu 12 Oct 2017, 09:19)

Susie, If WODC don't know what to do, then I suggest you call the waste company direct. It's called Ubico & it's local authority owned. One of its 4 main locations is Station Rd, Witney.

You can see its own page about what it does here www.ubico.co.uk/what-we-do and this gives the telephone number: 0300 300 9000 as a contact number.

Another very interesting page which shows what Ubico promises to do in the first 3 weeks of the new waste services should things go awry is here: filkins.org.uk/wp-content/uploads/2017/09/Recycling-Information.pdf.

This states that there will be daily meetings between customer services and the waste teams in the 1st 3 weeks,so that any issues can be resolved immediately.

In addition:
should a resident present their container on the wrong day during the first three weeks of the service and the Council is informed, this will be logged as a missed collection and Ubico will return to collect it, even if it is not a genuine miss.

Due to the week change 23% of all properties will go three weeks without a rubbish collection - residents can present a maximum of one bag of side waste during the first three weeks of service. The Collection Crews will report back to the depot areas which have presented side waste. A separate vehicle will be sent on the same day to collect this, as there will not be capacity on the original vehicle.

11.5% of chargeable garden waste licence customers will go three weeks without a garden waste collection. When contacted, Customer Services will send out pre packed envelopes with paper sacks which the resident can fill with garden waste. The Collection Crews will report back to the depot areas which have presented garden waste in sacks. A separate vehicle will be sent on the same day to collect this, as there will not be capacity on the original vehicle.

Good luck!

Wed 11 Oct 2017, 22:41 (last edited on Wed 11 Oct 2017, 22:43)

Yes, Charlie, I have made seven calls to the Council, but still no joy. They genuinely don't seem to know what to do as the new waste collectors don't respond to any of their requests. It's now been 15 days since my recycling and grey rubbish have been emptied...

Wed 11 Oct 2017, 19:42

All this angst reinforces my belief that we should all just shove everything in the grey bin - or take it to a recycling centre. Our bins were emptied but someone put a rude sticker on the blue top saying something to the effect that plastics would not be collected. Or some such nonsense. Odd, as the bin was empty.
I truly think that Charlbury has entered a Kafkaesque world. Perhaps we are all part of a Great Experiment? Who will crack first?

Wed 11 Oct 2017, 16:37

On Tuesday, last week, the Hone Court Residents recycling bins and food bins were emptied and not put back in the central location that we have used for as long as I can remember. Six recycling bins and two food bins along with a pile of food waste were dumped outside my front gate adjacent Pooles Lane whereas the bins should have been returned to the latter central location about 40 metres away.
Between Tuesday and Friday I made six complaint telephone calls to WODC and despite promises, nothing was done, so me (still on crutches after a knee operation) and other elderly residents had to put the large bins back to their usual place.
Today, according to the WODC Schedule, is a grey day and our general rubbish bins should have been emptied along with the food waste bins. The food waste bins were emptied but, unfortunately, not the grey bins. A call was made to WODC this morning at 9.15 am, but, as I write this, nothing has been done.
I am sure that the residents of Charlbury are quite conscientious in sorting their rubbish and placing it in the correct bins at the correct time but it is a great pity that WODC Contractors cannot match our effort.
I would hope that any Charlbury Councillor having read this post will take this matter up with the relevant WODC persons/department.
In reading other posts, it appears that several residents have had no luck at all following their telephone calls to WODC.

Wed 11 Oct 2017, 09:48

My new recycling bin and that of my neighbour at the Banbury Hill end of Enstone Road were put out on Monday 2nd for collection on Tuesday 3rd. They are still uncollected, despite our filling in the online form and following it up with numerous emails to the Council. The Council keep promising that the bins will be emptied but the new outfit clearly has no intention of doing anything before next Tuesday, if then.

Wed 11 Oct 2017, 09:17

John - a clear breach of Clause 2 of p 4 which clearly states that small electrical appliances can be placed in a black box (separate from the one containing glass bottles and jars with lids removed). I'd complain to the Ombudsman if I were you.

Wed 11 Oct 2017, 00:23 (last edited on Wed 11 Oct 2017, 04:19)

OK, so as scheduled, our new blue recycling bin was emptied today along with our green garden waste bin and one of our black boxes containing bottles. However, the second black box containing a couple of small electrical items was left unemptied.

Tue 10 Oct 2017, 22:12

Our grey bin and food waste caddy were both collected this morning (no idea what time) just as they were expected to be, according to the collection timetable leaflet for this part of town, ie Little Lees, Lees Heights, etc etc.
So WODC appear to have got the days correct for us in that leaflet.

Tue 10 Oct 2017, 21:56 (last edited on Tue 10 Oct 2017, 22:25)

Our grey bin has still not been emptied having been missed from last week's collection, despite my daily telephone calls to the Council and their daily assurances that it will be emptied within 24 hours, and a more recent promise that the refuse collecting depot would contact me direct to empty it (which they haven't done). And we have still not been delivered a blue recycling bin, but were again assured that we could continue to use the old recycling boxes until we were, and that these should be emptied weekly - they're currently out on the road completely full having not been emptied for two weeks and were again missed in today's collections. The Council have been helpful and sympathetic, and claim to have escalated my complaints, but ultimately it is the [new, and apparently not local so 'don't know the area'!?] depot that will need to respond and, so far, total silence from them. Feel a bit helpless as to what to do next, and the Council seem pretty clueless as well!

Tue 10 Oct 2017, 21:03

Today: food waste collected early, green and recycling ignored, despite printed schedule. It's the weekly bin lottery!

Tue 10 Oct 2017, 19:40

In March we paid for three green waste bins to be emptied fortnightly. They were left out on Park St last Monday under the previously advised collection calendar and have remained there until today when they were finally cleared- it is Green Week for our part of Charlbury (funnily enough the email alert service resumed today after a weeks' unexplained absence) . During email correspondence with WODC over the last week, I was told that even though we paid for this service, we were would not be eligible for a missed collection during the transition, nor any refund. There was an offer of extra green waste bags, but these have yet to be delivered and they may not be collected alongside the (full) green waste bins in two weeks time, when I might have been able to catch up.

Tue 10 Oct 2017, 10:15

So how have everyone's bins been today?

Our recycling boxes have not been touched despite the rest of Market Street seemingly being emptied this morning. WODC say "phone us back at 4pm if they still haven't been done by then". Maybe we've offended the recycling gods.

Sat 7 Oct 2017, 10:28

Well, after intensive research, study, and crunching of algorithms I have concluded that for "my" half of Charlbury Tuesday is a Green collection day so blue top wheelie bin, glass in black boxes, garden waste, and food caddy. Although some might think it easier to simply say everything apart from the grey bin.
I confess, however, that I have taken some stuff to the Marriotts Walk car park in Witney, in order to comply with the lid must be closed directive. I had to go to Witney because the recycle skips behind the Co-op had been removed. In preparation for the re-surfacing I suppose. I wonder if they'll ever return and if they do, where they'll be sited?

Wed 4 Oct 2017, 10:02

Half of the people can be part right all of the time
Some of the people can be all right part of the time
But all of the people can't be all right all of the time

Wed 4 Oct 2017, 06:53 (last edited on Wed 4 Oct 2017, 06:54)

Report missed collections here (must be done within two days): www.westoxon.gov.uk/waste-forms/missed-bin-collection/

Tue 3 Oct 2017, 23:33

It's a ploy to sow dissent: Greys v. Greens, which side are you on? Thus diverting attention from the real issues.

Tue 3 Oct 2017, 21:08 (last edited on Tue 3 Oct 2017, 21:12)

We have only had food recycling collected and have still not received a blue bin, despite informing the council that we hadn't had one yet some 2 or 3 weeks ago. This means that our usual recycling boxes are now full, but won't be emptied until next week, plus we missed our grey collection, so presumably we'll have three weeks of rubbish by the time that gets collected. I wonder if others on Hixet Wood have similarly not been delivered their new blue bins?

Tue 3 Oct 2017, 20:58

Surely WODC aren't collecting different coloured bins in different parts of Charlbury, that's madness!

We put everything out (blue, green, grey, glass) and only got grey waste collected (Market Street), but nothing else.

Tue 3 Oct 2017, 14:01

So far, no grey collection, despite both leaflet and website saying it's grey week for our postcode. But the WODC website also says collections can be up to 4pm. We'll see...

Tue 3 Oct 2017, 13:35

The confusion is that the leaflet we got says Grey pick-up this week and they did a Green pick-up instead. It appears that the leaflet was only correct for half the households.

Tue 3 Oct 2017, 11:42 (last edited on Tue 3 Oct 2017, 11:44)

I think WODC must be totally confused, and to add to all this confusion (perhaps because even WODC did not know which bins were being collected) there was no email notification of waste collection yesterday which I get weekly telling me which week it is.
However, I put out our blue and green bins and both were collected, along with food waste and a few bottles in a black box. Apart from the added bin storage needed I am very happy with the new arrangements; it made life easier for the past few weeks where I have simply stored all my previous black bin materials in the blue bin, waiting for this week to arrive.
I also thought the leaflet that came through the door was a good explanation of what is now happening and can not quite see what confused other recipients, assuming the timetables were correct for all.

Tue 3 Oct 2017, 10:42

Food bin and grey sack emptied, recycling boxes not emptied (Market Street).

Tue 3 Oct 2017, 09:24

Our leaflet says Grey this week, blue and Green next. We now have 2 green, 1 grey and 1 Blue bin all full! Wonderful.

Tue 3 Oct 2017, 08:19

Correct (blue) bin emptied, as we were told in our leaflet and as it says for our address on the WODC website at www.westoxon.gov.uk/residents/bins-recycling/ . Just scroll down and enter your address. What an exciting and sleepless night we all had waiting to see what happened. And we seem to have the old lorry back, the one that sounds like a wailing trumpeter! The unexpected joys of being woken up at 7 again by people playing musical trucks.

Mon 2 Oct 2017, 22:21

Taking your advice, Richard, and just going to put all three bins out. If they all get emptied I'll be none the wiser, though

Mon 2 Oct 2017, 21:11

OK so Charlbury is divided (nothing new there)
Fly away plastics can be used to wrap food waste so one item per bag then ..... and collection every week !
However this does defeat the object but some supermarkets will take them
Need to check locally

Mon 2 Oct 2017, 19:38

Not 100% sure what'll be happening for those of us with nowhere to keep wheelie bins (so we still have black boxes and grey sacks), and the WODC website always opts out of displaying information for these addresses. I'll put the lot out overnight and see what gets picked up...

Mon 2 Oct 2017, 19:20

Lol Andrew!
Apologies for misleading about the food waste. Thanks to Helen and Jody for correcting me.

Mon 2 Oct 2017, 19:14

And don't forget to put your purple bins out every third Thursday!

Mon 2 Oct 2017, 19:13

Apparently food waste is still every week anyway.

Mon 2 Oct 2017, 19:08 (last edited on Mon 2 Oct 2017, 19:11)

Hannen: yes I agree it's a shame that food is now only collected fortnightly and I'm disappointed we can no longer recycle fly away plastic. But please don't just give up on recycling. I still think WODC do a good job of recycling compared to some councils and I thought their leaflet explained everything rather well. And surely you don't really think they'd go to all the trouble of organising different collections on different days and printing detailed instructions just to chuck it all in landfill anyway? I've posted them here before but there are some good videos about what happens to your your recycling at https://www.recyclenow.com/recycling-knowledge/how-is-it-recycled, including some myth busting about common misconceptions. The new system will take a bit of getting used to, sure, but remember it's all for a pretty important cause - avoiding landfill, ensuring precious resources aren't wasted and protecting our environment.

Mon 2 Oct 2017, 19:04

I'm in the grey half of town... goes out to pull the recycling back up the drive... food waste every week fine. But I bemoan the loss of our flyaway plastics recycling, which now seem to be the most part of my bin. Did anyone find out if we could have a recycling point for these in town? I suppose they'd just end up blowing all over the place. Sigh. If only shops would use less packaging, and yes, I do try and buy loose and without plastic as much as possible...

Mon 2 Oct 2017, 18:55

Yes, it looks like someone in their wisdom has split Charlbury. As usual no consultation. I'm "with" Stephen. However, having food waste, collected fortnightly is surely a retrograde step. Or am I missing something? Frankly I'm inclined to shove everything in the grey bin and be done with it. Life's too short. Glass and cardboard to the Spendlove Car Park (assuming one can find a parking space). What a mess, both figuratively and literally.
Have just spent some 20 minutes reading through the booklet which is akin to Chairman Mao's little red book. E.g. all cardboard to be flattened, oil will not be collected if in glass bottles, household batteries to be put in USED envelopes (WHY?!).
And how do we know that all this stuff is actually recycled, and not just shoved into landfill? Victor Meldrew would have a fit.

Mon 2 Oct 2017, 18:12

I've just checked on Ian's link and it is green week for our postcode.

Mon 2 Oct 2017, 18:05

Mine is green week

Mon 2 Oct 2017, 17:55

Sounds like they have split Charlbury into two....blue and green bins out all along the Slade and see
www.westoxon.gov.uk/media/1670726/Tue2.pdf which is the calendar for my postcode.

Mon 2 Oct 2017, 17:29 (last edited on Mon 2 Oct 2017, 17:29)

Yes grey week..... as per the leaflets.......

Mon 2 Oct 2017, 17:24

The website (at 5pm today at least) does NOT show a green week - it shows that this week is a GREY one! (As per the leaflets we've all had.)

Mon 2 Oct 2017, 16:37

Nope, the printed calendar and the online version on the west oxfordshire website gives me a green week starting tomorrow (3rd october)

Mon 2 Oct 2017, 16:33

Unless I am mistaken, I think the new waste calendar is now in operation and it is just rubbish (grey bin) and food waste tonight for tomorrow, with garden waste (green bins), food waste, new blue bin (all mixed recycling), but glass (in old black box) next week. Do folks agree? It appears that the calendars have not been synced as it should have been green waste tomorrow.