Local Recycling Centre - AKA "The Tip"

[Karl]

Just been down to our local centre to get rid of some stuff. Like a good boy I separated the waste into the relevant items for each of the recycling bins.

On emptying my offcuts into the "wood" skip I noticed a 6' piece of laminated worktop. Brand new. I've been looking for a piece for a while for my router table build. The skip was full and this piece of worktop was just sat on top of the skip, so it was easily accessible.

As I started to pick it out, a little Hitler who works there stopped me to tell me that I wasn't allowed to remove anything for the skips. "Well you get it out for me then". No - he isn't allowed to remove stuff either. "Well you look over there whilst I get it out and then you won't be any the wiser". No good - there are security cameras constantly surveying the area and my car reg will be used to track me down to prosecute me for removing the item - an offence apparently.

So instead of the piece being salvaged and put to good use, it will no doubt be pulped and turned into whatever they turn pulped chipboard into.

:evil:

Karl

 

[woodbloke]

This happened to me a couple of years ago in town. I was watching someone off loading some bamboo canes...not even out of the car yet. I sauntered over and said that I would have 'em and I immediately got pounced on by the recycling Gestapo who deemed that I couldn't have the canes, even though they weren't anywhere near the relevant skip and were still in the possession of the original owner :evil: - Rob

 

[devonwoody]

Perhaps these fellers get a kickback from the final movers of the rubbish?

(the totters might be under the control of the Mafia and the council staff dont want to loose a leg or something)

Our lot wont let me get rid of asbestos sheeting, they hand out an address for a local commercial outfit that wanted £600 from me three year ago.

Spoke to my councillor and he said "John put some in the black bin each time."

 

[RogerS]

This happened to me a couple of years ago in town. I was watching someone off loading some bamboo canes...not even out of the car yet. I sauntered over and said that I would have 'em and I immediately got pounced on by the recycling Gestapo who deemed that I couldn't have the canes, even though they weren't anywhere near the relevant skip and were still in the possession of the original owner :evil: - Rob

Should have stood you ground, Rob. They were in the wrong.

 

[StevieB]

Perhaps these fellers get a kickback from the final movers of the rubbish?

Yup, they do. At our local tip they get a bonus depending on the percentage of waste that is recyled compared to the percentage sent to landfill - the more recycled the greater the bonus.

Steve.

 

[dickm]

One of the (few?) good things about Milton Keynes was that the "civic amenity site" actually encouraged reuse. The operators picked out stuff that they thought would sell, and had a large area with tables and containers where this stuff was displayed. Prices were sensible, and everyone benefitted. That's where my router-lathe came from, and SWMBO got a nearly new Sebo vacuum cleaner (about £180 in John Lewis) for £3, knocked down from £5 by the guy who did the PAT testing of electrical stuff "because it was a bit dusty"!

 

[bluezephyr]

Take something worthy of carbooting in the tip, Watch it get put into a 'special' area :!:

 

[Hitch]

Dont get me started on tips/recyling :x

We have a few local ones, only one i can take my van in. (berlingo- used for private only)
Yet someone with perhaps an L200 and a 16ft Ifor Williams can go in any of them and empty the lot, no questions asked. :evil:

I must admit, i havn't ever tried getting anything out of a skip there. Throwing stuff in though, it seems dependant on which staff member you speak to, as too which skip it goes in. :roll:

Kerbside recycling, our will take galss, car batteries, but refuse plastic bottles and cardboard. A 12v battery is fine, but not a milk carton or cornflake box. Makes me wonder sometimes :?

 

[Ironballs]

DW I've got no sympathy about the asbestos, it's nasty stuff and you really shouldn't be putting it in with the rest of the waste.

Kirklees has two tips, one in the middle of nowhere in Meltham and the other in the centre of town practically (adjacent to the red light district as it happens). On a warm summers day or a Bank Holiday you can just forget it, the queues are ridiculous, it's far too small a facility for a town like Huddersfield.

Used to live in Leeds and we had tons of tips, all well laid out. None of these modern tips allow you to hoik out anything useful though as you stand at the top of a 10 foot deep container. Ours also seem to be run by miserable types who like telling you off, won't help you if you're trying to grapple with something with one hand whilst holding your hernia in with the other, but will quite happily help the pretty young lady throw her cushions into a skip

 

[BradNaylor]

I must be lucky then.

I'm always dragging likely looking bits of wood off the tip, and the attendant often gives me a hand.

My father has furnished his whole flat using timber reclaimed from 'Adswood Eco Centre'.

Cheers
Dan

 

[Digit]

John put some in the black bin each time.

I take it that DW is referring to Asbestos Cement material as I got precisely the same advise from the chap in charge at the local Council!
It's a grade two carcinogen, along with the contraceptive pill and BEER!

Roy.

 

[head clansman]

HI

a few yrs ago i stripped out an old kitchen which was lined with t/g boarding in a terrible state when the new kitchen was fitted i loaded my work van to the roof with my customer help who came with me and took it to the local recycling tip and started to off load it, after a very short while this attendant came running up screaming at me ( your trade you cant tip that hear ) so needless to say i tied to tell him it was the property of the customer and i was only tipping it for him as also my customer tried to explain, still this guy kept screaming your trade your trade ,so i coolly said either i off load it now or ill come back tomorrow and off load it from my customers car which would you like, your trade your trade .

So the next morning sure enough when we arrived up he comes again your trade , your trade , um are we i asked do you see a van then , well no he says , so what make you think I'm trade then , i told you yesterday my customer has a right to tip here if you don't like it go and ring your boss which he did by then we were finished with the first load and gone , when we came back with the second load he came to wards us i just stood there shouting at him ( jobs worth hat , jobs worth hat ) he never came any closer i think we dumped about seven loads that day no more trouble from him. hc

 

[OPJ]

On the subject of asbestos, there's a sign at my local "Recycling Centre" which clearly states that they will accept a maximum of two sheets of the stuff from you on one day... I think you also need to ring them up to inform them in advance.

If you had six sheets and wanted to get rid of it all in one day then, you'd have to make a round trip to three different sites!

This site was only re-opened (in a new location... literally, metres away!) a couple of years ago. It is easier much easier to navigate your way around now. What doesn't help is when ignorant so-and-sos don't park in the bays and end up obscuring half the road! :x No, worse than that... When it's busy and some 4x4 (usually!) is waiting to park in a bay that's full, he'll just sit on the road for ten minutes creating a long tailback of traffic!! :evil:

Those cameras that log your number plate as you drive are apparently use to note your annual number of visits... I don't know what this is for and whether or not it's so they can one day jump on you shouting "You're Trade!! TRAAAAADE!!!"...

 

[BradNaylor]

A tip. ( :lol: )

If you've got a load of rubbish that needs clearing have a word with the lads on the bin wagon next time it comes round.

A sly tenner will normally take care of everything you've got.

DAMHIK!

Brad

 

[devonwoody]

A tip. ( :lol: )

If you've got a load of rubbish that needs clearing have a word with the lads on the bin wagon next time it comes round.

A sly tenner will normally take care of everything you've got.

DAMHIK!

Brad

If you cannot take it out of the tip for a tenner, why can you get it in for a tenner, some fiddle obviously goes on. :wink:

 

[studders]

Well, I seem to have met with the very same charming Gestapo jobsworth as many of you. I borrowed a friends, non signwritten, van to take some stuff to the tip. I'd barely got through the gate when he comes over, "Wot you got in there?" he snarled, some rubbish from my house I says, "Get on the weigh bridge" he snarled even more gestapo like. When I asked why he said "I aint stupid, your trade". We chatted, I won, mainly by ignoring him and telling him to get the supervisor or whoever.
Either there is just one bloke (read - charmless git) who travels to different sites around the country or, there must be some sort of training establishment that actually teaches these a holes how to be a complete pratt?

 

[big soft moose]

by contrast i regular use the work (sign written) D22 pickup to take stuff to our local tip (devizes) and ive never found the blokes there to be anything less than helpful. - its possible that one reason is that i work for a not for profit organisation and the sign written van thus makes it clear that i'm not a tradesman.

on the subject of taking stuff out of the skips, i had a chat with the guys at the tip about this and apparently its yet more littigation mad driven H&S crap - if you remove anything from the skips and hurt yourself lifting it or handling it then the operator fears they might get sued , which is why its forbidden.

that said at the smaller sites that have only one or two guys on duty - its quite possible that an exchange of beer vouchers will persuade them to look the otherway - but you cant do that at the big sites as there would be too much possibility of a jobs worth colleage turning them in.

 

[Digit]

And at the other end of the scale I have an agreement with our local centre and can have anything I want. Quite a few people on this forum have benefited from our local chap so they aren't all the same, fortunately!

Roy.