NowRecycle Blog

Ian Collins, managing director at Plastic Omnium says, “Kerbside boxes are convenient for households where one or more wheeled bins can’t be accommodated. Boxes provide a convenient way to store waste streams in a home although if there’s space for a box, there’s generally enough space for the safer option, a small wheeled bin.”

Problems do arise when residents have to move that box to the kerbside. Carrying a loaded box out of the home to the collection highway is not suitable for many, whereas a small wheeled bin could be more easily moved to the kerbside.

Mr Andrew Stacey, specialist lawyer in health and safety at Pinsent Masons, says, “section 3 of the Health and Safety at Work Act (1974) imposes a duty on all employers to conduct their undertaking by taking all reasonably practical steps to ensure the health and safety of any person who might be affected by their undertaking.”

“Clearly, with kerbside boxes, the householder is obliged to lift the kerbside box from their home to the kerbside if the local authority is going to collect that element of refuse” says Mr Collins.

“The local authority - and its contractor - is relieved of this responsibility if householders choose to make their own arrangements, e.g. going to the bottle bank or paper bank. But given that local authorities are seeking to encourage householders to recycle their waste, they presumably want to make it easy for householders to comply with their policy. The key issue is the weight of the box when full or semi-laden and that the local authority puts a warning notice on each box asking householders to take care and possibly advising them to seek assistance or make repeat trips.

“Employees - i.e. refuse collectors - are protected under the same act but under a different section (2). This states that their employer must take all reasonable and practicable steps to ensure their health and safety while at work. This calls for adequate training and appropriate resources to be supplied by the local authority.”

Published in Recovered Fibre News, November 2005

Industry and the GMB union have backed an HSE report that recommends the use of wheelie bins for collecting recyclables instead of non-wheeled containers such as kerbside boxes.

According to the HSE’s report, ‘Manual handling in kerbside collection and sorting of recyclables’ (HSL/2006/25) published at the end of last month, the use of containers employed for box collection schemes should be monitored to ensure they do not exceed a practicable limit and put operatives at risk of suffering from musculoskeletal disorders (MSDs).

MSDs affect muscles, joints, tendons and other parts of the musculoskeletal system. They have been identified as the UK’s most common cause of occupational ill health, affecting 1.1 million people annually at a cost of £5.7 billion. An estimated 12.3 million working days are lost due to work-related MSDs.

The HSE report states that: “Where boxes are used [it is recommended that there should be a reduction in] the capacity of boxes to at most 40 litres to provide a method of weight control. The maximum weight observed for a 40 litre box containing mixed glass and newspaper, including a lid, was 12.8kg. This weight is acceptable to at least 90% of the British male adult population.”

The issue has raised concerns at the GMB union.

“I understand the pressure local authorities are under to recycle their waste which has made them rush into kerbside boxes,” said John McClean, GMB’s health and safety officer. “The GMB believes this is a backward step because it means they’re moving away from mechanisation back towards manual handling.”

The report’s project leader, Dr Andrew Pinder, recommended that: “Plastic wheeled bins are preferable to metal as their lightness makes them easier to manoeuvre.” He added that: “Plastic bins offer clear health and safety benefits over metal ones.”

This view is echoed by Simon Dutta, marketing director at Plastic Omnium, waste containment specialist.

“Kerbside boxes are great in theory, but not so great in practice,” states Mr Dutta.

“I’ve no doubt they encourage people to consider recycling, but the problem arises when you have to move the box from the home to the kerbside.”

He pointed out that a standard 55 litre box when full with heavier waste streams like newspapers or glass is not suitable for the elderly, disabled, or very young.

“The local authority then has a responsibility to lift and empty that box. Both the GMB and the HSE have stated that they believe there are significant risks involved in the manual handling of heavy boxes. It’s a retrograde step,” concluded Plastic Omnium’s  marketing director.

Published on the front page of Recycling & Waste World, 11th May 2006

South Ayrshire Council has placed over 45,000 Citybac™ Bio bins with its residents, both in apartments and houses.

This is said to have made a significant contribution towards the council’s nudging recycling rates of 25%.

The Citybac™ Bio has been developed by Plastic Omnium, a specialist in waste containment solutions, and enables green waste to be stored in a way that allows it to be recycled after collection.

“If green waste isn’t isolated during the collection process, it becomes unrecoverable”, explained Peter McCann, UK sales manager of Plastic Omnium.

“Most local authorities have addressed this issue by providing composters either freely or at favourable rates to householders, but that’s of little use if you live in an apartment or don’t have space for a composter in your garden.

“Our Citybac™ Bio wheeled bin drains waste and lets the air in in such a way that the waste remains recyclable before it’s collected. The container itself is impregnated with an innocuous, antibacterial agent to prevent unpleasant smells.

“Add to that the smart design which keeps air flowing while the water drains into a reservoir below to keep the waste dry, and you can see why it’s virtually odour-free and fine for indoor use,” he added.

Stratton MacDonald, assistant manager for waste strategy at South Ayrshire Council, said: “As the kerbside collection of garden waste is every four weeks, it was important that no offensive odour was produced.

“It was also important that the bins could contain four weeks worth of garden rubbish, so we were very pleased with the reduction of mass that occurs in the Citybac™ Bio - it actually starts the composting process.

“The feedback from householders is also very positive - some households with bigger gardens have even requested a second bin. They love the fact that the bin is light and they can wheel it around with them while doing the gardening.

“We would never have considered providing sacks for garden waste collection as they’re too heavy to lift when full, and bags can lead to contamination.

“Recycling rates have increased from 6% to 22% since we started these schemes and we anticipate hitting 25% by next year.

“This significant improvement could not have been achieved without Plastic Omnium’s Citybac™ Bio, with approximately half of recyclables being garden waste,” added Mr MacDonald.

Plastic Omnium also supplies banks and bins.

Published in Recycling & Waste World, 11th May 2006

Reading council is handing out thousands of new wheeled bins to residents as part of an £800,000 switch to alternate weekly collections.

A weekly kerbside box service for the recycling of paper, card, plastic and cans will turn into a fortnightly system from October, using red wheeled bins supplied by Telford firm Plastic Omnium.

Residual waste will be collected fortnightly as well, alternating with the recycling collections.

Steve Waite, lead councillor for the environment at Reading, said: “Recycling rates in some places have almost doubled after introducing alternate weekly collections.”

Published in Resource Manangement and Recovery, 25th August 2006

Plastic Bins Help Prevent Accidents, says H&S Lab