Cavan County Council issue Brown Bin Guidelines

cavanCavan County Council have announced that from the 1st July 2015 Brown Bins are being introduced into the following towns in County Cavan:

  • Ballyjamesduff
  • Bailieborough
  • Virginia
  • Kingscourt
  • Cootehill

Full details can be found at Cavan Brown Bin

The Council allows for green/graden waste, food waste (cooked & uncooked) and other items such as pizza boxes and wine corks to be be put in the brown bin, and they endorse the use of  biodegradable bags. The clear unambiguous guidelines issued by Cavan County Council will be of great help to Cavan householders, and indeed all Irish householders, who have received disparate messages from waste service providers as to what can be put in the brown bin. Well done Cavan County Council

Do you have to use Paper based Liners in Brustibin or your Food Caddy?

 

Some Waste Service Providers are telling their customers that they can only use paper based liners in Brustinin or their food caddies. One provider states that they ” can only accept paper based bin liners” and then proceeds to tell customers where they can buy these liners! This is simply not the case and the Department of the Environment has confirmed that “the use of compostable bin liners which meet EU standard 13432 is acceptable for use in the brown bin” There is even a promotional video outlining that compostable bags are acceptable! So you do not have to use paper liners that disintegrate, get messy and prevent you from using a vented caddy or Brustibin! Compostable bags, such as Brustibags,  which are stronger, more heat resistant and environmentally friendly can be used with the brown bin and must be accepted by your waste service provider! They also keep you brown bin cleaner.

France vote des mesures pour eviter le gaspillage alimentaire. France votes in measures to prevent Food Waste

Last week France’s parliament voted to ban food waste in its larger supermarkets – outlawing the destruction of unsold food.Supermarches

Under the new law, supermarkets will have to prevent food waste and will be forced to donate unsold but edible food to charity, or for use as animal feed or compost.

Also according to L’Express magazine, children in France will now be given  lessons on avoiding and preventing food waste, as part of their school curriculum.

These initiatives show how simple effective legislation can be used to reduce food waste, not just today, but into the future. Perhaps such an approach would help to reduce the one million tonnes of food that is wasted here in Ireland every year. Vive la France pour son approche!

Pay by Weight….How to Confuse the Customer!

Brown Waste Food Pay-by-Weigh Recyclingt

As if life was not complicated enough, it is amazing the variations in calculating waste charges that waste service providers have invented. Take Leitrim, a county with the lowest population density in Ireland, which has three waste service providers.

Provder A charges €80 per annum and then 20c/kilo for grey (general) waste, and 8c/kilo for green (recycling) and brown (food) waste. Provider B charges €236 per annum and then 17c/kilo for grey waste, with no charge per kilo for brown or green waste, while Provider C charges €312 per annum and 17c/kilo for grey waste if you exceed 48kg/month.

On average Irish households produce 480 kgs of general waste, 300 kgs of compostable waste and 180kgs of recycling per year, and using these figures provider A, B and C will charge respectively €224, €317 and €312 per annum. This is a varation of €93 in a households annual waste charges.

It therefore pays to shop around and decipher the method by which waste providers charge. Minister Kelly has promised to regulate the industry, however with widely varying charging mechanisms and the continued collection of mixed waste by waste service providers contrary to recent Regulations, it seems that third party actions are speaking louder than the Minister’s words!

Brown Bin, Green Bin ….Recycling Rates?

It was recently claimed that waste recovery rates (including incineration) in Ireland were running at 80{b050ebef00e2b6e935b95b021e9f55f4ab20ffeed47f29e2aa25a2081fec5bc8}, and that the EU statistics did not reflect this. The statistics in question  stated that in 2013, we each produced 586  kilos of waste of which 34{b050ebef00e2b6e935b95b021e9f55f4ab20ffeed47f29e2aa25a2081fec5bc8} was recylced, 6{b050ebef00e2b6e935b95b021e9f55f4ab20ffeed47f29e2aa25a2081fec5bc8} was composted, 42{b050ebef00e2b6e935b95b021e9f55f4ab20ffeed47f29e2aa25a2081fec5bc8} was land filled and 18{b050ebef00e2b6e935b95b021e9f55f4ab20ffeed47f29e2aa25a2081fec5bc8} was incinerated (presumably by being shipped abroad ). In other words 60{b050ebef00e2b6e935b95b021e9f55f4ab20ffeed47f29e2aa25a2081fec5bc8} of our waste goes into the Grey Bin.

These finding are disputed in some quarters and possibly rightly so ,but real on the ground figures here in Galway City indicate that each household produces between 60 and 70 kilos of waste per month of which approximately 50-55{b050ebef00e2b6e935b95b021e9f55f4ab20ffeed47f29e2aa25a2081fec5bc8} is recycled via Green and Brown Bins. The remaining 30-35kgs is consigned to the Grey Bin. Compost rates run at approximately 20kg per month, with dry recyclables running at about 15kg per m

So even in city like Galway with a long  successful history in the Recycling and Segregation of Waste including Food Waste, there is still plenty of room for improvement both on the waste generation front and on the amount of waste that we do not recycle via either the Green or Brown Bin. And Brustibin, a Galwegian, was designed just to help you do that!

Eurostat-2013-residual-waste

 

 

 

The “Brown Bin” is not for Everybody!

wheelieIn 2013, legislation was introduced with the objective of  reducing the amount of food waste going to landfill so as to meet our EU Directive obligations and targets. This legislation is was hoped would encourage householders to reduce the amount of food waste they are producing which is currently running at 80kg per person per annum. As part of the legislation, it is now mandatory for waste service provider to supply a brown bin (for bio-waste) to its customers. It is an offense for them not to do so and it is also an offense for householders to dispose of food waste in their grey or green bin.  Unfortunately on recent visits to apartment and student complexes throughout the country there is widespread evidence to suggest that no brown bins are being supplied to a large number of these complexes and that residents are simply disposing of food waste in the residual bin. These now contaminated grey bins are  being collected by the  waste service provider and mingled with the  non contaminated grey bin waste of environmentally conscious householders who properly segregate their waste. So to all those in students and apartment dwellers who do not use the brown bin, please start using the brown bin and help save not only the environment but also on your management fees and de facto rent. The alternative unfortunately could be fines and court appearances for all concerned.

Why use 3 when 1 will do in less Space!

3 binsor 1 bin

St. Patrick’s Day with Brustibin

Pay by Weight, recycling, segregationYou can Segregate and Store more than your Waste with Brustibin!

Seachtain na Gaeilge

St. Parcrick, La Feile Phadraig

Seachtain na Gaeilge

A Green Bin for a Green Day…..Brustibin ..100{b050ebef00e2b6e935b95b021e9f55f4ab20ffeed47f29e2aa25a2081fec5bc8} Guaranteed Irish… even the name, made from Bruscar meaning rubbish and meaning house.

 
Tá Seachtain na Gaeilge faoi lán tseoil anseo, ceiliúradh a bheidh ar siúl go dtí Lá Fhéile Pádraig sa tír seo. Ar a shon sin, ba mhaith liom an deis a thógáil an “Brustibin “a chur in aithne dhuit! Cé as a dtáinig an t-ainm “Brustibin”?Is focal é a cumadh as dhá fhocal Gaeilge; Bruscar agus Tí. Nuair a bhí me féin agus mo chlann ag smaoineamh ar ainm nua don tionscnamh seo, theastaigh uainn a chur in iúl gur bin don chistin a bhí i gceist,tairge lán Ghaeilge atá dhá fhorbairt agus dhá tháirgeadh in Éirinn. Mar sin, tá Brustibin réidh chun Lá Fhéile Padraig a cheiliúradh, an bhfuil túsa réidh píosa glas a chur i do chistin.

 

 

BrustiBlog says Hello!

Welcome to BrustiBlog, where we will be sharing with you all the latest Recycling news, be it advise on how best to recycle and segregate waste, how to reduce you waste costs or how to reduce the amount of waste your household produces. Recycling should not be seen as a chore and it is our mission to convince the non converted that it can be fun, hassle free and make you feel better, both environmentally and socially.Here in Ireland we are moving to mandatory waste segregation, where every household will receive a Brown Bin from their Waste Service Provider, to Pay By Weight where every household will be charged per kilogram of waste they produce. Naturally the Grey/Black Waste will be the more expensive and some of the more progressive Waste Service Providers are already offering Pay By Weight options……but more on that later.

For the moment, again a big welcome to BrustiBlog and hopefully we will be of help to all of you out there, when it comes to waste management and cost minimisation.