More uselessness from DBC

[Andy Onchan]

51 minutes ago, genericUserName said:

Recycling obviously needs to happen. That should clearly be the starting point. Though better still we discourage the need for recycling by charging people according to how much they put in their various bins. Households should be charged for the amount of waste they put out.

We should not expect it to be something on which we can necessarily break even or which pays for itself. And obviously we live in a place where, over time, most things are inevitably going to be typically more expensive. But that's a choice we make.

And at what carbon cost?

[Amadeus]

2 hours ago, Andy Onchan said:

The reason for the increases is due to the low tonnage (due to recycling) and fuel to keep the damned thing burning.

It's utter madness.

Ah the old "they burn loads of fuel oil to burn rubbish" fairy tale. 

[finlo]

3 minutes ago, Amadeus said:

Ah the old "they burn loads of fuel oil to burn rubbish" fairy tale. 

Can speak about now but they definitely used to.

[Gladys]

The time to raise objections was when the policy was fixed.  People should have made their views known then.  What has happened is people were complacent but now that the recycling and waste policy is being implemented, it is actually affecting them and they are objecting.

The objections now should be about how it is implemented, not that it is being implemented.   I am sure there are situations where the arrangements as currently in place are impractical and there needs to be an adjustment.  The recycling bins are not fit for purpose.

However, I totally get the zoom back view when the effectiveness and true 'green' credentials of the recycling initiative are being questioned. 

Glass and metal recycling is a bit of a no brainer.  Not sure that the cardboard and plastic recycling is quite the same, unless there are facilities here that can do something with that raw material. 

However what I would also say is the boat sails every day from here to the UK, whether it has recycling bound for a UK facility or not, or if it has nothing on board at all.  So, on that basis the environmental impact of getting stuff to the UK has got to be nil, surely?  There will be an impact for transport in the UK, but does that make it any different to UK grown recycling? 

 

[Andy Onchan]

47 minutes ago, Amadeus said:

Ah the old "they burn loads of fuel oil to burn rubbish" fairy tale. 

You're being fed bullshit.

[Amadeus]

4 hours ago, 2112 said:

Perhaps we can throw rotten fruit and vegetables at them? 
 

I would imagine a good turn out and they will get serious shit from ratepayers. It will also be interesting which Douglas MHKs turn up. I can’t imagine Minister Thomas attending, as he has grown far too arrogant, and he hasn’t the time for such village pump matters. 

Nothing over one week old or 100g in weight please. Let's stay civilised. I suspect most people who call me and others names online won't turn up on the night, though.

I also note I still live rent free in the heads of some people on FB. I'm not engaging there but I'll again state that my email address is public and that, since the page asked people to inundate me in particular with emails, I have received one email and that was in support of the scheme, or better, in disapproval of the way some people act towards us online. If you believe that or not is your decision to make. I'm also keeping an eye on other groups and comments on local social media and it seems to be largely the same picture. 

Where issues arise, these can be, and are being, addressed individually as mentioned before. If you think yours hasn't then the meeting might be a good place to speak to us in person.

Recycling rates are already up a lot which is great. Thank you to everyone who contributed to that continued trend. 

 

[Amadeus]

20 minutes ago, Andy Onchan said:

You're being fed bullshit.

Provide a credible source for your claims and I'll be all over it. 

[daisy]

9 minutes ago, Amadeus said:

Nothing over one week old or 100g in weight please. Let's stay civilised. I suspect most people who call me and others names online won't turn up on the night, though.

I also note I still live rent free in the heads of some people on FB. I'm not engaging there but I'll again state that my email address is public and that, since the page asked people to inundate me in particular with emails, I have received one email and that was in support of the scheme, or better, in disapproval of the way some people act towards us online. If you believe that or not is your decision to make. I'm also keeping an eye on other groups and comments on local social media and it seems to be largely the same picture. 

Where issues arise, these can be, and are being, addressed individually as mentioned before. If you think yours hasn't then the meeting might be a good place to speak to us in person.

Recycling rates are already up a lot which is great. Thank you to everyone who contributed to that continued trend. 

 

Great news to hear recycling rates are up - please post source and stats regularly so that we can all see how this initiative is working 

[Two-lane]

25 minutes ago, Amadeus said:

Recycling rates are already up a lot which is great. Thank you to everyone who contributed to that continued trend. 

A while ago someone posted the comment that 5% of glass in the recycling bins is recycled, and the rest goes to landfill.

Do you have any factual data?

[Asthehills]

2 hours ago, Amadeus said:

Ah the old "they burn loads of fuel oil to burn rubbish" fairy tale. 

They burn huge amounts of diesel to restart the thing when needed.  Like huge amounts.

[Non-Believer]

1 hour ago, Amadeus said:

Provide a credible source for your claims and I'll be all over it. 

Unless you are experienced or qualified in the matter, how would you know?

And a one-off conducted visitor tour of the plant doesn't count.

Especially if the plant knew who you were and when you were coming ("DBC are visiting, give them a load of extra bull, the business is good")

One question. Which Govt Dept (if any) regulates the monopoly incinerator situation for the benefit of the tax/ratepayers?

[Amadeus]

37 minutes ago, Asthehills said:

They burn huge amounts of diesel to restart the thing when needed.  Like huge amounts.

Yes, restart. But not during normal operation. 

[Viddy well]

On 11/15/2022 at 7:56 AM, Amadeus said:

Just to pop back to this one. I know you posted this before and I’m currently compiling the answers. Unfortunately getting relevant info out of town hall isn’t as easy as I had hoped for various reasons, some of which I will discuss with them and the media person during a meeting soon. In the meanwhile I’ll post what I can find as I believe that transparency is important and that we should be doing more to keep people informed about what we do and why we do it etc. This may be an anonymous forum but in my mind those are valid questions from a constituent and no different if you had emailed them to me so they deserve a proper answer. My apologies for the delay in this. Some of that was down to me having a lot on my plate and some was outside of my control. 

Hi Amadeus, did you have any success in locating the impact assessment, the consultation and post-consultation response, underlying assumptions about translation of black-bin waste to recyclable/residual, etc.?

I only mention it because I know you were attending a meeting before divulging these items. Presumably that's taken place now and you have your answers?

[Viddy well]

On 12/2/2022 at 12:32 AM, Gladys said:

You haven't hit a nerve at all.  Don't worry about that. 

I just don't understand why people are not trying to work with it and address the flaws, instead of trying to reverse it. 

I would be happy to debate complaints from someone who said they had tried to work within the new arrangements but could not make it work for them for specific reasons (other than changing their habits)  rather than someone who has not even tried. 

Perhaps you live in leafy suburbia, with a generous drive and a garage and the issues being raised don't affect you. I get it.

But if you live in a third floor flat in Tynwald Street then (a) you are competing with the other four tenants for trash space in the communal bin and (b) storing your new recycling bins in your lounge because health and safety prevents them from being stored in the communal area, you can't store them in the corridor to your bedrooms because that only leaves 30cm passing space and if you put them in your galley kitchen then you are constantly shifting them to get to the cooker, the washing machine and the tumble drier.

What do you do? You appeal to the Council for weekly bin collections to be restored and when that fails, you shrug your shoulders and just fill the back lane with binbags that never get collected.

This is a catastrophic failure of planning as well as a failure of local democracy, which is causing unprecedented distress to constituents and it is happening on the Council leader's watch. I can forgive an amateurish effort at reform but I can't forgive a stubborn entrenchment and the generation of a patently false counter-narrative.

After two months, the system hasn't "bedded in" but rather it's collapsing for a significant minority of the population. Why should that be acceptable?

[Happier diner]

6 hours ago, Asthehills said:

They burn huge amounts of diesel to restart the thing when needed.  Like huge amounts.

 

5 hours ago, Amadeus said:

Yes, restart. But not during normal operation. 

All fires need fuel to start up. However the heat from the fuel oil that is burned is not wasted. The heat is used in the body of the incinerator so not sure what point @Asthehillsis making really.