Where I live, in Tunisia, garbage is collected daily, including public holidays. My household generates about a quarter of the waste generated by my sister’s similar household in the UK, largely because Tunisian products do not have the excessive packaging that seems to be almost universal with products bought in the UK. Also, shops and supermarkets in Tunisia sell most fruit and vegetables unpackaged.
In the UK, recycling seems to have become a ‘cause’ and is being used by the government to enforce even more controls and taxes on the people. To collect garbage fortnightly is a disgrace. More effort should be made to reduce packaging. You know that there is something suspicious about it when the government tries to spin it – e.g. calling it AWC – Alternative (alternate?) Weekly Collection and to start implementing it in the winter so that people will get used to the smells! Thank God I live in Tunisia!
alan
holland
Here in Holland green waste is collected one week and general waste the week following.This has been the case for many years .
This alternate week collection causes no problems and does push people into managing their waste better.
SB
Vegetable waste
I omitted to mention in my earlier post that in my house in Tunisia and that of my sister in the UK, absolutely all vegetable matter, including potato peelings, orange peel, teabags, etc. is put into our compost heaps. For anyone with even a small garden this significantly reduces the amount of waste that needs to be disposed of and helps to grow excellent flowers and vegetables.
Doretta
Thank you SB for letting us know what happens in Tunisia. Composting is not an option for some people, unfortunately. People are sometimes freezing food waste until nearer collection day but unless you have the freezer space to do this food waste stays in bins for up to 2 weeks.
Alan, is your food waste collected weekly or fortnightly?
It is really interesting to hear how other countries manage waste collection, especially as most European countries have higher recycling rates than we do in the UK.
