Clean It Up
UK General Cleaning Forum => General Cleaning Forum => Topic started by: wheelie bin clean on March 11, 2009, 05:06:54 pm
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Just wondering if the wheelie bin cleaners out there also have the problem with the cowboy cleaners running a van and pressure washer out of a van and clean them on the streets? And if any stories on clamp downs in any areas?
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I'm a Carpet Cleaner but this applies to nearly every service, what the cowboy doesn't realise is that they are merely wrecking the reputation of the given service in its entirity. I have heard people say that they clean their own carpets now, because the last guy left them wet for 3 days and they could do a better job themselves. Well this is true, but unfortunately they aren't going to trust any carpet cleaner ever again, are they?
I used a cowboy builder once and to be honest, I don't trust any builder now..... So I know where the customer is coming from.
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There was a cracker big van in my road the other day cleaning carpets and he just had a big orange pipe going into the house,it looked brilliant,i was dying to go and have a nose but the neighbour is a total blirt.I bet this set up`s a few quid?Dan,liverpool
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Yeah mate, the Truck Mount!
One day I'll have one ..... one day :'(
My quote was £25k....
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If the cowboy wheelie bin cleaners using pressure sprays in the street were aware they faced a massive fine from the environment agency maybe they would think twice before starting up and undercutting the guys who do it properly.
The problem is most of them do not know they are breaking the law.
Paul
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This is the problem, they do know. The EA have been in touch with them and they won't do anything, they say its something they don't enforce and your argument will be 'but on your website it says.......' ,
http://environment-agency.resultspage.com/search?p=R&srid=S8%2d2&lbc=environment%2dagency&w=wheelie%20bins&url=http%3a%2f%2fwww%2eenvironment%2dagency%2egov%2euk%2fstatic%2fdocuments%2fBusiness%2fppmbin%2epdf&rk=1&uid=551436383&sid=15&ts=ev2&rsc=fAqlZVEz96dHSPH1&method=and&isort=score
and they'll reply its only guidelines and not regulated by them, try the local council, and the local council is 'overworked and underpaid' so no chance from them. So with the recession kicking in get ready for the vans/pressure washer/1000 litre lbc set ups coming to an area near you. :-\
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Section 6 says its an offence to empty waste into road gullies a fine of up to £20,000.
Washing bins in the street without a recycle vehicle is discharging into surface water gullies
EA can enforce this and do, I know someone who emptied fowl water into a surface water drain and he and the company he worked for were well and truly made an example of, so much so the company he was contracting for went bankrupt. The fine was thousands.
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I wish the EA would enforce their own law..........
Only satisfaction i can offer is thar I have seen 2 new starters/semi cowboys off my area in the last two years mainly because they think it is easy and it is'nt!
It is not easy to set up a round with 500-1000 customers which is really what you need to make it viable. 12 hour days inc collecting in the evening is par for the course.
As a bonus when they packed up i picked up some of their business.
Steve
Wheelie Hot wash
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there are millions of them by us, they just pull up and jet wash the bins on the road in a white van with no name on, there is no one going around checking thats the problem. ::) >:(
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There are none near me because we don't have wheelie bins else there would be hundreds of poles and slovacs doing it :D
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Section 6 says its an offence to empty waste into road gullies a fine of up to £20,000.
Washing bins in the street without a recycle vehicle is discharging into surface water gullies
EA can enforce this and do, I know someone who emptied fowl water into a surface water drain and he and the company he worked for were well and truly made an example of, so much so the company he was contracting for went bankrupt. The fine was thousands.
Taken directly from a letter I received from the EA,
Where a bin washing operation is identified on site, to pursue it a prosecutution under relevant legalislation ( water resources act 1991 ) requires us to prove that the pollutant has entered a watercourse. This requires us to establish that the drain to which the contaminated water is poured does run to surface water and not a combined(foul) sewer. Thereafter we are required to prove that the material has entered the water course, which in practical terms, unless the wateris disposed very close to the outlet, will not flow through or be measurable upon entry into the water course.
Yup thats them wriggling out of it .
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It's absolutley pathetic. Stink don't it. (pardon the pun!)
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I am a window cleaner off the other forum. Round where I live a lot of WB cleaners have dissapeared recently.
I would like to think it was because of a clampdown but I think its because we now have three different bins, each emptied at a different time and its getting too complicated for them.
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just read your bit on the forum. i clean bins in west yorks and theres loads of em at it,but what can you
do about it
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Hi
If a company knowingly uses an unlicensed person for dumping waste the fine is unlimited.
Find out if it is the same for dumping waste water and then inform your clients via a leaflet drop.
Regards
Martin 8)
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My bin cleaner as been doing mine for years and I think they let it run straight down the drain.
They do a good job, they're British and it smells lovely so good luck to them.
There's people out there commiting far worse crimes and getting away with it.
Look at the people who run the country for a start.
And we all re - cycle our mucky water when we wash the car don't we????????????
John
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But the waste water from washing you car is going to be alot cleaner than the effluent waster from the bin.
Also for the people to do the research before starting up and reading that the fines can be horrendous,so then we go and invest in the correct set up just for others to operate illegally. I do know someone who went with a franchise,25k start up and then 80 quid per week to use their name, they never lasted more than 18 months because they could never compete.
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Cleaning your car on the street in front of your own houuse is personal but cleaning 100 dirty bins in front of members of the publics houses is a business and the public frequentally complain!
Would you want a pile of dirty nappies/dog dirt/and assorted residue left in the bottom of the bin by the bin men left in front of your house?
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i wash all my bins with clean water,with no chemicals. the inside of the bin is washed inside of the bin
is washed inside the van so all the dirty crap goes into the dirty water tank(separate from the clean
water tank)the outside of the bin is washed in the street,still with clean water,no chemicals,the run off
is classed by my local aurthority as traffic film but as there are no chemicals it is less harmful than
washing your car in the street. i then spray dissinfectant and odour stop in the bin,everybody happy
the dirty water tank is emptied down my own foul sewer for which i have permision from the water board
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Cleaning your car on the street in front of your own houuse is personal but cleaning 100 dirty bins in front of members of the publics houses is a business and the public frequentally complain!
Would you want a pile of dirty nappies/dog dirt/and assorted residue left in the bottom of the bin by the bin men left in front of your house?
Cleaning your car in the street is just as illegal and for exactly the same reasons but when did you ever hear of anyone getting nicked?
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Why are they cowboys just because they swill it down the drain??
Who knows what gets swilled down when it rains, car oil and petrol/diesel, dead birds...........................
John
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They are cowboys because they operate how they like, local council/Environment Agency/Water Authority all have rules and regulations and fine heavily, unfortunately its not clamped down enough like we keep saying.
Petrol/diesel being emptied down the drains is illegal. Vehicles can fail on there MOT because of this because of the hazards.
All the carpet cleaners on this board,I'm sure the ruling work for you lot also,you no longer need a waste water carrying license according to the last email I received off the EA. Maybe if the EA start losing money with people not getting the licenses then they might start to enforce properly.
Thank you for your enquiry about waste carriers license in relation to your business.
If you simply wash out empty wheelie bins and then transport the dirty water away (including any sludge that may settle out), you do not need to register as a waste carrier. This is because the activity of cleaning the bins produces the contaminated water, therefore the wheelie bin cleaner is the waste producer.
However, if you take away any solid wastes removed from bins or any solid wastes screened out from the washings, at the time of cleaning, then you do need to register.
I am including a link to the guidance notes called "Preventing Pollution From Wheelie Bin Cleaning" which may be of help to you if you do not have them already.
http://www.environment-agency.gov.uk/commondata/acrobat/ppmbin.pdf
If you would like to chase up the other companies you have reported then please send us the companies names and addresses, or general location of the area and we can make enquiries to see if any action has been taken.
I trust you will find this information helpful
Emma Morton
Customer Service Advisor
Environment Agency
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