[semy]

Hi Guys

My nightmare came true yesterday with the news that our local council are going to start the re-cycle bin emptying. The problem is that the bin men are only going to empty the on a fortnightly basis rather than weekly.

 I knew this was coming as by law council must reduce the waste its putting into the land fill sites, my only problem is what the HELL do i do for the week that i lose out?

I was wondering if anyone else has had this problem and what are you doing for the alterate week, or has anyone ideas because im looking at a 50% business loss and the bills will keep coming in any way?

Cheers

[Musicman]

Semy, in our area, and I think this applies to most, we have two bins - one for general refuse and the other for re-cycling.

Each bin is emptied alternately on a fortnightly basis (first week general waste, second week re-cycling) so there is still a need for a weekly clean.

If this is going to be the case in your area then you shouldn't be affected as both bins need to be cleaned (I'd have thought).

Hope this helps.

Musicman

[George-Reid]

Semy
Are you saying you are cleaning bins on a weekly basis if so you are in the minority as most clean 2 weekly or 4 weekly.

For those who clean as above the 2 weekly emptying is good for business as the rubbish sits in the bin longer you get more magots etc so more people want the service.

How much are you charging to clean on a weekly cycle, Most companies are now charging at least £3,  2 or 4 weekly.

If you are weekly and less than above change to two weekly and up your charges.
You do not get the same uptake on recycling bins but perhaps you can continue your service weekly as sugested by musicman, although this would be unusal but great if it works.

It may be time to look at your commercial market.

I can give you some ideas on that if you like.

Let us know how it goes.

Cheers

George

[carloso]

hi semy

they do ordinary refuse pick up weekly and re cycle 2 weekly round this end but the re cycle is a  box not bin. the local long established  bin clean does a weekly clean. i am sure i have seen somewhere that refuse is a statutory weekly pickup unless altered by bank hol and the like it might also be worth checking what your council tax says you get, because they cant just change it if its within a pre paid statement of costs like council tax.

regards
carl 

[semy]

Thanks for quick responce, firstly i charge £2 a fortnight which is why i have the problem, how do i clean 2 weeks bins in 1 week? I have some customers that allready using recycling bins and they are'nt interested in me coming around every week. They say the odd time would be fine, but im not going around my round in the search of the odd bin,who would ?

People are complaining about not having there bin emptied every week but the council are running out of room to dump our ever increasing rubbish. Like i said by Law they have to reduce the amount of rubbish they are putting in our land fills.

I know they are also starting it in other areas in the uk also, like i said by law they need to reduce our waste. If i had to put money on it i would bet through time all bin emptying will go the same way.

So what the hell do old wheelie bin cleaners do ? Im not going to give it up, but i might have a week of nothingness to find myself something to do

thanks again for your replies


 

[carloso]

semy

tell your council that if they are running out of places to put rubish, there are said to be two huge caverns on the face of mount paisley that could take all the rubbish you can ever create

cheers

[Justin H]

Hi, we have wheelie bins just introduced in our area.They will be emptied every 2 weeks.We also will have a tiny brown bin for food.They will be emptied every week apparently.
I am on the look out for a set up to start doing wheelies too.
I curently run a small window cleaning business but can see the potential in wheelie bins.
Any advice is greatly appreciated.
I have had some advice  from a few but as you know, you need to look at a new venture from every angle.
Cheers, Justin

[Jan K]

Hi Semy!

We have had wheelie bins for years now (brown one each week, and green each fortnight) and I have a monthly bin clean of the brown bin (but the green one has never been done even tho they say they will do it). I very rarely see the bloke that collects the money but he did say that if I left the green bin out he would clean it.....ok but I never know when he is around to do it till after he's been.

On a serious note, if you agree to clean the green bin, then do it, even if it means trawling round to the back of the property to get it (mine never does). You would probably only need to do the green one once a month....bearing in mind it's clean waste so the bins shouldn't get dirty, if the bins are being used for the right waste.

I wouldn't imagine you would have a week where you are doing nothing, as you will always have your weekly brown bins to clean.
 
I am charged £3.50 per month, so your charges are about right. Although as I say my green bin has never been cleaned (it's no big deal really as it is still reasonably clean and not smelly at all). Why don't you offer a green bin clean on a monthly basis and charge those peeps to take it up an extra 50p for instance (you are there anyway so it's only a couple of minutes extra of your time you are taking up.

Don't stress about it tho' I can't seen you having any less work to do, in fact probably more!

Jan

[semy]

At the moment i have 2 full weeks of work, and from the start of july they will all get emptied on a fortnightly basis. This means im going to lose a week not matter what, i simply cant be in two places at once, let alone do two days work in one day.

I know this is going to happen and theres nothing i can do about it, and cleaning the recyling bin every now and again is not a option im going to do. My problem is what can i do in the other week? I thought maybe someone has any ideas or have been put in the same position as myself and what there solution was.

I have talked to another wheelie bin cleaner that cleans near my area and he is facing the same problem. Infact theres 4 bin cleaners in my part of the city and im sure they are all thinking the same thing.

[Justin H]

Sorry Semy.I wasn't trying to hi-jack your thread.
I'll start another.

Cheers

Justin

[Jan K]

Semy, from a long term wheelie bin user, I cannot for the life of me see how your council can justify emptying the brown bins once a fortnight. My family consists of 2 adults and 2 children and my bin is slightly larger than average (not sure how many different size bins the councils supply, but I know there is a tiny one for single users, average size for families and one slightly bigger (but not much) than average)).

My brown bin is always, if not virtually full every week! I would not accept having it emptied once a fortnight. My (average size) green bin is generaly full after a week and half and I always end up having to ram the contents down inside (which ultimately means it never gets emptied properly).

In the summer months, if the brown bin is only emptied once a fortnight, your peeps will find that they will probably not be able to close the lid properly and then all sorts of nasty smells and visitors will accompany that little problem. Perhaps you oughta to have a word with your local council and suggest they reconsider and empty browns once a week. 

Please don't panic, and feel your business is about to go down the pan. You may feel you have weeks where you are not bringing in enough cash to keep you going (I know I have been there with my dom cleaning business, and indeed I am having a quiet time at the mo), but you do have regular customers, and you could use this 'quiet time' to think about other directions and getting out there and putting yourself about!

The council would be fools to think they could only 'get away' with giving fornightly brown bin cleans, so it will be a case of hanging on in there until they can sort their acts out (typical council idea of trying to save money, which most likely will backfire on them eventually).

It's not likely you could justify offering a green bin clean more than once a month as they just don't need it. What sort of cleaning system do you use? Could you use it to offer any other type of cleans. I know one of the bins cleaning companies in my area use (or at lease use to use) a pressure washer type of system, which I would have thought could be adapted to pressure wash exterior stonework!!

It's just an idea!

Jan

[George-Reid]

Hi Semy
Sorry its taken me some tome to see the problem
You are saying on one monday you clean bins at XX and on another you clean at YY
but from now on both XX and YY will be emptied on the same monday and recycle bins emptied on the other monday.

Have the council confirmed this is how they are going to operate because it makes no sense that would indicate that one week out of two specialist recycling vehicles would do nothing or do they use same vehicles for both colections.

I can see your nightmare now.
This would cause us a major headache.
Let us know how it works out
Cheers

George

[Ian Rochester]

Semy,

I think you are worrying before the problem has happened, for the council to empty 2 weeks worth of bins in one week would require twice the manpower and twice the dedicated equipment, it would need the same requirement for you to clean them.

This will not happen, speak to the council, find out what their new rota is going to be and simply follow round after them, you will not lose work from it, you'll just need to modify your round.  In fact I wouldn't be surprised if you pick up extra work from it due to the bins having food etc festering away in them for 2 weeks instead of one.

[semy]

You hit the nail right on the head george ,i should have explained myself better sorry about that.

The council in one area use the same truck for both proposes, one week they empty the rubbish the next is reclycled. How ever the other council are having a seperate truck that will just collect recycled waste. Now the trucks that are emptying the normal waste are going to be given a whole new area to be emptyed for week their normal round is emptyed of recyled waste.

All bin men and drivers have been told to apply for new posistions with in the council and there jobs are going to go to new crews. My only reason that i can see is they are going put more work on the crews and keep them out for a full 8 hour shift. The crews now are finished quite early on some days.

So not only are they doing recylcling every other week in the our areas, they are also changing the some of days the  bins are going to be emptyed.

My only hope is that the two councils dont clash with there normal waste emptying days as this wouldnt really affect me ,other wise its a kiss 50% of the business goodbye.

I know this is going to happen so theres no point in complaining about it but i still got bills coming in and a family to support so its what can i do with the alternate week to generate some money ?

[George-Reid]

Semy
If commerial wheelie bin cleaning is not an alternative then perhaps you need to look at more pressure washing work. Paths patios etc.
Also cleaning of shopping trollies at the local ASDA etc.
Do you have property management companies, look at pressure cleaning carparks storage areas forecourts etc.
Do you have a flat surface cleaner to use for above.

Give me a call if you want a chat my number is on my web site

Cheers

George