Do you ask your guests to take out the rubbish/recycling?

[ruthiebabe]

Hi

We are just going live, first guests today. I have a number of questions that I'd welcome your opinion on. will post other Q's separately, difficult to know whether to post in UK section or main.

Do you ask your guests to put the rubbish out? Our property has a midweek collection and the rubbish needs to go through the house. It's impossible for the cleaner (on a Friday) to take it.

I have asked guests to put itout and to deal with their own recycling, all info left. Is that fair do you think? What do you do?

TIA Ruth

TIA

Ruth

[Bartlett]

We also ask guests to put out bins. Not all guests will do it though. So hzve a backup plan for how to deal with excess if ignored.

[waterwitch]

We ask guests to ensure all waste is put out for collection and that it is sorted into non-recycle and recycle items. I mention this in the welcome letter, in the guest handbook and have notices all over the kitchen and stickers on each bin.

We only get non-recycle bins emptied every 2 weeks and the Council will not collect overflowing bins. I think it is probably the same for most UK households. We had one set of guests not put the bin out earlier this year so it was already full for the incoming guests. The Council did not empty it because the lid wasn't down, although they found enough time to stick labels on every bin bag and leave a letter with a threat of a fine through the door!

Obviously we are relying on the guests to keep in top of things as one missed collection means a lot of stinking bags and expensive trips to the local refuse tip (a 5 hour round trip for us).

I am thinking of changing our T&C's to mention that they are liable to any costs for the disposal of waste if they fail to put out the bins as directed or leave excessive waste. We had a couple in recently who managed to fill a full wheelie bin in a week! Perhaps we should state a limit on how many bags of non-recyle waste they can leave?

[apexblue]

If we are not around we do email the guests to make sure bins are out. With only a 2 weekly collection bins are full if there are 6 plus guests in after 1 week - major problem and the Council refuse to supply an extra bin although they will supply an extra recycle box.

[Nightowl]

Uk rubbish collections are a bit of a nightmare now that we have full recycling policies and councils that behave like tyrants when bins are full/wrong type of rubbish, etc etc.

We too have different sorting bins, and notices in the welcome book and in the kitchen to try and make sure people sort correctly. But I frequently notice non recyclables in the recycling and have to remove it.

I noticed the house next door had a red tag on it a few weeks back advising that it hadn't been collected because unrecyclable items were in it. Luckily we haven't had one yet but it's only a matter of time. And even more lucky we don't have food recycling in our borough yet either which is a pain and I can't see that guests would do it, as I don't live that near our rentals I'm not looking forward to a time when I have to make a special visit just to deal with the rubbish. That's the time to throw my hat in I think..

(we have to at home and we have about 5 different recycling bins and collection regimes, its a pain..)

Guest do seem to buy far too much food and end up throwing most of it away and filling up the bins in the process.



It drives me mad.

[Nuthatch]

We have a stack of recycling bins in our Barn kitchen, clearly labelled with what each can take, plus a general waste bin and a separate bin by the sink for all food waste - our Council collects certain items on certain days, and they're very fussy about what they collect, often ripping bags open to check what's in them. I would say that less than 50% of our guests put the correct items in each bin, so every week we have to re-sort the rubbish (yuck!). Fortunately we're on site - I've no idea how we'd do it otherwise.

[kg1]

We visit each turnaround so can take to the dump if necessary, but I do suggest that guests might put the rubbish out on collection day. They don't seem too hot on recycling in Hampshire thank goodness. 2 weeks ago we had a wedding group staying inc. the bride. I found 8 large bin bags stuffed full, 2 with just bottles (must have been about 50 in there) + all the big cardboard boxes from the wedding flower deliveries stacked up + discarded flower arrangements & bouquets. I was not best pleased as i was on my own that week & had to lugg it all to the dump. I began to wonder if the reception had taken place in the house.

[Marks]

One of the many plus points of living in Spain is the 6 times a week rubbish collection from communal bins and also the plethora of recycling bins. I have a Spanish friend who is head of Enviromental Services at our local town hall and he is horrified that some UK councils collect fortnightly. He thinks you are all very dirty.......

[la vache!]

We don't have rubbish collections here - everything has to be taken to the communal bins, the nearest of which are 300m away. I ask people to take their own rubbish, but usually offer to do the last lot as they have usually packed their car by then and don't have room. Even though I spell out that only cardboard and plastic containers are to go in the yellow recycling bags, guests usually put glass bottles in there too.

[Tizfata]

We have a stack of recycling bins in our Barn kitchen, clearly labelled with what each can take, plus a general waste bin and a separate bin by the sink for all food waste - our Council collects certain items on certain days, and they're very fussy about what they collect, often ripping bags open to check what's in them. I would say that less than 50% of our guests put the correct items in each bin, so every week we have to re-sort the rubbish (yuck!). Fortunately we're on site - I've no idea how we'd do it otherwise.

Same here!

[Nightowl]

I would say that less than 50% of our guests put the correct items in each bin

Yes, that's what I find.

so every week we have to re-sort the rubbish (yuck!).

And this is exactly what I don't want to have to do. We are not on site.

[ruthiebabe]

Looks like I've touched on a problem that can only worsen as authorities tighten up and, perhaps, as more and more people treat self-catering properties with the expectation of hotel service...

[windrush]

Our bins are at the front of the house so we get the caretakers to pop round and put the bags out the night before collection. The bags are a story unto themselves, they're official council-issued ones and they won't collect anything in other bags. So we have to convince guests to ONLY use those bags, and also to try and not use too many, because we're allocated 100 free ones per year and extras cost £25 for a roll of 25.

[Nightowl]

The bags are a story unto themselves, they're official council-issued ones and they won't collect anything in other bags. .

Ferrchrissssakkeeeess... have local councils got nothing better to do than make our lives difficult.....

[windrush]

The bags are a story unto themselves, they're official council-issued ones and they won't collect anything in other bags. .

Ferrchrissssakkeeeess... have local councils got nothing better to do than make our lives difficult.....

I think most if not all councils have a Department of Muddled Thinking and ours expends most of its energy on rubbish collection. There are five different collections in our area, one each for general waste, food waste, glass, paper, and garden waste. They all have their own bin lorry so we now have five bin lorries doing the job previously done by one, how very eco-friendly of them. They all come on the same morning and often arrive within seconds of each other, gridlocking the village, which is always fun to watch as long as you're not hoping to go anywhere at that time.

We realised early on that getting guests to separate out recycling was a non-starter so we just tell them to put everything in the general waste bags, and so far we've got away with it. As long as they use the correct regulation council-issued bags of course.