People working from home are paying out an extra £390 for extra bin collections
As working from home becomes the new normal, homeowners are struggling to keep their bins in order. Which has led to a rise in extra home bins collections.
The latest ONS (Office of national statistics) data on home working reveals, of the 32.6 million in employment, around 8.7 million people said that they have worked from home.
Mark Hall from waste collections company BusinessWaste.co.uk said ” We are seeing unprecedented demand from homeowners wanting to pay for an extra collection as their regular council waste collections are not frequent enough”
The average cost of a private waste collection is £15, which if only used to replace the weeks where the council’s bi-weekly collection doesn’t happen adds on another £390 to the household bills.
Hall said “Its madness that the council are not supporting households with the much needed extra bins collections, they are either adding to peoples already stretched budgets or creating tailbacks of traffic outside the local tips with unnecessary and un environmentally friendly journeys”
The summer is traditionally a time where household waste lowers as people go on holiday, however, due to the COVID 19 pandemic, everyone is at home all the time which has led to an increase in waste.
This year demand has increased by as much as 150% for extra waste collections, reports BusinessWaste.co.uk – the message from homeowners is very clear, they need support from the councils.
BusinessWaste.co.uk has provided these tips on how to reduce waste;
1. Avoid buying products wrapped in plastic or excessively packaged in boxes and bags.
2. Buy large economy-sized products instead of individually wrapped items. Laundry soap, shampoo, dish-washing detergent, dry pet food, cat litter, and other non-perishable items are great examples. For food, buy the largest size you can use before spoiling.
3. Use products you already have for household chores. Avoid single-use cleaning products.
4. Buy items in bulk, in concentrate, or in refillable packages. Bulk chocolate, for instance, will have much less wrapping than a bag of “Fun Size” chocolate bars.
On a final serious note, Hall added “Are you breaking confidentiality waste disposal laws?
“If you’re working from home, you need to be aware of work waste that could contain confidential details which could be dangerous in the wrong hands,”
“So please make sure you or your staff don’t throw this information into the household waste!”
Although it might be easier to just chuck all rubbish into your household waste bin, there are legal implications such as breaching the UK 1988 Data Protection Act, which regulates the collecting, storing, and destroying of confidential data.
These items include
Personnel files and contracts – including CVs and application letters
• Financial records – such as order forms, invoices, bills, and statements
• Health and social care records
• Criminal Records
• Business cards, ID badges, and security passes
• Letters, memos, and other items containing names and addresses.
• New business proposals and business plans
• Used notebooks
• Product samples or profiles
• Research data
• Diaries
• Photographs
