My wheely bin...


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(as I wrote this, I sort of felt it developing more into a rant than a question haha, it's good to vent!)

I know I could go on some random consumer forum to ask about this but I really can't be bothered to register with another site :)

 

So I live in a town centre flat and my wheely bin has nowhere to go on the pavement, it'd be right in the way. So it's round the back on the tiny car park for a hair dresser. This is how it was when I moved in.

 

Problem is, they keep putting their waste in the bin, and not just papers and general rubbish, the waste containers and used tin foil that they use when they work on people's hair.

 

Yet again, earlier I went to put rubbish in my bin only to find it full, despite only having put in a single bag myself. It's clearly the hair dressers using them, as though they belong to them.

 

So they're using residential bins for commercial waste. My neighbour also has the same problem.

 

So I dumped my two black bags right in front of their door.

 

Probably not the best thing to do, but I'd had enough on this occasion, and having to have smelly bags laying around my flat when it shouldn't be an issue at all.

 

I think I'm gonna ring the council again but...

 

Can green bins be placed on the street in a town centre? What are the laws of disposing of commercial waste in residential bins? And can I really get into any sort of real trouble for dumping my rubish in front of their door (despite them seemingly doing something wrong themselves)

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So you've dumped smelly bin bags in front of their doors and rung the council, but have either your neighbour or yourself gone around to the hairdressers and actually talked to them about it?? Consider the possibility that perhaps one or more employees (perhaps a new one) are making a simple mistake, thinking that your bins belong to them. If you haven't actually talked to them directly, go do so now, use a calm pleasant attitude, and give them the benefit of the doubt about the possibility of a mistake.

 

Also, consider that it may help things a little if you make sure that there's a clear label on your bin with your house number (perhaps print/write it on paper and tape it on to make it waterproof). E.g. consider them sending a new employee out to empty the bins, they could perhaps simply say to the employee, "our bin(s) is/are the one(s) without the house numbers on them".

 

As to the technical question regarding bin placement, that's what you should be ringing the council to talk about.

 

I don't know whether or not you can get in trouble for having dumped bin bags in front of their door, but it certainly wasn't a very mature way to approach things, and may very well make your situation more difficult to resolve. Assuming you intend to go and talk to them about the problem, and assuming that they might suspect (already or at the point of you discussing the bin problem) that it was you who did it, you might want to make a small point of apologising, that you have thought upon it since and feel that it was completely the wrong way for you to have approached the problem.

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So you've dumped smelly bin bags in front of their doors and rung the council, but have either your neighbour or yourself gone around to the hairdressers and actually talked to them about it?? Consider the possibility that perhaps one or more employees (perhaps a new one) are making a simple mistake, thinking that your bins belong to them. If you haven't actually talked to them directly, go do so now, use a calm pleasant attitude, and give them the benefit of the doubt about the possibility of a mistake.

 

Also, consider that it may help things a little if you make sure that there's a clear label on your bin with your house number (perhaps print/write it on paper and tape it on to make it waterproof). E.g. consider them sending a new employee out to empty the bins, they could perhaps simply say to the employee, "our bin(s) is/are the one(s) without the house numbers on them".

 

As to the technical question regarding bin placement, that's what you should be ringing the council to talk about.

but t

I don't know whether or not you can get in trouble for having dumped bin bags in front of their door, but it certainly wasn't a very mature way to approach things, and may very well make your situation more difficult to resolve. Assuming you intend to go and talk to them about the problem, and assuming that they might suspect (already or at the point of you discussing the bin problem) that it was you who did it, you might want to make a small point of apologising, that you have thought upon it since and feel that it was completely the wrong way for you to have approached the problem.

 

Sorry, just a bit more info - The bins are labelled clearly, with large numbers painted on them and this has been an ongoing issue for my neighbour for around a year and a half or more (he has lived in his flat for a lot longer than myself). I believe he has tried to tackle the problem before but his complaint has been ignored. 

 

There's been times that both of us have had to stockpile rubbish, worst of all over the summer. The thing that gets me is that it shouldn't be an issue. They should have their own bin in the first place, why they don't is beyond me. It's easy to lose your cool a bit when there's an ongoing situation like this. I will consider what you said about apologizing, but there still remains the issue of... if I can't put that rubbish in my own bin, then where does it go?

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Okay, I hear what you're saying, and I may end up agreeing that these are some really uncooperative people you are dealing with, but I like to assess things thoroughly and fairly and there are still aspects that remain unclear and things to think about (note, I'm not actually asking for answers to all of these):

 

How did your neighbour approach things?

  • You say that your neighbour has tried to tackle the problem, but how? Did he actually speak to someone, or take "revenge" type action like you with the garbage bags? Or did he leave a note, which might have gotten lost (e.g. he slaps a sticky note to the window when they're closed, and the wind blows it away).
  • If he spoke to someone, did he talk to them directly, or did he go to the council like you? It may be that the indirect complaint irritated them so they ignored it, or perhaps the council forgot to talk to them or didn't bother because they considering it too trivial a matter, or [insert various other plausible possibilities here].
  • If he spoke to an employee directly, who did he speak to? Did he speak to the owner/manager, or did he speak to a lower level employee? A lower level employee might have deliberately or accidentally forgotten to pass on the message, perhaps they wrote it down and lost the note and forgot about it. Even if he spoke to a higher up individual, they might have forgotten to pass the message on to their employees, or been unclear in their instructions (e.g. "please avoid putting stuff the neighbours bins", but not explaining that some of the neighbours bins (yours) are located in an area where employees would expect only their bins to be located). (noticed you said they don't actually have a bin).
  • If he spoke to someone directly, how was his manor? If he went in aggressively, that might have had a negative impact, whereas if he'd approached things calmly and pleasantly he might have had a different result.
  • Does the owner/manager actually understand how big a problem it is, i.e. that you're having to horde rubbish in your house and how often and how much of their waste is going into your bin? They might have completely the wrong impression of how much is going into your bins and how it's affecting things for you.
  • How many times has your neighbour complained, just the once and then he left it, or multiple times? If repeatedly, then that suggests much more strongly that they are being uncooperative with him, but it still depends on who he's speaking to because [see the above].
  • Could it be that previous owners of you and your neighbour's flats had a deal with them allowing them to use what are now your bins, and for whatever reason they kept on doing so after your flats changed ownership without any discussion? And for whatever reason they've not stopped or renegotiated.

Consider:

  • They obviously need a bin but don't seem to have one. Do they have space for a sufficiently-large business-class sized bin? Do they have to pay for such a bin, or does the council provide those too? If they have to pay, consider the possibility that they might be struggling financially. If that's the case, the situation is still unfair on you, but listening to their side of the story, demonstrating genuine understanding and sympathy towards them, and trying to work together towards a solution that helps you both, along with other aspects of dealing with people in a positive way, is a better approach than the alternative (not listening, just throwing your complaint at them with no care for any problems on their end) and more likely to see positive results.
  • You live in a flat and there is no sufficiently acceptable place to locate it anywhere else, so you keep it on their carpark, as has been the case since before you started living there. But, it is their carpark, and quiet fairly they might not be happy about it. Particularly so if it's eating into actual parking spaces. Even if it's not, they might perhaps make it difficult for customers to turn when backing out of adjacent spaces, or they might be smelly and thus off putting to customers.
  • Has anyone ever actually asked their permission or simply spoken to them about storing the bins on their carpark? Even if you (or rather previous neighbour who started this) had clearly no other choice, just out of courtesy. Perhaps it might be good when you talk to them for you to say that you really appreciate them being kind enough to allow you to store them there.
  • Do they even know the fact that you're in a flat? Have they surveyed your lack of alternative locations for the bin? If you talk to them, perhaps ask them if they understand and accept that you've nowhere else to put them, and depending on how the conversation goes, be open to offering to show them (at a time that is convenient for both of you).

Compensation?!?!?! The difficultly in finding a location for bins in situations like yours is obviously a somewhat common problem. Considering that the only viable location is on someone else's land, you really do need to explain and discuss that fact with your council. It may be perfectly reasonable for the hair-dressers to receive a small amount of compensation for this; perhaps they already are but are keeping that fact from you, or perhaps they don't and don't even realise it's there for them to have, and them getting that could resolve everything. Where I live we have an electricity pole situated on some private land belonging to ourselves and some neighbours for which we get a small amount of compensation from the electricity compan(y/ies). Obviously it may be unfair for the hair dressers to dictate an amount of compensation to get directly from yourselves, but the council may have a standard rate that they can dictate, and may even pay it themselves! You might even find info about it with some googling (I can't be bothered right now, I'm putting quiet a bit of effort into writing this as it is :p ).

 

No matter how they may have responded to your neighbour's complaints, I think that it would be a good idea for you to approach them yourself. Some further thoughts on talking to them:

  • Make sure to research the possibility of them being able to get compensation from the council, it might be a highly productive thing to discuss with them.
  • Talk to them about their lack of their own bin. Say that you've noticed that they don't actually have one, and that you were wondering why because obviously there wouldn't be a problem if they did.
  • Make sure you speak to the right person (owner/manager).
  • A little consideration of when it is that you go speak to them might make a difference. Unless it is too difficult for you to do this, consider avoiding interrupting their lunch break. Try to avoid causing a negative scene in front of their customers (perhaps start by saying that you're a neighbour, and can you please have a word with the manager about something, giving them an opportunity to recognise that it might be best discussed away from the customers somewhere. Try to go at at time that they're not so busy, or really tired at the end of the day, etc.

I kind of got a little lost in providing tips on how to approach talking to them (and deleted a bunch of it), I hope it's not coming across to you as patronising. I'm forever having to provide this sort of assessment and advice to my mother; I might be forgetting a little that I'm not talking to her, and I don't know how much of it is helpful to you.

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Keep your rubbish in your bags in your flat, when they've filled your bin wheel it into the shop and empty it. State it is your bin that is there waste and you need space for your waste you pay to be in that bin not them.

 

Do that until they realise not to do it.

 

Sometimes thick people need a more blunt approach.

 

I do feel for you though pi$$ing hairdressers.

 

Steve

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