From what I am reading it sounds as if there are considerable regional differences, but the general trend seems to be in the direction of our system. First thing to note is that here the only waste that is chargeable, oddly in my view, is food waste, which I would have thought to be the most easy to dispose of as nutrients to the ground(?) We have four standing and deep large bins each marked for Glass, Packages, Magazines & Journals, and Food Waste. Only the Food waste has to be packed in black bags. We have a numbered disc that clicks open the roller drum, which will takeup to three 30kg bags, possibly four, but I have always found that three full bags takes up the available space. Obviously this regisiters the number of deposits made against that (our) number. I believe there is an allocated number of deposits beyond which extra payments are due.
So we have our own exterior sealed bin (just a bin, nothing special, into which we drop in full bags until we have three to deposit, then put these in the registered one. I don’t think we have ever been charged extra and I also believe this is part of Tax Fonciere (?)like street lights).
However some residents DO have individual wheely bins that are collected, but I am not sure how this works. We have two large Communuty Decheteries, but neither of these accepts food waste.
There is of course one big problem with this. When Campervans park overnight or longer as there is really no alternative to dumping waste in bags alongside the bins. This inevitably means these are ripped apart by the local wildlife - Foxes, Cats and dogs, and we have even seen Deer at hand, but not actually feeding.
Although the bins are gathered up in totality - literally hauled out of the ground full and replaced with empty ones, this time of year it is not at all unusual to find all the bins overloaded.
Again it is only the food waste that is really a problem as all the other stuff is accepted at no charge by the major decheteries, but directions to these are not clear and always in French, whereas not all the tourists are French.
Our village is not a major tourist destination, but we do have marvellous valley views on all sides of our ridge, and good parking facilities, so it is a tempting spot to stay overnight even though we do not have any shops or bars or entertainments.
It must be amajor problem for more well-known places that abound round here? Collonges-la-Rouge, Turenne, Curemont, Beaulieu and places further afield (only 30 mins drive from my front door,)
How much do you have to pay to take your rubbish to the communal “dump”. Is it open weekends
We are in the Alpes Maritimes, and recently changed from communal bins (recipe for disaster and fly tipping) to individual bins. They made the change while we were on holiday, so came back to no bin at all, and then with the May bank holidays had to wait over a week to get our two personal bins delivered.
So far, this seems to be working well. We have a collection day each week for each bin, and for now fly tipping has stopped. Just wonder how long it will be before they start dumping in our bins for us as our ones are very rarely full?
Once they got us into their ‘system’ following the arrival of the new bins, the door bell went one day and it was a man with a flat pack composteur. We have still to assemble, but Lakeland have just delivered my new little compost bin to keep in the kitchen, and a couple of sacks of compatible bin liners and some spare filters, so we will get going on that very soon. Brilliant idea, very impressed.
As yet, I am very pleased to say, that our bins are not ‘smart’ at all, and long may that continue!
Here, ours is open on Saturday all day 0900 - 1800 (except for the usual lunch break 1200 - 1400) but closed Sunday.
There is no charge but you might be asked to show evidence of residence.
Where I live it’s open to all comers, no proof of residence needed, it’s free.
Friday, Saturday and Monday 9h00 - 18h00
Ditto here, except for ‘commercial loads’, but even that seems flexible from one I have seen. I have to say there is healthy recycling going on as well. I found lots of polythene rigid sheets from large packs, and Igathered up a carload as I intended to use them as insulation for our cellars. Then of course the Free Offer came about (still waiting but advised it will be in June now). Also found a lot of cardboard boxes that made excellent mounts for a poster exhibtion I put together for the WW1 Centennial.
Dafter ones was a lovely old Victorian (repro) bedstead, but I haven’t found the bars to make it into a proper bed! Ditto when I found a disassembled old wardrobe but in good order. Three visits to pick all the bits up - and it is still waiting to be assembled as a wine rack in one of the other cellars.
Am I the only daft person to do this sort of thing? Note; I am the world"s Worst Bricoleur anyway! I think these actions are known as ‘BrainFarts’ which seems about right.
I have a friend who 's communal bin uses a scan card system. But it’s not done by weight just how often you scan your card to open the bin. However they live quite a way from the bin so she keeps her rubbish bags in the barn maybe for a week or do and puts them in the large bin in one go. In contrast to her elderly neighbour who treats visits to the bin as a chance to walk round the village and chat and therefore deposits a bag every day
We have enormous skips for all sorts of things at our dechetterie, what I really like is that if someone thinks what they leave there may be useful to others then they can leave their ‘offerings’ at the side of the skip for someone else to recuperate.
For example I had a lot of clay flowerpots I no longer use, left them at the side of the skip and while I was sorting some other stuff someone came along and took the lot.
Also saw some very nice wooden carved chairs that with a little tlc would have been really lovely. Not the style I want for my house but 6 of them were lined up ready for re-homing.
We have a section for small electrical appliances, also a section for things like freezers, fridges, washing machines etc, it is really amazing that some people will leave a perfectly functioning ‘whatever’ because they want the latest model. There are people who have found some great things there…Shame that we are such a consumer orientated society !
Until last year our dechetterie was exactly the same. Now we have a spanking new one that allows a card holder 12/13 free visits a year, there is even a place for up-cycling bits.
We rarely use the dechetterie, but now that Auchan don’t recycle coffee pods I shall have to!
Or…don’t use coffee pods 
We recycle our Nespresso pods at a garden centre in Cluny.
In a previous post we learnt that Tassimo do the same.
Look on the website for your particular brand and you may well find a collection point near you.
We will be taking ours tomorrow as we go to the hairdressers every six weeks and it is very close.
I can honestly say I’ve never tasted a decent Nespresso coffee - yuk! 
There is a thing on Twitter at the moment asking that people who use inhalers for asthma or COPD etc return their empties to the chemist (in the uk ) as they contain recyclables that are wasted if thrown away
Decheterie here is excellent, bins are at the bottom of our neighbours drive about 150 m away and only 2 of us need to share them. A flier from the Syndicate Departmental des Dechets de la Dordogne indicates that we may (in time) get the electronic tag bins.
Thank you Jane, can you give me the name of the GC please?
@anon87147852 I rarely recommend consumables because we all have such differing palates. I have never found any cheese or wine (and I have tried soo many) that I like! I wish I had a pound/euro for every time I have been told “you will really like this”
Did you ever find your decent coffee?
Why this was not introduced years ago baffles me!
Hmmm soft and mellow 
It is said that storing ground coffee in the freezer will keep it fresh?
Starbucks has to be the world’s most overrated coffee shop.
I will ask my pharmacie if they know about this?