We’re lucky in our village that we have weekly collections of the rubbish bins. At the moment we have a yellow lidded bin for the tins, packages, empty bottles (recycling) and a black lidded bin for the household waste. We do not have a bin for glass.
We had a notice last week to say they were changing the bins and when I phoned to make a RDV to have them replaced, they said they were replacing the black lidded bin with a green lidded one - larger than the black one.
I didn’t understand what the lady said about the contents of the new green bin but has anyone else had their bins changed and what are we allowed to put in the new green lidded bin.
Here all the general household waste goes into black wheelies with green lids and recycling stuff into black ones with yellow lids. The estate has installed lotsof recycling containers for glass and recyclables also and my collection is weekly for household and fortnightly for recycling. We pay a lot for this service but to go elsewhere is not possible as déchetteries long way off.
Rubbish collection etc etc is changing all across France and causing a deal of aggro and unrest. Some places see it run like clockwork and they are the lucky ones.
Ask your neighbour to translate the Notice you’ve received, as that might make it clearer ??
and/or You might do best to check out the website for your own Mairie or whichever Enterprise is in charge of your own town/village.
good luck
Agreed. Our black lidded bins have been changed and are now smaller because the Mairie wants people to compost as much as possible. Also, the pricing has changed. We are being charged for each time the bin is emptied, so rather than put ours out weekly as we used to (with only one sac in it) we now only put it out every 3-4 weeks when it is almost full.
The fact that your bin is now larger is strange - so you may find they are collecting less frequently.
You definitely need to find out from your own Mairie what the situation is for you, as each group of communes is going its own way.
@SuePJ - One thing leads to another …
I was looking on the village website to see if there was anything further about the replacement bins and I was directed to the main Parthenay-Gatine pages. Then I saw that on the 29th March, after you have initially registered your request and take your proof of residence, you can get a 345litre composter - free!
So I’ve registered and look forward to receiving my composter.
I still haven’t found out about any change to deliveries but will call into the Mairie’s office on our next visit to town and ask. Unlike you, we are not charged for each time our bin is emptied. Apart from the taxes fonciere, we don’t pay anything to the local council.
Wow! You’re lucky.
If you look at the breakdown of your Taxe Foncière bill… you might find a sum under “ordures ménagères” which is “household waste” (dustbins etc) 
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@Stella - Thanks for clearing this up. I’ve never looked at the breakdown before (naughty me!) we’ve just paid the bill in total but it works out at 2.73€ per week for bin collection which isn’t bad. Anyway, we’re not grumbling.
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It’s actually obligatory now to compost food waste. It is forbidden to put it in with normal waste. The trouble is, municipalities are supposed to collect food waste with other waste streams or provide deposit points. Many, including ours don’t provide this. Additionally, not all food waste is home compostable. We do compost all food waste that is compostable, but then again we have a garden. Those who don’t are stuck having to just put it in the bin.
We got two 500l composters free from our CDC about 5 years ago. We were only supposed to get one free but they had so many they gave us another. They have been in constant use since.
We started to compost our food waste once the new bin regime had started, that led to rats eating into the structure of our house (running round in the gap between wall and drywall). It took a few months of refilling every hole they dug through the stone and lime mortar.
Now thankfully gone with some poison and chicken wire in the mortar. Now our food waste goes into the black bin bag.
We were threatened with a third wheelie for food and green waste but the agglo have shelved that idea because of the extreme heat in summer that would be a breeding ground for all sorts of nasties in plastic bins without plastic bags, basically everything straight into a bin - YUK, would be rat city before long and mosquito paradise.
When our bins were delivered a few years ago they came with very detailed instructions about what had to go where. There was even a sticker to put on the yellow bin as a reminder.
This has shown an interest in being a food waste recycling operative but she wants to work longer hours than I can offer.
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I have found my flock of ‘hooligans’ invaluable to use up any food waste. Only potato peelings and bones go into the composter.
Result - fat chickens and plenty of eggs.
How close were the bins to the house ? Ours are as far away as possible at the bottom of the garden behind several trees. We also have two cats that catch mice, rats and rabbits. One brought a rabbit into the bedroom last night. Took me ages to eventually find it as it had hidden in one of my boots. Uninjured and released in the middle of the night with a howling gale and rain. My good deed for the day (or night).
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About 10 metres away from the house, too close we now realise. sadly, since losing one of our two cats to the road, the surviving brother is now a house cat so he only has duties in the attached barn for mousing etc. I am sure if we had outdoor cats the rat issue would not have occurred or become so bad.
Thoroughly agree - we have a compost bin at the bottom of the garden precisely because it attracts rats. Veg peelings etc go in but meat/fish leftovers? No way! We also have a small mutt who would take great pleasure in demolishing the bin in order to get at a tasty afternoon snack. (In his younger days he was pretty good at keeping the rat population down, but not any more and OH is not a fan of cats.)
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We don’t put meat/fish waste or anything that’s basically pure starch in the composter as it’s very difficult to break down effectively. And it attracts vermin. Industrial composters as used by municipalities uses a different method of composting that is quick, more effective and safe and can take all food waste. We had one 100m from our house in Yorkshire run by a local farmer for the local council and locals tried very hard to stop it claiming it would smell terribly and attract vermin. The truth as we knew (OH amongst other things was a waste management researcher) was the opposite. They use an anaerobic process that uses a sealed vessel that produces compost and biogas which was captured and used.
Unfortunately in the leaflets explaining our new system we are being asked to compost meat/fish etc waste as well as veg. Not well thought through.
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