Probably higher chance of cutting my hand fishing tin cans out of the bags!!
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I am in full agreement that the Bin situation is dire… worse then dire in fact…
However, I know full well that if there is any injury… insurers will look at the who/how/why.
I was present when SMD3 showed our council workmen how to use the lever, if they needed to deal with anything in the Bin. It was made clear that it is not something for the general public to be doing/using… perhaps things have changed since then… I am not aware of it, but it might well be.
One very fraught session at the Bins had me trying to locate the thingy myself … but I couldn’t reach it, so that was that, anyway…
I do understand why folk would/do use it… but I’m just warning…
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Not where I live in 56 where we have a non-recycling wheely bin which can be collected every week. Beyond 12 a year at extra cost. We also have a yellow recycling bin which can be collected twice a month at no charge. My location is part of Redon Agglomeration. Bags were phased out when the bins arrived.
It varies a good bit by commune (or communauté de communes) I think.
We get 6 rubbish collections (then each after that is charged extra), unlimited yellow bags and (so far) unlimited visits to the déchetterie - but we do need a carte d’accès.
So why are some people having to pay to access bins and have limited visits to decheterie and others, like us at present, have no charge for bins or decheterie. Is it coming our way soon or is it up to local Mairie ?
You probably do, either lumped in with everything else or itemised, on your impôts fonciers
I’m feeling very lucky on reading of all these woes. Rather like NickTarn, our communal bins for rubbish and recycling are 100m up the road - a nice little walk when the rubbish is not too heavy and the temp is not 40°. They serve around 7 households and a few passers by and are emptied regularly. Bottles go to the nearest bottle banks and everything else to a local déchètterie, usually when I’m going shopping too. It is rare to find all the bins full or overflowing. Years ago we complained in writing to the maire about our two measly bins, scruffy with broken lids and often overturned. We took a photo of our bins, plus one of the maire’s impeccable bins, neatly fixed and standing on a concrete plinth. He came round immediately and asked if this was a bit of British humour! No joke we said. The new bins and plinth appeared forthwith. We have four bins now. We pay of course, via the taxe foncière.
Privatisation.
Yes I understand that, but it is the different systems I am referring to.
Our bins are not locked and we are not limited on visits to decheterie.
So I was wondering if in the end everyone will fall under the new system of visible charges and limited use.
I think it depends on what your local conseil or com de com or smictom have decided.
Currently in 16270 Terres-de-Haute Charente, black bags are collected weekly.
There are no limits on the numbers of bags collected.
Yellow sacks for plastic, paper and cardboard are collected fortnightly.
The area has several waste disposal sites including Roumazières, Montemboeuf, St-Claud and Chabanais.
There are also many additional bottle banks. There are no limits or checks when using the recycling centres.
Early this year there was a plan by the operator Calitom to close the recycling centres at Roumazières, Montemboeuf, St-Claud and to have one huge centre at the village of Exideuil. A completely insane idea as it would mean hundreds of cars and vans making journeys to Exideuil plus large garbage trucks using small country lanes in and around Exideuil.
A total of 7 dumps out of the 29 in Charente were planned to be closed.
Fortunately the local mayors vigorously objected and at least for the moment the plan appears to have stalled.
It will be up to the Mairie, but it will also depend if you have a private sompany/companies start up or already up and running. If so they are likely to eventually get the rubbish collection contract, as they will save the Mairie having to pay out for it.
On your Taxe Fonciere look for an entry ‘TEOM’, and that is how much you pay for your rubbish service. If privatised, that will be removed from the Taxe Foncier, and you will pay direct to the new company.
The SMD3, Syndicat Mixte Départemental des Déchets de la Dordogne, was created by prefectural decree of 22 December 1995 in order to implement the departmental plan for the management of household and similar waste in the Dordogne.
I believe it’s something like 97% of the previous SMICTOM (waste-management services) have closed down in favour of this new, improved… thingy.
Our local council was NOT allowed to choose what was best for its citoyens!
There were many heated discussions around the council table… but SMD3 was adamant that what they proposed/decided was not up for negotiation!!!
Having read all the comments, I realise how lucky we are in our area regarding bins and waste collection.
Several years ago, the ‘new’ system started in our commune. Initially, we were visited by two members from the local council offices who established how big our household was. That decided the size of the bins we were given - each with a large label with our own address on them. The ‘black’ bins for all household rubbish is collected on Thursday of one week and the ‘yellow’ bins for recycling stuff is collected on Thursday of the following week. So it alternates - but there is a collection each week of one of the coloured bins. The only thing we have to do is to take the bins to the end of our property (down a 120m drive) and the bin has to face the correct way in order for the lorry to pick it up and empty it automatically. There is a container for glass and another for Le Croix Rouge at the end of the village. We have a ‘card’ for the local déchètterie which allows us 12 visits per year. And we do not have to pay for this (but perhaps we do so indirectly through our taxe fonciere). Probably if we used the déchètterie more than 12 times per year it would be different.
So we are extremely lucky that we have such a good system having read of all the problems some folks in different departments have encountered.
I have to disagree with you on some of this.
Each commune HAD to vote to accept the services of SMD3 or not. Most accepted as it costs them less.
However, there are some communes who have refused, noteably Bergerac. This proves that communes have/had a choice.
If you make contact with the local anti-SMD3 group I linked to earlier you will learn a lot about all this, especially that all the directors and president of SMD3 are all elected officials (including at least one Maire) from throughout the Dordogne. Plus, who created the decree, the same elected officials!
As I am unable to disclose any more information to which I am privy, re my commune on this subject, I can quite understand why you might wish to disagree with me…
I suggest we leave it at that.
Come on Stella, I would love some juicy gossip, even if it is a load of Rubbish 
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Reading through all this thread, I was shocked at what many have to go through. I really do pray that our current system doesn’t change in 34. Every week I put the wheelie bin at the end of the drive and the garbage collectors merrily come and empty it and then I just bring it back to its stand, ready to fill and take back the following week 
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Does anyone think “dropsy” may have a part in these contracts, or their expansion to new areas that don’t want this “service”. Or in the fact that in so many of them so much more is being paid than before for a service which offers less, and may not even meet decent standards at all?
I have made it a habit to run to the decheterie once a week, which is on the way to the dog walk.
If I would encounter someone telling me not to deposit the trash in local containers, I would not be happy and would suspect that they would go through my trash bag after I am gone. So the decheterie is the better option and no one going through my trash!