[Stuart]

Bromley was one of the first councils to offer recycling (apparently). It shows. While they still do weekly refuse collections, they will not provide wheely bins, and while they will apparently allow people to use their own, they don't like it. They did (unofficially, we weren't notified) switch to fortnightly collections briefly last year. Unfortunately, they chose the hottest time of last year, and as none of the residents were told, they left the rubbish out as usual. You can imagine the smell.

Also, in their recyling, they don't allow any organic waste (so garden stuff is out unless you trick the bin men despite the fact the council could use/sell the waste as compost). They also don't allow any light plastic packaging (so yoghurt pots, ready meal containers and certain plastic jars are out as well as clingfilm). They will accept plastic bottles, as long as you remove the lid (understandable as it lowers the risk of explosion).

Oh, and they provide two recycling bins per household (one for metal/plastics/jars and one for paper). I live in a house of two (two adults and three small pets), and the bins are too small for us (we could easily fill them even with weekly collections). They are far too small for the average family.

These bins are rectangular,and approx half the size of a conventional (ie non wheelie) dustbin.