There was a time when we had a weekly collection of refuse... full stop. Then we were given two wheelie bins. One was for non-recyclable refuse (black) and the second was for stuff such as plastics and paper. Fair enough, but we were also moved to collections for each type of bin onto a fortnightly basis, which means that the non-recyclable black bin can have maggoty refuse up to 14 days old which, while unpleasant for us, must be even worse for the bin men. The green bin for recyclable stuff, like paper and cardboard isn't so bad, but we have to be SO careful not to "contaminate" the recyclable bin with a cardboard pizza box, for instance. Instant £80 fine!