City Bin

A few years ago the Dublin councils privatized and sold off their waste services. Since then a few companies have come online and have offered services to the people of Ireland.  We are currently signed up with City Bin.

I rate City Bin very highly and have found them to be brilliant.  On the very one occasion that our bin wasn't collected I rang them and they picked up the next day.  I also rang them to mention that our bin wasn't very visible because there was a car in the way.  The lady I spoke to said she would text the lads on the truck and tell them to look out for it.  How great is that service?! 

We have 3 rubbish bins - Black for general waste,  Green for recycling and Brown for compostable waste.  Every month City Bin sends me a report on how much waste I have disposed of and how it compares to other customers.  As a family of two we have very little waste - and because of this City Bin charges us a lower yearly charge.  

It is obvious from dealing with this company that they are focused on customer service - it is the little things like they always put your bins back to the spot they took they from.  Having been with another bin company before, I am extremely happy that I made the switch to City Bin.

         How do you dispose of your waste - are you happy with your waste company?

Recyling!

We have three bins that are collected by City Bin - a black bin for general waste, green bin for material that can be recycled and then a brown bin for compostable materials.  Each of the bins are collected every two weeks, however I generally only put out my black waste bin out for collection about every 6 weeks as I fill it very slowly with most of my rubbish going in to the recyling bin.

So then it comes to glass containers which are not collected in the green bin as part of the recyleables.  

What I have been doing for the past while is collecting all of my glass bottles and jars in two large Ikea boxes that I stored out in the small yard to the back of my house.  Then when the boxes were full we rented a Go Car and brought all of the bottles to the glass recycling collection point at Tesco in Rathmines.

However, there is a new service offering in my area so I no longer have to go to the hassle of renting a car in order to recycle my glass.  

A leaflet came in my letterbox with details of a company called GlassBottleBin.ie and they offer kerb pick up of glass.  

I signed up immediatly!

It took about a week for my new bin to be delivered and I promptly filled it up with all of the bottles that were in my back yard. I'm now looking forward to my first bin pick up. What a relief not to have to go through all of the palaver of renting a car and taking them all to the bottle bank.

There is a another service offering in Dublin that provides "bottle bags" instead of bins but I felt that a bin and how the service was arranged was more convenient with this bin company.  As someone who doesn't have a car I think this service will work well for me and will probably cost about the same or less than paying for a Go Car every time I visited the Bottle Bank (however, I did tend to double job with maybe doing a clothes drop off to the charity shop).

I'm all for any service that can cut out hassles in busy lives so hopefully this will work out well for me. It already has smartened up my back yard as I have thrown out the probably 10 year old Ikea boxes that I previously used for recycling. 

Watch this space!

What I LOVE about Malaga

I've jotted down just some of the things that I love about Malaga!

Dog Friendly

Dogs are not only welcomed in shops, restaurants, cafes and bars but they are positively doted on! Seeing dogs in clothes shops is something that I don't think I'll ever not find it strange......but in fairness it was convenient to pop in for a browse in S'Fera one day with Bones in tow.

Pictured is a dog loose lead wandering around a shop.  As you do in Malaga......

Cycle Friendly

The city is mainly pedestrianized (but new laws have been introduced that you have to push your bike in these areas) and there a lot of top quality bike lanes in parts of the city. The cycle out to the Russian Museum and La Termica on the bike lanes is particularly pleasant and achievable by all ages when using the bike lane

Pedestrianization

As mentioned above, there are very few places you can drive in the city. If people bring their car to the city, they park in massive underground car parks and wander in to the centro. The city being pedestrianized makes it spotlessly clean and I would image it has very good air quality. Being car free means that public road ways are used for  cafe and bar outdoor seating which is a great way to enjoy the fabulous Malaga weather.

Haberdashery, Fabric and Leather shops

Yes there are still haberdashery shops operating in the the city. Want a piece of cord or a piece of ribbon - take your pick of numerous shops that sell these things. There are also lots of fabric stores in a particular area of the city and then you will also find small leather shops that sell belts, bags and other leather goods. Ciaran bought a hand made belt in one of the shops and the owner cut it to size, punched holes in the belt and added a loop to it. Ciaran then went and lost a ton of weight about 5 months later(!) so he went back to the shop and had it adjusted getting more holes punched and a bit of it lobbed off. How great is that?!

Small unique stores (not chains) add so much to the culture, charm and ambiance of a city

Panaderias / Bakeries and Bread shops

Another of the charming type of shops that adds to the atmosphere of the city - there are panaderias all over the place. When we first arrived we happily partook in this tradition and bought homemade bread every few days and shared a Napolitana (sort of like a Pan au Chocolate) every day when we were doing our Spanish course as the sweet treat at morning coffee break really helped us get through the struggles of lessons! We've given this habit up since we went back on keto a while back - remember I mentioned Ciaran needing his belt taken in, this is why!!!

Malaga is a Living City

People live in Malaga. So when the tourists all stopped visiting due to Covid there was still a bit of activity around the city. OK, so it is very quiet (it is definitely a unique time to be experiencing the city and probably the greatest in recent times) but it is not a ghost town by any means. 

Cafe Culture

The cafe culture is vibrant. Everyone in Malaga loves to chat over coffee in the morning and then a cana of beer in the afternoon or a glass of wine, leading in to a slow late dinner with family and friends. There is a buzz around the place outside cafes and restaurants most of the day.

Art Scene

Because I am involved in PIGSY art, I am seeing tons of art. Malaga has lots of galleries both private and state run. I love the attitude that the people I meet have towards art and artists. They are so respectful and show a reverence for art. Perhaps this comes from being the home town of the art great Picasso?

See here for details of Art Galleries and Museums in Malaga

Friendliness

We have found Spanish people in Malaga to be very friendly. They love dogs and always chat to us about Bones - particularly older people which is very nice. When we go out and if we are struggling with speaking Spanish most people we encounter have no problem by helping us and speaking English. Our taxi driver yesterday was a lovely man and told us all about his two brothers - one living in Dublin, the other in Belfast (conversation was in full Spanish) he then went on to say that he doesn't think the Irish and English are alike but that he thinks the Spanish and Irish are more alike. I have to agree!!

Cleanliness

Bins are EVERYWHERE and there are large crews of council staff on foot who regularly empty the bins and sweep the streets. Every morning about 4.30am the street that we live on is hosed down by the council. Possible due to the fact that if you were to compare where we are living now in Malaga with Dublin, you might say we live in a Temple Bar like area of town. Luckily it is very very quiet at the moment due to the pandemic and low volume of people in the area. 

For household rubbish in the city there are large communal bins made up of a small looking bin in the street that drops the rubbish underground when you place your bag in. These bins are then collected daily by crews. It's a great system! Recycling of cardboard and plastic is also provided.

Public Transport

Buses and Trains are regular and cost effective. Yesterday we took the bus to Marbella, going on the slow less direct bus on the way there (stopping in Torremelinos and Fuengirola) it took about 90 mins. The return journey on the more direct bus was 60 mins. Tomorrow we are heading to Fuengirola to meet up with a friend but will take the train and not the bus. The train is modern and extremely comfortable. For info the bus to Marbella was less than 7 euro each way.

Convenient access

From Ireland you can conveniently get to Malaga with one short plane ride with Aer Lingus or Ryanair. From the airport there is an airport in to the city centre or you can take the train which leaves you up at the river in the city. 

I'm glad to share a few of the things I love about Malaga with you - let me know if you have visited and what are your favorite things!

New Year, New Recycling habits.

One of my new year resolutions was to be more discerning in my recycling efforts. This was very timely as a new recycling list came out in Ireland.

The new rules lay out very specifically what is recycled and what is not. Soft plastics was one I was unsure about but now I can see that it is not acceptable to put in the green recycling bin.

My bin company are excellent.  They are City Bin (I've blogged about them before) and every month they send me a report of my waste disposal.

I enjoy receiving the report as it spurs me on to continue to separate my waste.

Going forward, I endeavour to loosely bin my clean recyclables in order to ensure that they all get recycled.

All my kitchen waste - vegetable peels, food scraps, etc goes in the brown bin and then the rest goes in the black bin.

To see the new recycling list go to www.recyclinglistireland.ie 

Further to all of the above I am also going to try not bring items home that need to then be disposed of.  One big way I am doing this is I am bringing my own reusable takeaway cup when I go for a cup of coffee in Starbucks. I have no issue doing this - once I remember to!

Dublin Community Clean-Up 21

Dublin Clean-Up

On Sunday mornings, Ciaran and I have a routine where we do a little bit of litter picking on our way to Butler's Cafe in Ranelagh for a coffee.  This week as part of Dublin Community Clean-Up 21 we picked litter on the way to the cafe and then I brought a second bag and we cleaned up litter on the way home too. Dublin Community Clean-Up runs from the 11th of Sept for a about a week and it brings together the four Dublin Local Authorities in this community clean-up initiative.

Ranelagh Clean-Up

On the way to our coffee stop we headed in the direction of Ranelagh Gardens Park and picked litter in the park all the way to the bin at the Ranelagh Road entrance. From there we went up Ranelagh Road, stopped for coffee and then picked litter on Chelmsford down to Appian Way. In total we cleared 2 sacks of litter off the streets of Ranelagh.

Dublin Litter Picking

Litter picking equipment is provided by Dublin City Council at any point during the year and not just at Community Clean-Up time. If you are interested in litter picking in your area, you can drop a line to customerservices@dublincity.ie and request delivery of litter pickers for your family.

To see more about the community clean up, check our #DublinCommunityCleanUp on Twitter!