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Oh my word- 66- yes 66!!! cardboard boxes stacked in various parts of my little house!!! I was expecting 20-odd but I was clearly way off the mark!!! And to think I'll get this little lot every month??? Hello CAPD!!!!
I rang our local council (East Yorkshire) to see if they could help with the disposal of the boxes. Here we have three bins, a smaller green one for general waste, a larger brown one for garden, food waste and cardboard and a large blue one for paper, glass, tins and plastic bottles etc. The cardboard from all these boxes will fill my brown bin three times over in one month and that would be if I didn't need it for grass cuttings too. So I asked the council if I could have two brown bins- they said no. I asked if I could have a larger green one (they said I could have one last year)- they said no- they are 'phasing them out' since the delivery of the larger blue bins. They said I will have to 'find another way' to 'dispose' of the cardboard waste. They said I will have to take it to the tip myself. They're assuming I have transport. I do, but its all very well them saying the staff at the tip will unload it for me but who is going to load it at this end? Do I have to ask my neighbours and let them know my private business? It's just unacceptable. They bang on at us to recycle everything we can and as a family we do make a real effort to recycle- unlike some of my neighbours who don't appear to use their brown and/or blue bins and present an overflowing green bin every week to go straight to landfill.
Does anyone else's councils take away their cardboard or are they all as unaccommodating as East Riding of Yorkshire???
Denise xxx
My one life added to my cat's nine make a perfect ten.
Hi Denise,
Yes the boxes are an eye opener aren't they, I set aside a large cupboard in the utility room for my PD stuff.
Have a word with the people who collect your clinical waste, mine were kind enough to take the boxes providing I broke them down.
Funny thing is I miss the boxes, I make regular donations to some families I support in Romania and the boxes were perfect for sending shoebox gifts, very sturdy.
If all else fails you can build an extension in the garden out of them, now there's an idea, who can make the most interesting construction out of PD boxes.
Just a quick word of advice, if it's possible check your supplies when they arrive against what you ordered.
More than once there were vital items missing from mine including fluid, as mine were delivered when I was at work I didn't discover the missing items until I needed them, often at a weekend.
oohh the boxes!! They are the bain of my life!! they clutter up everywhere!! The full and the empty ones!! We keep ours in our dining room as this is the only place in our small rented house we can put them! And yes they would fill our recycling bin 3 times over!! We just break them down and store them until we have enough for a run to the dump, but i am aware this solution would not suit everybody! Woud be most helpful if a company (perhaps the company that deliver supplies could take them away?!) would come and recyle them!!
Hi,
Our council supplied me with a 2nd recycling bin! My sister uses freecycle & often people on there want boxes so might be worth signing up for that. We stayed with family in Darlington a while ago, when I tried to arrange clinical waste collection from up there I was assured by the lady at council that there is no such thing as home hd therefore I couldn't possibly have any waste?!?
Good luck getting rid of it....
Deb
Hi
Before I started PD I was told by the PD nurses that a garden storeage unit would be more than big enough for a months supply of boxes (hollow laugh). The house is cluttered with the damn things.
Here in North Yorks we have to take the empty boxes to the tip ourselves. We recently had a run-in with the Jobsworth at the council tip who got it into his head that the boxes were from a business we were running, and told us we had to stop using the facilities. It was embarrassing to have to unfold a flattened box to show him and then explain the source of the boxes. He still gives us the evil eye whenever we go to the tip.
I cannot fault the clinical waste collection team. They pick up the yellow bags at 7.30 on the dot every Monday morning.
Jill
My boxes were taken away by the council in the recycling collection - and without collapsing either; but I am in London so we don't have the different recyling bins that other places do (lack of space). This sounds like something that you or your local KPA should take up with the council and also involve the NKF because it really should be made more easy for you! Also if you give up a room for your dialysis then you can claim council tax discount ....
IgAn1976 - the boxes contain PD supplies, the tough hard to break down ones contain dialysis fluid.
The others contain everything else you might need for PD. Below is a typical monthly order for supplies, you don't always need everything as you may have plenty left but it's always a good idea to have a reserve supply in case they run out of essential items as happened with me several times.
PHYSIONEAL 35 GLUCOSE 2LITRE 1.36% 20 BOXES (BOX 5) 20
PHYSIONEAL 35 GLUCOSE 2LTRE 2.27%
PHYSIONEAL 35 GLUCOSE 2LITRE 3.86%
EXTRANEAL 2000MLS 2LITRE 3 BOXES (BOX 5) 7
WHITE CONNECTION SHIELDS MONTHLY (BOX 60) 1
MINICAP C 4466 MONTHLY (BOX 60) 1
HIBISCRUB AS NEEDED 1 bottle
SPIRIGEL HAND RUB AS NEEDED 1
SPECTRUM WIPES AS NEEDED (EACH) 1
DISPENSERS AS NEEDED (EACH)
MICROPORE AS NEEDED (EACH)
BLUE CLAMPS AS NEEDED (BOX 12)
LARGE YELLOW BAGS AS NEEDED (EACH) 1box
SMALL YELLOW BAGS AS NEEDED (EACH) 1 box
PAPER TOWELS AS NEEDED (EACH) 3 packs
YELLOW TIES AS NEEDED (EACH) 1 bundle
MEPORE DRESSING AS NEEDED (BOX 50) 1
Finepore tape 2
Hope I'm not being nosey but your signature in red says you have not had a transplant and do not need dialysis - what is your situation, are you diagnosed but not yet at stage 4?
Kipper wrote:IgAn1976 - the boxes contain PD supplies, the tough hard to break down ones contain dialysis fluid.
The others contain everything else you might need for PD. Below is a typical monthly order for supplies, you don't always need everything as you may have plenty left but it's always a good idea to have a reserve supply in case they run out of essential items as happened with me several times.
PHYSIONEAL 35 GLUCOSE 2LITRE 1.36% 20 BOXES (BOX 5) 20
PHYSIONEAL 35 GLUCOSE 2LTRE 2.27%
PHYSIONEAL 35 GLUCOSE 2LITRE 3.86%
EXTRANEAL 2000MLS 2LITRE 3 BOXES (BOX 5) 7
WHITE CONNECTION SHIELDS MONTHLY (BOX 60) 1
MINICAP C 4466 MONTHLY (BOX 60) 1
HIBISCRUB AS NEEDED 1 bottle
SPIRIGEL HAND RUB AS NEEDED 1
SPECTRUM WIPES AS NEEDED (EACH) 1
DISPENSERS AS NEEDED (EACH)
MICROPORE AS NEEDED (EACH)
BLUE CLAMPS AS NEEDED (BOX 12)
LARGE YELLOW BAGS AS NEEDED (EACH) 1box
SMALL YELLOW BAGS AS NEEDED (EACH) 1 box
PAPER TOWELS AS NEEDED (EACH) 3 packs
YELLOW TIES AS NEEDED (EACH) 1 bundle
MEPORE DRESSING AS NEEDED (BOX 50) 1
Finepore tape 2
Hope I'm not being nosey but your signature in red says you have not had a transplant and do not need dialysis - what is your situation, are you diagnosed but not yet at stage 4?
Phew,
I had no idea. No such thing occurred to me. I guess the boxes would be handy if you became homeless and wanted to build a wee cardboard city.
My signature does not mention dialysis.
I am stage 4 and I keep declining. My neph thinks I am in a small group of people with my kind of ckd for whom dialysis will not work, but it could be 3 - 4 years before I need to try dialysis. I just take each neph appointment as it comes.
My signature was meant to help clarify my situation because so many people in my 'missing meds' thread presume I have had a transplant.
hi Clive
Yes the delivery people are very helpful - they will carry your supplies into the room that you want them stored and will rotate your stock for you if need be; I gave the company keys to my house (they have very good security over them) and magically everything was done when I got in from work on delivery day!
BTW Kipper - you had it easy, on APD plus manual exchange that looks closer to a weeks supply for me!!!
Thanks for your replies. I emailed a complaint to my local council- but see how long it takes for me to get a reply. My beef is that I have two neighbours who don't use their brown bins. In a local authority area the size of East Yorkshire there must be hundreds more who don't and probably never will, recycling by free will is not in their role map. So for the few residents like myself who need an extra one it surely can't be a mega strain on the council's resources for the refuse collectors to tip two from one household. I've worked in local authority for over 20 years- I know how these places tick- it will be in a policy somewhere that letting someone have two bins will 'set a precedent' for everyone to have more than one thus putting a strain on resources and leaving the system open to abuse by commercial waste tippers. This problem can easily be solved by a visit to the property to inspect the waste- they will clearly see it is essential medical supplies- and for verification that it is my waste and not someone elses by checking with the PD team. I'll take it as far as I have to- they'll get sick of me in the end cos that's how councils work- I'll put it to cabinet if I have to and they will make a decision that policy is not suited to purpose in this case and tell them to bring me another blooming bin!!! Grrrr. Lolz till then I could offer them to various homeless bods who collect under Myton Bridge in Hull every night- they'd soon have a smashing little shanty town up and running-would have to remember to take the incriminating stickers with my name and address off first tho so I don't get fined by Hull City Council for flytipping!!!
Anyhows- PD training is going well- a lot to take in but I'm getting there- remembering not to let my tube dangle with no cap on is my biggest error so far. Hoping to have an APD machine after all in a months time so we'll see how that goes.
Take care all
Denise xxx
My one life added to my cat's nine make a perfect ten.
If you don't get a result from the council maybe a letter to the local rag, or MP even.
Sometimes the boxes are welcomed by those on Freecycle/Freegle, worth considering.
Our council collects the cardboard boxes (if we don't use em for something else, such as storage, or catching swarms of bees), plastic, etc is collected for recycling and clinical waste is picked up by a very keen guy who lobs the bag in the back of the van an pops a new bag in the letterbox at about 6 or 7 in the morn.
As for the delivery, I've just changed from Baxter to Gambro as a supplier. It may take their staff a while to get used to the 2 flights of stairs down to the storage area in the celler!
Thanks for your input but to be perfectly honest I hope it was tongue in cheek as it was not at all helpful. I shouldn't have to go begging round my neighbours for space in their bins and telling them my personal medical business just because the council have a knee jerk policy that and I quote them here "recent trials have shown that there is sufficient capacity throughout the year in a 240 litre brown bin'. That of course is for a 'regular' household- I'm asking my council to treat me as an exception.
Maybe if your house was full to the gunnels with cardboard you can't get rid of, you might be a little more sympathetic too.
Denise
My one life added to my cat's nine make a perfect ten.
Hi Mandy,
I'm going to sound thick now but how is it you are on apd & capd, also do you do the overnight on apd and 4 exchanges a day on capd? it's just I've never heard of both before, either one or the other.
It's fair to say I did have it easy, we have a large utility room with excellent storage, all on the ground floor.
The clinical waste guys were happy to take my crushed boxes so I didn't have to worry about disposal, Denise have you tried asking for this?
While I firmly beleive PD offers a much better solution to the need for dialysis it's not without it's issues.
IgAn1976 sorry I assumed you were on dialysis, no need to amend your signature to say "not on dialysis or had a transplant". Everyone's different but when I was diagnosed but wasn't yet at the point where I needed dialysis I barely gave it a thought. My neph thought I was in denial, I just took the view that I would worry about it when I had to and live to the max in the meantime.
