My feed
Premium

Please
or
to access all these features

AIBU?

To be sick of recycling?

50 replies

LordBrightside · 04/01/2016 11:50

Honestly, we have 7 separate bins and it's impossible to keep track of what is getting collected when. I'm sick of it.

OP posts:
Report
LindyHemming · 04/01/2016 11:51

This reply has been deleted

Message withdrawn at poster's request.

ABetaDad1 · 04/01/2016 11:53

Seven bins!

Are they the big ones in the street. Surely not in your house?

Personally, my view of recycling is that it is a waste of time. Councils only mandate it because the Govt gives them a financial incentive and some of the recycled material is sold to China so bringing in a bit more revenue. If it cant be sold the recycled materials re dumped in landfill.

My view is all household waste should be burned and the heat used for generating electric or public heating as in some countries in mainland Europe.

Report
SpottyTeacakes · 04/01/2016 11:53

We only have two. General waste and recycling (glass, cardboard, paper, tins, foil containers etc). You can get garden ones but have to pay extra. I wouldn't be able to keep up with seven I don't think!

Report
babyheave · 04/01/2016 11:53

I used to live somewhere everything went into one bin and it was sorted by the authority. That was so easy. Now I live somewhere with 5 bins. One for general waste, one for food leftovers, one for garden waste, one for cardboard and paper and one for glass and metal. I'm sure it saves money somewhere down the line, so I don't mind too much, but it was a lot easier with one!

Report
BlueRaptor · 04/01/2016 11:54

London by any chance? We also have seven bins. We did have seperate bins in the house but my kitchen looked rank so I lob it all in one big bin now and get DP to take it down and sort it in front of the bins instead Blush

Report
ABetaDad1 · 04/01/2016 11:55

Oh and by making the recycling process so complex with seven bins for householders to sort the Council effectively forces households to do free labour that saves them cost in the recycling process.

Report
eltsihT · 04/01/2016 12:02

We have 6 bins and the council have a Calendar you can download into your phone with reminders set. So I get a reminder at 8pm on the night the bins go out. Does your council do the same?

Report
Scholes34 · 04/01/2016 12:12

Three bins - general waste, recyclables and kitchen/garden waste.

The answer to the problem is to reduce the amount of waste produced. Why do I need cardboard round my four-pack of yogurts, or plastic wrapping on my four-pack of baked beans? Checkouts are sophisticated enough to be able to cope with discounts on multi-buys.

Report
Laidbackorlazy · 04/01/2016 12:16

Residual waste often is burned for energy generation, in mainland Europe and here - though it's very difficult to get planning permission for incinerators as no one wants one near them. But burning all waste without recycling first wastes resources, energy, money - recycling saves huge amounts of all of these. As for the comment about saving the council the job of sorting it. You bought it, it belongs to you, why is it anyone else's job to sort it out?

Report
SaucyJack · 04/01/2016 12:16

We don't have a bin cos we're in a flat. We have to lug all our recycling down the road to the recycling point behind one of the other blocks. Sad times.

Report
LordBrightside · 04/01/2016 12:42

Green bin - general waste
Blue bin - cardboard
Small red bin - plastics
Small black bin - cans and bottles
Brown bin - garden waste
Small grey bin - food waste
Another small grey bin - don't know what it's for.

As for all this and keeping track of collections, I don't have time for this crap.

OP posts:
Report
LordBrightside · 04/01/2016 12:44

This is East Ayrshire, I meant to say.

OP posts:
Report
BackforGood · 04/01/2016 12:46

Blimey - we have 1 for 'rubbish' and 1 for 'recycling'
where do people keep 7 bins ??

Report
LucilleBluth · 04/01/2016 12:46

Laidbackorlazy, it's their job to sort it because we pay huge amounts of council tax....the government love people like you.

Report
LagunaBubbles · 04/01/2016 12:47

I'm in North Ayrshire so not that far from you OP and thankfully we only have 3. Black - general, Blue - all recycling and Brown - garden.

Report
VegetablEsoup · 04/01/2016 12:47

7?!?!
yanbu
with 3 I would say yabvvvvvvvvu

Report
MissDuke · 04/01/2016 12:48

Crazy! We have three full size wheelie bins - one for general waste, one for recycling (plastic/paper only) and one for garden waste. We take glass to a recycling bank ourselves. I find this sytem tricky enough to remember! Seven is crazy and surely leaving it open to lots of errors?

Report
BarbarianMum · 04/01/2016 12:48

Yeah, I know what you mean - I'm sick to death of picking up after my dog when he craps on the pavement. I'm either rushing on the school run or rushing to work and it's all a bit inconvenient and time consuming.

I definitely feel that the council other people should pay the price of my lifestyle choices. Hmm

Report
wonkylegs · 04/01/2016 12:49

7 bins! no wonder your fed up.
We have regular rubbish, and 2 recycling.
1 of the recycling bins is a wheelie bin (plastic and metal) with a caddy in the top (paper) and the other is a small bin for glass.
Collections = recycling one week, rubbish the next.
We also have a compost bin for our own compost heap and we burn our garden waste (rural, lots of land)

Report
LordBrightside · 04/01/2016 12:51

Yeah, I found we were able to manage 3 no problem. 7 just feels like the council is taking the piss.

OP posts:
Report
Ellieboolou27 · 04/01/2016 12:53

Ahhhhhggg I hate it too as we have five bins, our front garden looks awful with them all, to make matters worse we get a small black bin for general household waste and it gets collected every TWO weeks! The bin is so small it fits no more than 2 bin liners and bin men won't take it unless the kid is fully closed!

Report
TheCarpenter · 04/01/2016 12:54

East Ayrshire! Knew it. Grin

The plastics bin is too small.

The smaller grey bin is for your food waste but to be kept in the kitchen. You then empty it into the larger bin.

Report

Don’t want to miss threads like this?

Weekly

Sign up to our weekly round up and get all the best threads sent straight to your inbox!

Log in to update your newsletter preferences.

You've subscribed!

TheCarpenter · 04/01/2016 12:55

gets collected every TWO weeks!

3 Weeks here.

Report
TheBestChocolateIsFree · 04/01/2016 12:57

To be fair in East Ayrshire I assume most people have quite a lot of living space. I'm in London and we have landfill rubbish in wheelies, food waste in (crap) lockable caddies, and clear sacks for all other recyclables. There are also bins in public places for batteries, light bulbs, small electricals, fabric, and shoes.

The waste recycling centres are very clear as to exactly what happens to your waste. Londoners really really don't have space for 7 bins, so the sorting is almost all automated, and the processing is done locally. Some of the sorted plastics do go back to China for reuse but since the empty container ships would be making the journey back after delivering all our Christmas presents anyway that's not nearly as irrational as it seems.

Report
LordBrightside · 04/01/2016 12:57

Aha! That would make sense in East Ayrshire terms. Filling up one bin to fill another even though we already have a kitchen bin.

But of course, why not keep a bucket of slop in the kitchen too? Just what everyone wants.

OP posts:
Report
Please create an account

To comment on this thread you need to create a Mumsnet account.