to think recycling is a bloody pain! cause most of it can't be recycled

[Jelliedeels]

Our rubbish has changed and we have to put of a bag for plastics and paper. Sounds simple enough.

No crisp or biscuit wrappers, no film, no plastic food containers. Nothing with food waste on it.

So I use paper plates for microwaving they can't be recycled,

I use paper towel, again it has food waste on it , no wet wipes

My normal rubbish looks like it could all be recycled but lasagne tray nope not that either.

The majority of stuff I have says it can't be recycled , even my milk carton and my Fizzy pop bottle say "not recycled at the time"

[RedHelenB]

i put milk cartons in recycling

[Jelliedeels]

Ours says not a current time

[DesolateWaist]

Do they mean that you need to clean the packaging? Wash out yogurt pots for example.

[AintNobodyHereButUsKittens]

What milk cartons do you have? The normal squarish translucent plastic bottles? I thought everyone recycled them? What plastics do they recycle if they don't do food containers (clean) and plastic bottles? I literally can't think of anything else they could cover.

[Jelliedeels]

I have long life milk,

Oh I know it has to be washed out etc but actually look at the rubbish loads of it says not currently recycling.

I'm not calling council up when they have already sent a list of no crisp, biscuits, film, foil etc

[MadisonAvenue]

Our council sent a leaflet around a few months ago stating what could be recycled and what couldn't and there was a lot less on the list than previously.

They'll take food/drink containers as long as they've been washed out (which then adds to our water bill as we have a meter).

[Jelliedeels]

Mine says-

No polystyrene , plastic film, no oven proof plastic trays, cling film,crisp or biscuit wrappings, toys, videos, coat hangers, wrapping paper or food particles
No corrugated cardboard,

That's on the council list they sent me

[BigDamnNCFail]

We moved recently and now live somewhere that recycles far more than anywhere else I've ever lived.

Pretty much all plastic food containers, juice cartons, magazines, as well as the usual paper/plastic bottles/glass.

Then they also provide food waste caddies and bags for them, which you can put all food waste in.

And we're given bags for garden waste.

All of it's collected weekly. It's great.

[Jelliedeels]

Big - see that works

Ours is every fortnight

[disappoint15]

The 'no food particles' is a bit ridiculous really. You can rinse things out but most food recycling will have some particles on eg the huge takeaway pizza boxes. Our council recycles all glass bottles and jars, most plastic apart from film/clingfilm/crisp bag plastic/sweet wrapper stuff, foil and cans/tins/metal lids of jars, cardboard and paper, food waste and garden waste. So we don't really have too much that can't be recycled any more. We just rinse out a little but don't worry too much about food residue.

[DesolateWaist]

My friend is the head of recycling for our council so I check with him.
Any rigid plastic, so yogurt pots and the like. No thin plastic so no crisp packets etc.
Ignore what the actual packaging says and listen to your council.

Also remember that most of the recycling is sorted by hand.

[Jelliedeels]

Desol - trouble is they say they will fine you if you put stuff in that should not be recycled and vice Versa if you put it in general

[AintNobodyHereButUsKittens]

It looks like you should be recycling all your food trays that you aren't meant to be cooking things in - so the trays for raw meat or veg . And also ready meal trays that are microwaveable but not over proof. And surely any plastic bottles.

[specialsubject]

Use normal plates for the microwave, or plastic tubs which then get washed for re use.

Ready meals always generate loads of packaging. Bulk cook and freeze if you can.

[ICJump]

One of the key things in waste management is reducing the waste to start with. So looking to shop in a way that reduces what has to get thrown out. Then reusing what you can and then recycling.

[Jelliedeels]

Ain't - to be honest that's exactly what it is and I'm doing that but produce more un recycled stuff than recycled stuff

Special - I like paper plates as I don't have many plates and I'll be forever waiting for dishwasher or looking at an unsightly stack in kitchen and I can't stand bulk cooking I find it a waste of time and money. Sits in freezer until I chuck it out , been there seen it done it.

[AintNobodyHereButUsKittens]

You could try moving to a different brand of long life milk that comes in bottles not tetrapaks? Or buy normal 1 pint plastic bottle of fresh milk and keep them in the freezer until needed if you have room. I squeeze ready meal containers and cat food tins into the dishwasher which solves the food particles problem. I'm not too paranoid about putting the right sort of plastic tray in because our recycling isn't sorted by hand, they use some form of laser-guided magic.

[AintNobodyHereButUsKittens]

Plates are quite cheap, and because they're flat they take up very little storage space in a pile. You could get yourself enough earthenware plates to last you until you do a dishwasher load for a very moderate sum.

[Jelliedeels]

It sounds like I'm being difficult. But our kitchen is a temporary one (well temp for the next couple of years) I only have 1 cupboard for plates, mugs and bowls and 1 cupboard for saucepans, oven trays (all stacked) and a small cupboard for tins etc.

I keep the paper plates in microwave take them out use microwave and them put them back in.

[specialsubject]

My time clearly isn't that precious...and nor am I that easily upset by a stack of plates. It takes about five mins longer to cook a giant batch of chilli as an example.

Never mind . Stuff the next generation, eh?

[Jelliedeels]

Special -
That's unnecessary, I have 4 plates I don't have the room. Or the plates

I tried batch cooking and it does not work for me.

[MrsJayy]

Your council crap at recycling tbh we can recycle most things including food waste we are getting 4 new bloody wheelie bins in the autumn we had boxes and bags my garden is going to look like a bin store

[MrsJayy]

Why cant you get plastic microwaveable bowls keep them in your microwave and wash them paperplates seem such a waste