Give me your recycling tips

[BelleEButton]

I have seen some stuff around about plastic free Lent etc and I am thinking I would like to recycle more. At the moment I recycle everything clean (cardboard, rinsed out tins etc) but I don’t recycle anything I can’t easily get clean (say the plastic box chicken comes in) because I don’t want grim chicken juices in my recycling bin (wheelie bin no bag here). Similarly I don’t do the food caddy as I don’t want old food hanging around in my kitchen for a week. Does anyone else worry about these things/what are your tips for recycling more? Thank you

Have you got a garden? If so you could compost some of the food waste

I'd kill for a food caddy! We don't have food recycling here. Could you leave it outside the back door? Or use the liners and remove them daily.

I don't use the food caddy, Pets in the house so it could be a disaster. Instead, our council allows the biodegradable food bags inside the food bin. So we just get one out when prepping and then after food it gets taken straight out. I think you can but these from places like Wilko.

We luckily have recycling bags, so have two bins in the kitchen. Everything gets rinsed and bagged straight away. Maybe you could set up another bin and then decant that into your recycling bin when needed? Although I'm not sure meat packaging is suitable for recycling anyway.

Someone may disagree, but I think as a country we are all pretty good with recycling now. It's become a way of life. The important issue now is to reduce the use of wasteful packaging, that's what we are looking at this year. No more single use plastic water bottles, refillable shower gels, perfume bottles, cleaning products etc.

Check with your council before using liners for food waste. Ours will only allow paper liners not the plastic look rice ones - even though they're both to the same ISO standard. :/

See what your council will take as recycling. Some are better than others. Then see if there's a local recycling bin for anything the council won't take (tetrapak cartons are one thing a lot of councils won't take).

The only thing I would say is be careful with packaging free stores if you want to make a conscious no plastic life choice. One local to me has a large 5 litre or so glass jar with tap for dispensing Henderson's Relish (its a bit like Worcestershire sauce). All well and good but they buy 5 litre plastic bottles of the stuff from the cash n carry to fill their glass jar when it is sold in glass bottles at supermarkets anyway!

You need to wash and dry the plastic chicken boxes. Definitely don’t put chicken juice in a recycling bin or you contaminate the lot.
I am extremely wary about washing out chicken containers as you can spread food poisoning with stray droplets. Rather than run it under a tap, fill a basin with hot soapy water and plunge it in. Which you need to do for chopping boards and knives anyway so it’s only one extra step really.

We have a local bring Centre that takes a lot of stuff that can’t be put in the recycling bin, so I have a set of boxes in the shed and every 6 weeks or so I take them there - batteries, bulbs, small electrical, certain types of plastic, bigger amounts of cardboard than comfortably fit in my bin, etc.

I’d suggest putting your food caddy outside the door and just keep a small bowl/ box/plate for peelings and empty it regularly. It’s mostly about getting into a habit.

Recycling it all well and good but the phrase is ‘Reduce, reuse and recycle’. Maybe look at the reducing and reusing first.

One tip for meat trays. If you're cooking anything in water with your meal such as pasta, veg etc, leave the meat tray in the bottom of the sink while you're cooking and drain the pan of cooking water over it to sterilise it. It's waste water anyway so not using any energy. I just use boiling water from the kettle otherwise.

You can compost organic food waste but also a certain amount of paper and card. We generally compost all toilet/kitchen rolls, just tear them up a bit. We split open tea bags and chuck that in too. I'm squeamish with food waste and it's taken me a while to feel at peace with a caddy in the kitchen but our routine is to make a daily trip to the compost bin so it is fine.

Refuse, reduce, reuse and then recycle.

Refuse to bring plastic into your home in the first place. Say no to straws, bags, wrapping etc where possible.

Switch to glass or aluminium/canned products where possible (eg pasta sauce?) as it's more efficiently recycled.

Switch to greengrocer or market if possible for fruit and veg, cuts out a lot of plastic. Carry paper bags/reusable cloth bags (I have a shopping kit in my car with all my containers, bags, Tupperware etc)

Reuse plastic containers if you can, before throwing out- so freeze meals in ice cream pots, use as plant pots for seedlings (will also reduce plastic use long term- we're going to grow our own salad leaves this year!) Use your old plastic pots to transport loose fruit/veg from the market etc.

Look at ecobricks if you would like to be involved in community projects to reduce plastic waste going to landfill

It's bloody hard to reduce plastic use with a busy family life. In 6 months we've probably reduced ours by 50% and I'd like to continue reducing. It's mostly been by switching brands, and specifically choosing brands based on their packaging. I've started home baking cakes/biscuits/savouries to reduce plastic on those things. It requires effort, time and sometimes money and there are times when I just can't afford the plastic free options.

I have noticed small changes in the last 6 months so hopefully there will be more changes on the way.