how is your landfil bin? ours has barely anything in it

[MrsLargeEmbodied]

we now have a local op with plastic recycling
we have other usual recycling, cardboard, glass
we pay for garden waste collection
we do not have a food waste recycling so that would help even more
our landfill bin has barely anything in it, dog poo is a large culprit, that and vegetable peelings, tea bags

there are only 2 of us in the house now so we are just getting used to it

We're loads better since Tesco started offering soft plastics recycling, although I completely accept that recycling is in many ways just passing on the problem.

We usually have a bit of spare room on bin day and we only have a 3 weekly collection. However I still have lots of other plastics that we can't find a recycle point for - the council only takes plastic bottles. A fair amount of the bin seems to be used wood pellet cat litter.

We started to recycle our soft plastics last summer, in addition to the normal recycling and have notified quite a big drop in our landfill bin

Huge difference here too, although it is a pain storing bags of soft plastic, waiting to have a decent amount to take them to the Co-op who accept them.

We are pretty much down to 1-1.5 bin bags of unrecyclable rubbish per fortnight.
We do have food recycling, a compost bin and kerbside collections for cardboard, plastic and glass.
We save hard plastics & metals for a trip to the local recycling centre. It sounds like we live in a big house with loads of storage but we really don’t.

@Jellycatrabbit Superdrug stores (with a pharmacy) recycle medicine blister packs through terracycle.
www.terracycle.com/en-GB/

@TheTurn0fTheScrew do you have a garden? I bury, or spread, the wooden cat litter. It breaks down to nothing really quickly. I do sieve out the pellets every tray change though so all I’m throwing burying is mostly just the wet saw dust.

Recycle everything possible but being a multi indoor cat household, the general bin, which is collected every two weeks, is full within a week. Wish I could get a bigger bin but the council don't take furry occupants into consideration!

It's not too bad actually.
I have a skinny waste bin and there's 3 of us. I can wing it if misses a week. Recycling bin is always full to the brim.

Our local council don't do a food waste collection despite having the food waste digestor in town and other food waste from the county is driven in. Drives me nuts and I'm always asking them about it. Basingstoke council I'm looking at you....

Recycling bin is fairly full every 2 weeks.

Tesco taking cat food pouches and plastic film etc has reduced all that waste. Soiled cat litter (Cat’s Best) gets flushed, and the dusty stuff left over after a few weeks goes in the garden waste bin.

Our council stopped accepting food waste in the garden bin so that’s our biggest thing now. I have a small compost bin, with a nice tight lid, by the sink and anything potentially smelly goes in there; about 2 small bags a week go into the landfill bin. Otherwise it’s just random household litter. Oh, and ash from the fireplace occasionally.

We still have weekly collections but often don’t bother putting it out for 2 or 3 weeks.

(Carrier bags, frozen veg bags and all other stretchy plastic goes to Ocado man.)

I didn't realise that competitive under bin filling was a thing!!

depends how you look at it @elephantmarchingin

reduce reuse recycle are all Good ways to live

@MrsLargeEmbodied indeed but this thread is more competitive then the mystical mumsnet chicken

can't say i have looked at it that way?
your prerogative i guess

@elephantmarchingin

I didn't realise that competitive under bin filling was a thing!!

Well it should be IMO.

Mines pretty empty, I could go quite a few weeks without putting it out for collection. However I severely limit the amount of plastic and waste that comes into the house and recycle absolutely everything I possibly can.

• bamboo toothbrushes
• Bamboo cotton buds
• Bar soap/solid shampoo and conditioner
• Make my own deodorant or buy solid deodorant
• Repurpose all plastic bottles in the house for homemade cosmetics and toiletries or cleaning products
• Repurpose all jars for stock pastes/jams/homemade yoghurt etc
• All plastic lunch/Chinese containers repurposed for overnight oats/homemade custards etc
• Koh cleaning products only, or homemade if I run out and money is tight
• Cans/bottles/cartons returned for cash
• Scrunchy plastic returned to shops for recycling
• Diligent recycling (check what can and can’t go in recycling and what the contaminants are, you’d be surprised)
• Reusable sanitary products
• Never ever buy paper towels
• Never ever buy cling film
• Buy only fruit and veg not wrapped in plastic
• Aluminium water bottles
• Who gives a crap subscription
• Don’t wear makeup ever
• Glasses instead of contacts

I realise these things aren’t for everyone, and probably don’t matter in the grand scheme of things as I am just one person, but I feel better knowing I’m doing my best to not contribute to sea life eating plastic and dying slow painful deaths.

@MrsLargeEmbodied

we now have a local op with plastic recycling we have other usual recycling, cardboard, glass we pay for garden waste collection we do not have a food waste recycling so that would help even more our landfill bin has barely anything in it, dog poo is a large culprit, that and vegetable peelings, tea bags

there are only 2 of us in the house now so we are just getting used to it

Great work! Sounds like you should consider a compost bin, perhaps a small inside bokashi style bin of you don’t have a big garden.

@Unmumsymofo

what would i do with the kitchen compost?

i am interested but not for outside as they encourage rats and do not have a big garden anyway

If you are not into your outside garden, you could always apply it to inside plants as a feed/mulch, or just Chuck it out into the garden beds. If you are a 2 person household I don’t imagine you will accumulate much compost but it just means it doesn’t end up in landfill where it won’t rot and will actually contribute to global warming due to producing methane as it’s can’t decompose appropriately! There might also be local allotments/community gardens which will take your kitchen waste for their own compost, have a look and see what’s local

@thatweirdhippygirl - what you're doing is great.

But some of what you're doing is doable and some of what you're doing isn't. And try not to sound so holier than thou about it!

Didn’t mean to sound holier than thou, sorry! 😂

I did say I know these things aren’t for everyone. I personally hate the reusable sanitary stuff and usually skip sugar pills so I don’t have to have a period 😂

Overflowing and have to make at least one weekly trip to the local dump. Our Council only pick up monthly and it's simply not enough for a family.

Soiled cat litter (Cat’s Best) gets flushed
@GiantKitten you really shouldn’t flush anything from the litter tray down the toilet regardless of if it’s claim to be flushable. Most water companies can’t treat litter tray waste effectively.

Getting rid of your cat's waste every day can become a chore, and although it might seem like a convenient way to get rid of cat litter, you should not flush it down the toilet. This can cause blockages in your plumbing, damage your septic system and can even cause disease in humans and aquatic life

www.petcheckers.co.uk/is-cat-litter-flushable/
UK water treatment and sewage systems aren’t designed to kill Toxoplasmosis gondii. This means it will continue into the water system we use every day.

[quote elephantmarchingin]@MrsLargeEmbodied indeed but this thread is more competitive then the mystical mumsnet chicken [/quote]
@elephantmarchingin I see it more as idea sharing than competitive tbh. I’m always happy to pick up tips on anything extra I can do.

Between 1/4 an half. We have a food waste collection but very minimal food waste. I have a compost bin.

Landfill bin collection is every two weeks for us, and we have all been given smaller wheely bins. Mine is usually half or 2/3 full. We take soft plastics to Tesco, and have a food waste bin since last year. The waste bin has mainly got cat waste (including litter), non recyclable plastics, and stuff from the hoover, san-pro, and lint roller sheets from cat fur cleaning (so much fur!)

We have to take glass to the recycling banks too but WFH does make taking stuff easier (as part of my lunchtime walk)

@stairgates a lot of plastic now has a symbol and says “recyclable at larger stores”. That’s the kind of plastic you can include. I also take crisp packages and pet food pouches.

We fill our 50l kitchen bin daily!

Ours is fortnightly and the council replaced them with smaller ones a year or so ago but ours is never full. Usually one tall kitchen bin worth, sometimes two. We have weekly food waste collection which helps given our immense tea and banana consumption. We also pay for green waste collection. I wish we could pay for glass collection, going to the bottle bank is so annoying and they are usually already overflowing. Also the soft plastics. I've got an overflowing bag I need to take to Tesco and keep not getting round to.