To stop recycling plastic bottles and cardboard.

[BornToBeRiled]

I genuinely am not sure. My house feels a mess at the moment, and is getting me down. The pile of cardboard and milk bottles gets out of control, but we can only get to the waste centre at weekends, because they close at five. I have recycled faithfully for years, but I've had enough. I try to avoid over buying of packaging but can't avoid it all. WWYD?

I know we are creating far too much waste so surely it's time manufacturers were made to stop wrapping everything up in so many layers of plastic and cardboard.

The jury is still out I think. Whoa there spiderslegs! Actually I agree with you largely. We need to deal with the underlying consumption issues. Until then, I have the pile in the kitchen, and will probably still go to the tip.

They collect more stuff here now, but I used to store plastic bottles, cardboard etc. it in my car boot. The smell of sour milk would remind me to go to the recycling centre and get rid.

Burning it in the garden would be bad, plastics at least would release into the air lots of nasties (dioxins); because you can't get the temps high enough to destroy them.
Council incineration is different (acceptable) because of superhigh temps achieved.
We do burn a lot of our cardboard in the wood stove. It's possible someone in your area might be happy to accept your cardboard to burn, OP, you could ask around on Freegle.

Choccyp1g wins. That is inspired!

Do you squish your milk bottles? I have found them easier to store since I began standing on them after washing them- can fit loads more in the recycling container (sorry if this is blindingly obvious to anyone else, I was 37 before I realised I could do this ).

I'm with spiderpig i do recycle, but it gets my goat that it is always the consmuer's responsibility (and thus guilt) to get rid of the waste, and yet corporations are 'allowed' to use so much packaging in the first place.

I may be well off the mark but if local/national government offices HAD to use recycled paper/plastic pens etc, then there would be much more demand for recycled products and this might help keeps the cost of recycling down and improve the recycling facilities.

oops, sorry, spiderlegs

The Chinese build 100's of coal fired power plants each year - the majority of our consumer goods come from China - does it really matter what we do with the bits of cardboard & plastic that accompany these goods????

Really?

But we do it, we want to do it, we have fuelled the economy in SE Asia with our easy credit & our easy waste & filth & they have quite happily absorbed our filth & money.

Have you seen the air in Beijing?

I don't know where it's going to go - but it's not pleasant.

Doinmummy and earlyriser,the Courtauld Commitment has brought about a reduction in packaging by 60% since it was started in 2005. The packaging we buy our groceries in from the supermarkets is only about 40% of what is was then, although it may look no different if you weren't aware of the changes. Big business and manufacturers are doing their bit. (53 of them, anyway)

WRAP

no kerbside recycling here, but we do have a blue bin for paper and card which is picked up fortnightly. We live in an upstairs flat and I am heartily sick of bottles, cans and plastic building up until I can get time to bundle it into the car and take it to the recycling centre. Its a pain.

YANBU. I'd only recycle what is collected at the curbside.

I would feel really awful, but am so fed up of the piles in my kitchen.

Preparation H and a rubber ring?

Arf at that. Will smearing prep h on the rubbish shrink the lot? Will report back.

No, just a messy floor.

Further to the squishing tetra packs suggetion...if you rinse them out with boiling water you can squish them almost completely flat, and if you then replace the plastic cap they will stay that way. Thought I'd mention it because I know loads of people that don't!

YANBU.

Perfectly reasonable to recycle only what the council will collect, particularly as the mess is getting you down.

I'm now grumpy because I was going to suggest storing it in the car boot and choccypig has beaten me to it and taken the credit.

You are also a genius Dilys. It is the thinking up of a good idea that makes a genius, not just the spouting about it. (old, wise saying)

it is a storage issue. DP & i live in a flat & we found stacking boxes that fit in an otherwise unusable space so its easy & tidy.

we get a weekly veg box delivered. it means fewer life sapping trips to the supermarket, cuts down on packaging lots & we seem to eat very well for much less money than most people. also i have to really overeat to put weight on (but did over christmas so ho hum )