I reckon recycling is a complete waste of time. There's more plastic in those wheely bins than in a lifetime of plastic bags

[moondog]

I'm convinced it's nothing more than a right on gesture.
I've a good mind to say sod it and not bloody bother (and I'm a woman who spent a total of three years washing shitty nappies in an effort to be right on).

It's not the material which is the problem - it is the disposable, throwaway nature of so many products and so much packaging. A wheelie bin is not a disposable product.

This.

I wonder how keen on recycling people would be if they had to bury all their rubbish in their own back gardens.

Eh?
A wheelie bin is a disposable product.
I can't see them lasting that long.

I used to live in a developing country as a child that had no waste collection. We used to throw our rubbish over a cliff like everyone else.
Mind you, it was all organic matter apart from the odd tin and some glass.

Why do you say it is a disposable product? If you look at it like that, then pretty much everything is a disposable product.

It is not a single-use or otherwise short-use product. It is designed to do a job and last years and years. I have lived in this house ten years and my wheelie bin is as strong and functional now as it has ever been. It is not a disposable product .

And has been mentioned twice, they are made from recycled plastic.

That wheelie bins are made of plastic is a non-issue. The issue is the enormous amount of throwaway single use stuff.

Organic matter and even the odd bit of glass and tin is not a problem. Huge amounts of it is, of course.

Plastic in the sea is another matter. Look at the link above.

In the area my parents live wheelie bins were introduced in 1988. My parents are still on their first bin. So something that lasts > 25 years = disposable?

If my plastic didn't go into a blue plastic wheelie bin for recycling, it would go into a green plastic one for landfill. I would need just as many plastic wheelie bins.

How do I know it's made from recycled plastic?
I've only your word for it. Hester.

If you choose not to believe me, that's not my fault.

But it's really not the issue here.

Hester, you are a random on a chat forum assuring me my wheelie bin is recycled and seem to think it odd that I need more than your word for it that it is.

OK whatever...

I don't work either in recycling or in the plastics industry. My dad did and my sister does so I picked up lots of things on the way.

You started a debate. I engaged in the debate. Sorry if that upsets you.

Not remotely and I appreciate your comments!
But I would like to know more about how wheely bins are made.

But you're still going about the issue arse about tit. It doesn't matter what the receptacle is made of. The issue is what happens to the stuff you put in it.

We've had our green wheelie bin for the entire 10 years we've lived here, too. It was already here when we moved in. It's had its lid replaced, after it blew over in a gale straight after being emptied, which has extended its life. They're pretty solid beasts.

I'm googling now!

If I am wrong about the material - for which I would happily eat humble pie with cream - then it is still the actual stuff you're sending out for recycling which is the issue, surely? Given that wheelie bins last and last and last and last?

So am I!
I think it does matter what they are made of as ultimatley, millions and millions of wheely bins have to be disposed of.

But they recycle them!

Where?
When?
There's that many of the buggers!

It's like TVs and other electrical products. On any given day, what will be thrown away more - old TVs and computers, or wheelie bins?

OK another question - how many wheelie bins have you thrown away in your life? Compared to how many TVs and computers and white goods you have replaced?

I think I know where I'm going with this.....

I linked to that too.

I also started a thread about it a year or so ago and was staggered by the vitriol I received from one poster in particular, whose name I can't remember. She accused me of scaremongering, of spreading propaganda and of hysteria. I couldn't believe it.

Oh the irony when I saw her name all over a Christian thread.

How on earth could you care so little about animals if you are a so called Christian?

However, that's another thread entirely. Sorry.

I am in complete agreement re excess of plastic.
It's quite simply that wheelie bins are made of......plastic!
Couldn't they be made of something else?
Honestly, the kilos and kilos of plastic that comprise the myriad bins and boxes owened by each house. Nuts!a

What would suggest, moon? What else is strong enough, light enough and durable enough?

I know what you're saying, but I think that, as a byproduct of the petrochemical industry, plastic does have its uses, if it is made to last. The things we see in those poor birds' stomachs are small, disposable, throwaway, short term use things which have been irresponsibly thrown away. And it's the small bits of plastic which do the most damage environmentally, not the big things like long lasting wheelie bins.

(never thought I would use the phrase "wheelie bin" so often in so few posts :) )

I know!
I need to get a life.

Not wanting to labour point or be deliberately obtuse, but those wheelies will break up and become nasty bits of plastic. I was walking along the beach this w/end and came across a great many of those big trays that fishermen used. All splintered up.

I get annoyed at the increased junk mail - catalogues that are wrapped in plastic that didn't used to be.

We have no plastic recycling in my area.