I've just got in and went to get my recycling bin in

[DoctorTwo]

The binmen haven't emptied it. Instead they hung a note on that reads "OOPS! WE HAVE NOT BEEN ABLE TO EMPTY YOUR BIN TODAY. Your recycling bin has not been emptied because it contains items that we cannot recycle or compost.

Please ensure that you remove the items (listed overleaf)so that we can empty your bin on the next collection day"

So I turned the tag over and they have checked the box for garden waste.

In what universe can garden waste not be composted? Might have to leave a scathing comment on the website. Or just whine on MN :o

[GarlicJuneBlooms]

We only have 'black' rubbish and 'green'. The recycling's only for stuff that can be separated out & recycled for sale. I got a right stroppy note for putting garden waste in! We're not supposed to put it in the 'black' rubbish, either, but I do. Can't put it anywhere else or burn it - tiny terraced gardens.

[BabyDubsEverywhere]

Black country here and we have a brown for garden, green for any packaging's for recycling and a grey for household rubbish. Grey emptied every week, green one week, brown the next and so on.

Areas seem to differ so much its hard to say if yabu op without knowing what is supposed to be in what bins for your area.

[GarlicJuneBlooms]

Wee silver caddy thing for good waste What the hell is good waste? Please tell!

[ilovepowerhoop]

Is it supposed to be 'food' waste??

[QueenOfThorns]

I think Impatientismymiddlename and ExitPursuedByABear may be in my vicinity, as I also have those colours!

[GarlicJuneBlooms]

aha! YY, ilove, thanks

[Blamenargles]

we only have 2 bins and one box

blue bin for paper and card
blue box for plastic, cans, tins
black bin for evrything else

you can get garden waste collected for 2 months of the year but you have to pay for it

[Floggingmolly]

My neighbour filled around 10 specially designated (bright orange) garden waste bags after hacking down his hedge; left them out on the required collection day; and the council van left them all on the pavement with a sticker saying "we are unable to process your recycling as bags contain garden waste"...
He'd actually had to pay for the bloody bags in the first place!

[clam]

Our garden waste goes in the green wheelie bin along with all the cardboard. Always has done.
That's what they've told us to do.

[ilovepowerhoop]

we have:

blue for cans, cardboard, paper, etc
black for general waste
brown for garden waste (only emptied march to November)
small brown for food waste (caddy in kitchen too)

they dont collect glass here yet.

[DoctorTwo]

The recycling bin is green with a blue lid, general waste is green with a matching lid. Looks like I'll have to make a trip to the tip tomorrow.

What annoyed is they don't class garden waste as compostable. If it isn't, why do so many gardeners have compost heaps.

[Fenton]

But what does the blue lid recycling bin take, in your area?

Could you have perhaps misunderstood what's allowed in that bin, and the refuse collectors had to tick a box of some sort?

I find it hard to believe that you can put recycling and compostable stuff in the same bin for collection.

[RaspberryLemonPavlova]

We have:

Green wheely bin - garden waste (but not food)

Green box - metal, glass, paper

Green bag 1 - cardboard

Green bag 2 - plastic

Black wheely bin - everything else.

Places that can't have wheely bins (terraces) have plastic bags that go in a special gull-proof sack with a ribbon that has to be tied in a bow at the top.

[MrsKoala]

We have the crappest waste/recycling collection where i live. They take bin bags and a clear plastic bag of card/paper and tins. and that's it. no glass, plastics, compost or garden waste. Also we pay extortionately high council tax (£240 for a 2 bed flat) There are numerous recycling drop places for those things around the town, but as i don't drive i'm not going to lug it all up the hill along with trailing my toddler and being humungously pregnant, so i bin it all.

[Harry1603]

We have a dark green bin for rubbish and light green for recycling, both collected fortnightly. We also have a food waste bin collected weekly and, if we pay for it, a brown bin for garden waste. We don't bother with that one though, we just use MIL's as she lives in the same road!

I dread us getting more bins as we really don't have the room for them. We live in a maisonette and the front garden is ours but we let our upstairs neighbour keep hers there as well. I don't mind recycling but, if we have more bins, we're going to be hard pushed to find the space.

[BellaVita]

We have a blue bin - cardboard, cans, glass, cartons, tin foil, tins, yoghurt pots and anything plastic that food comes in ie chicken, mince or a ready meal which can be washed out.

Brown bin - all garden waste.

Green bin - anything not suitable to go into the above two.

[TidyDancer]

Could you have put soil in the bin? Where I live, the council (who are very good) collect most garden waste but don't take soil.

We have three bins, one for rubbish, one for garden waste and one for other recycling. The paper is collected seperately in a box.

[LiberalLibertine]

Our council is crap..... one for land fill, one for plastic and paper and cans. None for glass, ever. You can rent a separate one for garden waste, but can't put peelings or anything in it

[Fenton]

Can't you look on your local council website to see what's allowed in that blue top bin? All could become clear.

I'm worried I'm overinvested in this thread about bins.

[PestoSunnyissimos]

You're lucky if you get garden waste taken, here they don't take it at all. We have to either compost or take it to the tip ourselves.

[supersop60]

We have a blue bin for recycling - bottles, cartons etc
Black bin for general household waste, both fortnightly,
Brown bin for food waste (all sorts) - collected weekly,
I think you have to ask the council specifically for a garden waste bin, they don't just dole them out.

[ItsAFuckingVase]

We also have a green bin for general waste and a green bin with blue lid for recycling. I've noticed loads of tags on recycling bins in the last couple of months so they must be clamping down on misuse here.

We can have an extra brown bin for garden waste if we want.

[HappyAgainOneDay]

Isn't it time that Councils got their act together and had a unified system. they could then work together. In West Berkshire, we have:

Green wheelie bin - garden waste
Green crate - paper and cardboard
Green crate - glass or any sort
Green bag - tins and plastic bottles
Small green caddy - food waste
Black wheelie bin - every thing else

I feel sorry for those with small gardens and those in terraced houses where they have to keep their bins out the front (Reading Borough). Doesn't look very naice, does it?

[Impatientismymiddlename]

I think Impatientismymiddlename and ExitPursuedByABear may be in my vicinity, as I also have those colours!

If you are in my area then you will also know that the councils policy of food and garden waste together means that they burn all the green bin waste instead of sending it to composting (which they could do if they separated food and garden stuff).
Not very environmentally friendly.
I still prefer this system though rather than those who have to pay for garden waste to be taken or get rid of it themselves.