..to be a bit annoyed that previously recyclable rubbish now isn't and their manufacturers don't get fined or reprimanded?

[MrsRossPoldark]

Whilst we now get notices telling us and our neighbours that 'oops - you seem to have put something non-recyclable in your green bin - please don't do it again or we won't dispose of your rubbish', all sorts of things that were previously recyclable now aren't? Anyone else noticed?

Crisp packets; yogurt pots; sweet and chocolate wrappers for a start.

Why is Joe Public being targetted when the manufacturers of packaging aren't? I mean, specifically, packaging that was previously recyclable. What has changed that they can't recycle it any more? Cheaper alternatives? Why don't we fine them instead of us? They are creating the problem whilst we are getting reprimanded if we try to do our bit and get it wrong.

We are genuinely getting confused about what is and isn't recyclable and spend extra time looking at labels to make sure we are putting stuff in the right bin [as well as checking the nutritional labels; price labels; country of origin]. The only people profiting are the label makers as far as I can see!

sweet wrappers and chrisp packets never have been (at least in our area) yoghurt pots yes, if clean.

so yabu, don't buy chrisps and sweets

We got notification of all sorts of changes - including a statement saying that everything needed to be washed fist - so we just put everything except newspapers in the ordinary bin.

Right mythical, so you express your annoyance with the council by just shoving everything in landfill. Helpful and constructive.

It's the inner bag from a box of cereal that winds me up. They always used to be recylable in the "carrier bag recycling" at supermarkets and now, suddenly, they're not.

YANBU.

Right mythical, so you express your annoyance with the council by just shoving everything in landfill. confused Helpful and constructive.

Same here, fuck recycling for a game of soldiers!

We can't recycle packaging or yogurt pots here. There is no buyer for it apparently due to the price of oil?

Surely crisp packets and sweet/chocolate wrappers have never been recyclable? Ive lived in four different council areas in the past ten years and none of them have ever recycled these things.

It is annoying though that so much isn't recyclable. I have also noticed the black (non recyclable) bin getting fuller more quickly. It isn't due to food waste since we have chickens that eat all of our food scraps. I think there is more non recyclable stuff creeping back in.

It's annoying that different councils have different policies. For example, where I am we have a blue bin for recycling (no yogurt pots though), a green bin for garden waste (costs extra) and a black bin for "landfill" (although in our area, it all goes to be incinerated and generates electricity). We also have a green box for glass.

But where my mum is in Devon, she has two bins, one for stuff that can break down, and one for stuff that can't. So it's very different - where she is, food waste and paper go in together whereas our paper goes in the recycling, and the food waste we can't put in our compost bin goes in the incineration bin.

It is what the council are prepared to pay for. As a business I pay for recycling all food boxes including yoghurt pots can go in work recycling. The same contractor does our household recycling no plastic food boxes.
Sweet wrappers have never been allowed in work recycling.

I've been treating crisp packets as plastic bags and shoving them in. No-one's ever complained, but we don't have many, so maybe no-one's noticed.

Ultimately, that's the answer. If we all stop buying the stuff with too much/the wrong sort of packaging, the manufacturers would have to change.

As an aside, recycling has been a bit of a red herring IMO. We get to feel all virtuous by shoving all sorts of stuff in recycling, when a lot of it doesn't get recycled at all and loads is shipped to China and elsewhere to be recycled (maybe) in appalling conditions. The recycling itself has a huge cost in energy terms. Reducing packaging would be a far more sensible strategy, but the focus on recycling has allowed consumers, councils and manufacturers to believe/pretend they're doing the right thing, when they're not.....IMO.

Our recycling service is a shambles, every week I put out all I possibly can but there is always something they randomly reject for no particular reason. I have complained to the council numerous times, the people in the office always say they don't understand why the crews did not take it because they should have, blah blah, but then the same thing happens the following week. I have told the council now that if it doesn't get collected the first time it goes into the waste bin, I am not playing games putting the same stuff out every week and then bringing it in again when they don't collect it. I am sorry about landfill but what can I do?

I agree that much more of the responsibility should be put on manufacturers and retailers. I make an effort to buy stuff with as little packaging as possible, and where there has to be packaging, I go for the reusable or recyclable option when I can, but still end up with an awful lot of materials to get rid of.

Manufacturers who use more eco-friendly packaging should be rewarded, in my view. Bring back reuseable packaging too! Refill bottles instead of chucking them out etc.

I don't know why we can't have returnable glass bottles for soft drinks/beer/cider etc. That used to be a way of getting a bit more pocket money - taking the bottles back. I think other countries still do this - Austria certainly used to when I lived there. It really bugs me that so many fruit/veg are pre-packaged as well. Just put them loose and I'll pick my own. I can understand for things like raspberries/blueberries but they could use a cardboard box rather than plastic.

Are you talking about shiney on the inside crisp and chocolate packets?

The rule for 'foil' here is that if you scrunch it and it stays in a ball, it's foil and it can go in. We've never been able to recycle the other kind.

walkers crisp packets used to be recyclable? Also chocolate wrappers. Wispa wrappers still are but other metallic ones aren't. You can tell what's in my food cupboard!!

I also get annoyed with "plastic tray is recyclable, but plastic seal isn't" and you spend ages trying to peel off all the plastic seal and end up just chucking the whole thing in the general rubbish. I also hate it when it says 'check local recycling', as if you have time to logon to your PC, find your local refuse centre, check their policy and run afer the dustbin van!

I'm on a roll

Uhplistraler: I always thought foil wasn't recyclable at all. My DCs were always told (I thought) to wrap their sarnies in foil as it can be reused, not sent to landfill?

Oh, dear I am confused!

You are not being remotely unreasonable! This is a huge bete noir of mine.

I have no fewer than 5 bins in my kitchen: paper, plastic, cans/ bottles/ jars, non-recyclables, food. Theres a lot of cleaning and sorting and faffing associated with chucking things in the bin these days, a lot of responsibility on consumers, but that's absolutely fine.

It pisses me off, though, that manufacturers still do what ever they sodding well like as regards packaging. For example, apples in polystyrene trays which are then enveloped in plastic.

I have stopped buying my Boots No.7 face cream which was in a plastic tube... then a plastic holding tray... then a cardboard box. Why the fuckity fuck? There should be taxes on packing, then eco friendly alternatives would become more populer; including, hopefully, just using less packaging to begin with!

I was in a cafe in Birmingham a couple of years ago and had a drink in something that declared that it was "Not a Plastic Cup" . It looked like plastic, but was made of biodegradable cellulose. Why is this not more common?

The biggest cringe for me though has to be tetrapak cartoons... unrecyclable and ubiquitous. Should be banned!