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AIBU?

Share your dilemmas and get honest opinions from other Mumsnetters.

Original poster

DH and recycling

29 replies

Karou · 07/09/2015 19:15

I hope I am being unreasonable because I'm not going to manage to change him.

He recycles everything - strips the metal off wine bottles so that it is correctly sorted and also steams labels off jam jars. This however is not the problem.

I am also an avid recycler however I do read the labels - so if a bag or plastic wrapper says 'not currently recyclable' I bin it. DH insists that 'they should bloody well work out how to recycle it' and pops it in with the plastics Hmm. He recycles used tin foil, cling film, he even insists on reusing his tea bags two or three times. Nothing gets to the black bin, he has been known to fish stuff out of the bin that I have surreptitiously put in there.

If I am being unreasonable I shall try to stop cringing and just get over myself.

OP posts:
firefly78 · 07/09/2015 19:16

oh dear god that is excessive. YANBU

Owllady · 07/09/2015 19:18

It depends on your local district council. If you are on a bag scheme they would ruin/waste a whole sack if something wasn't supposed to be in there
But I agree with you, plastic wrapping can be recycled but if your council can't do it, it gives them more hassle and petrol to get rid, so I'm not sure why he's doing it.

Our council give us a list, have you got one? You can generally get it off the gov website

Original poster
Karou · 07/09/2015 19:22

He does it because he is ridiculously stubborn and he believes it is right
Plasticky yogurt tops get licked and recycled and I have to fish them out. Then he bloody well does it again Angry

OP posts:
MrsTerryPratchett · 07/09/2015 19:22

There are plenty of reusable wraps and coverings so just stop using cling film and/or foil. That way you 'win' at recycling and it stops the nonsense. abeego.com/

wasonthelist · 07/09/2015 19:27

My ex DP used to do this - even to the extent of maintaining that used kitchen roll should go in the recycling! She never read any of the labels - it was just "that is vaguely plastic, paperish, in it goes".

The rules are insane though, since we split up and she and DD moved, they are in a different LA scheme so they don't have any glass recycling collection so I bring their glass here and put it in mine (NB not a special trip for the purpose!).

Original poster
Karou · 07/09/2015 19:27

Actually it used to be because black bins were collected only once a fortnight but recycling every week. But we moved and now it's the other way round and we have to store recycling for a fortnight.

OP posts:
Original poster
Karou · 07/09/2015 19:29

Yy kitchen paper is also recycled I fish it out

OP posts:
Original poster
Karou · 07/09/2015 19:31

Very practical Mrs Terry Grin most stuff is stored in Tupperware but I do have a foil cooking habit that should be broken

OP posts:
SeamstressfromTreacleMineRoad · 07/09/2015 19:33

If he puts an item that is not recyclable into a bin and that bin is tipped into a lorry - he contaminates the entire lorry load, which then ALL has to go to landfill... Shock
From my local council's website: "Contaminated recycling loads have to be sent to landfill which costs the Council more than £100 per tonne to tip. This, in turn, is costing local tax payers money whilst also having a negative effect on the environment."
So point out to him that he is actually voiding not just your own, but other people's recycling efforts each time he puts something that can't be recycled into a bin - he's actually doing exactly the opposite to his stated aim. My council also states very clearly that there is no need to remove labels from bottles and jars.

Original poster
Karou · 07/09/2015 19:41

Ah, so you say that he is the one who is being unreasonable? Right this will cause some cognitive dissonance as I force tactfully state my argument

OP posts:
monkeywrench · 07/09/2015 19:59

he should move to Germany, he would fit in a treat here, they LOVE a bit of recycling...

Original poster
Karou · 07/09/2015 20:10

Sometimes I think he would be happiest in a camper van with a scruffy dog and a surf board, he is sixty ffs

OP posts:
Spartans · 07/09/2015 20:16

Pp is right. He is wasting his own and many other people's efforts and causing more to go to landfill.

Is he secretly anti recycling? Because I can't see why else he would be doing this

JeremySpokeInClassToday · 07/09/2015 20:34

I have a friend who will insist its ok to throw plastic toys into her plastic recycling when she has a clear out! McDonalds toys, old garden plastic toys - anything. Says her bin is too small and the tip always has such a huge queue !
Won't take no for an answer.

HackerFucker22 · 07/09/2015 20:39

I am quite an avid recycler (I rinse everything before it goes in the recycling bin) but if I doubt ie it has no concrete recycling instruction on it then it goes in normal bin.

It's a shame so much isn't recycled BUT I'd be loath to contaminate the whole recycling just to prove a point.

squicketysquack · 07/09/2015 20:46

Are you married to my DP? I want to tattoo YOU CANNOT BLOODY RECYCLE CRISP PACKETS on his arm or something. And like yours it seems to stem from a belief that we 'should' be able to recycle them. It's caused loads of arguments in this house. I go through the recycling bin taking back out all the non recyclable stuff. So annoying!!

specialsubject · 07/09/2015 21:28

tell him to read the council instructions on what can be recycled. They are usually in big letters and small words.

as mentioned, doing otherwise means the whole lot goes in landfill. How selfish.

WhereYouLeftIt · 07/09/2015 21:39

"DH insists that 'they should bloody well work out how to recycle it' and pops it in with the plastics"
So he happily contaminates the recycling so that it all has to go to landfill Angry through sheer bloodymindedness?

If he wants to recycle everything, then he needs to stop using stuff that can't be recycled. In your shoes, I would stop buying yoghurt, crisps, anything with 'not currently recycled' on its packaging and maybe have a secret stash for personal consumption. He can't possibly object to such dedication to the cause Grin.

TheExMotherInLaw · 07/09/2015 21:43

OP, are you my sister? BIL is just like that!
Also warn your DH that if one of the operatives spots something in the recycling that shouldn't be, as it is being emptied, then he may well slap a big warning sticker on the bin, to alert any future operative, then dh would look a right idiot.

Oysterbabe · 07/09/2015 22:18

My DH washes up the recycling more thoroughly than I wash dishes. The draining board is currently covered with it. Hmm

cdtaylornats · 07/09/2015 22:30

But you can recycle the outer packets of multi-pack crisps, you can put them in with the plastic bags that get returned to supermarkets.

I find it really doubtful one little bit of non-recyclable stuff contaminates a whole load. How would they know? Ours goes from the wheelie bin into a refuse lorry, two bins at a time and for one of the scaffies to spot something that shouldn't be in there it would have to be a corpse (and if its the 6 AM run probably the corpse of a horse).

WhereYouLeftIt · 07/09/2015 22:46

cdtaylornats recycling round here isn't in wheely bins but in big boxes and bags; the contents are hand-sorted into specific areas of the recycling lorry (glass, metal, paper, cardboard etc.) before the boxes/bags are returned to the house they came from. Our operatives would be absolutely sure of what they'd just handled and where it came from.

Original poster
Karou · 07/09/2015 22:55

Squick, you have my sympathy I want to tattoo not currently recyclable Onto DH's foreheadGrin.
Cdtay, DH argues the same point - how do they spot the dodgy plastic? They refused bubble wrap the other week so DH tried to disguise it, they still refused itGrin.
I used to have to stand on the curb and watch them to make sure they took my garden waste as they kept refusing it as it looked like soil - it was mouldy grass cuttings that had gone mouldy because they wouldn't take it Hmm.

OP posts:
AliMonkey · 07/09/2015 23:06

We are lucky to have a council who accepts plastic of any sort in the plastic recycling, including cling film etc. I find that lots of them say "not currently recyclable" even when they are here. So you can't rely on that for your argument. But agree completely that HIBU if he puts in things your council won't take.

Fatmomma99 · 08/09/2015 00:25

your recycle-ables will be being sent to your local MRF. They will have a list of what they do and don't take.

Your local council will have a deal on what they can deliver. Depending on where you live they may be being paid for what they deliver, or will be paying less on the same compared to what your neighbour turns up with at the same site with the car boot full.

If there are too many things 'rejected' on what they deliver, their deal with the MRF is at risk.

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