To be annoyed that my dad barely recycles?

[Danceintherain2018]

He's in his 60s so not old by any means but he refuses to recycle anything apart from cardboard and newspaper and says it's a generation thing.
I know plenty of people in their 60s who recycle but he flat out refuses to go beyond newspaper and cardboard. It's not even that he doesn't know what he can recycle, he just doesn't care. He uses a lot of cans and bottles which could all be recycled.

Anytime I am round I take what I can home with me but it drives me nuts!

AIBU? How can I make him recycle more? He's having to change his kitchen bin regularly as it gets full with all the stuff he could by recycling.

It's always the little things that grate in the middle of the night isn't it!

Where is it all going now though?

Is it an issue worth damaging your relationship with your father over ?

Yanbu. I can't bear people who are too lazy to recycle.

It has nothing to do with age. I know people in their 20's who don't recycle

Am I the only one thinking you should leave him alone and stop schooling him?
He does newspapers and cardboard. He’s an autonomous adult and isn’t breaking any laws. Let him make fucking choices in his own home, even if you don’t agree with them. Suggesting once or twice is fine, beyond that, it’s sanctiminious and domineering.

I used to have a great council they took everything, including glass, tetrapaks and film (but not expanded polystyrene or crisp packets) in the recycling. They took all garden and food waste including cooked foods as well. I basically sent nothing to landfill. I loved it. They required a quick rinse not a thorough scrub. My new council doesn’t do this.

When you say where do you go, I’m not sure what you mean?

It goes to a recycling centre where it’s sorted by type.

The glass is either sorted by colour and then sent off elsewhere to be melted down to make coloured items of lower quality glass.

Plastic is sorted by type, sent off and then melted down into chips. These chips can be used to make non-clear other plastic types.

Paper and cardboard is pulled and used to make other papers.

Metal is again melted down, and then sold back to manufacturers?

Such a shame, it’s down to his generation that the planet is in the trouble it is.

Not sure what you can do. It’s a behaviour. The he reward for recycling (saving the earth) and the repercussions for nor doing it (damaging the environment) aren’t immediate, it can be hard for some people to make the association of their habits and the consequences.

Why doesn’t he do it? What’s his ‘excuse’?

Is it he doesn’t have time? Or he doesn’t think it will make a difference? Do you have children (who would be his grandchildren) who can help him and talk through the benefits (its 2nd nature to many kids).

Personally I think it’s selfish. I wish we had a system like Germany where you bins are checked and you are fined if you rubbish isn’t in the right (recycling) bin.

Such a shame, it’s down to his generation that the planet is in the trouble it is.

Thats a bit of a sweeping statement. His generation didn't consume nearly as much as the younger generation does now. And it's the consumption that is the problem.

It's much, much better to use less and not recycle, than it is to use tonnes of packaging etc but recycle, which actually uses loads of energy.

Reduce, reuse and then recycle.

YABVU. Mind your own business. It's up to him what he does.

Do you try to control him in other ways?

I don’t recycle much either and I’m in my 30s. Some people just aren’t into it

It’s not a hobby. I’m ‘not into’ doing the washing up, but unless I want to eat off paper plates, I do it.

Is it an issue worth damaging your relationship with your father over ?

That’s a bit over-dramatic. It’s not like she’s threatening to go no contact

I know an avid recycler who goes on an on about it but has numerous children, drives everywhere etc so just because a person recycles doesn't mean they are better than those that don't.

Given that in 2 or 3 generations, we will be having wars over fresh water I think anyone who doesn't recycle is just disgusting.

It's not even about that glass jar or that plastic bottle, it's about changing the attit8de of the population to be less wasteful and to reuse everything they can. Then when our kids are grown, it's no longer a battle to make people realise the impact they have. Instead, it will just be the way things are done without any idiots who refuse to do it.

My DCs have worked in two different pubs and there was no recycling. All those bottles went straight in the general rubbish.
Some councils make it hard.

YABU. He doesn’t want to recycle and you have no right to make him.

I’m late twenties; I’ve never recycled and never intend to. That’s entirely my choice.

I’m late twenties; I’ve never recycled and never intend to. That’s entirely my choice.

Maybe, but it’s a choice that makes you a douche.

@WhatToDoAboutWailmerGoneRogue

Are you not at all concerned about the amount of plastic in the oceans? Fish that we eat now has plastic in it. And that's fine with you?

And you realise that all the stuff you refuse to recycle is made from finite resources? THEY WILL RUN OUT. But that's fine, cos you can't be added putting things into separate bins?

Think of how much your will use over your lifetime... And it's all going to waste. It won't decompose for a long long time. Your entire life's waste, which is reusable and valuable since resources will run out, is just going to sit in a landfill for a good few generations cos you don't WANT to. Why? It is not a personal choice... This is the only planet we have. This is it. Fresh water is running out. Resources are rubbing out. Do you want children? Grandchildren? What sort of world do you want them to live?

We can't just throw this planet out and make a new one with all new resources, which is your attitude towards every other product you use.

It's not even hard. Just put it in a bin beside the one you normally use.

There should be huge huge fines for people like you.

Do the in inefficiencies and costs right now, 80% or more of the recycling separated materials go in landfills with the non-recycled materials. The few exceptions are metal, and glass and the market swings back and forth on paper. Perhaps Dear Dad just knows this and feels its not worth the hassle since it all goes to the same place anyway.

YABU he's an adult so it's up to him.

Not everyone cares about recycling *

Sorry just trying out the bold function. Obviously doing something wrong

It's frustrating when people don't take a wee bit of effort to recycle whether they are into it or not. All the systems are in place to make it not too difficult to at least recycle most things.
My dh keeps putting used paper towels into the recycling. I'm fed up fishing them out. He puts in other things that aren't on the list but he thinks they should be saying that if it can't recycle someone will sort it out. He also keeps putting food in the general waste which is really annoying and smelly.
When our general waste got picked up there was alway a tinkling of glass bottles when they emptied the previous neighbours bin. They also didn't do the food recycling because it was a pain to empty. I tried not to judge but to me it was just more evidence of their selfish nature.
My mum in her 70s recycles everything. She doesn't drive so she has a bit of a track to the bottle bank. My MIL in her 80s does too.
Maybe your dad is being a rebel. Maybe he doesn't think it's worth the effort?
Sometimes I get sick of sorting everything playing recycling Jenga, having smelly food bins and waiting for dh or DS to take bins out/bottles to the bottle bank. (I can't take bins out just now because of mobility issues.) I get tempted just to chuck it all out and be done with it.

It’s not a hobby. I’m ‘not into’ doing the washing up, but unless I want to eat off paper plates, I do it.

Good for you. Would you like a sticker?

It’s not mandatory to recycle.

I recycle and will buy recycled things because it's what you're meant to do. From an economical/resources perspective I think it's the right thing to do.

From an environmental perspective I don't believe it will make much difference in the long run.

The planet can and will look after itself in some form or another - let's be honest, it's not about saving the planet it's about saving the human race. A lot of what we've done is irreversible through ignorance and naivety, not malice or arrogance. And I'm not sure we deserve to be saved at times...

@Gatehouse77

It's not just the human race that rely on freshwater and food which isn't saturated in plastic.
Animals are being poisoned. There are dead zones in the oceans. The planet will keep spinning, but the quality of life for plants and animals, not just humans, is going to awful. And it's our fault.

I can't believe the ignorance and selfishness of some posters on here. It's disgusting. Can only hope natural selection gets rid of them since they aren't of much use.