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!

What legitimate argument rocinante . All I have seen is your self righteousness diatribte that people who don't agree with you should be culled. Which I have reported btw. But feel free to stay awake tonight incanascent with rage over my tin cans going in the bin.

Weird one this, isn’t it?

I can’t believe people actually dislike others over their attitude towards recycling

There is also a problem with drivers chucking rubbish out of cars on motorways and bottles of urine as they cannot be bothered to do a toilet stop. Just don't understand

Because this is the easiest thing to do. And you just know that it someone is too lazy to put something in a different bin, then they are certainly too lazy to care about reducing their consumption and waste altogether, won't care about conserving resources or any of it. If they can't get the easiest thing right, then they aren't even going to bother with the rest of it.

The most controversial argument for preventing climate change etc is to reduce population, and if people are refusing to even try and reduce their waste then the planet would be much much better off without them.

Some of these arguments are ridiculous, without merit and extremist which is why people get their backs up and stop listening and/or go the other way. Facts demonstrate that the current recycling model is broken so to perpetuate it just because it makes me look good" is absurd. We need to find another way but sanctimony is irrelevant.

I think it's hard to avoid doing anything which has an environmental impact. People who don't recycle do annoy me especially as it's so easy. That said our council take a wide range of stuff imcluding plastic fruit and veg trays, butter/marg tubs and other plastic food packaging. Where my parents live their council don't which amazes me surely if some areas can why can't others.
My parents aren't good at reducing waste all their rubbish they put in plastic bags then into the bin-those plastic fruit and veg bags need banning as they take loads each time they go shopping. Drives me mad the amount of waste-food gets chucked when it's still ok, cling film on everything. I despair when it's so unnecessary.
I think we need to address the amount of waste so less packaging is a good start. Morrisons have stopped putting plastic wrapping on cucumbers. It's a start but there's still a lot more to be done.

Reduce re-use recycle. Its easy

I’ve never recycled. Partly because it all confuses me, partly because I don’t have the space for another bin in my tiny kitchen, I live in a flat so they only collect general rubbosh once a week, no recycling. I guess I’m also lazy as the idea of washing my rubbish is off putting.

Being honest I think I’m uneducated over it all. I’ve read all the posts, I know the reasons but I still feel it’s not all true, as in, my whole life recycling was never a big deal, now all of a sudden it’s a huge thing that everyone must do or the world will end. I feel it’s being over exaggerated massively. Bit again, happy to admit I’m being ignorant and proved otherwise. I think I just feel it’s a far away problem that will never actually effect anyone.

Yes the landfill is far away enough from your house for you not to worry about it

1. I wonder where the recyclables go now that China will not accept them anymore.
2. Reduce reuse etc. Well the manufacturers should reduce packaging and plastic also. It is always a guilt trip for the user, having paid for the product too!
3. I said earlier in the thread that I will not recycle anything that needs washing out at the moment. We are on a water restriction overnight now and a hosepipe ban, I think preservation of water wins now for me.

Worse are people who recycle everything but then go on long haul flights which cancel out any recycling they’ve done.
Yeah you’re right, the worst people are the people who spend most of their lives doing something positive but don’t hold themselves to a standard of absolute perfection all of the time.

1. I wonder where the recyclables go now that China will not accept them anymore
Vietnam, Malaysia & Indonesia are trying to take up the slack and all of them are ranked highest on the pollution of the oceans offenders
your recycling goes into the oceans obviously not all but its worse than proper land fill right now.

My parents are in their 70s and we used to take things to the bottle and paper banks before there was any other way to recycle.
And lots of people in their 20s don't know how to wipe up with a reusable cloth.
So no, it's not generational.

I recycle, but in the overall scheme of things, me recycling is making fuck all difference.

People put emphasis on it because it's easy to do and it makes them feel good. I'm not knocking that, it has a value, but don't over estimate its importance.

However I wouldn't let it affect my relationship with a parent. Your DF not recycling makes fuck all difference. It's not a hill to die on.

Once again, I have no idea where our recyclables go now. Anyone know if there are any agreements for this? Awful really that we have to export it. Why no recyclable plants in UK anyone?

I reckon it's all a con, and recyclables go to landfill or incinerators now.

If anyone can rebut that, fine. And thank you.

Why no recyclable plants in UK anyone?

Its currently cheaper, easier and more environmentally friendly to put it into a responsible (lined) landfill than to recycle

If you are correct @THEsonofaBITCH, well all hail us nodding donkeys frantically trying to save the planet.

Total con IMV. Anyway the onus should be on manufacturers and suppliers.

The most useful item in my kitchen is a fkn scissors to actually access some products through the layers of packaging!

Oh and don't forget that post Brexit, the UK will be able to assert its own environmental rules. Good luck with that one now!

The onus is on us all but the current models are broken and only supported by Political Correctness run amok. We need to find ways to achieve the packaging requirements with less waste but that is through innovation not recycling - at least for now. Things can change, I just hate the blind obeisance to political correctness in the face of the facts and condemnation of others for no good purpose.

I know it makes me a terrible person, but I don't recycle.
My council give us 4 different coloured bags (one for plastic, one for metal, one for paper and one for cardboard) plus a plastic container for glass.
I live on top of a hill, and it's ridiculously windy most of the year apart from maybe 3 months in summer. Whenever I leave my bags out on a Monday morning, they're gone by the time I come back Monday evening.
The council will only supply us with one set of bags per year - any others must be paid for.

I have nowhere to store recycling in my house at all, and I can't carry it all to the nearest recycling centre every day... Therefore, until my local council actually review their ridiculous recycling bags etc, I won't be recycling.

Must check out where uber recycling countries like Germany send their stuff to.

Note to self.

Those of you who don't recycle - where the fuck do you fit your rubbish?
Our collections are fortnightly and I have to stand the biggest child in the bin by the last weekend to squash the recycling down
We give everything a rinse then have a tub in the kitchen for it, once it's full every day or so it gets taken outside to the wheely bin.
If it's easy as that for other people, bit shit not to bother.
If everyone in the world felt their efforts at something wouldn't make a difference and didn't act, nothing would ever get done surely..

Recycling isn't all that. Look at all the stuff we were happily 'recycling' by putting in our recycling bins, only to find that it had all actually been shipped to the other side of the world to be thrown in the sea?

As others have said, recycling should only come after reducing and reusing.

Maybe your dad doesn't have much to recycle. Look at plastic bottles and ready meals. Some people hardly buy any at all, but others buy bottled drinks daily and lots of ready meals.

The people who have huge mounds of plastic to recycle are hardly in a position to look down on those who buy a lot fewer plastic bottles and trays but don't recycle them.

Our city has no landfill. All non recyclable waste is incinerated and the plant produces power and has a load of plants growing on the outside to offset the carbon dioxide produced.

A lot of plastic can't be recycled anyway and that which does apparently needs cleaning. We have a dishwasher that goes on full most days so we have no washing up water and rarely have space in the dishwasher, so consequently, I think it is slightly ridiculous to use purified tap water to wash rubbish.

People may think they are doing the right thing by recycling, but it's rarely as simple as that, especially with plastic.

Rinsing recyclable pots and plastic stuff uses a lot of water.

I refuse to do it now since we are on a water control measure now.

It is a balancing act.

If everyone in the world felt their efforts at something wouldn't make a difference and didn't act, nothing would ever get done surely
But it currently is worse than not recycling. Two sets of bins, two sets of polluting trucks picking up rubbish that mostly goes to the same place and that which gets exported generally is used or lost in an most environmentally unfriendly way.
good-night and good-bye