People who can't understand recycling

[WeBuiltThisBuffetOnSausageRoll]

Now I know that plenty of people simply don't 'do' recycling - whether through lack of adequate recycling facilities, disability, laziness, being of an older generation and never having got into the habit, not seeing the need, doubt that the stuff does actually get recycled rather than just being sent straight to landfill etc. etc. That's their personal circumstances and/or choice and these aren't the people I'm talking about.

Today is the day before recycling bin collection day. During the short walk to and from school, every Wednesday, I see a number of green bins that contain what nobody could mistakenly believe could be recycled as part of the doorstep collection service.

Leaving aside the people who put in things which we're always told not to, but which might seem ambiguous, like greasy takeaway cartons or tied-up black bags (which presumably contain tins, bottles, paper etc but could in fact contain any old thing), I always see at least two or three recycling bins with random tip-fodder in them - an old hoover, trainers, old ride-on toys/bikes, broken umbrellas etc.

Before anybody accuses me of appointing myself as the local bin police and deliberately going snooping, I have plenty of better things to do than go opening the lids and having a thorough rummage through strangers' wheelie bins. The contents are always plain for any passer-by to see as the lids never close properly - probably because they're not designed to have a whole broken garden chair shoved in them.

I could understand if people were being devious and selfish by hiding excess general rubbish underneath the legitimate recycling that wouldn't be noticed by a person as the bins are upturned and emptied automatically; but it's clear as day to anybody that it's a recycling bin full of non-recyclable stuff. The bin men (understandably) don't take them, so they often just sit there for days on end, sometimes to be taken in and then put out again two weeks later ready for the next collection.

Why do people do this? Are they really unable to grasp what a recycling bin is for? Even if they're being antisocial and couldn't care less anyway, it will still end up being their problem again when their bin never gets emptied. It's not the most pressing thing on my mind, but it never ceases to baffle me as to why they do it. Is this just in our neither-posh-nor-rough area? Any ideas?!

To be honest, the British recycling system is utterly confusing. Given the amount of stuff you can put into the single recycling bin avaibale (or not - depending on your council), I'm not surprised people have given up trying to get their heads around it all.

I have lived in a number of councils and have found:
-one that only recycles paper - nothing else
-one accepting pretty much any plastic
-one where the official advice is to check on the council website on which numbers are recycled (honestly - who actually checks?)
-one accepting glass, plastics, paper, cardboard, metals etc.

It's down to luck and guesswork what actually gets recycled and given the inefficiency of the system I'm not surprised many cannot be bothered. From what can go into our recycling I'd take a strong guess that it'll all be manually sorted again anyway as only ferromagnetic metals should be able to be automatically sorted.

Where I come from, recycling is given far higher status. You have separate bins for different colours of glass, different types of plastic (a simple PET vs other plastics system), one bin for metal cans and one for paper and cardboard. Refuse collections refuse to accept mixed rubbish and fine where necessary (unlike in my current council, where anything goes, by the look of it), so people comply.

And that's just taking into account clean recycling. Another thing people don't get forced to do where I live now, so chances are, most of my current recycling does end up in landfill after collection.

I moved from Germany back to the UK. Happily filled my recycling bin as I had done in Germany, and then a leaflet came through the door showing what had to be recycled. I had to empty mine out and throw 2 black bin bags off stuff in the rubbish bin.

I did read on here someone saying they didn’t recycle because her husband “ didn’t believe in it”...

My council expects me to wash tin foil and the like ….. nah, they get it dirty. I'm certainly not increasing my water bill and gas bill by faffing with dirty jars, pots, cartons and tin foil.

People here are pretty ignorant and lazy when it comes to recycling.

I recently moved to UK, I don't understand our local recycling. How come plastic, glass and tins all go to same bin? Anyways, I try but some people put any crap to any bin

With mixed recycling containers they employ machines and people to separate them. My OH did that as a job about 2 decades ago.

This really annoys me. On the local council website you can easily check snd download a list of what goes in what bin.

older generation
Fucks sake, ageism is alive and well on MN.

Fuck off with your ageism.

I know a couple of people in my area who have received letters from the Council for putting the wrong things in the wrong bin. I am not sure what would happen if they did it again!

We have recently moved to a bin rather than crate policy, which is is much easier as I now have room for all the recycling stuff!

I can’t get too het up with it all as I suspect a large amount of recycled material is burnt either here or abroad and it’s probably a government exercise to keep us all busy

No, I won’t. I can’t believe all the shite spouted then blamed on age. We aren’t all turned into idiots on our 60th birthdays.

1.confusion over what goes where
2.chancing their hand hoping the stuff will get taken anyways
3.randoms throwing their shite in other people's bins(that and fly tipping is a real issue here)

1. It all goes to the same place/ I've always put it there Type people.

5.Ffs if i have to wash every single lid and pot and put up with a food bin during the summer(which gets collected once in two weeks) they can take a fucking hoover every 5 years. Type of people.

I don't recycle much(just the basics) and if a food bin type thing gets introduced I'm moving!!

I worry more about what China dumps on a regular basis.
I recycle, but I don’t think it touches the sides. I find it quite depressing.

We have a do and dont list on the top of our recycling bins

Ah yes “the old people”
Milk came in glass bottles that were washed and put out for the milkman.
Pop came in glass bottles that when you returned them you were given a refund.
Meat came from the butchers shop wrapped in white paper and put in a brown paper bag.
Fruit and vegetables came from the greengrocer and were put into paper bags.
Most packaging was paper.
Clothes were handed down from child to child, socks were darned.
I’m only 60 and I remember all of the above.
I recycle everything that my local council will take.
So you can fuck off with the ageist comments

i have mental health problems myself and I am referring to my friends and my own grandmother. Neither ageist nor ablist.

Prestonsflowers you are not old.

MsAdorabelle
I know I’m not old, couldn’t possibly be, not me.
God knows who that person is in the mirror
😂

Ooh you’ve obviously got the same sort of mirror as me.

Woah - so I'm deleted for making the point that you're being ageist? How dare you, MNHQ

I think people just don't read the info about what they can collect. However many times I tell DH they don't recycle plastic bags, he still puts them in. I just can't understand that people don't even try. TV programme the other night they dug up a 30 yr old landfill. Not even the newspapers had broken down. I find it unbelievable how unconcerned a lot of people are about the amount of waste we are putting in landfill.

People DO know what cannot be put in their recycling bin. At least they do round here cos the binmen put a sticker on every one they dont take that has pictures showing clearly what must not go in.

They just can't be arsed. Sad but true. People can be lazy cunts, and very often are

I would LOVE to have Harry Potter magical powers so I could shift the whole pile of shite into bed with them while they were asleep.
Same with fly tippers. Cunts.