Neighbours using three bins for general waste and not recycling- AIBU?

[DoAllMeerkatsComeFromRussia]

I know it's not my business and I'm not going to say anything to them as I like keeping people onside but my new neighbours are filling three large bins for landfill every two weeks and not once has a recycling bin gone out. AIBU to expect everyone to do their "bit"?

They moved in just after Christmas- mum, dad and five kids- and on a personal level all is well- noise levels aren't excessive, we have smiles and hellos when we bump into each other on the doorstep etc. I just think when the council have provided three bins for sorting rubbish, you could at least make an effort to do it to some extent, however busy you were. I think what annoys me more is that they have managed to acquire a second landfill bin- maybe because they are a large family although the uncharitable side of me thinks they've told the council theirs was stolen! In addition, they are also pinching the bin of the lovely lady from next door to me on the other side, who uses the house as a holiday home (tourist area) and filling that up as well. So every fortnight, three bins are going off to landfill and yet not a bottle or tin can or cereal box is going in the recycling bin.

I know I probably need to chill out, I'm not exactly an eco-warrior myself but recycling is not exactly hard is it?

I never would have guessed the first sign of sentient AI would be the comments section from the Daily Mail

I do think people who don't recycle are lazy twats - it's really not that much effort.

Round here, if your general waste bin goes missing, you have to pay £25 for a new one. (The recycling ones are replaced free of charge.) If you put general waste in your recycling bins, they won't be emptied.

You don’t get extra bins because your a bigger family. So yes I imagine they may have ordered a new bin when they moved in and used the one too which would have been left behind.

Personally, I’d order them a recycling bin in their behalf you can request them online. Perhaps that would be the push they needed. If they full it with general waste it won’t be emptied by either recycling or waste crews (as it would be in the wrong bin).

If they have five kids there’s a good chance everyone in the house is mixing up bins. I know my kids often put the wrong thing in the wrong bin and I don’t always catch it til too late so whole bag of mixed stuff needs to go into general waste.

You had it right in the first line of your post!

They are lazy. Hopefully their rubbish will stop being emptied and they will be forced into it. It would annoy me too.

I’d also take your neighbour’s bin in while she’s away so they can’t use it

If things aren't washed out properly the whole lot is 'contaminated'. I know loads of people who don't rinse stuff at all, just put anything vaguely recyclable looking in the recyling bin, and hope for the best.

Guilty as charged

They have the correct bins already. They are all standing in a line outside their back door. And yes, I do know it isn't my business but I don't imagine I'm the first person to be irritated by something that has nothing to do with them

If things aren't washed out properly the whole lot is 'contaminated'

How can you contaminate glass and plastic? They're going to have to wash it before it gets re-used anyway to remove any residue and labels.

I understand that if the cardboard gets covered in ketchup it's no good to recycle, but I can't see what the problem with food containers containing food is (recycling-wise - I can see that it'd be unpleasant to manually sort and would attract vermin)

@Widowodiw we have an extra bin for being a big family (6 of us), which is our Council's policy. We also have an extra recycling bin

Good god your spy on your neighbours putting rubbish in the bin? How sad

Sheffield council clearly don't care about recycling with their monthly collections (which are seemingly skipped without replacement on bank holidays) and the provision of 2 card bins and 2 plastic/can/glass bins for a block of 8 flats compared to 9 larger waste bins emptied fortnightly.

I honestly don’t know how people can just not care about recycling- it’s just the most basic, basic way to look after the planet. Even though the rules are a bit sketchy in places and the government (s of the world) need to cop on with sorting it out properly, you can put your cardboard in the right bin FFS.

@PookieDo

My opposite neighbour does not recycle food. She never puts that bin out

In my area they give you equal sized landfill and recycling bins and it encourages me to use both because 1 on its own isn’t enough. How big is the recycling bin is it a box? As I think the size is offputting personally

Maybe she composts food waste instead? All my food waste goes into my garden, so I would never be putting that bin out either.