To think there should be less landfill collections

[InkedGreen]

I push out my landfill bin every couple of months.

There's recycling every week and I either recycle or compost most things so very little goes to landfill.

Aibu to think they should collect less? I have single people on my road who's waste bin is always overflowing.

Nothing dirty ever goes in this bin and the council do a separate scheme for nappies so that won't be affected.

Just seems a bit dated to send so much to landfill. Other European countries allow you voucher for 10 collections a year. That seems much better and a way to reduce council costs to spend on other things like adult care and libraries.

I put food waste and cat litter in my general (landfill) bin. We have no space to compost and no separate food waste collection so no other option. We also have no glass collection, which is a real pain.

Food waste and garden waste are collected together here. All gets mulched and composted.

The biggest problem that we have is the very limited range of plastic that the council will take, just plastic drinks bottles, no yogurt pots, trays, packaging of any type. It’s too expensive to export the other types and there are no recycling facilities for them on the Northwest.

Some councils burn waste for fuel rather than send to landfill

Confusedasnormal I think we live roughly in the same area as we have exactly the same issue.

The vast, vast majority of my rubbish is comprised of plastic packaging and I can't really afford to get my food from eco friendly shops so it's incredibly irritating.

Also, I'd like to point out that not everyone has a car to take stuff to the tip when there's extra rubbish so the bins shouldn't be tiny.

@Coralfish can cat litter go in compost? I didn't think it could. We'd probably only put out a bag or two a month if it wasn't for the cat litter.

Cat litter cant be composted it doesnt get hot enough to kill everything off

We have a bin full of cat litter and food waste cant recycle black plastic so that goes in too clothing goes to the clothing bank which many people find disgraceful but I cant be bothered with charity shops as my area has an excess and they pick through it in the shop so it just gets put in the big banks at the tip along with my garden waste electronics that dont work get recycled here too but a lot gets black binned unfortunately they just dont encourage recycling

@LightsInOtherPeoplesHouses I think the jury is out! The actual litter (if compostable like wood pellets) almost certainly can, but the temperature is not normally high enough to kill nasties in the faeces, so they should be left out of the garden bin. Maybe if you 'hot compost' it is okay though. Our council says not to put it in food waste, but where I lived before you could. Maybe it could go in the garden waste, but our council don't mention it specifically.

Since our local authority gave us much smaller bins and changed to fortnightly rather than weekly collections fly tipping has increased massively.

We recycle tin, plastic, cardboard, paper and glass. We also have a food recycling caddy. We still end up with a full to the top bin every fortnight. Was even worse when we had 2 dc in nappies, we had to do regular trips to the refuse/recycling centre which is a ball ache as no mixed waste allowed.

Once a month is plenty.

So “skyfill” rather than “landfill”?

Don’t you buy anything? I recycle and my council take pretty much everything but not all packaging can be recycled (and I don’t compost)

DifficultPifcult no, the problem is people having too many children.

I can't believe you blame the council for cutting bin collections rather than your own decision to have that many DC.

@HappyParent2000 it might be plenty for you but clearly it isn't for all of us!

The thought of san pro and pet waste hanging around in my garden bin for a month is gross.

Boggles of course I'm not putting rotting food in general waste. Who on earth would send that to landfill?

Umm, there's no need to sound so holier than thou! In our area, we have general waste and 3 types of recycling. We don't have the option for separate garden waste or food waste, and we don't have the space to compost. So, sorry we don't meet your standards, but it does happen!

I put food in landfill. If you don’t compost what else would you do?

Fly tipping is a really big problem, partly because tips are open for such short times, especially in winter, and partly because of the restrictions on using them eg if you live in one county but want to use the one over the border in another county because it's closer, they stop you. And they stopped tradespeople using them. And then they wonder why people flytip. Well doh. Make it easy and people will do it properly. Make it difficult or impossible - and they'll find other ways.

I live in an area that doesn't send stuff to landfill, it gets incinerated, so am less concerned about recycling - although I do avoid buying certain things if they are in too much packaging.

I do think there needs to be a national strategy for this, it's stupid that the rules vary so much from council to council.

Our council has bins for food separate to garden compost. No food goes to landfill

I'm shocked that other councils aren't collecting basic recycling, not that every area isn't the same

Which is basically the same thing. You are shocked that not all councils do what yours does!

The thing about recycling is, even though it’s collected at your home, once at the recycling centre it could be taken to the landfills. Based on commodity prices, and the allowable % of recycled material in new.

I used to live in a Pay For Collections area (not UK). People would use the public bins, then they were fined and fly tipping became a terrible problem.

@Coralfish

Cat litter shouldn't be put into compost due to toxoplasmosis. It shouldn't be flushed for the same reason.

I have one green bin for general waste and a brown bin for recycling. No nappy scheme, no food waste scheme, just two bins.

I live in a European country and I have (gasp) four bins. Three are collected fortnightly - two are general waste, and one is garden/some food waste, (but not all food, very specific as to what can go in there) and you can't put tea bags in there any more. The fourth bin is card and paper, which is monthly. We have bags that we have to buy for plastic, metals and cartons, and a pink bag for 'soft' plastics.

We pay for the collection of the three bins by kg; the paper and card collection is free. We have paid for the collection of the other bags, by buying the bags in the first place.

There is a tip, and you get four free visits a year; otherwise you pay.

Ther two general waste bins that are collected fortnightly are always full as I have cats, so their litter goes in one bin, and we use the other for us.

Cat litter is an interesting one. Can’t put it on the compost, but the cats deliver it to the vegetable bed in a fresh state so not sure how that works, 😂

“Nanny0gg

Our council has bins for food separate to garden compost. No food goes to landfill”

Yes some councils do collect food waste in recycling/ garden waste. Some don’t though, mine doesn’t. So I put it in the black bin