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AIBU?

Share your dilemmas and get honest opinions from other Mumsnetters.

Original poster

To be so upset and surprised someone swapped their full bin with our empty one!!

167 replies

Sailormooncloudylemonade · 03/02/2022 22:27

I’ve lived in flats all my life until I moved to our house less than 2 months ago.

The bin collection situation was all new to us and we spent 90£ on new bins as previous owners didn’t leave their bins behind.

To prevent my brand new bins from smelling I put a liner on them and sprinkled with a nice smelling powder I bought online.

We leave the bins at the front usually as we are not used to open the 2 side gates that give access to the garden and find very tricky to use them.

The collection was yesterday and just minutes ago I headed to my food bin to put my compostable bag with food waste on it to find that bin completely FULL UP without a liner or compostable bags or anything. Just food waste directly on the bin 🤢

I am so upset…

Is this a thing or I’m just unlucky?
I see so many neighbours leaving their bins outside I thought it was ok?

What should I do to the loose food waste? Do I have to put it in compostable bags myself or will they collect it like that?

I am reading the council’s website but it’s not clear and there is no number to call. The only email I found about bins is to order new ones so not sure who to contact and what to do to someone else’s rubbish!

It might sound silly but I’m so sad my clean new bin has been swapped by an old stinky one that I now have to sort out and deep clean. I don’t even have space to put my own food waste for the rest of the week 😭

Any advice will be very helpful

OP posts:
Campervangirl · 04/02/2022 06:43

Don't be a pushover, get a torch and walk along the road and find your bin, if you're neighbours have lived there a while their bins will be old / dirty.
Look for your clean bin with the liner (they won't have taken it out if it's got rubbish in) & take your bin back.
Set your stall out.
Then paint your house number on it

HandlebarLadyTash · 04/02/2022 06:44

I have painted the number under the lid & on the bottom as well as the sides. I'm territorial over my bin.

cookiemonster2468 · 04/02/2022 06:47

@SpacePotato

When the bins are next emptied, go straight out and grab the clean one.
So when you have a problem you just pass on the problem to someone else? Hmm
Xyzzzzz · 04/02/2022 07:00

[quote Phoenix76]@Haffiana bin cleansers do indeed exist, around here they follow the bin men and clean the bins if you’re subscribed (we’re not sadly), they do a great job from what I’ve witnessed. One day, on my bucket list, I’ll be subscribed to bin cleaning 😆[/quote]
Same here my neighbour has hers cleaned. I always look with envy

Shortpoet · 04/02/2022 07:40

I’d put on some rubber gloves and go through it to look for an envelope with an address.

muddyford · 04/02/2022 08:24

One of our neighbours watched in horror as her whole wheelie bin disappeared into the maw of the crushed on the bin lorry. The council gave her a new one.

NewModelArmyMayhem18 · 04/02/2022 08:26

I’d put on some rubber gloves and go through it to look for an envelope with an address. Unlikely in a food waste bin though!

Original poster
Sailormooncloudylemonade · 04/02/2022 08:32

@TopsieGreenwood

I didn't realise there were areas where you had to buy all your own bins rather than get wheelies/food waste bin from the council. Ours introduced wheelies as it was better for the bin men not having to lift them.
They are council ones but I had to pay for them 😬
OP posts:
Mumofboys1 · 04/02/2022 08:33

I always remember when our bin went missing, we checked our ring. The CF from across the road had come to take their bin in, seen theirs was not there so promptly came over and took ours! What was funnier though was another member of the house had already brought their bin up and we could see it from the road! So had to go over and be like I want my bin back. Numbers are now painted on!

Hoppinggreen · 04/02/2022 08:36

@Iwonderifiwonderwhy

Bin cleaners?! Never heard of this, having lived in 5 different UK towns plus London.

I am in awe of a town so clean it has bin cleaners.

We have bin cleaners They come with a van and a pressure washer once a month, costs a few quid. There was a big drama a few years ago when an ex employee stole some stationery and went round signing people up by getting them to pay cash upfront and then the bin wash owner was getting calls from irate people wondering why their bins weren’t being cleaned. Next door were interviewed by the a Police!
Tilltheend99 · 04/02/2022 08:37

Whoever stole your bin is a cf. But equally, I dislike how the majority of people round where I live just leave their bins blocking the street all day every day. No one wants to be manoeuvring their pram or wheelchair around someone’s stinky bin and end up in the road.

It used to be considered rude to not bring the bins in (maybe 20yrs ago now)

Hankunamatata · 04/02/2022 08:40

We spray painted huge numbers on ours

Useranon1 · 04/02/2022 08:41

OP your bin is not going to be far away - noone has trawled the streets looking for it, it'll be a direct neighbour.

If they've just been emptied, go and look for it. You'll smell your powder still plus it will be the only clean one!

NotQuiteHere · 04/02/2022 08:41

Bin cleaners, yes, the people making absolutely disproportionate noise heard half a mile away for a single household across the road.

BoredZelda · 04/02/2022 08:45

Bin cleaners?! Never heard of this, having lived in 5 different UK towns plus London.

I’ve lived in 3 different houses in my not very fashionable town and have had a different bin cleaning service at each one.

I seem to be in the minority here who manages to clean their own bin.

For 4 quid a month, I’ll happily pay someone else who has the right equipment to do it after every clean. At 5ft tall, cleaning a wheels bin is a difficult task.

HangingOver · 04/02/2022 08:50

Here people are so annoying. When I lived in London my flat was above a shop. I put my food waste caddy out in the morning and by the time I got back from work it had been emptied but was filled with random shit the general public had put in it after coming out the shop when there was a public litter bit about 12 paces away. Once I found a whole raw chicken in it.

BoredZelda · 04/02/2022 08:51

Bin cleaners, yes, the people making absolutely disproportionate noise heard half a mile away for a single household across the road.

I’m in my office at the front of the house. The bin cleaner does his thing at the end of my drive. The only noise I hear is when he trundles the bin up the drive. The bin lorry makes way more noise than our bin cleaner.

WheresYourSnickers · 04/02/2022 08:52

When the bins are next emptied, go straight out and grab the clean one.
People say this but I genuinely don’t understand. You guys mean search my entire road and roads nearby for a clean not numbered bin and actually take it with me? I couldn’t do that
You might leave your bin neatly outside your house, but most likely the bin men will empty them and just push them back off the road so yours could end up anywhere on the street!
Go look for a clean nice smelling one in bin day and take it back.

BoredZelda · 04/02/2022 08:52

Once I found a whole raw chicken in it.

Whaaaat? That would feed a whole Mumsnet family of 6 for a fortnight!

Inspectorslack · 04/02/2022 08:56

Our wheely bins are £45 a time. I have 3.

Some dirty bugger took my clean one and left me a stinky one.

No bin cleaners here either.

Original poster
Sailormooncloudylemonade · 04/02/2022 09:06

@betwixtlives

How did you expect to be able to identify your bin once emptied?
My bins are the ones in front of my house?
OP posts:
Salome61 · 04/02/2022 09:06

Someone nicked my full green waste bin between exchange and completion, I was really worried they had flytipped the contents. I had to buy a new one for £39 as I had told my buyer I would be leaving it.

When I moved here I found a sticker company that prints both your number and address.

TotheletterofthelawTHELETTER · 04/02/2022 09:07

I’ve got a bin cleaner. £3 and it’s washed & disinfected.
Also definitely number your bin.

Original poster
Sailormooncloudylemonade · 04/02/2022 09:09

@AuntTwacky

Replacement bins should be free from the council and you should put your house number on it. Also doesn't need a liner
60£ per bin in my London borough 😬 But if you buy multiples at the same time they’ll give you a discount so 90£ total for me 🤭
OP posts:
MrKlaw · 04/02/2022 09:14

we have bin cleaners. They're fantastic. They have a van with water and compressor etc so don't need water from you. They even apparantly use super pure water - the kind that window cleaners use these days so no hard water spots in our bins :D