To not want 7 wheelie bins

[Viviennemary]

Article in DM saying some councils are going to expect people to have as many as 7 bins. Already got three which is just about manageable. But the DM can always be relied on to give folk something to froth about. Especially if they have nothing better to do. And a lot of car parks and supermarkets have removed their recycling bins which is a pain.

I wouldn’t believe anything the DM says.

We have 4 plus a small food bin. I don’t think a lot of people have room though

Stop reading the DM then

Surely at this point going over to larger specific bins in shared locations would be more efficient. I certainly was used to this growing up on an island (not uk)

Stop reading the DM. It is racist, sexist and constantly shit stirring.

You only need to worry about what your local council is doing.

Find something healthier to read.

What will happen is what currently happens. Home owners who live near flats or businesses will just dump their waste in the large communal bins and think nothing of it.

I always think these schemes are dreamt up by people with big kitchens and gardens. I store my 2 existing wheelie bins out on the street as I have no front yard or even pavement; recycling box lives in the back yard as does the bigger "outside" food bin. I have a double main bin for waste and soft plastics, a recycling bin plus food waste on the windowsill all in the kitchen.

My parents in a different area have a system of about 6 different soft bags for recycling and they are lined up along a corridor getting in the way. I don't have an equivalent corridor or other space so couldn't actually do all this super-recycling .

My house isn't tiny but it's not equipped for the sort of recycling system that only works if you have a big front garden and a utility room to store millions of bins.

Oh yes we are swapping to seven bins/bags in my area.

One for glass
One for cardboard
One for metals and plastics
One for paper
One for food waste
One for garden waste
One for batteries

All in different colours so you have got to get it right.

And the rules for each bin/bag are mind-boggling.

I would welcome that as our council has just moved to fortnightly collection

I don't even have a recycling bin or bag. I live in a flat on a main London road above a shop. Everything goes in a bin bag and I take it out a a few times a week to the collection point (rubbish is collected everyday).

But where are they expecting these bags to go while you fill them up waiting for collection day!? Thinking about some friends' homes where they just don't have room for all these bags cluttering about.

Councils should be making it easier for people to recycle, not harder. If other councils can manage with 1 waste, 1 recycling, and 1 food waste, why can't others?

Consumer confusion is one of the biggest blockers to people recycling right.

I have 7 and couldn't cope without them.
2 x black for general waste.
2 x green for recycling
1 x brown for garden waste
And yes I recycle everything possible

It's not going to be seven wheelie bins though is it. They won't all be the same size. We have three bins now, but one's only the size of a small pedal bin.

Not 7 WHEELIE BINS but my friend in Wales has small boxes for different types of recycling, food waste, general rubbish, nappies, etc.
So inside one bin for general rubbish, one for recycling which she sorts outside, food caddy

It's great

Well although I agree it's a nuisance, we are at some point all goping to have to contribute to solving the issue of all the rubbish we create as a society and how we dispose of it. We can't keep just piling it up, or shipping it off to other countries.

We are only allowed two wheelie bins on a two weekly collection. You can apply for an extra if you have children in nappies or other health related waste.

We have

Black box - paper
Green box - glass and plastic
Food waste box
Batteries can be left out in a small bag
Brown bin for garden waste of you want to pay for it

If everyone in my terraced street had seven wheelie bins no one would be able to walk on the pavement. We don't have drives / big front gardens.

we have changed the other way so from sep recycling to one blue bin, one grey waste, food caddy and green bin (x however many you pay for)

We have 4 bins
Garden
Rubbish
Metal Plastic and paper (all in one)
Glass

O presume food will be added at some point
Electrical goes in a bag on recycling day
Just leaves fabrics really.

As standard for the Daily Mail it goes from “every household in the uk will have 7 bins” to, “may have up to 7”, and then “unless councils can demonstrate that there will be no benefit, it’s impractical etc
(It also quietly mentions that food waste should be collected at least weekly under 2021 legislation - why aren’t they shouting that as a headline as they complain about the two week cycle?)

https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-11906599/amp/Mad-new-recycling-plans-force-UK-household-SEVEN-different-bins.html

Depending on local arrangements homes may currently have:

1. General waste wheelie
2. Mixed recycling wheelie
3. Glass recycling box/bag
4. Garden waste (optional extra with a charge)

In their example picture of 7 these become:

1. General waste wheelie splits into: 1a Food 1b Metal & household
2. Mixed recycling wheelie 2a Dry recycling 2b Plastic bottles 2c Mixed recycling
3. Glass recycling box/bag
4. Garden waste

So that’s an extra one for ‘food waste’ (enabling it to be collected every week, and a seperation from other general waste)

and two extra recycling ones to separate ‘dry recycling’ and ‘plastic bottles’
……………
Practicality and cost are the main factors that effect how much recycling really gets recycled
All waste processors (council or private) get charged by government a ‘fine’ for any recyclables that end up in land fill, and/or charges for anything in landfill
This means that a council recycles whatever they can practically recycle, and then pay to send other waste to other processors unless the ‘fines’ are cheaper
……..

When your waste is taken it gets processed rather than just dumped (even though it’s probably dumped into a heap, that heap gets processed somehow)
It could be sorted by equipment and/or people, and if households comply with different waste bins properly then the sorting is easier

Councils will balance off the expense of additional bins and additional trips, or compartmentalised lorries etc vs the sorting

……

Note that if you hire a skip then other than the rules they set, such as no glass in standard skips. The skip company then processes your skip, separating metal, wood, plastics etc
The same happens in council waste depots (or they contract it to commercial depots)
The practicality remains the same - how much effort is it worth at the point of processing vs how much does it cost to dispose of each sorted or unsorted batch

I think manufacturers and vendors need to start bearing some of the cost and responsibility for recycling their packaging and products

I honestly think if 7 bins are forced on me that everything is just going to end up in bags in the general waste bin. I have a chronic health condition which makes life very difficult, and while I currently separate waste across my 3 existing bins, I'm rarely able to walk far enough to be able to wheel just one up my drive.

They do

Manufacturers pay fees/taxes on the different commodities they produce and also run WEE schemes etc

Retailers are charged for a contribution to waste in their business rates etc depending on their type of business - that’s separate to the commercial waste charges for their bins

https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-politics-64995473

This was also covered by BBC recently. Where to put all the containers/bins was my first thought when reading it

I feel like if anything we’ve gone to less bins? When recycling first became a “thing” maybe 20-25 years a go I remember my parents having a paper bin for newspapers and other paper / thin cardboard waste and then at some point another bin got added for something else - maybe glass bottles? Or tins?

Nowadays we have one recycling bin and everything recyclable goes into it. It’s their job to sort. Black bins are emptied fortnightly and have been for as long as I can remember.