To think it's no wonder people fly tip?

[QuestionableMouse]

Recycling day today - I put my bin out, along with a big cardboard box from a delivery that I'd flattened. It was too big to go in the bin, and thick cardboard which I couldn't break down. It's been left by the road, along with a bag of recycling from a neighbour who is waiting for a new bin. There's more cardboard been left across the street - looks like a microwave box that's filled with cans, judging by the few around it.

It's so frustrating - all of it could have been taken and recycled but now there's plastic bottles, cans and cardboard scattered all over the street! Can't get a skip appointment for love nor money so what are people meant to do?

My cardboard is going to work with me tomorrow - the house has an open fire so it'll be burned which I hate but there's nowhere to store it and it won't fit in the bin, especially not with another two weeks' recycling!

No wonder people resort to fly tipping when it feels so impossible to get rid of stuff through the waste collection!

I wish my town was the same, but you have to book! The closest one when you can just turn up is 15 miles away and by all accounts, it's been so busy they've been turning people away 😔

That sounds great. If our bin lids aren’t completely closed we get one warning. If you do it again you get fined!
Our black bins are tiny and only get emptied once a fortnight, I’m at the tip every other weekend despite recycling everything I can.
After Christmas our cardboard bag was full so I folded up the rest of the cardboard and placed it inside one of the bigger boxes, they left it. They were talking about going to 3 weekly collections!

I've put our recycling bin out for the first time in six weeks and it's not full, I don't believe everyone's could be full. The cardboard/paper box I put out fortnightly and that's half full. There must be smaller households around?

Yes, we do where we live. You have to book a slot, with your car reg plate details. The barrier will only go up to let you in if it recognises your car on the system.

It's from around a fridge freezer and is thick heavy cardboard! It won't cut with scissors and believe me, I tried

Ah, okay, so here's a possible solution ...

Next time we have a downpour leave it in the garden to get really soggy (not just a bit damp) and then stamp on it to compress the thing to a size which will go in a bin

I've just gtot rid of a large box myself this way, and trust me it works

That's insane. Our tip is open seven days a week and we just turn up. We have to be able to show proof that we live in the LA, but that's all

Check with your council whether they let you put extra recycling bags out with the recycling bin. Ours will collect 2 additional bags of recycling as long as it's in their clear-ish recycling bags. We just request them from the council and they post them out! Used to collect them from a local office but it moved and is no longer as convenient to get to...

If they do, you can break the cardboard up (I've used a saw before), put in the bag(s) and they'll take it.

I agree councils make it too hard to get rid of stuff. My London council used to take most 'bulky' items by appointment, 3 free trips a year then you'd have to pay a little bit.

Now they have a really limited list of bulky things they will take, anything else has to go to the tip. We are in London, loads of people don't have cars, including me. If something is too heavy to carry and they won't take it away, what are you supposed to do? People don't have the money or inclination to get taxis, even supposing the item fits.

We tried to recycle cardboard boxes once, rather than put them next to our own full communal bin.

So off we went to the recycling ‘hub’. This bin was also too full so we left it next to it.

Charged £400 for that. No good deed goes unpunished.

Just a warning if you try to give a shit about recycling x

I can understand it. I have an asbesto garage roof which needs to be taken down. I can take it to be disposed of properly but it will cost me nearly £1000. This is if I take the roof down myself, double bag it and take it to the dump myself - no collection is available. The alternative is builder who would obviously charge a lot more.

I'm saving up to be able to do this but lots of people would just dump it. And lots of unscrupulous builders do dump stuff like this at a nearby woodland which has to be regularly cleaned up.

I feel your pain OP and agree that I'm sure a lot of people flytip because it's made really hard for you to be responsible (though obviously fly tipping is a disgrace and people have no excuse). We also have to book slots in advance at our local recycling centre, and even when you get there they look in all your bags to check they're happy with the contents so it takes sooooo long.

We missed our fortnightly rubbish collection once when we had a newborn and had a mountain of nappies, the council wouldn't let us take them to the tip so we had to leave a huge mountain of nappies outside our house for another two weeks to attract vermin. Disgusting. I'm sure the council would save money by improving access ro the recycling centre money they currently have to spend on intelligence gathering and collection of flytipped material. Sigh.

They only take your recycling once every 2 weeks? My cardboard bin is full every week! Then a sack of glass/plastic and a small bin of food waste. Wouldn't want all that hanging around for 2 weeks!

We tried to dispose of two small boxes of old used kitchen tiles a while ago and were told that it would cost us £25 per box to do so. The worker at the tip handed the boxes back with a wink and said that if it was him, he'd wrap them up and put them in the bottom of our general waste bin, which we did. We also ended up doing similar after digging out concrete when replacing a fence post (broke it up, disposed of it in general waste a little at a time). It seems utterly bizarre to charge people so much money to dispose of something correctly (surrounding local authorities don't charge). I used to wonder why there was so much fly tipped rubble in the area, but now I know.

Yeah - won't work where I live- bin men refuse to take the card if it's wet...

We have just been given these stupid canvas bags to recycle paper, plastic and cans. They are flimsy and don't close properly- ok if you have a garage to keep them dry but many people haven't got room for the 7 different containers we are now expected to use.

Once the canvas bags are emptied ( if they are emptied- very hit and miss) they blow about the roads and it's pot luck if they are next to your house when you come home. They are impossible for the bin men to empty without stuff blowing all over the road.

Our streets look like a bloody tip on bin day.

Oh and the green bin collection ( which we pay additional for on top of eye watering council taxes) are often not collected and even when you report a missed collection they rarely come again to empty it.

Our black bins are tiny and only emptied once a fortnight. Loads more fly tipping since this system started. Seriously- any half wit could tell you that the system we now have is not fit for purpose- which doesn't say much for the councillors who are hailing it a great success!

And if you don't have a car?

Yep, general waste one week and recycling the next! I don't usually generate a lot of recycling but I have stuff left from Christmas and the big box to get rid of!

You sound unsure.

I don't have a garden unfortunately and we get fined if we leave rubbish in the communal area!

Yeah - won't work where I live- bin men refuse to take the card if it's wet ...

Bugger

I was going to say stick it in the bottom of the bin next time and they'll never know, but if you don't have an actual recycling bin that one's out

Despite all the blather about the importance of recycling they really don't want to make this easy do they?

Taxis here don't let people book for tip runs!

Our council won’t take glass, but nor do they ever empty the few communal glass bins that they do provide. Then they complain when people ‘fly tip’ by leaving their glass beside the bins when it’s their fault in the first place.

We have to book an appointment for ours

Leave the box out in the rain until it softens, fold or tear up and put in your bin.

If you frequently have too much rubbish you can get a private bin and they’ll empty it however often you want. If you need extra emptying you can phone up and book one. I have a bigger than domestic wheelie bin on a fortnightly empty at £12 an empty for 25kg of rubbish any extra weight I pay more for. It could be a weekly or a monthly empty They usually take anything at the side of the bin as well. It’s beats going to the tip, I’d have done this years ago if I’d known it worked so well.

Luckily our council take sorted recycling in any container and any volume.

This is my point - if they won't take it, you can't get it to a recycling centre, and you can't store it what the heck do you do? I'd never fly tip but I'm genuinely stumped by what I'd do with it if I couldn't dispose of it at work! I live in a small flat with nowhere to store it, at least safely 😬😔