To think that soft plastics should be collected for recycling from people's homes?

[Medschoolmum]

Lots of "soft plastics" are labelled to say that they can be recycled at large supermarkets. In my household, we do collect these and take them to supermarket when we go shopping etc. But I know a lot of people who put them straight in the bin, either because they can't be arsed or because they don't actually go to the supermarket etc because of online shopping.

AIBU to think that there are lots of these plastics unnecessarily going into landfill and that they should be collected with the rest of our recycling instead? We have mixed recycling in our area so they must already have a process for sorting it. I don't understand why the soft plastics couldn't just be added in with this. Can anyone with better knowledge explain?

What sort of thing do you mean? We put our plastics in the recycling bin

I think it depends on your local area. They all get collected here (Somerset).

We can only put plastic bottles in our recycling! So not even a yoghurt pot for example.

I completely agree - we've just changed to fortnightly collection for rubbish and I've been noticing just how much of my rubbish is actually made up of soft plastics!

We get online shopping so to drop ours at a large supermarket would involve a drive which seems counterintuitive!

The council next to ours has selected areas for a trial. They are given a bag for it they tie it up when full and place it at top of the recycling.
It doesn't take much effort to walk to a supermarket or library to drop off. Lots of primary schools do it too.

Not all soft plastics are in the can actually be recycled.

I use an app to check as the kids were putting lots of things in soft recycle box that couldn't be recycled

Ultimately, being more concious when we shop would help.

Soft plastics are things like bread bags

YABU unfortunately as it's a funding thing. Councils just don't have the budget to add another service. They're looking to cut costs, not add to them.

Ocado collect them with their shopping bags for those who don’t go to a supermarket.

Sorry, I mean soft plastics like plastic bags, crisp packets etc.

What's an example of a soft plastic please?

Ah sorry cross posted. I think the issue is it would mean another bin and I already have 4 to deal with.

I agree. I can't be that hard really. Could just be a smaller bin like some areas have a food bin. Or maybe even an insert into the top of your recycling bin for the soft plastics. On the other hand, I wonder do the supermarkets actually recycle them or will it turn out to be just going in the rubbish.

That's good to know.

I really don't understand why we don't standardise waste collection across the country as well tbh. Resource councils properly and then make it a statutory duty for them to collect certain types of recycling.

We do a Sainsbury's online shop and they will take all soft plastic bags back to be recycled.

It doesn't take much effort to walk to a supermarket or library to drop off

Our nearest point is 8 miles away.

I like walking, but even so...

Bread bags usually

I think the main problem with investing money in increasing the number of things that can be recycled is that the impact of recycling plastic is small compared to lots of other things that we should be doing to reduce climate change and waste.

Recycling makes people feel like they're doing something, but really we need to be focusing our efforts elsewhere. Like reducing consumption in the first place.

Our council is really good. You can use plastic bags to line the food bin for example. They collect pretty much everything, most goes in the one green bin, the rest can be bagged up and collected, including small electricals, batteries, clothes, etc etc etc

We can put soft plastics in our rubbish. So it must depends on area. Ours goes in the same plastic bin as other plastics. Actually our metal also goes in same him as they now filter it out later

we have:
paper bin
plastic (and soft plastic) and metal

black bin
compost - veg peelings and garden waste, in own garden

I agree about being more conscious when we shop, and I do try. In fact, I try a lot harder these days as I've realised how easy it is to amass loads of soft plastic waste.

But it's hard to avoid altogether. I just don't understand why local authorities can't just collect it.

Thank you for this info as I do a weekly Sainsburys online shop and had no idea / send DP to walk to Sainsburys with soft plastic recycling (to be fair he passes it on his way to work).

To answer OP, supermarkets need to promote that they can collect bags when they bring our online shopping!

Do you mean their own shopping bags or all soft plastic waste?

I hadn't realised that supermarkets would collect the waste to be fair. I wonder if everyone is aware of this?

Cross posted with the poster above!

I started taking mine back to the supermarket, and it was shocking how much less I needed to put in the waste bin.

In our street, one neighbour uses the recycling bin for general rubbish and another neighbour puts hers in a bin bag in the street. Both get thrown into the recycling truck. A few weeks ago, someone threw a carrier bag with a takeaway container and a milkshake cup next to my recycling bin on recycling morning. The binmen chucked it into my recycling bin and emptied it as usual.

I've got zero confidence that any of it is recycled properly anyway.

Yes, we found that as well when we started to separate it out.

Separating the soft plastic for recycling also made me much more aware of it, and that has definitely made me more mindful of how I shop.