Friend Doesn't Recycle

[GetDownShepp]

I stayed at a friend's house this weekend and they don't recycle.

Surely I'm not being unreasonable to hope we all do this now?

Isn't this just second nature?

A lot of stuff they demand you recycle doesn’t actually get recycled.

I take a carrier bag out each day and put it in a public bin wherever I may be.

Recycling is huge here. Kids are all taught in schools about it. I wash everything, fold down boxes etc. It’s not hard and we all should be playing our part.

I used to work for the council. What happened with our recycling is it’d all get crushed in a bin lorry then back at the yard it’s emptied out into a bay then loaded into an arctic. Then it’s transported to a recycling place and emptied on to a moving belt non recyclables are removed. Bin bags full, dead pets candles, batteries and weighed if it’s more than 10% of gross weight of recycling council is fined.

Passed over with powerful magnets which removes the metal, this is why they want recycling loose and not in bags. In our council cardboard and glass are done seperately so it’s just plastics but they are shredded and go in a huge water filled centrifuge machine. Then they are spun and separated according to density of plastic.

Its easier the cleaner that plastic is as mould and food debris can cause blockages. It is possible to do it with glass / paper too. Glass can be sold though if seperated by colour. Paper/ cardboard is cheap to dispose of as easily recycled. It’s cheaper overall to seperate but had to add extra bins at a cost of 4 million that should be recouped over 3 years if targets are met.

We only get our general rubbish emptied every other week, which I am sure is the norm for most places in the UK now. If I didn't use my recycling bins the black bin would overflow and I'd have to go to the tip. Separating out the recycling is less effort than that, so I'd do it even if I didn't think it was important. It's not really much trouble to put cans, bottles etc in a different bin to other rubbish.

We separate our paper/ cans and plastic into different bins ( large bag for paper) but it all goes in the same bin wagon. 🤔
Our borough council does apparently compost food waste though.
My Sister lives in a block of HA flats, there are 15 blocks of 8 flats, no recycling just black wheelie bins for each flat. No food waste caddies even though same borough council as me.

I couldn’t give a toss to be honest even though I recycle myself. I can guarantee a lot (not all obviously) of the people commenting here buy new clothes and toiletries regularly, have at least one car they use daily (and can use for tip runs) and travel by plane frequently. Plus have more than one child. I’ve lived in a deprived area years ago and no one recycled, It was an achievement for some people to get just their general rubbish bagged up and sat in the big bin and hope they’d wheeled it out onto the pavement. The most preachy people I know on this subject also travel frequently, live in big houses, are out in the car constantly and spend on new things all the time.

Our general rubbish bins are the narrow 120L - can swap that for the 240L for a one off payment of c£38. Our recycling bins are standard 240L. Though can request the smaller bin such as my parents have. As big bin too wide for side gate.

I say the uptake of the larger rubbish bins is very low. I’m on a group of litter wombles living in the area where I live. I have asked the question what % of general rubbish bins are the large ones. They say around 8%. In my road of 46 properties - 4 have them. Most bin day collections (every other week) the same bins are overflowing. Bin men will take rubbish if it’s under the lid. Not on the side. Then some Wombles find general rubbish in black bags by litter bins. Too bloody tight to buy a bigger bin. Yet probably waste £38 a week on takeaways and a bag of groceries bought via Just Eat.

Imagine resurrecting a 9 month old zombie thread just to verbosely tell everyone you don't give a shit.

Look up how much plastic waste actually gets recycled. Most is sent abroad to be dumped in another country’s landfill. People who meticulously wash their plastic waste are fooling themselves/maling themselves feel better

This.

I do recycle, but, I wish I didn't have to sometimes. I live in a flat. We have 4 bins outside, 1 for waste, 1 for food and 2 for recycling. However, one of these is smaller than the other. We have to share these bins with 5 other households and many of them can't be bothered to put the right stuff in the right bin. I'm fed up with having to contact the council every time the bin men refuse to take the rubbish because, yet again, it's been contaminated.
I keep my recycling in my kitchen until the bin I use for it is full, but it's not always a good choice.
If other people were less selfish, I'd probably make more effort, but, honestly, the other neighbours have made it impossible a lot of the time.

YANBU

Filling bins with domestic rubbish is one of my pet hates

in my area, the LA has reduced the bin collections for paper and plastic/glass and stopped the garden waste unless you pay £££ extra. We (and our neighbours) all has to reduce how much we recycle as the paper and plastic bins are overflowing. We keep ramming all sorts of stuff into the normal household bin instead. Sad times!

This. We've got large Skip bins and I can't be arsed faffing about when it all gets thrown in the lorry on the same day.

@Grabyourpassportandmyhand batteries are a fire risk in the bin lorries so please don't just bin them!
@GetDownShepp We don't have 2 kitchen bins, dry recycling goes by the back door and goes straight in the wheelie bin, things that need washed or rinsed go by the sink to be done after the washing up.
I put our landfill our this morning and it was about 1/3 of a 40l bag. There was also the greasy side of a pizza box in the bin. That's 2 weeks worth.

Depressingly , though unsurprisingly the majority of people don’t give a shit

my friend had broken electrical lights from her garage in her recycling bin I saw at the weekend 🤷🏻‍♀️ just couldn’t be arsed to go to the tip which is nearby makes me wish they would refuse to empty it. She also has a plastic lawn

our LA have separate boxes for glass and they send a little lorry around after the main lorry on recycling day so it is separated.
i have lived In flats where the recycling bins were ABSOUTLEY disgusting as milk bottles yogurt pots mayo bottles none of them washed out I don’t miss that

The problem here is that many people don’t flatten cardboard (undo most the stuck down bits) or squash the air out of plastic bottles and crush cans. Firstly you then you can put more stuff in your bin. Secondly, if it’s windy and bin falls over, the rubbish doesn’t blow about as much.

Councils say do not crush cans before putting into recycling. But the compactor on bin lorries does crush cans and other things.

I actually don't believe it is used well. It's not recycled well, it's sent off to some poor island in the .... Philippines that they themselves can't deal with it.
I recycle carefully only because I both my rubbish bin and recycling bin gets collected fortnightly and if I didn't bins would be overflowing.
But the more you hear about contamination, councils not doing it properly and mixing recycling in with rubbish, then where it goes, to which country, and how only a very small % is actually turned into something meaningful, green, and ethical. Then it makes you sad and you wonder why you are bothering.
India and China and the powerful states never even attended the last COP26. Didn't some attendees fly into the last climate conference on planes very not green. But not to worry because some councils penalise and fine the little man if you don't recycle correctly!

Our neighbours just chuck everything in their very large bin. Dhs ex sort of does a bit of recycling but it’s half hearted. Lots of houses on my street rarely have their recycling bin out.