Squashing tetrapak cartons for recycling - is there any clear guidance?

[wildfellhall]

My ds is adamant that we should wash and not squash and to keep the lids on.

My recycling bin will fill up much more quickly if I don't squash.

AIBU to wish for some standard guidance? Why is it so muddled?

Of course squash. They're going to get squashed in the pickup lorry anyway. And lid on, yes.

I tear my tetrapaks open to wash them, much easier to both wash and let dry out before flattening and tossing in the recycles.

We wash and squash with lids on.

Thank you. Ds is absolutely convinced he's right 🤷‍♀️ which also saves him the effort!

Hang on, you can't put tetrapack in recycling?

You can in my area

Wash, drain, squash, lid back on to keep it squashed.

It depends where you are. Recycling contracts are with LAs, so if your LA hasn’t gota contract with a recycler of tetrapacks, you won’t be able to put in recycling.

I can put margarine tubs in recycling, a lot of people can’t. But my LA doesn’t take food waste (which doesn’t worry me because I don’t have any that can’t go on the compost heap).

I've visited our local recycling plant for work and their machine struggles to correctly sort squashed cans. Not sure about tetra packs. But they said don't crush cans...

It says on the side of Tetrapak cartons NOT to put in at-home recycling

Well we had leaflets from our council telling us we CAN put them in household recycling.

There's no straight or right answer to this question. Every council has different rules around recycling.

Some councils collect tetrapak at the kerbside, some don't.
Some councils accept tetrapak at tips/recycling centres (where they're not collected at the kerbside)
Some councils want cartons/bottles/cans to be as intact as possible, some are happy for them to be squashed - this totally depends where the recycling goes for sorting, and how it's sorted when it gets there.

Our council accepts tetrapak at kerbside, and wants it to be intact. The sensors which 'pick' things from the recycling conveyor belt find it easier to sort if things are closer to their original form.

But the only way OP's question can be answered is by looking at the guidelines for her council, as what anyone else does is pretty much irrelevant.

Ahem!

That's a catch-all, as they're not universally recycled. But you definitely can in my council area (copied straight from the website...)

What you can put in your blue-lidded bin

• paper
• card and cardboard
• glass bottles and jars
• metal tins and cans
• Aerosols
• clean foil
• plastic bottles, pots, tubs, and trays
• plastic bags - carrier bags, salad/fruit/vegetable bags, bread and cereal bags
• confectionary wrappers - chocolate, sweets, biscuits, cakes, ice cream and chewing gum wrappers
• foil lined packaging - crisp/snack packets, coffee bags
• cheese, fish and meat wrapping
• outer layer bags and wrapping - multipacks, toilet and kitchen roll wrapping, magazine and newspaper wrapping
• plastic film and sleeves - removable film lids, plastic sleeves for bottles and jars
• bubble wrap and cling film
• fruit and vegetable net bags
• food and drink cartons (TetraPak)

Clearly the OP can or it wouldn't be a question. Do you really think every collection is set up like yours?

OP - I wash and squash but take lids off

That's because they aren't recycled everywhere and people were putting them in the cardboard when they weren't cardboard

Well given there's a note on the side, I did think so yes. We take ours to a specific place.

Open the lid, squash and close the lid again.

Takes up much less space and doesn't smell or drip sticky stuff everywhere.

The op isn't thick though they know their local recycling options

I didn't say she was thick, I was just surprised as we have to make special journeys to recycle them.

The messages are contradictory.

Councils tend to say squash tetrapaks, drinks cans, tins etc so that you can get more in your bin and so recycle more. But the processing plants say that recycling is sorted by computer using optical recognition technology, and because there are so many possible shapes to anything squashed it can't sort them.

The Simpler Recycling Legislation introduced by the last government means that rules for recycling everywhere will be the same, and hopefully that will also mean we can get definitive answers to questions like these.

I do hate people who don't squash any recycling. When its very windy, bins fall over and a bloody can rolls about keeping me awake. If they spent half a second squashing it, it would give me a better night's sleep.

The bin lorry will compact the recycling anyway.

The thing is every of the c.315 councils has different boxes, bins and bags for their recycling. Not one council has the same format.

Yet other countries - think Germany has uniform recycling across the country.

If the UK does have a uniform recycling policy - think how many billions it will cost to get this, then replacing the 60m wheelie bins (based on 2.25 bins per property)

We are asked not to squash ours. So we don't.

I was always taught "reduce-reuse-recycle" - "reduce the volume of waste" is the first part, so squashing before putting rubbish in the bin is necessary.

The lorry is going to squash them so no harm in squashing beforehand.