to think reducing general waste collections to every 3 weeks is unrealistic?

[HazelMember]

The council has reduced general waste collections to once every 3 weeks instead of twice a month. The general waste wheelie bin is already half the size of a normal bin.

I already recycle as much as possible. Cardboard plastics food waste glass tins everything. I am genuinely trying to do the right thing environmentally. But even with all that the general waste still builds up especially with a family.

Three weeks feels like a long time to store rubbish. I keep seeing just recycle more as the answer but I am already doing that. There is not much left to recycle.

How are people actually managing this? Are you just producing less waste somehow or are your bins overflowing too?

AIBU to think this change does not reflect how households actually live?

Ours is monthly. Size wise it’s fine but we’re only a household of 2.

I agree. Volume-wise we manage (although with dcs I doubt if for much longer).

But the smell, and pests all around make me sick. Really no excuse for the council to risk unhygienic conditions of living for the sake of budget cutting policies.

Sidenote, a lot of packaging is not actually recyclable if you read the label...

Good god! That is insane. Where I live (SE Asia), I think our rubbish is collected a couple of times a week. I have no idea because we just put it into general skip bins outside our housing complex and it's regularly collected. I don't understand why the UK can't offer proper rubbish services?

Yes, I agree. We still have fortnightly normal waste collection in Liverpool. Same for blue bin recycling. Food waste is collected weekly. I’m long past the menopause and we don’t have a dog or baby/toddler. But as many families do, three weeks is too long. Our blue bin recycling is now much better than it used to be - finally we can put yogurt pots and plastic food trays in there, so we have very little in our regular waste bin now - but it’s not the quantity that’s the issue, it’s the contents for many families.

I think it depends how you manage your waste.

Here there are weekly food collections that I always bag. For the black bin it is bi-weekly, but again I bag any stuff before it goes in there. If it was really yukky stuff I would probably double bag it.

Everything else goes in the recycling which is by far the most waste generated.

My neighbor was asking why I don't have my bins or caddies cleaned. Simple really, you bag all the nasty stuff up and then you don't need to.

Three weekly collections would be no issue. I suppose there is an argument that if you are bagging stuff then you are using more environmentally unfriendly materials (bin liners).

Wow if you have nappies or sanitary pads/tampons etc. it would stink!

We have weekly collection of a very small general waste bin here which suits us. The only time it’s a problem is when we have guests.

Our much larger recycling bins are fortnightly but we also take our glass and cans to a recycling plant that pays 10c per item.

We also have a food composting system.

In my area you can get a second general waste bin ( with a different coloured lid so can’t just steal a neighbours) if you have a child in nappies , someone in household uses incontinence products/ medicsl waste or it’s a large household of five or more. It’s worth checking to see if there are any exemptions you fit in where you live.

I had one when collections shifted in my area and it was just an online form and uploading a copy of birth certificates for children under 3.

Omg toddler waste already smells disgusting as is. Imagine a two week fermentation between collections :-{