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?

Couldn’t agree more

We have had three weekly general waste bin collections for as long as I can remember. It’s not a problem for us and I’ve never heard anybody else in the village moaning.

I think people just adapt. Our bin is rarely more than half full.

We are 3 people and could go longer than 3 weeks, we just don't generate much waste. We cook from scratch. Grow much of our own food, so no packaging. We reuse cardboard in the garden, don't really use glass or plastic, except for toothpaste don't have condiments and sauces. . We re-fill items. We also buy second hand and swop items with our family. We have always been like this. If we have family visit our bin are fill to the brim in days.

We would struggle with 3 weekly here. Do lots of recycling and food bin (I cook from scratch a lot) but it's the dog poo and cat litter that take up so much of the bin. I rejoiced at Christmas when the bin eventually got emptied.

We went to 3 weeks last April, my parents have been 3 weekly for years, we do fine as long as you wash out and recycle packaging. Our council started collecting nearly all plastic at the same time including crisp packets so very little goes in the black bin, mine was collected today and wasn’t even half full

Remember from April councils will be collecting food waste even if they aren’t already not that we have more than a couple of handfuls of that, mostly teabags and outer cabbage or cauliflower leaves

4 weekly here. Families of 5 of more are entitled to a larger bin. There are special collections for nappies and medical waste only.

It makes you really consider what you are throwing away and forces you to recycle anything you can. I can think of better uses for my council tax than facilitating more rubbish being dumped.

@littleorangefox

3 kids in nappies is easily solved by using reusables, I did and it’s so much easier than you think and cheaper too, sold them at the end for the same as I bought them for too.

Ours is every 3 weeks too (also in a reduced size wheelie bin), the other two weeks is one week plastic/can recycling and the other paper/cardboard. Food waste is weekly and garden waste every two weeks. We're a family of 4 and it's totally fine, never had an issue even over Christmas and we are generally quite high consumers. In the lead up to it being introduced there was so much wailing and gnashing of teeth on the local Facebook pages, now it's crickets presumably because it wasn't the end of the world that so many were predicting. As long as you recycle everything that can be recycled and use the food compost bin for every scrap of food waste, then the general waste is really quite minimal.

I’m sorry, but I just don’t believe that. Limiting collections doesn’t mean people are able to reduce waste. It means they need to find alternative ways to get rid of it (tip, fly tipping).

People don’t fill their bins to fill the space. They have crap they need to get rid of that can’t be recycled.

Any council cut is for cost savings, not environmental benefits. If they cared about the environment, they wouldn’t be cutting public transport left right and centre.

Have you birthed multiples or had kids in close succession? Our large bin used to be overflowing with nappy bags. Some households need more space.

Just no. Parents are already juggling work, houses, family commitments. I had multiples and for a few months, three kids in nappies. No way could I have managed reusables! Washing is already out of control.

People are dumping household rubbish bagged up
into charity clothing banks . My local bank has been taken away for this reason.

Lol no thanks. Tried reusables briefly with our twins and it didn't work for us.

We're every 2 weeks for general waste, alternating with recycling the other weeks. We don't have food bins so food waste is the main thing going in my waste bin. Composting doesn't work during the cold months so that can't be used (at least half of the year). Every 3 weeks would be a bridge too far.

I don't get this. Ours has been three weekly for years and it's never full. Do you have food recycling available? We compost all raw foods and have a council provided food recycling box for cooked, that probably makes a big difference. We also have a council provided nappy collection. I take thin plastics to the supermarket recycling point.

The only thing that goes in the bin really is the cat litter and things like rubber gloves/non recyclable thin plastics, whatever needs emptying out the hoover etc

I know right? I was, and am, drowning in laundry and housework as it is with 4 kids, 2 of which are currently in nappies 😂

Our black bin is about a quarter full after two weeks, so we could definitely go longer between collections.

Recycle is the third of the 3Rs - reduce, reuse, recycle. If you are struggling with your waste allocation, you should look at reducing how much you produce in the first place.

we only have a small bin and fortnightly collections, not sure how we would cope with three weekly. It’s the gross stuff like cat litter/dead rats and pigeons the cats bring in that I especially wouldn’t like to have sitting around. Nappies, san pro and dog poo would he gross too, but we don’t have any of them generally. We recycle as much as we can inc food waste, but not soft plastics, and I know that needs to be our next step really. Doorstep collection for that would really help!

Yes we’ve had this since August. It’s been difficult to say the least and we are a two person household! I recycle everything I can but the general waste bin is so small that I never get rid of it all without a trip to the tip. We’ve got so many bins that my drive barely has room for my car. Fortunately the food waste bin is collected weekly.

I'll tell my kids to shit less.

Our council incinerates the non recyclables for energy (great) but they only collect the non recyclables once every 3 weeks and as a busy family, caring for an elderly person, plus dog, this is really fucking aggravating and difficult. Plus you have to book the tip. We pay extortionate council tax and the “service” is totally shit. My cardboard was left this week by the recycling crew. If it’s “wrong” they’re supposed to put a note as to why. They didn’t and there’s nothing wrong with it.

what a shit show
tens of councils re inventing the wheel
jusy have one system that actually works!!!!

I’m with the people who don’t have that much to bin. Mine is mostly cat litter 🤢 and milk cartons (I can only recycle these at the dump six miles away and I don’t drive, so that’s that.) Councils reduce rubbish collections so that people will recycle more.

We are a family of five with our normal sized general waste bin collected every 3 weeks. It's barely ever half full.

As PP, we recycle what we can (not particularly overly zealously) but really the only things for incineration are cat poo (we use wood pellet litter), dog poo (Spaniel), night nappies for our youngest, used tissues and things you can't recycle like toothpaste tubes or glitter/paint newspaper from the kid's craft projects.

I use/prefer period pants to disposable pads (personal choice) and soft plastics go to the container at Tesco.

What on Earth is everyone else buying/throwing away to create so much waste?

Us too.

There's 5 of us though.

We've only had a 3 weekly collection for the last 9 years. It's fine. We've adapted and managed.