I don’t want to wash up chicken packets and jars of mayonnaise!!

[ChristmasBaby2026]

My council like many have recently changed our recycling. We now have:

• a bin for paper and card
• a bin for “mixed recycling”
• the food bin
• the black bin
• the garden bin (which I have to pay extra for 😡)

The only substantial change other than the number of bins to put things in is they will now collect glass whereas we previously had to go to the bottle bank.

But it now means they are now only collecting our black bin once every THREE weeks (and currently not for 4 because the new system has stupidly started on a recycling week).

How are families supposed to only have rubbish collected once every three weeks? There is simply no way.

I do recycle but I have always drawn the line at washing up gross things like packets of mince and jars of mayonnaise. But apparently the council have decided people have nothing better to do. I wouldn’t resent it so much if I thought it was actually making a difference but my landfill mayonnaise jar is not the main problem here!

Our black bins have been every 4 weeks for years now. We recycle everything and our black bin is usually half empty when it goes out. You get used to it.

The mixed recycling is loads better. Ours has the paper and cardboard included too.

I see your point with packets of meat but jars of mayo aren't so bad, you just fill with water, put the lid on and shake.

I’ve never washed a jar and I’m not starting now

I never wash jars out.

I put things like jars in the dishwasher. Just scrape out the remnants into the food bin first.

YABU. You need to rinse out everything for recycling so that you have enough space in your rubbish bin for 3 weeks of rubbish.
It’s not rocket science.

You get used to it, been like it for years here.

Our black bin collection is every three weeks and often my bin is nowhere near full.
Mayonnaise jars aren't that difficult to wash out and put in the glass re-cycling.

I never wash jars out, I just chuck them in the blue recycling bin and they get taken. I don't wash any tins either. I can't be arsed doing the normal washing up, never mind adding food containers to it 😅

What a bloody good idea - never even thought of doing that - ive been scraping and grimacing doing them by hand!

I do get the waste bin though. We recycle everything but still some how manage to fill it (its also a tiny bin) I really dont know how. We still have a DS in nappies so that probably adds up i guess. Either that or we are missing something

I love washing jars out, so satisfying to see a clean, clear jar.
We still have a black bin collection every other week, don't think I'd cope with anything lesser.

You could just keep taking the jars to the bottle bank which is what we have to do here. I don't wash any glass for the bottle bank, it gets washed industrially as it is recycled.

Do you a dishwasher? I just run the stuff that’s a pain to wash through the dishwasher with my plates, even plastic packaging. When I empty the dishwasher it just goes straight in the recycling bin- it’s the most pain free way I’ve found to deal with it!

I always thought washing the tins. Jars and packets pointless until I watched a program on TV about working in the waste disposal centre, and apparently, the unwashed items can be a danger to the staff who work there think it was something about the gases they give off

Washed them ever since no big deal to improve workers' lives.

We have lived with a three weekly bin collection for several years now and you can get by. We even had to deal with nappies with a little one in that bin.

I must admit that I don't wash meat packets out but I do for everything else like jars. Like others have said just rinse jars and packets. If you recycle everything with an exception of meat packets then a three weekly bin collection is definitely manageable. The only time we have struggled is at Christmas and even then we got by.

How hard is it to run the jar under the tap, stick the lid on and give it a shake?
Your recycling bin must honk

I do do it, it’s been the way around here for years now.

However, I do often think about the damage conglomerates like Amazon are doing to the environment while I’m hand washing a mayo jar and it feels fairly futile 😂

I don’t wash anything and my food bin is in the garage with paintbrushes in it.

I’m a long time jar washer and it’s fine once you get used to it.

No dishwasher!

They aren’t collecting anything different than glass which I didn’t (mostly) put in the black bin anyway so I can’t see how it will make a difference.

I also hate having so many bloody bins outside my house - why does the onus have to be on the consumers and WHY do I have to pay extra for garden waste?

We’re the same as others our bin collections have been like this for years. I’ve always washed jars and packets out because I don’t want bins that stink.

Same with me.

I hate all the recycling crap. I avoid it and disobey the rules as much as possible.

Don’t you just put some water in a mayonnaise jar, put the lid on and shake it? Takes less than a minute. How much mayonnaise do you eat that it’s costing you significant time from your day?