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 council used to provide the bags, and my mum’s still does (Wales). I buy mine from Amazon and they literally last for so long. I don’t understand either why people have an aversion to it when it’s no different than putting it in their bin as you say. It makes such a difference not having your kitchen bin stink every time you open it. Once you get used to it, no going back.

Precisely.
It’s sheer laziness, it doesn’t take a minute to rinse jars out.

Most of it end up in landfill anyway. Even the ‘clean’ stuff. My brother in law works in recycling.

I don’t know when you lived in Haringey @Hicupping but I have for 10 years and we’ve always had a separate recycling bin, collected weekly as is the food bin. Black bin general waste goes every 2 weeks.

We have very precise and efficient refuse collection and recycling where I live, I have seen how it operates first hand.

General waste, paper and food are collected weekly; tins, plastic, glass, foil fortnightly.

I loved to a small over-60s block two years ago and we have a 'bin room' downstairs with plenty of bins.

Some people have absolutely no care at all and the fortnightly recycling bin is often disgusting with food on containers, ie meat, ready meals, drink in bottles and cartons. Sometimes paper goods are put in there too, eg cereal packets - with bits of cereal falling out. As it can be there for up to a fortnight it causes flies in hot weather.

Some people put ordinary carrier bags in the food waste bin when everyone knows specific types of bag or wrapping is required.

It's beyond me how people can be so careless, it's not difficult to clean packets, trays etc when you do your washing up, to empty out and rinse bottles and cartons, and to use the correct bins.

Our development manager has circulated residents that the council will refuse to allow us to have this facility if our act is not cleaned up. She has also stuck notices around the bin room but some residents obviously just don't care. It can be quite disgusting in there by the time refuse collection day comes round, makes me feel ashamed.

We have the same recycling set up. I don’t mind sticking a bit of boiling water in a mayonnaise jar and shaking before putting in the recycling but I absolutely refuse to rinse out raw chicken or pork packaging and recycle - I put it in the regular bin, usually wrapping in cling film or a sealed bag. I am not contaminating the sink which then needs fully cleaning so the packaging can be recycled.

I never wash jars or containers - they have to be industrial cleaned anyway to be recycled, therefore it's a waste of energy doing it twice and defeats the objective.

We do it, it’s no big deal. I don’t see the issue.

Are you my mum?? 🤣

Perhaps they would like to contribute to your water bill too. For all the rinsing you have to do. And who has all the time to stand there rinsing and drying.
Perhaps those who the Council contract with to sort it all could invest in a few machines to do it instead of relying on households to do it for them?

There are plenty of things that cannot go in the dishwasher because a label that can barely be soaked off becomes all scrunched up and a mess after a cycle.

Fortunately we have a food bin, a rubbish collection and a recycling collection.
The ‘dump’ where many go to have closed off one site and is only open part time.

I can see things going the way of a three week collection here. It is a not hygienic.

So depressing isn't it! Some of us doing everything we can to help the planet for our kids' sake and you have people who can't be bothered to give a jar a quick rinse out. As if the rest of us aren't busy!

Re people not wanting bags in their kitchen - we taped a bin bag to line a tall ish cardboard box as a makeshift recycling bin when we moved in, and it's stayed. Everything that goes in there is clean. Toddler can't get into it. But you can also buy cheap recycling bins with sections eg from IKEA.

I rinse out jars and so on. I would not rinse out packets that have had meat in them.
My water bill has doubled last year. I don’t want it doubling again.

No it does not. It keeps the bin clean for a start, who wants maggots and vermin. Also if you are washing up anyway, why not wash those items at the same time.

Meat tray rinse under tap, or go to a butchers and have meat put in your own tupperware. Tins a bit of water and swish in a circle. Jars bit of water, lid on and shake, add a teeny bit of detergent for greasy things.

So your black bin is only for things that can’t be recycled, so greasy cardboard, certain films from packets and thats essentially it surely. When we had the same system we produced maybe a carrier bag of black bin waste every two weeks at most. The only time it was more was when we had a little one in nappies.

It’s always a good idea to rinse a tin as soon as you have emptied out the contents. Otherwise the residue dries on and you need to put your hand inside with a cloth or sponge, which is dangerous as you could cut yourself.

Do people rinse wine and beer bottles? I don’t do that.

What a fuss about nothing. Just wash the flipping jars, OP, or stop buying them. It only takes a minute.

You're making a mountain out of a molehill and it's ridiculous.

If people can't even be arsed to make tiny changes like this, then I guess the planet is fucked.

You wrap it in plastic to put it in the bin? Things like this are why the planet is shot.

This - absolutely, totally this.

Don't people realise that entire batches of recyclables are rejected due to being contaminated by unwashed items…

Quire apart from that, it makes the recycling bins stink to high heaven.

Just wash your tins, jars and bottles - if you soak them the minute you’re done with them it’ll take seconds.

Thank you.

I didn't read the whole thread, but it's highly unlikely that literally everyone in your area washes their glass jars/bottles every time they recyle them - so there will always be an element of contamination in every glass collection/recycling batch. It would make more sense to wash glass after collection.

I also agree that one collection every three weeks is not enough and that it's madness to charge for garden waste. It's just a way for the council to make some extra money by giving you less value for paying council tax.

At the recycling depot of your local Council the waste is sorted. Any contaminating elements are removed. Eg. Smelly stuff that has been put into the recycling rather than the general waste.
It then all goes into a vast washer cleaning machine. And is rinsed and cleaned.

Wash recycling? Bugger that. It’s thrown in whatever bin it needs to go in and that’s it.

I don’t think anyone wants to wash these up especially.

It’s just the considerate thing to do when some of the production lines at the waste plants are operated by hand.

We don’t either, it’s crazy! I can’t wait to get a food bin, there’s nothing worse than the maggots in the wheelie bin in the summer 🤮

I'm amazed at how many people can't be arsed to do something as basic as washing out a jar. So inconsiderate to the people who have to deal with it at the other end.

So disheartening to read that many of you don’t think you should have to rinse a jar or take an extra couple of seconds to sort rubbish into a different bin. It may seem petty but that attitude towards modern societal living is the root of so many problems. The lazy and entitled Mumsnet middle class piss me off.