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!

It's a bin, it's not meant to smell of roses.
I recycle, but I'm not washing things.

This

God 3-4 weeks of chicken bones and dog poo in this heat must really reek. It's a joke, just disgusting.

In Spain our rubbish is collected from communal bins daily.

As I say to my children about virtually everything- you don't have to want to, you just have to do it. I used to hate picking manky bits out of the sink or plunging my hands into cold, greasy, dirty water because some twat thought "leaving things to soak" equated to "doing the washing up". Same with the hair and soap scum and mank in the trap in the shower, or the grossness of rotting vegetable juice after some twat buys too much yellow stickered stuff, crams the fridge too full then leaves it. Or lifting dog poo in the garden I missed, that has fluffy mould on it. I used to viscerally hate these things to the point of retching. I still strongly dislike doing them, but I do them, because that's just the way it is. You get used to it.

Never rinsed any recycling since visiting many recycling plants (not for fun) and seeing first hand how they are washed anyway and our local plant actually stating they dont need to be rinsed out.

But I certainly wouldnt waste water rinsing them even if the plant hadnt stated that

If you have a baby/child in nappies (below a certain age) or a family over a certain size you can usually apply for a larger bin. Might be worth checking with your council.

I lived in Valencia for years and our communal bins were about half a mile away, it was a pain in the arse taking our rubbish there without spilling juices into the back of the car. Pros and cons to all systems. We don’t get this heat often in the UK.

the onus is on the consumer because the consumer is choosing what to buy, in which packaging. So, in your example, if you chose to make mayonnaise there wouldn't be any jars to rinse or recycle.

You have to pay for garden waste to be removed because local authorities are 1) chronically underfunded and 2) have many local tax-payers who don't produce any garden waste, because they live in flats or have paved over their gardens. Should those people be paying for you to have your garden waste removed?

Honestly 😂 sorry OP it's not the most fun job but neither is cleaning toilets, changing nappies, cleaning spilled food if it occurs, you'll get used to it!

Quite sad to see so many people refusing to wash recycling. Yes one jar of mayonnaise in landfill in the UK or dumped in someone else's country won't make a big difference but look how many people think that way, over time it all adds up. If you put anything wrong in your recycling it goes into landfill.

Also most major supermarkets (even smaller ones like Co op) have places to drop off things like batteries, soft plastics like crisp packets, coffee bags, I've started putting mine aside so I can drop it off when I go.

Why does the onus have to be on the consumer? Why shouldn’t it be, you’re the one using it?

Ive never washed a jar or packaging. I’ve had many a visit to a recycling centre (for work, not fun!) and it really doesn’t matter as long as it’s empty.

Thank you - we did that. Got told unless we have 2 children in nappies we were only entitled to 1... and not entitiled to a bigger one either

£280 a month in council tax and i cant even get a fucking bigger bin 😅

We’ve always rinsed all our meat packets and all jars go in the dishwasher. I do despair at some people’s laziness

That’s not true. Waste is a huge industry and they have so many processes to sort the waste - they want to recoup as much as possible. It’s actually fascinating how it’s done - I suggest a trip to your local MRF - they often have visitor centres!

I am absolutely shocked by the number of people who don't clean things before recycling! I thought that making sure your recycling was 'clean and dry' was a given in this day and age. Come on people, buck up!!

Make Mayonnaise?
Oh don't be ridiculous, and yes, I can and have made it, but hardly practical every time you want some is it, and I say that as the only person in my home

Are you going to have families making their own ketchup and cornflakes next?

Some people freeze theirs

I put jars and tins in the dishwasher. Life’s too short to hand wash. I expect it’s being dumped on landfill anyway

Why? It isn't hard and it wastes natural resources to bin things.

You're right. Stick it to 'em!

Done this for years, I don’t eat meat so it’s not as gross but I know some people but the wrappers in their dish washer, I just wash my jars at the end of the washing up, takes a couple of seconds.

I personally don't see the issue and I wash things for my benefit as I don't want stinky bins that attract flies. Mince and chicken pots would be rank after two weeks.

Only ones that piss me off are nut butter jars. I've bought a tiny silicon spatula that gets the last bits out but don't stress if there is some left

They used to just fine! Now a previously included service is £50 a year.

I just find it all such a monumental ball ache…and don’t get me started when they don’t collect t it because there is something wrong in there or it’s too full (most ridiculous reason ever)

We've just had two consecutive days of record-breaking May temperatures. The climate is breaking down in front of our very eyes.

If you can't be arsed to do one tiny thing for the environment because you find putting your hand in it 'gross' (even though you shovel it into your mouth) I fear for the future of humanity even more. I can't believe some people are so self-centred.

Our council specifics that all items placed into the recycling bin for collection must be clean and dry and no items must go in the general waste bin if they should have been in the recycling bin.
A contaminated recycling bin, ie one that contains dirty, unwashed cans or dirty plastic bottles/containers will not be collected and the bin will be tagged with a warning sticker. Repeat offenders will incur a fine.

I'm flabbergasted that so many people can't be bothered to rinse out tins and bottles before putting them in the recycling bin! If just one contaminated bin-load ends up being emptied into the collection lorry, the entire lorry load is rejected and cannot be recycled, so it all goes to landfill.

Meat trays just rinse it under the tap, won't hurt you.
Jars in the dishwasher. Tins just rinse too unless it's oily.
We are a family of 4 and unless you have a child in nappies I struggle to see how you CAN fill up a black bin every two weeks. Even then we used washable and didn't fill it up.