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!

On that, I can happily agree.

We've had glass recycling boxes for years and I've never washed the jars out, not really much point when it all gets washed at the recycling collection centres. Our council also states that packaging that contained raw meat should go in the general waste bin.

You could have engaged in discussion rather than using terms like ‘in a tizz’! I’m not angry, if you dont want to be responsible then fine. I won’t be living through the worst of the climate change.

I hope you will enjoy explaining to the next generation that you took no active part in trying to preserve the planet because it is someone else’s problem🤷‍♀️

We are a family of 4 with a dog. We have black bin collection every 3 weeks and we're allowed to put out 3 bags. It is very rare we have more than 1 black bag. I home cook food every day apart from the occasional takeaway. It takes a couple of seconds to rise the plastic and jars.

With most things being recyclable these days. I really can't understand what people put in black bags.

And vegans who don't see the irony of paying a shit load of money to stay on a working dairy farm.

Nope not when posters come at me all guns blazing. There were better ways they could have made their point.

And I hope you will enjoy explaining to the next generation how washing out a few jars will change the planet when other countries don’t give a shit about recycling!

Have a good afternoon.

Yes! Exactly that! Like the Just Stop Oil idiots - rich kids who like to preach to people - it almost makes me want to pollute!

It is a mix. They are improving and it is a mixed picture.

The post I was responding to was specifically about litter and trash rather than use of fossil fuels.
And yes, it is good they have clean streets. We don’t.

Washing your jars is not to do with civic pride.
Not chucking your rubbish out of the window of your car is. Or not leaving a mess on the beach etc.
Which is the point of the post I made. I wasn’t talking about washing jars.

I'm on a water meter and as I have said and so have countless others said, use the washing up water that's left after you have washed up. Or if like me you collect the run off from when you run your tap from hot to cold or vice versa use that although I prefer to use that for watering plants. I'm sorry but it's not an excuse to be on a water meter

And the water has nothing to do with your council tax, it's the water company that put the meter in and charge you for your usage.

I recycle everything I can but just today we've put the below in our black bin:

2 x large cardboard cooked chicken boxes
Various plastic wrappers - frozen chip bags, onion ring bag, crisp packets, cheese wrappers etc.
3 x iced coffee cups
2 x large pizza boxes
2 x plastic burger packets
1 x large plastic chicken breast container
1 x king pot noodle cup

Thats not a lot tbf given the DC are off school.

What do you mean you ‘don’t eat the ends of the bread’? You cut the crusts off, or you literally throw away whole slices? Is that normal?

Yes I don't mind washing jars. A tiny squirt of detergent and some warm water, lid on and shake the whole lot.

Chicken packaging I was always taught NOT to wash as washing chicken and things raw chicken has touched are more likely to cause salmonella poisoning in a kitchen than cooking it straight from the pack. It is the spread of the bacteria across surfaces that is problematic not cooking as much, as heat kills it.

Exactly same, when empty take cap off fill with water shake a few times and rinse out.

Maybe you get all your veg loose, but we have the plastic bags that you get both fresh and frozen fruit and veg in, any thin plastic film, bread bags etc. Coffee pods, the pouches for microwave rice, crisp and biscuit packets. I’m guessing now you perhaps live a bit more healthily than we do! Even so all the packaging I’ve mentioned wouldn’t take up much space. I’m going to have to look inside my actual bin! It’s true that we put a lot less in general rubbish now than we did pre-April though.

Sadly not rinsing containers before recycling can contaminate whole batches, making materials harder to process and sometimes causing loads to be rejected instead of recycled. Defeating the object of recycling.

I wash them out but I do worry about the sewers and fatbergs. Maybe curing one problem and creating another. I washed out a Flora tub today. I used as much as possible, then wiped round it with kitchen roll to try and remove everything but when I washed it out it was still greasy water going down the drain.

I can't believe the number of posters boasting about such awful antisocial behaviour of course you should wash and rinse your recycling. I don't care if you find it yucky it's simply hygienic all those poor workers at the recycling plants.

I take the soft plastics to the recycling in Sainsbury's.

I buy most of my fruit and veg loose, but the thin plastic film, pouches, crisp packets, biscuit packets, bread bags, bubble wrap, etc. can all be dropped off at most supermarkets for recycling now. We collect them all in a bag through the week and drop off when doing the shop.
We use reusable coffee pods (much cheaper too!).
I think the only things going into our black bin is nappies and meat & dairy food waste. But I'm about to get a bokashi bin so I'll be able to deal with all food waste at home. Then it's literally nappies going into the bin :)

Your lifestyle is not sustainable for our planet. Recycling is only one part you're supposed to try to use less single use plastic. Honestly you really should look at your behaviour you're using more single use plastic in a day then my family does in a week or even a month actually.

Once you have wiped it, put the hot soapy water in the container, put the lid on and shake like hell for a few seconds!

Also try putting a bit of rolled up kitchen paper in with it. Or use baking soda.

Takes 2 seconds to wash a mayo jar, what a hardship

I thought that - but maybe it’s different rules in different areas. We put ours in the waste bin.

Double check with your council rules but for us the cardboard boxes that the pizza and chicken come in can be recycled. Just give them a wipe over if there’s food stuck on. Same with the pot noodle pot.