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!

Bet people would recycle more if there were deposit schemes on things like drink cans and bottles. Over 90% of them are recycled in my country because you get money back. Also cuts down on littering because even if someone leaves their empty bottle or can lying around outside, someone else will be along to pick it up to get that deposit back - kids can make a killing going around parks in the summer here gathering cans and bottles from people having picnics and park parties.

@Natsku I wish we did this. I remember the Corona bottles used to have a deposit on them

I've tried the recycling scheme at Boots for blister packs as our council won't recycle them but you have to take photos of the packs to receive any Boots points. I still recycle them but can't be bothered to get the points - too much of a faff

It's not that the council have decided that 'people have nothing better to do'. It is government policy - I think it has been coming for quite a while - and councils are fined if they do not meet recycling targets. So when you recycle as policy requires, you are helping your council to avoid hefty fines and therefore have money to spend on services such as adult and child social care. I wondered about the worth of food recycling, until I discovered that the purpose is primarily recovery of Nitrogen, Phosphorus and Potassium, and the processing plants use the waste to produce biogas (for energy) and bio-fertiliser (for agriculture). All part of the country being a bit more self-reliant. It seems a minor incovenience to get over the ick factor of cleaning a few meat trays and mayo jars.

Absolutely agree with this! I remember the first time I went to Germany, must’ve been about 17/18ish years ago, and was absolutely blown away by how advanced they were with recycling. And as you say, it needs to be a full countrywide system. Wherever I’ve stayed in Germany, and pretty much most European countries I’ve been to, their systems seem to be common no matter where you are in the country. Again, I’d say Germany is the best at this, and I think would be a really good country to copy. Unfortunately the way our country works, with each council having their own rules, putting different amounts of their budget towards things like recycling etc, makes it also it impossible for us to have a countrywide system in place. I think I’m correct in saying that the recent countrywide “rules” in councils having to implement food recycling by (I think) March of this year is one of the only ones I can recall. But increasing the amount of normal recycling should - in my opinion - be more of a priority than that. The difference between what I can recycle and that of my partner (in a different region of the uk) is massive. He’s still, sometimes, after many years, checking whether something can or can’t be recycled here as where he lives they can recycle almost everything that is recyclable. When you have - for example - tetrapaks, that can be recycled in far more areas now but still can’t be here, he has to make a special journey to take those to a big recycling bin over the other side of town for me, and really you wonder if that extra trip is worse for the environment then if you just chucked it in the bin. Although he does generally now try and fit it in with another errand or something. My council is an absolute shame with regards to recycling. They say it’s due to the facilities that are available, and yes I understand that to change that would be expensive, but other areas manage it.

@Ladygodalmighty

so what? It’s a bin. It has a lid which contains any smells. I do enough washing of things I ain’t gonna start washing the rubbish too

@Itsasecretnow We do indeed have so much to learn from where things are done better elsewhere, but that means admitting things are better elsewhere and no politician would ever admit that before Brexit, never mind after, and they want to appeal to voters who would never admit it even in the face of overwhelming evidence. Case in point: the universal 'rules' around recycling food waste separately were actually an EU Directive which stayed on the UK books after Brexit but before it was adopted.

In Portugal, recycling centres tend to be on a regional basis although the rules around colours of bins and everything are national. In my council area there, at the annual summer fair the council's stand has information about how much money comes back to the town as profit from the regional recycling scheme, for example how much glass is sold on to bottle manufacturers and so on. My council also illustrates what the money is spent on: one year it might be to rebuild the sports hall in the high school, one year it was used to landscape gardens in all the new roundabouts after a by-pass was built, and quite a bit was saved up to build a new indoor pool which is open all year round unlike the previous outdoor one. Because the people can actually see, touch, and use the financial benefits of recycling, they are heavily invested in doing it properly.

In the UK, there is absolutely no transparency on how the money flows around in recycling. In most councils here, for example, it's not the council itself but waste management providers (the likes of Viridor, SITA, Biffa etc) which operate the schemes, run the tips, and collect rubbish from your door. There are different financial models but they often even pay the council for the privilege, and are then free to do as they please with whatever they make from recycling your rubbish. Or even incinerate it: there's an EFW (Energy From Waste) plant in Kirklees, West Yorkshire, which produces enough electricity to power about 15,000 homes by burning whatever they can't recycle from good Yorkshire garbage, with the profits going straight into the bank accounts of Suez Environnment's shareholders.

Well I must have had a premonition. Water people outside till nearly midnight last night. Neighbour complained about toilet backing up, dynorod couldn't clear it so water company men came out. Very noisy machine pushing hosepipes down the drains to break up what was there. I had GC staying for half-term so they didn't get to sleep till very late.

I'm even more concerned about fatbergs.

I didnt know you couldnt put milk down the sink? I do that all the time

I do sometimes, then pour boiling water down the plug hole. If it's a lot it goes in the toilet and after flushing I pour on boiling water.

Whats the difference between pouring down the sink and pouring down the toilet? It all ends up in a pipe somewhere.

You're not supposed to put boiling water down toilets I think

Because it's your rubbish. In many countries you have to take it to waste disposal sites yourself. Or use bin chutes in the street. So at least it's collected from the house.

I was really interested about milk as I was unaware it caused problems. We aren't going to be on mains drains at our new house but will have a fancy treatment plant which is really efficient and digests the sewage with bacteria. I looked on the manufacturer's website and their advice on milk is a definite no. It interferes with the system and leads to problems. They suggested diluting milk and putting it on the garden or on a compost heap. Thanks to pp for mentioning this, I had no idea!

BTW do people need to buy milk in such giant containers? We only have one milk drinker in the house so buy 1 pint containers which can be frozen easily and defrosted quickly. Some on the morning porridge, the rest in a milk jug and brought out when needed for tea. We rarely have any left over. Obviously that's just us though.

Other households can have more milk drinkers. Or use more milk in general, for cereal, for cooking /baking, or coffee/cocoa, milkshakes, etc.
Is that something you cant come up with?

Unless you have small kids surely no one is buying more than a pint of milk per week anyway?

So rude you posted it twice!

I did say "That's just us though" so why the snarky comment?

Yes I know people have different requirements, I'm not suggesting everybody should buy in small amounts but just commenting on how we make sure WE don't buy more milk than we need, as a small household. Easier for us to judge when it will run out.

This makes no sense at all ! Unless you are vegan most households will on average use more than a pint of milk.

I only drink milk in tea and coffee and probably use about 2 pints a week

I buy it in one pints though to keep it fresher and fit it in the fridge easier.

Using it for what? Besides a little bit in tea or coffee? Or I guess if you have it with cereal

Well people bake,make milky puddings use milk in mash potatoes, drink it

My OH buys the creamy Guernsey milk, he drinks glasses of it but wont drink it once its opened after a day so much of it goes down the sink

Exactly! We do the same although DH has milk on his porridge so we get 4 x 1 pint bottles and defrost them gradually through the week. Just tea probably would be 1 pint just for him.

Yes it’s an absolutely bizarre take. I buy 4 pints a week and usually get through it all. I like milk in my tea and coffee, sometimes cereal for breakfast and I use it in cooking e.g., a cheese sauce.

DH doesn’t really drink it either so it really is mostly me.

OMG we usually get through in the region of about 28-32 pints per week!!

Anyone else?

We have three teenagers but I'm dairy free, so that's four people drinking it.

Wow is someone bathing in it?