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!

Me too 🤣 we can spare a bit of effort to do our bit. It’s not a hardship. I mean if they compared their lives with real hardship they might wise up.

And I think you are… so what! Get a grip! Stop arguing for arguments sake! I’ve got better things to do tonight than argue with keyboard warriors crying on MN about fucking jars and yoghurt pots

What is ‘pathetic’ about not washing rubbish that’s sent off to an industrial plant for mechanical cleaning, sorting and grinding?

Have you considered where the crap goes that you wash down the sink?

I increasingly get the feeling that recycling is a sort of perverse pseudo-religion that has no relationship with reality.

You know sweet FA about my life or any “hardship” I may have been through! I can see it’s really tough for you, to the point you’re almost crying because I don’t do something you want me to do 😂 Get a life!

Oh soz. Thought you'd gone to bed.

No I was telling the other poster goodnight because it’s past their bedtime… I mean they’re acting as if they’re 5!!! And you are too! Getting all fired up about recycling waste!

Besides… I reuse a lot of jars for other things like plants and storage containers so I’m not all bad eh!

Now night night, don’t have too many nightmares about dirty jars and yoghurt pots will you!

Yes, and clearly it’s way past her bedtime. I’ve never heard someone so bothered by having to wash a bit of recycling out 🤣

I’ve never heard of anyone getting so bothered about what someone else does or doesn’t do! How sad! 😂

Because it’s every 4 weeks?

Packet from whatever meat is going in dinner that night. Normally a lid or a pot from some sauce. Maybe the plastic that the veg came in. Multiply by 7. That’s a week’s worth of dinners.

Lunch it depends but there might be a packet of ham or a pot of hummus, plastic punnet from some grapes or strawberries, plastic packaging from apples or pears. Crisp packets.

I like to drink flavoured water so there is the bottles from that and DH likes to drink sparking water so bottles from that too. Some beer cans and a bottle or two from the weekend.

A jar of coffee plus a milk bottle a week.

That’s just one week.

We have bags for recycling and bags for waste , not wheelie bins .
Every week I drive to work the same houses en route have their bags shreddded and the waste all over the pavement .
Loads of people put them out overnight .as collection is early , before 7am some roads
These houses obviously have something the foxes like .
It;s the recycling bags that are shredded . Probably unwashed meat packaging ?
The waste collecters then have to deal with the strewn rubbish .

That’s exactly how I see it. F-in lazy whingers!

Ours is every 3 weeks and we have four adult sized eaters - twice what you have.

Are your plastic bags going in the wheelie bin too (ours don't, though we can take them to the supermarket in theory, in practice they never empty the bins at the supermarket so we don't bother)? If so, you can pack them up a lot smaller. DH swears by the samosa method. samosa method.

As for the rest, buying veg or fruit in plastic bags or paper bags (most in paper from the veg box, some in cardboard punnets, you can get some from the supermarket in cardboard now as well) will save the plastic boxes.

And get a soda stream! Game changer for your finances too. Plus you won't have to lug the bottles around or store them, even if it's only from the front door to the kitchen.

Poor thing, baffled about a bit of washing up. Bless you. How do you run a house?

For those struggling with the concept of recycling
Containers (Tins, Jars, Plastic Tubs): Empty them completely and give them a quick swill. It doesn't need to be spotless.
Greasy Items: For things like peanut butter jars, scrape out the excess and swish with soapy water.
Pizza Boxes: The greasy parts should go in general waste, but the clean sections can be recycled.
Paper & Cardboard: These cannot be recycled if they are wet or heavily food-stained.
Why it matters:
Prevents Contamination: Food residue can ruin whole batches of otherwise good recycling (e.g., grease soaking into paper).
Stops Pests: Washing stops your recycling bin from attracting flies, maggots, and foxes.
Worker Hygiene: It makes the sorting process much more pleasant and hygienic for the facility workers.

Jesus wept! You’re still banging on about that!

👌👏👏

The onus is on us to rebel against packaging.
I also have a little silicone spatula for getting ALL the food out of jars. I got mine in TK Maxx.
Mayo jars are easier to clean than the squeezy plastic things anyway (and which you can't get the last bit out of, short of cutting them open).
Happily, our council still does paper/card in one clear plastic bag and foil, tin, plastic and glass in another one. Our council says you have to rinse it out. Food recycling which includes paper or card like pizza boxes which have food on them as it helps making it into fertilizer. These are all weekly collection.
Black bin has moved to 3 weekly and is fine. Garden waste you have to book and pay for. Big items cost £15 to remove but you have up to 3 items for that and you have to list what they are.
I think Wales does a lot better than England in this.
Agree that it should be uniform across the UK.

Edited to say no dishwasher here either but I wash it all, I only put my recycling out every few weeks when it's full.
Nobody needs a stinking bin in their house!

All this has been in place where I live for the last year. If you are a larger family (+4 people I think) you can request a larger general waste bin. At first I thought it would be unmanageable but it’s really not. The only time we struggled was Christmas.

Just to clarify I meant I was baffled by the idea of washing up things that are going in the bin.

And I’m not sure I do “run a house” though I do housework if that’s what you mean.

I do this too. Also plastic trays that have had chicken titties or mince in them..I just rinse under a tap.
It's ok to ' not be bothered 'but you might regret this when you have maggots in your bin during the warm weather

We have our bins emptied every three weeks, but our plastic / tins bin is never more than half full (we don't get glass pick up).

We drink squash instead of buying bottles of water, and use a soda stream for fizzy juice or water.

I don't use any plastic bags for fruit, just pick from the loose pears and apples and they go straight into my shopping bag.

The most rubbish comes from tins of tomatoes from making sauces, milk bottles, yoghurt pots, etc. but the plastic stuff can be squished together quite easily.

Crisp packets and soft plastics go into a shopping bag to take to the supermarket recycling each week.

We live in a really rural location and I do one big shop each week.

Exactly, I cannot imagine not rinsing things out, then wipe with kitchen towel and wash hands; I haven't had food poisoning from doing so.

Bins are disgusting in hot weather if people leave bits of food on things.

I just rinse out jars / tins in the dirty dish water. I actually never use my dish washer I can’t stand it. Husband insisted on having another one when we had our new kitchen 🤷‍♀️ we have spit plastic recycling here too it’s great you’d be surprised how much you get & I have one small black bag every 3 weeks from a household of 3

Not if we save the planet by choosing not have them! 😇

What would that look like if everyone on the planet did that. Not convinced it would make people care any more about the state of the planet. In fact, it may give less incentive.

Lots of pensions are paid out of current taxpayers contributions. If nobody is having children, that would also mean the tax base for the NHS and many other state provided services is gone. Carers non existent, with no one to pay for them anyway.

There is a difference in a few people not reproducing, when the children of others keeping everything going. Indeed, even the very low wages by many people in services are kept going by other people’s children coming from countries where they have more children, with less choices. Where the incentive to working for low pay is that their own children will have a better life. Helps keep wages depressed for certain jobs.

If no new population, then I suppose we could all go to fade away on the top of a mountain as we become elderly, or sick. With no one/ few left to grow food, any resources might be reserved for those who can still actively do things. That is the way they dealt with scarce resources in a few cultures, I believe. Send the old and unproductive to float away on an iceberg.

And lastly, even if people still sorted their rubbish, there’d be nobody left to sort it out, dispose of it, or recycle it. Nobody to treat water or keep it coming out of the taps.