AIBU for people not breaking down cardboard boxes into recycling bins

[Aerom]

Why people don’t bother to flatten down cardboard boxes - cereal boxes to boxes that had stuff delivered in before putting into their recycling bin. Boxes that not flattened take up much space. You are binning air if don’t flatten boxes.

Walking past a lady binning a box which was about a size of two shoe boxes side by side into her recycling bin. She couldn’t put the lid down. I asked if I could help. I flattened the box and placed in bin and could put the lid down.

On recycling bin days - often see boxes intact over hanging the bin. Not just where I live but in the town where I work

Why does it matter if there is room in the recycling box?

I recycle boxes by removing any plastic tape or metal staples and flattening them. Any that are glued, I separate the glued flaps and, where the glue is visible and removable, I remove that too. I find all this particularly satisfying.

my Council state wet cardboard cannot be recycled. TBH, folding it does a fair job of compacting it.

Empty boxes stuffed into bins , so that the lid doesn’t shut get blown around the area, plus ripping them up allows lots more room for other paper waste. It’s easy enough to do. Don’t be lazy!

I squash nothing. I don’t care

Glad you’re not my neighbour!

Our recycling boxes are open to the elements so the contents
get wet on rainy days 🤷‍♀️

Force of habit.

For those who don’t flatten anything in their recycling- sometimes, depending on your recycling bin day and Christmas/NY, you may have to wait another 7-10 days for another collection. Don’t you flatten stuff then?

How does it possibly affect you if someone else squashes their boxes??

It’s the general don’t care attitude!

I might stuff boxes inside other boxes if I have loads, but generally it’s not an issue.

About boxes. Not caring about flattening boxes. I’m sure that poster cares about many other things, as i do i, its just boxes isn’t one of them.

Why what difference does it make to you?

But what difference does unsquashed boxes make to your life?

I'm more annoyed/baffled by people who complain about getting maggots or stinky bins but they don't rinse out recycling or use food waste bin just chuck everything in black bin. We are a family of 5 adults and produce a small carrier bag of landfill waste per week. Everything else is compost/food waste/recycling. Our bins never stink cos we don't put stinky stuff in them..

How are unflattened boxes a thing to bother about ? If they fit in your bin then great . If I have a lot I might push them down . How does it inconvenience anyone at all , not even the bin collectors ?

Our council won't take them if they are wet, so if we have really big boxes to flatten we can't leave them out beside the bins in case it rains.
That means we have to wait until they come down the street and personally hand them over to the bin operatives.
( I can't say "bin men" as we have a "bin lady" now !)

I think this is the crux of the issue really. I also find it quite therapeutic and satisfying to remove the tape and flatten the cardboard boxes.
DH is in the 'cant be arsed' camp.

But he gets his kicks putting the shoes on the shelf and, guess what, I CBA.

Different folks and all that.

With food waste caddies. I don't have one as the council don't provide them for flats. Apart from the non edible parts of food - stalks, fruit stones, tea bags etc - I probably bin the odd manky grape or cherry tomato

People need to understand that you need to keep the handle upright to lock the lid.

If you are getting maggots - you are also wasting far too much food. I have heard of people roasting a whole chicken, carve about half the breasts worth for a roast meal. Then BIN the rest! Leave the chicken to cool them take the rest of the meat and box it up - you can freeze it and use the chicken in sandwiches, salads, pasta etc

We don't have food waste caddies. Everything has to go in our general waste bin which is collected fortnightly. It's hard in this weather to avoid getting maggots.

I flatten all my boxes, I wash all the trays and I squash all the bottles. This saves me from having to empty the inside bin into the outside bin too often. I also separate cardboard into 1) basic cardboard ie cartons, Amazon boxes and 2) shiny cardboard like cereal boxes. The basic cardboard goes into our compost bin, the shiny to recycling.

But I actually don't give a toss what anyone else does because I don't live in their houses or gardens and how they fill their bins could not be of any less interest to me.

@HJC88 "But I actually don't give a toss what anyone else does because I don't live in their houses or gardens and how they fill their bins could not be of any less interest to me."

You would if you lived around here !

We are near the coast and if bin lids are left even a teeny bit open the seagulls will try and pull stuff out of them and drag it all over the place !

I live in a house full of autistic people 3 of whom are diagnosed with ARFID. foot waste happens here, but it goes in the food caddy and we rarely have any maggots.

Our council allows us one small plastic box the size of a milk crate for a fortnight’s paper and cardboard. I always use the biggest box I have to supplement the plastic box and flatten everything else.

My neighbours don't even recycle properly, I've seen they just throw everything in there including plastic bags. Then there is me taking all my soft plastics to the supermarket and recycling everything, makes me wonder why I bother if most people aren't doing it properly.