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AIBU?

Share your dilemmas and get honest opinions from other Mumsnetters.

AIBU for people not breaking down cardboard boxes into recycling bins

104 replies

Aerom · 25/07/2026 13:28

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

OP posts:
Aerom · 28/07/2026 07:21

About wet cardboard. In the council area I used to live in, at that time, we put cardboard in the garden waste bin! Sometimes the garden waste creates a damp atmosphere in the bin.

Unsure if this council does this now

OP posts:
Mischance · 28/07/2026 08:34

My neighbour puts their recycling in the bin tied into a plastic bag . ...

Mischance · 28/07/2026 08:38

Baileyss · 26/07/2026 16:32

Hey! Are you not on hosepipe ban? Sounds highly illegal!!

No hosepipe ban here!
I only wet really large cardboard items which are imposdible to break down and only as much as needed. And in this weather they will dry.

TofuTuesday · 28/07/2026 08:44

Nourishinghandcream · 25/07/2026 14:14

Because some people are lazy bell ends.🤬

A house around the corner from us has three recycling bins, all overflowing by bin day with things like drinks cans, plastic milk bottles, cardboard boxes etc all put in whole, not squashed or flattened.

This is probably me. I live with a load of adult kids and a husband none of whom bother and I try really hard myself to recycle. Reuse boxes etc. flatten things. Maybe it’s me, or there’s another woman out there living a miserable life she didn’t dream of.

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