Recycling changes - kitchen bins

[Ineffable23]

My area is one of the ones that has only had general waste and general recycling up until this point. We're due to be switching to a 5 bin system in June, of which I'll need room for 4 inside: food waste, general waste, plastics + glass + metal, and paper and cardboard.

I don't have the cupboard space for built in bins - my kitchen is jolly small and at the moment I already have quite an inconvenient set up: I have a big recycling bin and a little general waste bin, plus a box for glass, plus soft plastics hanging round til I take them to the co-op to get rid of them. I am keen to improve on this once the new system comes in!

I'm trying to work out what the best option is, because I don't really want lots of bins hanging around, or to be resorting recycling before it goes to the wheelie bin. I don't think I'll need much room for general waste as I can't think of much at all that isn't covered by the recycling categories, but I don't think I can have no bin at all for that, and I can't see anything that's a 4 compartment bin at the moment.

I would be very grateful to know what solutions other people have found to the many bin problem!

I pretty much put stuff straight into the bins outside . It seems pointless to collect indoors and then put out. But it might depend on your house set up how convenient or not that is though . I just keep a small caddy for food waste in the kitchen . And a “normal “ waste bin in the kitchen which obviously doesn’t fill up very fast do rarely needs emptying . Everything else is taken outside as and when .

Yeah, that wouldn't be very convenient for me, unfortunately, the bins are at the front of the garden and the kitchen is at the back of the house. It might be that the right thing for my set up doesn't exist.

In that case I’d probably just collect everything in 1 recycling bin indoors and then separate it when taking out to the bins. I couldn’t be doing with all separate containers inside the house.

We have a normal general waste bin and a recycling bin in the kitchen along with a little food bin in the utility room. We don’t have a recycling bin here so bigger things like cardboard boxes end up in the shed til recycling day

How about something like this (you could probably find cheaper ones second-hand on FB Marketplace etc)?
https://www.solentplastics.co.uk/4x-50-ltr-heavy-duty-open-fronted-boxes-stacking-bins/
Food waste would go in a small counter-top caddy that you'd empty into a larger outside caddy every day or two.

My kitchen is at the back of the house and bins out front. We have a kitchen bin for general waste and just take recycling and food waste out as and when. It’s really no bother.

We've recently renovated and still don't have a great system! Do you have space near the back door for bins? Utility? I'm constantly putting things in the bins, so personally wouldn't want to be going out to the main bins everytime I have a plastic bottle or toilet roll core to put in.

-I have a food caddy on the work top
-Bin in the utility for glass (which our council don't collect from kerbside!)
-3 sectioned undercounter pull out bin for soft plastics, bottles/tins and paper/cardboard.
-Separate general waste bin

Maybe look at argos, ikea or dunelm for some solutions.

I have a tiny kitchen and just have a normal waste bin and a washing up bowl sat on top which holds the recycling. I separate the recycling into the relevant bins/boxes outside whenever I happen to going that way. You could use an old shopping bag and dump it on your way out the front door, and just sling the shopping bag inside your front door, to take back to the kitchen once you return.

Have a joint recycling bag in your kitchen and sort when you take it out. For food waste have a caddy on your worktop. I take mine out at least daily as I keep my tubs in the garden

Lidded bucket or bin in the kitchen for rinsed recyclables which you sort into the appropriate outside bins while you’re out there. My food waste goes into an old takeaway tub in the kitchen, to transfer to the outside bins while, I don’t have enough food waste to want it building up and going mouldy in a caddy. Soft plastics collected in a bread bag or dry cat food bag until my next shopping foray. One swing bin for general non-recyclable, non-compostable waste.

Similar to other posters, I have one bag on the back of the door which I put all of the recycling into (apart from food which goes into a little caddy provided by the council). When the bag is full, I take it outside and put it into the correct boxes.

Thanks everyone!

I really am not up for either separating everything out at the bins or for going out every time I want to put something in, so I reckon something like those stacking ones pictured might be the best option. I do have room near the back door for a reasonably sizeable bin - it's where they live currently.

I think, in my head, I would like something with a tiny food caddy bin and a normal waste bin on the top with then two bigger pull out recycling bins underneath but having slogged through the entire John Lewis l, Asda and Dunelm websites I don't think it exists!

We are going to be getting food recycling caddies sometime soon. I fear it's going to tip me over the edge!! I live alone in a very small place now. Previous large houses with boot rooms & utilities.& large garages & gardens are a thing of the past. Sadly. I don't have space for a food waste caddy, so I think I'll have to just use the bags (environmentally friendly as I can find) & take anything out immediately.

At the moment I just put glass by the door & take it to the outside glass bin when I go out & all other recycling goes in together here (plastic bottles/paper/tins) & I have a small bag that sits on top of the recycling bin (inside) for 'soft plastics' (which a few of us neighbours take turns taking to a supermarket).

I take batteries & pill packets to appropriate collection points as well. Usually take any the neighbours have too.

it's all better for the environment (well I hope so anyway) but I do miss the days when we just had 'a' bin.

The only inside bins I have are general waste, which is built in, and food waste. Glass, paper, cardboard and plastic goes in a pile on the side and is moved outside once a day, if necessary

Have you tried Joseph Joseph?

Or googling stacking bins

https://www.josephjoseph.com/products/totem-max-60l-waste-recycling-bins-stone?variant=36470407430216&utm_source=google&campaign_id=19631257136&ad_id=&utm_medium=cpc&utm_campaign=PMX_%5BPerformanceMax%5D_(G-United_Kingdom)%7BTier0%7D(PT4-Tier0)_%C2%A3100_and_Up&utm_content=&utm_term=&gclid=CjwKCAiAtq_NBhA_EiwA78nNWC9fXhf92bfSfCLLCthyiNzlMWsVeSrNYti_NS6wDZxsktmBe18BwBoC1AsQAvD_BwE&gad_source=1&gad_campaignid=19631279948&gbraid=0AAAAADm6GSBqgZCnBTeq8nmmTn-jGz2Q5

We keep food waste in a Tupperware in the fridge and empty on collection day only, to stop smells and foxes.
We collect glass, plastic and paper and card in a box under the sink, and it is easy enough to separate out when full, into the outside bins
We put other rubbish in the normal bin.
and collect compostable peelings and so on in the compost caddy which goes out to the compost bin every day as we eat a lot of fruit and veg.

We are having this change coming in June as well. Currently we have one large recycling bin (which needs replacing anyway but I've been waiting for the new chnages). I was thinking g of replacing it with something like those stackable bins.

My only concern with our new system is glass (which we currently have to.take to the recycling ourselves) is going to be going into a wheel bin with plastic. How do you not end up with broken glass in this bin? I'm slightly concerned well end up.with broken glass in the bottom of the recycling bin.

I’ll continue to chuck it in the general or recycling bins but no way am I having all that crap in my kitchen and I am NOT collecting what little food waste we have.

In our area you can't put veg peelings or anything that has been inside the house into the compost bin. It will have to all go in the food cady. We also have to pay extra for a garden recycling bin, so we don't and take garden waste to the recycling centre when we need to.

We've had a food waste caddy for years, in fact I think our council might have been the first to introduce the system. it sits on the kitchen floor next to the general rubbish bin. We empty it ever day or two into the one outside.

Our recycling bin is in the bottom of the airing cupboard, which is conveniently downstairs, and cardboard, plastic and paper go in there together. Emptied into the wheelie bin when full. Glass bottles wait in the hallway, and DH takes them to the bottle bank when he's out for a walk.

It really is no bother.

We have a five bin system collection..in the house we have a general + food bin. I cannot see the point of using the caddy thing. Surely it all rots just in a different location? My understanding is the council can make money out of the caddy waste but then they don't give a refund or incentive to use it so I see it as more admin I don't need.

We have a mixed recycling (glass. Plastics, metal) in the kitchen and then we have paper and cardboard in a box under the stairs.

Reading all this makes me realise how advanced our council is, I should give them more credit. We have a bag for plastic (eg milk containers and ready meal tubs) and metal, a box for glass, a box for cardboard and plastic, a caddy for food waste, and you put thin plastics eg crisp packets, biscuit wrappers etc inside a bread bag and place in the metals box on top. We can also put clothes in a carrier bag and small electronicals and put them on top. Very useful for those without transport. Garden waste is chargeable so we take to the tip

The incentive is to protect the environment! If you put food waste in your rubbish bin, it generates methane - a powerful greenhouse gas. If you put it in your food waste bin, it usually goes to an anaerobic digester, where it still produces methane, but in this scenario the methane is harvested and used as fuel. The remaining solids are used as fertiliser on farmers' fields - definitely better than sewage solids, which are also used sometimes!

Food waste does not go to landfill like general rubbish, where it would decompose and produce methane, a harmful greenhouse gas. The waste is sent to anaerobic digestion plants and used to make biogas, which is a source of renewable energy. What's left at the end is used as agricultural fertiliser.

We have a paper bin in almost every room, bottles go by the back door to go out to the recycling bin. Food bin is only needed in the kitchen.