Recycling

Our council - one of the top 10 in England for recycling - gives us the choice of two sizes of bins. I use the smaller one for non-recyclables and regularly fill the recycling bin with packaging, newspapers, cans and plastics.

Didn't know you could refuse bins, our council is changing, hate wheelie bins. I pee on my compost, or at least I empty the bucket from my workshop on it, more than my life's worth to rush indoors with sawdust all over me.

I HATE plastic bins and refuse to have a row of them in my garden. I've asked for bags instead of a general rubbish bin and have a bag for plastic bottles and cardboard. Both these go in the box for newspaper, tins and glass, which fits neatly in the top of the garden waste bin. So the only bin visible is the big green bin, which I have to pay £54 per year for. All these different receptacles are emptied fortnightly but it takes me a month or 6weeks to fill each one.
Your council can't make single households accept umpteen vast wheelie bins.
I compost what I can, including egg boxes and paper bags.
My brother used to pee on his compost. Would'nt work for women!

Elrel I think you are right, we need a national system that lists nearly every item of rubbish and identifies the correct disposal route regardless of where we live.

We're not a very big country, is a standardised recycling system too much to ask? I guess the answer is a resounding 'yes'. Every council seems to have a different system and some people just can't be bothered. If it were National at least we'd all know what we were aiming for.

Regarding 'disposable' nappies, I was told at a WI conference that they stay in landfill for more than 500 years. (I am currently working on discussing with DS2 and partner the possibility of using cloth nappies for new baby due in January.) Modern cloth nappies are easy to put on and deal with and work out cheaper in the long run, especially if obtained second hand or home made. I have made a few with Velcro fastening and I think i will offer to be nappy washing service as we don't have a water meter and they do.

Stick them up your sleeve, of course!

Being a keen recycler my neighbour used compostable disposable nappies for a few months when her son was a baby. Two of her 6 large compost bins had been abandoned for a few years and we then emptied them only to find the so called compostable nappies still there at least 5 years later. They were mixed with lots of other garden waste which had composted very well. Unfortunately she couldn't remember where she had got them from to complain.

Toilet paper - we can buy it made of material which is supposed to be biodegradable. Because we have a septic tank, not main drains.
But not paper tissues.

GertrudeGrace To get the right ratio of wee and water it's best to use a bucket, rather than straddling the compost bin in the pouring rain

Really!! This re cycling business has got a bit out of hand.

If one doesn't have an open fire or a wood burning stove, or a compost heap, then one puts ones tissues in the General,rubbish sack. What else are you supposed to do with them.
Also, I think that toilet paper is denser than tissues. I wouldn't dream of putting tissues down the toilet. Or wipes for that matter.

I recycle paper, card, tins, glass and garden waste, but that's about it.

I don't have room in my kitchen for a food recycling box. All,these bins and bags for different things, it's all getting ridiculous.

Tissues & Kitchen Roll go in our Food Waste- we use compostable caddy bags which are then put into Food Waste Bin - not touched by Human Hands again as they go directly to an Anaerobic Digester.

Also have Re-Cycling Boxes - one for cardboard, brown/coloured paper & glasses. Second one for metal, tins & plastic.

Wheelie Bin for all non-recyclable

Wheelie Bin for Garden Waste

Blue Bag for newspaper, magazines, white paper etc

Our Council also has a Help-line (phone or email)

Swanny do you wee straight in the bin or decant to a bucket first? .

Plain paper tissues go on the compost heap, and so would the odd cotton wool.ball. Then, along with kitchen scraps, soft weeds, and shredded paper, grass cuttings, leaves, etc. it turns into lovely compost.

Everything is decomposed completely by the worms and other wriggles, and by the heat generated. It is turned daily by the chickens scatting it up.

Please don't put used tissues in the recycling! It's hand sorted and it's a disgusting job without dealing with (sorry) snot! I watched an episode of Undercover Boss a while ago. It was the boss of Biffa, the refuse and recycling company. You might imagine that your recycling goes straight for sorting but actually it's stored for ages, it gets wet and goes mouldy and smelly before those poor workers have to handle it.

GertrudeGrace When I had a garden with compost bin I would regularly tear up some recyclable paper and thin card to help the worms break down the vegetable peelings etc. The head of Parks and Gardens on the local council recommended mixing 1 part urine to 7 parts water and pouring it over the compost to help activate it as well.

The dog eats them!

Slight deviation sorry, but recycling needs total rethink. Amount of bins is ridiculous, where there is no rear storage , or laziness, bins at front of properties have made swathes of the country look like slums. Far too easy for councils to just decide we need yet another one.

Toilet paper is not so dense as tissues. It has been formulated to break down as soon as possible so as not to block the drains. Tissues are made of sterner stuff so best not to put them down the loo!

We put tissues & anything remotely 'burnable' in the woodburner

Toilet paper can be used to do the same things as tissues, if they run out (or even if they don't run out)

Has anyone noticed that toilet paper flushes away easily but tissues don't ?so why aren't tissues made of the same materials.

I find them quite useful in lighting the fire.

Ye, no problems, apart from having to make sure card has not been cardboard coated. The first year I had compost full of small pieces of plastic fim as the card rotted but the plastic didn't.

M0nica does it all break down ok in the compost? My compost is generally not good so perhaps more card and bits of paper would. I think I need to move the compost bin to a warmer spot. Best be careful here before this turns into a composting thread, I'll have a look under "gardening" in case there is one there already. Thanks for your posts.