Recycling and the vagaries between Councils.

I've just had a letter from the bin police. They say I put something in the wrong bin , don't know what, and my bin won't be emptied if I do it again.
As they haven't said what it was I may reoffend. How did they know? The men rush round and the machine throws everything in together so I don't think they had time to open all the bags.I feel quite upset now.

Don't be upset please ! Sure by now you have contacted your council, if not, you must. This is simply unacceptable.

My neighbour’s Paper and Cardboard bin was not emptied because some thoughtless person used it to deposit some dog poo on their dog walk.

The bins have to be out by 5.30am on collection days, must be a boon for lazy early morning dog owners.

www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-politics-64995473

I noticed that all our plastics seem to have a recycling symbol with a number representing the type of plastic so I contacted my council to see what number plastics they want in the plastics recycling bin.

They said "tell us what you have to recycle (eg. milk carton, tetra pack) and we will let you know if you can recycle it in plastics. I wrote back that a list of the recycling numbers would be useful as I didn't want to keep messaging them every few days with a specific item.
The response - "if you aren't sure just put it in the black bin"!

It's the plastic that I can't cope with. Green bin , fine ( even though our green bin is black with a pink lid). Paper, fine. Glass and metal, fine. But plastic!!! Can we? Can't we? Black food trays? Definitely no! But what about grey ones or brown ones? To say nothing of everything else that , no matter how hard we try to avoid, comes in plastic. I try. I really do. But sometimes I just give up and put everything in the general waste. And my DH really can't get his head around the fact that not all plastics are equal.

I remember reading a letter in our paper from a reader who said she hurried out one morning when the bin men arrived and just wanted confirmation about which of the umpteen bins she should put some type of recycling in.
“Oh I shouldn’t worry love, they all go down the same chute “ he replied.

All our recycling goes in one bin, paper, glass and plastic. Makes it very easy for the residents of course, but the council has to sort everything out.

Our bins are within reach of the pavement all week so we have locked them to stop people using them (especially for dog mess). I love it when I see someone trying to open the bin for their doggy bag ha ha.

As for plastics, just read the council's website, otherwise the rule is hard plastic to be recycled and soft plastic/plastic bags not. It's not worth getting worked up about.

You are wrong about the simplicity of the plastics, Chestnut - at least you are in my area!

Soft plastic can be taken to Tescos for recycling.

It’s the garden waste that annoys me. It is strictly garden waste here, no uncooked veg peelings even though they compost as well as anything in the garden. I grew peas last year. If I sit outside and shell them as soon as picked, presumably garden waste, if I take them into the kitchen and subsequently shell them there, presumably kitchen waste. Madness!
We don’t have a food waste bin collection.

There is a useful website called recyclenow.com You put in your postcode and it will tell you if you can recycle specified items.

Recycling most plastics makes no sense at all and is hugely costly in 100s of ways. We must just give it up.

Did you watch tonight on the News- the huge swathes of 1960s and 70s landfill sites being eroded into the sea, with tons of plastics?

Only PET plastic bottles are worth recycling, and not if they have contained oil or shampoo, washing liquid, shower gel, etc.

I agree it's all pretty pointless while shops continue to sell drinks in plastic bottles. Especially water. Drinks manufacturers need to take responsibility for the damage they are doing.

Our council pretty much only recycles card, paper and plastic bottles. It won't accept other plastics like yogurt pots as the council next to us does. You pay extra for garden waste which is only for garden cuttings, not veg peelings. My son's council has about 5 different bins so well served for recycling.
Unfortunately our Council owns part of the Waste Collection Service so as dire as it is, I can't see them changing contractors.

I agree it is confusing. Information on our council website differs from the list ( yes /no )stuck on the inside of the blue recycling bin. If in doubt, leave it out, is my motto but DH puts all hard plastics in. Aldi take soft plastics and their list includes cat food pouches, which are semi-soft.
Another annoyance is the different coloured bins in different authorities. Our council has blue recycling, black landfill and green garden waste if you pay £40 pa.
Glass has to be taken to a bottle bank.

I must admit I recycle very little plastic. I am very confused as to what I can recycle. I spend ages studying plastic packaging/bottles to find If recyclable but nearly always no information.
Some symbols I thought meant items were recyclable in fact mean item is made of recyclable materials.

Our bins are green general, black garden, and blue recycling but only paper tins and cardboard. Glass we have to take to tip. It would be great if we had a nationwide scheme we could all follow. A few years ago each property had small “discs” fitted on all our bins - they can’t be seen as under the lip but I’m not sure the reason why. I’ll do some research but can only guess weight? Anyone know?

When we managed a Working Men’s Club we had different coloured glass bins to reflect the different coloured bottles we recycled. My husband religiously recycled the bottles by colour until one day the Council arrived and simply emptied the bins together in the same place in the bin motor. Needless to say he didn’t bother segregating the bottles again.

We pay three times for bin collection. There is an annual charge then a per lift charge and finally all waste is weighed at the truck and you are charged a rate per kilo depending on the nature of the waste.

We have to get in our car and take our refuse to our bins 1/4 mile away. We found some bins were not emptied as they has the "wrong" coloured bags in and a notice asked for £75 for a special collection. There were even heavy duty black bags in the paper recycling bin with the writing on top saying paper and cardboard only. Bins aren't emptied if they have loose dog poo bags in. We could not monitor the bins being so far from our houses.

We have a black bin for general waste, food bin for kitchen waste and all recycling goes in a plastic (???) bag supplied by the council.

Milest0ne

We have to get in our car and take our refuse to our bins 1/4 mile away. We found some bins were not emptied as they has the "wrong" coloured bags in and a notice asked for £75 for a special collection. There were even heavy duty black bags in the paper recycling bin with the writing on top saying paper and cardboard only. Bins aren't emptied if they have loose dog poo bags in. We could not monitor the bins being so far from our houses.

Our council provide both household recycling bins and larger bins for the wider community. The community bins take cardboard only but the household bins take mixed paper and cardboard.