Recycling

We have large nylon bags supplied by the DC for paper and cardboard (we compost a fair bit of this anyway), glass, metal and plastic recycling. The large green wheelie bin is for garden and kitchen waste (we compost much of this too) and we could also put animal waste in this bin if we were so inclined.

Then of course the grey wheelie for anything else.

Between the compost, the dogs and the chickens there is almost no food waste.

Granny23 I do miss our real fire and it was great for burning things like chicken bones.

Okay - here goes: in the kitchen we have a three small bins, one each for un-recycleable rubbish, for cooked waste and for compostable waste. Outside the back door we have shelving for: re-usable jam jars and glass bottles; cardboard; egg boxes (for return to our egg supplier); two boxes for ordinary recycling and one for tetra paks; a bin for teabags and coffee grounds; a compost bin; an ash can and of course next to the shelving is an alcove for the big black rubbish bin. My husband watches over us all like a hawk and heaven forfend if one of us should put something out for the rubbish that can be recycled!!!!

Yes Bags I also use any hard fat e.g. that has come out of sausages, for feeding the birds and wipe round frying pan with kitchen roll and either re oil the pan after washing or use to light the fire. We never seem to have anything to go in our waste food bin as the cat gets any meaty or fishy left-overs and vegetable waste, cooked or uncooked goes in the compost bin, except for potato peelings which go on the fire to help clean the chimney. All plum, apricot and plum stones also go on the fire. (This week 3 cooked sausages, forgotten at the back of the fridge, also provided a good blaze, but shh don't tell DH)

I have a large drawer under the sink that contains a food waste bin and a one for recycling. I save the resealable, dishwasher tablet bags for disposing of oil or grease.

I just do it at the end of the washing up ( there is always washing up, even with a dishwasher) and if you don't like touching the items use rubber gloves and one of those sponges with a handle that you can fill, with WU liquid.
Our plastic tin and glass all gkes into one, so someone has to sort it and it can't be very pleasant if it is stinking and going mouldy.

The very thought of NOT washing out tins, cartons, milk bottles, etc makes me feel sick. Imagine the smell by the time the next fortnightly collection comes round. YUK

Think the modern dish washers use much less water...but electricity, not sure?

The very thought of washing up cans (eek), the very thought sets my teeth on edge, and I can't be arsed to wash out jars........

The kitchen paper tip...

Never thought of that, B - Good tip.

Walnuts make v. good firelighters, if one happens to have a glut and can no longer face cracking yet more.

Our dishwasher blew up about a month ago. Haven't missed it and not going to replace it. Rather pay a little more on water and electrical bills, which will be minimal compared to the cost of a new one.

Oh yes, we do the birdfood cakes as well, in the winter mainly.

If you use hard fats, you can stir in bird food and put it outside for them, then there's no waste at all.

If you can be arsed you can make pemmican with melted fat and dried, ground meat like the Eskimos did.

Another thing I do is wipe round wok or frying pan with kitchen paper and then use the oil-impregnated paper as a firelighter in the stove.

At our local recycling centre there is a small tank for waste cooking oil I don't have a lot though. I decant it from chip pan and pour it into an old cooking oil bottle ans stick it in the Wendy house until I am going to the tip.

I don't know, it's just what I do. I do get very confused about what is recyclable and what is not, for instance tetrapaks or similar, pressurised cans (eg hairspray)etc. I suppose you could just put it into newspaper then bin it, then recycle the tinfoil (washed or not?).

I've read lots of reports that say dishwashers are more eco-sound and more cost effective. And I believe them

Solid fat can go into the normal bin but not oil, so that is a conundrum.

Oh, is that what your supposed to do with it? We don't get a food recycling bin though, unfortunately.

We don't use a lot of fat or oil but I scrape it into the food recycling bin.

I rinse the cans and put them in the dishwasher, which I'd be using anyway, to get rid of any residual smell.

Washing recyclable containers doesn't waste water if you're already using the water to wash other things that you have to wash, like your mugs and plates and pans.... You don't have to use extra water.

Unless you use a dishwasher for everything else.

Do dishwashers waste water? By which I mean do they use more water (and electricity) than hand washing-up uses?

I'm starting to get a bit confused about some aspects of recycling.

They're running telly adverts saying don't pour fats down drains (that's ok & I never did anyway) but pour them into reseal able containers & put into bin. Surely those reseal able containers are meant to be recycled, not binned.

Also, I use foil to line roasting tins & trays etc. but should I be trying to recycle the extremely greasy foil or not, & if so how?

We also have 2 food recycling bins provided by the Council, a small one for indoors to line with compostable bags, and a larger one for outside.

We have a reasonably sized plastic double recycling bin bought in Lidl, one side for paper and the other side for plastic, tins, glass, which all go in together in our recycling bags outside. You can get a variety ranging up in price (John Lewis do some more expensive ones).

I wash all the plastic, tins and rinse the --wine and whisky--glass bottles in case they they start to smell, and also because I once saw a picture in the paper of a young Chinese woman with a baby strapped on her back sorting tnrough mounds of stinking plastic sent from Britain. Even if it stays here, it still has to be sorted someone

I have bought a really smart divided tall wicker divided box type thingy. Heaven only knows what it was originally intended for, but I wanted to keep my kitchen looking nice. So one half contains glass and the other, plastic. DBH thinks it is probably meant for laundry.

We have a plastic storage box for recycling next to the other bin in the kitchen. I always rinse things before adding them to the box. They collect recycling and other waste on alternate weeks.
Our LA have just started collecting glass in the recycling wheelie rather than in a separate box. They have also recently issued small boxes for cooked food waste plus bones etc. which will be collected weekly. Peelings, eggshells, tea bags go on the compost.

We only have collections once every fortnight, so we keep a medium size plastic bin with lid near the back door for the recycling, and empty this in the large outside bin every few days.The small one for food items we tuck in a cupboard[the plastic box has a compostable liner in it.]It did seem a nuisance at first, but you get used to it.I still think that shops use far too much packaging.

I swish after washing up as well phoenix!

We don't have a food recycling facility and I asked if I could put food waste in the garden bin (for which we pay extra) and was told we couldn't though I do sneak in 'dry' stuff like cauliflower leaves etc. Our garden is too small for composting so our only answer is to throw stuff away - ridiculous.