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Cardboard Recycling made me think

(57 Posts)
Truffle43 Fri 21-Nov-25 19:32:34

Today I walked passed a very expensive eco house and couldn’t believe what I was seeing. It is our recycling bin day, this house had a lot of waste which is good for it to be getting recycled but…..Cardboard boxes were strewn all over the place, I was a bit put out as none of it had been folded down making it easier for the collectors. I see these hard working guys running up the road collecting all the rubbish every week and this thoughtless behaviour makes their job even harder. My thoughts were that if they had folded it down the workers could have collected it in one instead they had to keep picking lots of bits. Sorry for moaning but I do think more care could have been taken. What do others think?

AmberGran Sat 22-Nov-25 12:17:22

I always thought ours had to go in the wheelie bin but I often see hoards of cardboard stood up against a bin and it gets taken. It is broken down though usually.

Allira Sat 22-Nov-25 12:18:33

Cardboard can be used in the garden as a weed suppressant.

nanna8 Sat 22-Nov-25 12:21:44

No one runs anywhere here. It is all automated and they drive the big trucks up and it is all collected mechanically. If it doesn’t go into the bins provided it isn’t collected.

BlueBelle Sat 22-Nov-25 14:24:22

Cardboard in the garden just mulches after a few rain storms

grandMattie Sat 22-Nov-25 15:17:17

My late son was an engineer in the Kent recycling centre. He would comment on the disgustingly dirty paper and card that was sent. Obviously, the dirtier, the less money the vendor got.

On the other hand, he was always surprised at the number of coins they’d get our of the “chewing” machine!

kittylester Sat 22-Nov-25 15:32:13

dragonfly46

Yes kitty I often wonder what happens to the recycling in our area as everything seems to get put in the same bin. Some of our neighbours put out extra plastic bags of recyclable waste and the bin men take it.
I have to say our bin men are wonderful and have been known to take the bin from the side of the house when I have forgotten to put it out!

I think i have read that we are getting lots of different receptacle soon.

DD3's school, not the same council but just over the forest, has got a really complicated system of this bin one one day, this other bin on another day but alternate weeks.

She has heard that it is coming to the whole county soon.

Retroladywriting Sat 22-Nov-25 17:32:11

Allira

One thing that is evident from this thread is that every Local Authority seems to have different methods for recycling and waste disposal.

Absolutely they do. We are lucky to live in one of the few areas where soft flexible plastics, e.g. clingfilm, cereal bags, bubble wrap etc. are collected at the kerbside. Soft plastic bags are provided to keep it all together. That's aswell ascard, paper,tins glass and hard plastics. The main waste bin is collected every three weeks but is often pretty empty. Recycling is collected weekly and our bin men are generally very tidy.

Calendargirl Sat 22-Nov-25 17:38:28

We have black bin for general, green for garden waste (costs £50 annually), purple for paper and cardboard, grey for glass, plastics. Soon to have food caddies and bins.

We take soft plastics to Tesco for recycling.

Fortnightly collections, paper and plastics alternate.

Just need to be organised to keep on top of it all.

twiglet77 Sat 22-Nov-25 17:51:47

My cardboard goes in the blue bin for recyclables with paper, but tissues and kitchen roll go in the green bin for compostable waste. The council instructions are that excess cardboard will be collected if it is flattened and tied or taped into a stack that will fit in an empty wheelie bin, because they empty the bin as normal, then put the stack of cardboard into the now empty bin for the truck to tip it in, they don’t just throw the stack into the truck.

Babs03 Sat 22-Nov-25 20:26:23

We have strict recycling rules. Pink lidded bin is for plastic containers but no plastic wrappers, also includes tin cans, tin foil and glass jars/bottles all must be put loose in the bin not in a bag. Paper, mags, and cardboard, all boxes must be flattened, are put out in a blue lidded bin again it must be loose. The black lidded bin is for everything else - not food, and must be put in a black bag in the bin. These bins are collected on the same day but different lidded bins are picked up on alternate weeks.
Takes some doing. Washing all the containers for the pink bin because otherwise it gets smelly and dirty. And getting family who stay sometimes to keep to the rules.
Some are just shoving everything in the black lidded bin rather than sorting it.

Babs03 Sat 22-Nov-25 20:28:50

I just realised that mine is probs a very boring post. 😬

Calendargirl Sat 22-Nov-25 21:25:15

Babs03

I just realised that mine is probs a very boring post. 😬

No it’s not.

Interesting to see how different areas do things.

nanna8 Sat 22-Nov-25 21:32:33

Not boring at all Babs03

Allira Sat 22-Nov-25 22:16:14

No, not boring, * Babs03*, as I said, all Local Authorities seem to have different methods.

We can only trust that they are dealing with our recycling competently and efficiently too.

What, though, happens to all these plastic bins, tubs, polypropylene bags when they break or develop cracks or holes or the LA decides to change the containers?

Allira Sat 22-Nov-25 22:18:46

green for garden waste (costs £50 annually)
Yes, we have to pay the same for each garden waste bin.

cobden28 Sun 30-Nov-25 10:18:53

I shop online a lot so always have plenty of cardboard boxes to be disposed of; I squash them flat before putting in the recycle bin but often have more than will fit in the recycle bin - which is only emptied once a fortnight.

I live in a first floor flat with very limited storage space inside my flat for surplus recycleables, so I'm seriously considering buying a garden incinerator ti burn anything burnable that can't be firtted in the recycle bin outside.

Has anyone else tried this? Obviously if I was one of the few people who still has an open fireplace I'd burn the surplus recyclebales/other burbable rubbish; fireplace ashes would then be easy to dispose of and take up less room in my wheely bins,

Georgesgran Sun 30-Nov-25 12:24:04

I’ve just seen you have a thread on this query already, with some helpful replies about clinical waste.
I’m wondering if your LA would be able to supply extra general and recycling bins for you - at an extra cost. I know a friend who pays extra to have 2 garden bins.

Elegran Sun 30-Nov-25 12:48:18

Allira

No, not boring, * Babs03*, as I said, all Local Authorities seem to have different methods.

We can only trust that they are dealing with our recycling competently and efficiently too.

What, though, happens to all these plastic bins, tubs, polypropylene bags when they break or develop cracks or holes or the LA decides to change the containers?

I think the wheelie bins themselves are recyclable - of they are not, they should be. I once smashed up a broken recyclables bin and put the bits into its replacement - they took up a lot of space!

Elegran Sun 30-Nov-25 12:49:22

If not of. I must train myself to proofread properly before posting.

Wheniwasyourage Sun 30-Nov-25 13:58:16

I don't understand people who don't flatten plastic bottles, including plastic milk bottles, and then complain that their bins (pink here for hard plastics and tins) are too full! It doesn't take long to stand on them and put the lid back on.

Maremia Sun 30-Nov-25 15:30:54

Now that you Recyclers are here, is there anywhere to put old DVDs and metal paper clips? TIA
I manage to recycle just about everything else.

Allira Sun 30-Nov-25 15:42:58

Maremia

Now that you Recyclers are here, is there anywhere to put old DVDs and metal paper clips? TIA
I manage to recycle just about everything else.

is there anywhere to put old DVDs and CDs

In boxes, nice ones - in old record cabinet, under the TV.
Everywhere! Oh, in the car too.
They're like yarn, they multiply.

BlueBelle Sun 30-Nov-25 15:57:06

Isn’t it funny how every county area seems to have different colours how much easier if the whole country followed the same colours
We have blue for paper card recyclables, squashed plastic jars, bottles, tins etc etc
Green for green waste paid for, similar price to already quoted
Black bin for rubbish
Next year we are apparently having food waste I rarely have any between me and my seagulls
And glass which at the moment I bag up for my daughter to take in the car to post in the glass eating thingys
I don’t find it at all time consuming or bothersome

AmberGran Sun 30-Nov-25 17:29:26

Allira

Cardboard can be used in the garden as a weed suppressant.

That's what we do with ours usually. We sometimes relieve our neighbours of theirs as we don't get a lot delivered. In the Spring before we put the bark down we layer the cardboard. It all breaks down within the year. In the meantime we hoard it in the garage.

fancyflowers Sun 30-Nov-25 18:34:10

We always have a lot of cardboard boxes. I make them into flat pieces with a Stanley knife. It doesn't take long, and when we have enough we take it to the tip.