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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?

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.

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!

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

Cardboard in the garden just mulches after a few rain storms

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.

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

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

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.

PamelaJ1 Sat 22-Nov-25 11:42:52

I really don’t have enough to do with my life. I take off sellotape, any plastic patches used to seal a box etc.
It actually doesn't seem to take me very long but im probably wasting my time.

Allira Sat 22-Nov-25 11:10:25

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

Calendargirl Sat 22-Nov-25 10:52:48

Esmay

I sort my recycling out very carefully .
I find it boring and tedious .
But our local reuse collectors won't collect rubbish ,which has been thoughtlessly strewn around the garden - in fact if it's not inside the appropriate bin they won't take it .

Oh, I don’t think of it as tedious.

I have a ceramic container in the porch (recycled bread bin) and any recycling, envelopes, washed cans, bottles etc go in there, then I pop them in the relevant bin every time I go outside. The bins are opposite the back door.

I can’t understand folk who make such heavy weather of it, and make out it’s so time consuming, though I realise if you haven’t much outside space, the bins take up a lot of room.

Esmay Sat 22-Nov-25 10:15:13

I sort my recycling out very carefully .
I find it boring and tedious .
But our local reuse collectors won't collect rubbish ,which has been thoughtlessly strewn around the garden - in fact if it's not inside the appropriate bin they won't take it .

dragonfly46 Sat 22-Nov-25 09:27:15

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!

TheWeirdoAgain60 Sat 22-Nov-25 09:19:05

I totally understand what you're saying, you have the right to have a grump. The householders sound totally two-faced, being they have an eco house! I think the collectors are doing brilliantly.

There's a recycling centre just down the road from me, so I and a lot of others just take things down ourselves, making sure the cardboard is folded as best we can, but officially they have to be put in the green bins.

keepingquiet Sat 22-Nov-25 09:04:17

I agree- before wheely bins you saw the bin men regularly. Off topic but I used to tip my milkman and window cleaner too.

BlueBelle Sat 22-Nov-25 08:18:15

I never give a Christmas gift I don’t ever see them, don’t know if it’s one couple of workers or different ones. They do their job as many do it’s neither heavy or particularly dirty work nowadays .

Jaxjacky Sat 22-Nov-25 08:14:44

MrJ takes pleasure in flatting and logically filling our green bin, if we have extra cardboard and it’s left tidily next to the bin it’s taken, worth their Christmas box every year.

Patsy70 Sat 22-Nov-25 08:11:34

We have a box for recycling paper and cardboard, and we always flatten it. To my mind, it would make life easier if all councils throughout the UK adopted exactly the same recycling/refuse collection arrangements.

kittylester Sat 22-Nov-25 08:10:01

Our bin men will take flattened cardboard if it is left next to the bin on recycling day - unless it is wet. It doesn't have to be in the bin.

BlueBelle Sat 22-Nov-25 08:03:06

Last sentence ..hadn’t gone….sorry I proof read all the rest dah

BlueBelle Sat 22-Nov-25 08:01:35

If it’s not in the bin it won’t be taken for us they are strict about it and so they should be most people abide well certainly in my area there’s only one house that is overflowing but it’s because the bins aren’t packed properly Our back alley is clean and tidy and we have a guy on a cleaning machine up and down every so often
Anything I don’t want I place neatly next to my back gate and I can guarantee it ll be gone by the next day ( not by bin men but folks walking past) I got rid of a whole gym set, bench, rowing machine, weights, the lot, my sons, it had sat in my attic for 27 years I took it to pieces and bit by bit I put it by my back gate, daily, it all went piece by piece … someone has a great set to put together and build and use I couldn’t sell it as no idea if it was all there or usable after so long
Obviously if it had gone I d have paid to have it taken away but a real win/ win situation for me

Astitchintime Sat 22-Nov-25 07:52:18

Our refuse collectors are brilliant. If they ‘spill’ any bins they’ll clean up but anything and everything has to be in the bins although we can use a rubbish bag during Christmas collection if the bins are full.
They also collect and return bins for some of us who have mobility issues. And that reminds me, I must buy them some treats for Christmas!

Calendargirl Sat 22-Nov-25 07:42:35

I can’t understand people who have bins overflowing, but you can see it has never occurred to them to flatten boxes.

Our bin men are only supposed to take what’s in the bin, but often see stuff piled up next to it. Not sure if it gets taken.

Allira Fri 21-Nov-25 22:17:26

Our cardboard and paper goes in one bag, plastic and tinfoil, tins, in another (woe betide you if you put any soft plastic in there!), glass in a box etc etc.
You just get used to sorting it.

I could weep when I've seen the huge sums of rubbish in the countryside in the past week. I know it happens but these two dumps were extraordinary.

Babs03 Fri 21-Nov-25 22:12:03

Which btw I think us reasonable, people should contain their rubbish.

Babs03 Fri 21-Nov-25 22:11:02

Our bin men won’t pick up anything lying around, boxes have to flattened and put in a wheelie bin. If not they just leave it.

keepingquiet Fri 21-Nov-25 21:27:36

Here they only take what is in the bin unless it is packaged and tied up next to the general waste bin. Luckily I have never had to do this.