Recycling

I agree that landfill is awful but at least some of the things I put in the landfill bin will rot down. Also if there was a reduction in packaging etc that couldn't be recycled that would go some way to solving the problem. I get irritated that we, the householders, get blamed and even fined if we make a mistake!

Landfill is just so awful (:

Whoops I didn't mean to post twice on the same issue!
If in doubt I'm afraid I bung it in the landfill bin. Our council has an A to Z of recycling but some things just aren't on there and I can't be a....ed to ring up in my time and at my expense!

goldengirl I do so agree. DD and I are in the same town, in Devon, but my DSs live in Hampshire and Gloucestershire, and in each place the system is different. As it was when we joined one of the sons at a holiday let in the Gower.

It took me weeks, once we moved here from Kent, to understand the differences in the recycling rules.

We have a green wheelie bin for garden rubbish and food waste (only collected once a fortnight so not pleasant in the summer!); a blue bag for paper; a brown bag for cardboard; a green box for glass and plastic. I still haven't worked out where tins go, but hardly use any, so it's not a problem.

And yes, I wash or rinse everything.

Durham has just been highly commended for its recycling, waste management and rubbish collection. It's been named the best council in the country.

Why can't there be the same scheme across the country? My son is only 10 miles away but he has to follow different rules to us even though he's in the same county - it's just a different local council.

I wish everywhere had the same scheme. My DS only lives 10 miles away in the same county but a different council and his bins and what he can put in them are different it ours. It's soooo confusing. What I'd like to know is where it ends up. I've got a feeling that much of it ends up in the same place and needs sorting anyway!

No - that would really be adding insult to injury!

It's good fun this recycling! Glad we don't have to pay at least.

We pay £45 a year for our green waste bin.

We used to buy garden waste bags for £1 each until last year when they changed the system to supplying bags and charging for emptying them. Each bag cost £8 per annum, supplied and emptied once a week. This year it has gone up to £10 p.a. per bag, so have cut back from 3 to 2. They then cart it all off miles away to be recycled into compost as there are no longer any facilities locally!

We have a big box with divider for glass and cardboard. One day the baby must have gone out with the bathwater, as we had no divider! DH rang the Council and a very helpful lady told us to use the box either for glass or cardboard, and put the rest in the ordinary bin as we were going to be given separate boxes soon!

That was three years ago, and no one in our road has a divider left - it's a farce!

Rose - I have heard that some people have to pay to have garden waste taken. We haven't been charged yet but I won't hold my breath. I remember being on holiday in Devon a few years ago in a holiday cottage. The owner lived next door and came around to make sure we put this in that bin and that in another bin. He was most concerned that we got it right. At the time we only had one bin at home. In the end we were so confused that we put everything in a black bag and took it home! I said to DH I couldn't be doing with that palaver. Little did I know what was coming. When we first had all these bins I was really annoyed. Strange how you get used to it though. And we are all in the same boat around here.

I'm exhausted KatyK, must go for a lie down.

Ours is similar, but they provide polythene bags (surely not eco friendly?). Tins, plastic and glass in one, paper and card in another, a third for general waste. Then there are the bags which we have to pay a levy on annually for garden waste, the small food recycling bin lined with biodegradable bags which goes into the larger food recycling bin outside. Oh, and the clinical waste bags for nappies and other incontinence necessaries. So if you don't have babies in the house all the neighbours know if you have a problem with incontinence as they are brightly coloured!

They changed the colour of the garden bags last year so most people have a load of very large bags made of polypropylene hanging around; we had just bought some new ones and then they changed the system. OK if you have the space, you have to devise other uses for them.

Never thought the day would come when I would be discussing bins!

Aka - we can't find room. It's ridiculous. As I said three are big wheelie ones but they (and the bloody caddy) have to be kept at the front of the house. When they replaced the blue lids, a white van came along and 2 lads took the old lids off and put the new lids on. They left the old lids on the pavement and then another white van came along an hour later and 2 more lads picked all the old lids up and took them away. It is farcical.

Trust they recycled the faded blue ones?

Where on earth can you find room for FIVE bins?

Our council has supplied us with FIVE bins. Three wheelie bins - one for gardening, one for recycling and one for stuff that can't be recycled. There is also a small brown caddy type bin which has a bucket inside it. You are supposed to take the bucket out of the caddy, keep it indoors to put food waste in and then take the food waste out of the bucket and put it in the caddy on collection day.The caddy is kept outside alongside the 3 wheelie bins (are you keeping up?). You can line your bucket with bin bags but these have to be bio-degradable and you have to buy these yourself. So at the front of our house we have 3 wheelie bins and a caddy which look most unsightly. Oh and the wheelies have different coloured lids, one of which is blue. Last week the council replaced all the blue lids with new blue lids as they were deemed to be 'not blue enough'.

Pet hate....cucumber tightly wrapped in polythene inside another cellophane wrapper....why?

I live in a small first floor flat with no garden, or outside space. My recycled tins and plastics are not only washed out, but plastic bottles and containers are jumped on and squashed flat before joining the newspapers etc. I try to avoid as much packaging as I can, but still end up with two large plastic bags full. I start by hanging one from a hook in the kitchen until I can no longer walk past it when it goes into my shower cubicle until collection day. It's not only smells that result from not washing out food containers, but maggots too.

I do feel that the packages should be tackled at the other end and that it is totally unnecessary to have bubble packs enclosing fruit, meats, toothbrushes etc. etc. etc. Maybe large fines would deter suppliers from using these packs in the first place.

All our food waste, veg, meat and bones can go in with the garden waste. I hope the composting system gets it good and hot.

I should add that what we don't have yet is a food recycling scheme but I compost what I can.

Cheshire East has silver bins for all recyclables - paper, card, cans, glass, most plastics, foil - and these go to a modern waste separation plant beyond Chester. Paper goes to a paper manufacturer owned by the same company.

Reading back, it seems that Norfolk is lagging behind here. We don't have food waste bins and can only recycle plastic bottles not yoghurt pots and such.

Our council leaflet asks you to rinse cans/jars etc. it makes the job of the bin men more pleasant if nothing else.

I have a waste bin in the bottom of the sink cupboard where we chuck cans/jars. I have waste bins in most rooms - a habit left over from when the kids were at home - and just have an extra one in the dining room for paper.

Glass has to be taken to the bottle bank still. We had the option for house collection but it was turned down as the local town council gets the money from it (instead of it getting absorbed into the District) which comes in very handy. It's paid for play equipment which we wouldn't otherwise have and stuff like that.