Recycling

My council don't recycle hard plastic so I would assume that's why yours won't take them.

But why make the recycle bins of non recyclable material?

Hopefully the new ones are made of recyclable material.

sunseeker I love the irony!

durhamjen - no the new ones are made of the same material.

That's strange, because there are lots of companies that make recyclable wheeliebins. Maybe you should suggest it to your council.

I saw in our paper today that the local sorting/recycling centre are having an open day, so we can see how it works. Just the yellow topped bins for paper and plastic and tins.
There was a photo of the rubbish being fed onto moving belts and people standing sorting it by hand.
what a job!
I might go.

We went round our local recycling plant 12 years ago when it had just had the latest technology introduced. There were men sorting through to pick out the obvious stuff like guns (!) which shouldn't have got into the recycling bins, but after that it was all mechanised - and fast. Stuff pinging about in all directions! And absolutely fascinating! There was a little bit of a smell, but not that bad. If you get the chance to look round, go for it!

Hugh's War on Waste on again tonight. He's looking at recycling this time.

Did anyone else watch it? The coffee cups part was brilliant, although I couldn't understand why he did not tell the boss of Starbucks that someone had made the sort of cups he said he wanted.

Have recorded it!

Related to this, is there any facility in the UK for recycling used rubber tyres?
The French seem to be very efficient in recycling, but won't take tyres. We see them piled up in farmyards, or used as barriers.

Yes, lots of companies offer this, Tricia, and they're made into various industrial materials. I know this because a teacher at the school where I last worked arranged with a friend for him to drop off dozens of horrible old used oily tyres with us one summer holiday "for outdoor play" [shocked] He must have seen her coming! We'd to pay to have them all taken away before term started.

Or even

Oh I'm obsessed with recycling! I think once you start there's no turning back. In our area we can only recycle plastics numbered 1 ,2 or 3. The lady next door throws anything in and im sadly getting like the recycling police

OMG! Recycling is the bane of my life. I used to love it when we were in Spain where all rubbish went in the same bin tra-la and no-one recycled anything (it's probably changed now). My DH is fanatical about it, though, and has become a recycling police person like Grannyben, so I have to watch it. I'd better duck behind the barrier now.

Yesterday I came home to find that my recycling bin was not emptied because it stated that I had non recycle items in. The picture to show what non recycle meant was CDs and cassette tape. No I hadn't put those in - I haven't used cassettes in 15 years and I haven't ditched any CDs. I then emptied the top of the recycle bin into 3 black bin bags. On the way to the council offices I stopped the waste co. bin waggon. Asked the men to look into the bags - they took them away to be recycled as there were no items that couldn't be recycled. Then I went to the council offices, I was told that I could have the number of the waste co.; I said no thanks I have a contract with you (council) and you have a contract to the job with the waste co. so the council needs to sort. I was told that I must have inadvertently put something in that couldn't be recycled. I said no - clearly not as the waste was taken off me to be recycled. I was told that if it should happen again I am to ring council and they will come and check my bin but of course I am to realise that the bin will not be emptied until the next scheduled run. I don't think so because if it happens again - I will bag and I will empty said contents on the desk of the person responsible at the council for managing this sh1t.

Why no lids on re-cycling boxes? My rubbish is often re- cycled into litter as it blows along the road, sticks in hedges and fills other people's gardens, while their stuff arrives in my garden and makes me look like a larger lout........cans make such a noise in transit too. I do not understand the logic behind that style of box at all.

If I come across as militant! It's only because I have been driven that way by the country's bureaucratic clap trap of it is always someone else's responsibility and that the person paying the taxes is at fault for some trivial reason.

The person responsible is whoever dumped the stuff in your bin - but of course it is much easier to have a go at someone who you think you 'own'.

You can buy nets for recycling bins. If non-recyclable items are found in the boxes here, the recyclable items are taken and the non-recyclables are left.

Our local council are considering adding a surcharge of £30 year for collection of recycleable (garden waste) bin material.

It's only a couple of years ago that they closed our local landfill site, and now we have to travel an extra five miles to get rid of rubbish.

It shows the council's 'non environmentally friendly' stance.

Our collectors did once decide that the laddered tights I'd put in our textiles bag didn't qualify as textiles (they did, of course!)and tipped them out onto the pavement. It's a bit to get home from work and find your underwear scattered around. Thank goodness they weren't old knickers!

The paid garden waste collections are popular round here, libra10. All ours goes on the compost heap, but it's handy for those that don't have one.