Recycling

I use a plastic laundry basket ( with handles, from Lakeland) in the utility room . It usually needs emptying three or four times a week.

I can't decide whether to feel virtuous that we always fill our recycling bin or wasteful that we have so much stuff to recycle!

We have pink plastic bags for that sort of stuff and I keep the current one in the open space under the stairs. It's not ideal but it stops the need to keep going outside and after a couple of years we don't notice it now.

I have a food bin under the sink and a plastic box which I do empty most days to the garage where I keep the council boxes and bags it must be difficult if you don't have outside space especially in the Summer.

Living in a terraced property with no front garden I don't have a wheely bin. I still have to use a box which I keep inside so I don't have to bring a wet box through the house. As it is only collected once a fortnight I have to wash the recycling so it doesn't smell! My offspring think I'm nuts.

I have a double large pedal bin in the utility room, one side for recycling and the other for rubbish. Only have newspapers at weekend and they go straight out into bin when done with.

I have a bag hanging on the inside of the door in the hallway and things get washed out and put in there until someone is going downstairs past the bin,rules of the house are never go downstairs empty handed if you can help it,our recycling is also collected once a fortnight.

I use a set of plastic drawers similar to this. www.tesco.com/direct/wham-3-drawer-tower/512-2339.prd?pageLevel=&skuId=208-6717
I use one level for plastic containers etc, one for flat items like papers and poly bags, and the third for land fill rubbish, which I line with a biodegradable sack. In my tiny kitchen it does mean that I have to move it each time I open the freezer, but otherwise the system works well.

I never wash anything out, on the premise that it's counter-productive wasting water to save a can............

I give everything a swish in the water once I've finished the washing up.

I see your point squaredog but after a while things start to smell and go mouldy. As I keep these things indoors until I have a full bin and it could take best part of a week to fill I'd rather waste some water and keep things sweet.

We seem to be very lucky here in MK - we have food recycling, glass recycling, tins/paper etc. recycling, garden waste recycling and the ordinary black bag for what's left and it's collected every week.

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.

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.

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.

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 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

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.

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?

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

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

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

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.

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?).

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.