recycle-mania

[hippy-chick]

we have
a black wheely bin for general rubbish,
a green wheely bin for garden waste and peelings
a small green bin for glass and paper and cans

now we've just been given 2 huge green bags for cardboard and plastic

got these 2 whopping bags on Monday and one of them is chokka already. Blimey! Its all the packaging you get with food, think pizza boxes, cartons for apples and fruit, vegetable oils, parcels.

I really feel good that I am doing something for the environment but think that the retailers should do more to prevent all this unnecessary packaging or be fined and also - need a degree in recycling as its a mindfield remembering what goes in what!

 

[Ruth Mills]

Aye, we have similar in Shrewsbury. General waste one week, then recycling the next. Big green wheelie bin for cardboard and garden waste. Blue crate for waste paper. Green crate for cans, glass, etc. Alas they don't take plastic bottles (yet) so that means a drive up to the household recycling centre every so often... at least they open until 7 in the week from April onwards...

 

[Zingara]

but think that the retailers should do more to prevent all this unnecessary packaging or be fined!

Couldn't agree more hun! There is far too much waste goes into packaging nowadays....and it amazes me the differnce in which council will recycle whwt. Ours takes paper not cardboard, plastic bottles not glass....go figure

Although (sorry - this is my holier than bit, and not having a go at anyone at all, just trying to suggest great alternatives!) we have much less now than we used to as we have made an effort to buy from local farmers and farms shops, butchers and fish shops. We bake our own bread (easy with a bread maker) including making our own pizza bases, rolls and stuff, we eat pretty much fresh produce every meal as opposed to ready meals and I swear it costs so much less and tastes tons better!

Sadly the pile of wine bottles is still high, though! I'm not planning on getting into making my own stuff there!

 

[Lynne Baker]

We hardly fill our black bin anymore!
We have a compost heap, a wormery, and a bokashi bin. We freecycle everything that's too good for landfill but not worth eBaying, and recycle all our cardboard, milk cartons etc. Anything with our personal details on it gets shredded and then added to either the compost heap or the worms.
/smug mode off!

 

[Ruth Mills]

We hardly fill our black bin anymore!
We have a compost heap, a wormery, and a bokashi bin. We freecycle everything that's too good for landfill but not worth eBaying, and recycle all our cardboard, milk cartons etc. Anything with our personal details on it gets shredded and then added to either the compost heap or the worms.
/smug mode off!

Good old Freecycle! We love it here - we even managed to find a home for our old uPVC front door when we had a wider one fitted for Sonia's wheelchair...

 

[Blue Rose]

I totally agree with Ann that the manufacturers/retailers need to do more to reduce waste.

I went out earlier to get some choccie eggs for my 2 girls. I went in Woolies & Tescos (couldn't be bothered to try elsewhere as everywhere was manic - you'd think the world was ending, the way people were stocking up their trollies).

Anyway, I tried to get some eggs with minimal packaging but no, all the eggs came in great big boxes with loads of plastic as well. Such a waste.

You try & do your bit, but the powers that be certainly don't help.

 

[sj1973]

We have the black,blue and brown bin here.....my blue bin is bigger than the rest and i always fill it up....i have a box where all my mixed glass go and i take it to a bin and throw it all in !!!!!!......i also give my clothes to charity.....

It does make me feel good that i know i am doing my bit for the environment and helping others :green:

 

[Lynne Baker]

Good old Freecycle! We love it here - we even managed to find a home for our old uPVC front door when we had a wider one fitted for Sonia's wheelchair...

This week we have freecycled 2 VCRs, 2 enormous suitcases, some tapesty wools, 2 plastic dog beds, a tuner, a bag of fabric remnants and we picked up a fab piece of beech worktop for my salon!
I think everyone should Freecycle - it's good for the karma!

 

[Ruth Mills]

This week we have freecycled 2 VCRs, 2 enormous suitcases, some tapesty wools, 2 plastic dog beds, a tuner, a bag of fabric remnants and we picked up a fab piece of beech worktop for my salon!
I think everyone should Freecycle - it's good for the karma!

We've freecycled loads over the past few years - including surplus furniture following Sonia and I moving in together - and we've got some fab stuff off there too - most notably a flashing blue police light that will take pride of place above the door of the Tardis-themed bathroom that I am planning for upstairs...

 

[pips]

I have....

Green bin for household

Brown bin for garden waste, grass cuttings, weeds etc

Brown bin for cardboard, magazines, junk mail, envelopes, paper etc

Green box for glass bottles, milk cartons, foil, cans

Its a nightmare as i placed all used yoghurt pots in the green box then they wouldnt take it cos it wasnt allowed but plastic milk cartons are???:irked:

Theres some pen pushing people in a comfy office chair earning too much money making silly rules up!

Best thing is, since i been recycling (did before but used to go the recycling place) and using the council bins & box's i seem to accumilate more

One week its household and mixed then the following week its cardboard & garden....my general household dont hold enough to go 2 week! and ive now got black bags with rubish in cluttering up the garden and bloody dogs ripping them open.

Why is it when the council change things they always make things worse?

Another thing, we was told we would get nets for the box's but havnt as yet. Also since the box's have been in use the pathways & roads are littlered with bottles & cans where they have blown over or away.
Last week when it was windy i counted no less than 49 green box's strewn on the roads, paths, fields and verges. Waste of money if you ask me...think i'll go back to my recycling!

 

[lotus blossom]

we only have two wheelie bins
one black one for landfill rubbish collected one week
a silver/grey bin for recycling rubbish collected the next week
no garden waste bins yet though for us

 

[jrobinson]

yep we have
black bin for general rubbish,
green bin for garden rubbish,
blue crate for plastics,
red crate for glass,
black crate for paper,
green bag for cardboard.
its just such a pain say when you have a big clear out to have to put everything in different places, and then its keeping all the bins somewhere!

 

[*JOANNE*]

I have green wheelie bin and a grey one,
box for paper glass, and tins
thats it.......if there was a collection for plastic and cardboard it would be a life saver for me.....i dont mind recycling as long as we get the full resorses too do so from the council.......

 

[MrsR]

We have normal bin for rubbish that can't be recycled
Green bin for cartdboard, certain plastics, paper and tins
Blue box for glass
We bought our own compost bin for food waste

I do get obsessed with recycling have to say. WHat saddens me though is a lot of the plastics cannot be recycled as there are so many idfferent types and a lot of what comes in packaging is plastic - why can't they just use one plastic so it CAN be recycled.

 

[beautyseeker]

We have a black bin which is collected fortnightly for the usual rubbish, a brown one which is collected on the same day for garden rubbish, a blue one collected on the alternate week for paper and cardboard.

At the end of my village (we live along a dead end road) they have put huge bins for plastic, glass, card, and old clothing so we are pretty much covered here.

Trish

 

[Face Geek]

Does anyone else recycle AT Tesco? We take all of our glass, plastic, metal to tesco and we get club card points for everything we recycle. You get 1 point for every 4 items-which may not sound like much but the way I see it-I would have recycled anyway but this way I can see immediate rewards Even though it is only 1 point for ever 4 items it's amazing how fast the points add up. But I always make sure we're going to Tesco for shopping and petrol as well-not just the recycling.

 

[Lynne Baker]

Tesco do recycling?!
This I didn't know...

 

[Face Geek]

Only one of our local 2 does. They have this big machine where the old green recycling area used to be. You just go, scan your clubcard(wallet one or key chain one) and then insert items one at a time. It scans the item and acknowledges if it's glass/metal/plastic or (dreaded) unknown. I always assumed if it was unknown then it couldn't be recycled but most things go in fine. Last time we got well over 200 points in 'green points' and every little helps. (ok was that just too cheesy to say? sorry! )

Here's a link on it, I think the machine is mentioned at the bottom but if you look on the left hand side of the page it shows a woman using one of the machines.

How we are helping - At Home - Greener Living - Tesco.com

 

[Missy G]

We have a grey bin for general waste ,and a red one for recycling, think we hae to pay for a green one if we want it.

My daughters got a habit at the moment of raiding my recycling bits to go out to the bin, and making things out of them, all very well but when I have to chuck them out coz I cant bear to have them hanging around no longer, do I sit there pulling off all the sellotape, n sticky bits etc so I can put it in the recycling bin, or just throw it in the normal bin coz the stuff stuck all over it is not recyclable?:irked:

And do you know what really annoys me about the dustmen?The bin has to be outside the house, with the handle turning out...but when I get home the bins dumped in the middle of the drive, so I have to get outta my car to move it to get into my drive.:irked:

Oh and the packaging they wrap kids toys up in at christmas is a nightmare too.:irked:

 

[Lynne Baker]

Debbie, I've had a number of stern conversations with our local council about the random places the bin men leave my bin. I take photos now of when they don't leave it outside my drive and pointed out to them that they are failing in their training of the bin men by allowing it to continue. So far this rather assertive attitude seems to be working!