The unthinkable has happened - I forgot to put my grey bin and and it is overflowing. What would you do?

[-]

RoutineCloud5993@reddit

I forgot to do it a viuple of weeks ago. Thankfully the majority was all bagged up so I tossed it all into my garden waste bag and took it to the fump

Reply

[-]

Push-the-pink-button@reddit

Dont come round here stating the bloody obvious!

Reply

[-]

Virtual-Falcon5922@reddit

Tbh I didn't realise we could take things to the tip until a few years ago 🙃

Reply

[-]

Ok-Morning-6911@reddit

Not easy for everyone to do. In our town the tip is right on the edge of town and inaccessible for people without a car...

Reply

[-]

lordlitterpicker@reddit

You should change your name to ok-moaning.

Reply

[-]

candidate26@reddit (OP)

The obvious choice but I wanted to avoid going through a stinky nappy filled bin and stinking out the car in this hot weather

Reply

[-]

Froomian@reddit

This is what we do when we miss bin day (it's once every three weeks here in Somerset). The only problem is that the car absolutely stinks for weeks afterwards.

Reply

[-]

sagareva@reddit

some people around here clearly stick their extra bags into neighbours' bins at night. not that you would, of course.

Reply

[-]

Pedantichrist@reddit

It is unethical, but put your rubbish in small plastic bags and take them with you when you go out, to put in public and/or fuel station bins.

Reply

[-]

It won't help you this time, but I tip my bin men at Christmas well enough that they pick it up from the drive if I forget and will take extra bags with no questions asked. The going rate near me is apparently a big box of stella.

Reply

[-]

Agreeable_Fig_3713@reddit

I have an incinerator so…

Reply

[-]

One_Loquat_3737@reddit

Ask round the neighbours and grovel for some space in theirs, if you are on talking terms with them.

Reply

[-]

pennypenny22@reddit

This - as a single person my bin is never more than half full.

Reply

[-]

alloitacash@reddit

Is that a euphemism?

Reply

[-]

pennypenny22@reddit

No, quite genuinely I don't use a lot of the space in my standard wheelie bin. If I miss a collection it's not really a big deal. (if your reply was a joke then I missed it, as I don't always pick up on these things.)

Reply

[-]

alloitacash@reddit

It was sorry. Two in our house, we could sometimes go three weeks of missed collections. We fill our food waste bin, I will never miss that collection.

Reply

[-]

Ancient-Awareness115@reddit

We are a 3-4 adult household and with recycling etc our normal bin is hardly every more than half full

Reply

[-]

NortonBurns@reddit

Our council has a web site with a 'bin not collected' option. They come out the next day or so & empty it - you then don't have to leave it out, just somewhere they will easily find it, as you don't know when they're coming. Alternatively, yup, moving house is a good option. ;)

Reply

[-]

grandsatsuma@reddit

I cheekily emailed them once to say they missed mine after I forgot to put it out, they replied with video footage from the lorry showing I hadn't put it out. Absolutely harrowing experience.

Reply

[-]

The_Sown_Rose@reddit

The bins I inherited with the house have Assisted Collection stickers on them, presumably because the previous owner was in a wheelchair and had a lot of health issues besides too. I didn’t request them but I wasn’t going to remove them either, bin collection always happens when I’m at work so it’s not like they’ll ever see a car on my drive and realise I’m not housebound. I don’t take advantage though, I do put the bin out and if it gets put back for me, well, that’s a nice addition. One time, I forgot to put it out and, like the OP, it was extremely full. So I emailed the council and when they replied saying the bin wasn’t out, I replied back that I do have Assisted Collection on them and was unable to put the bin out on that occasion (they don’t know I was unable to because I forgot what day it was.) They begrudgingly came out to take my bin.

Reply

[-]

BoredReceptionist1@reddit

Bit of a dick move tbf. Made the bin men drive out of their way because they thought you were disabled, when you could've gone to the tip

Reply

[-]

The_Sown_Rose@reddit

I’ll counter that with they don’t know I’m not disabled and yet my bin is never taken if I don’t put it out (I sometimes don’t bother, I live alone and I have large bins, they’re not always particularly full) and has been returned once in four and a half years. If I was disabled, I’d be sod out of luck getting my bins emptied.

Reply

[-]

BoredReceptionist1@reddit

Yeah, but that's a separate point. You _aren't_ disabled, so making them act as if you are is a bit of a dick move on your part. Kinda like using a disabled car space if you happened to own a fake blue badge

Reply

[-]

The_Sown_Rose@reddit

Technically speaking, I am. I have a blue badge - not a fake one - but I consider myself more or less ok most of the time and I feel disingenuous using it to park before going on a miles long walk, so I don’t. But I’d be lying if I said I’ve never used it when a car park has been full except for disabled bays.

Reply

[-]

BoredReceptionist1@reddit

You're still ignoring my point, the blue badge example was an analogy. If you are disabled and need the access stickers on your bin that's fair enough.

Reply

[-]

yourmomsajoke@reddit

I've the stickers on my bins and they dont bring them in or out, I'm allowed to leave mine on the street instead (back street, not blocking access or looking gross). Frustrating because I'd rather have them in the garden where its easier for me to put the rubbish in the bloody bin to begin with, instead of traipsing the length of the garden every time I've a bag to put out. Council dont gaf, they've gave me the stickers what more do i want 🙄

Reply

[-]

cannontd@reddit

Sweet jesus. You have to admire or recoil at the massive amounts of HD footage they have stored continuously and the manpower required to hunt through that footage just to avoid coming out to get your bin :-) What a victory for them!

Reply

[-]

Basso_69@reddit

And the 10 hours on manpower to search, edit and send the video vs The 1 hour of manpower to divert the garbage truck at the end of their next round.

Reply

[-]

luffy8519@reddit

Probably not a lot of manpower tbh, the trucks will have a GPS track of position and time which can easily be matched up with the time of the cameras.

Reply

[-]

elmo61@reddit

Guessing it's cheaper to look up video and reply from a office then to send out a truck and a team of people to do a hour round trip

Reply

[-]

cannontd@reddit

They'll be driving round your area to pick up the bins they did miss anyway! We pay for a garden waster collection and they skipped ours, asked us to leave it out for them to pick it up and then we did - they picked it up on the next two week cycle. It makes me disproportionately angry that I pay an additional fee for this!

Reply

[-]

GlasgowGunner@reddit

Garden waste collection probably a different lorry and team to the general waste team.

Reply

[-]

StevieMaverickG@reddit

Thoughts and prayers

Reply

[-]

Laziness_Personified@reddit

Shared in Beirut. Stay safe babe! x

Reply

[-]

mentaldriver1581@reddit

FAFO😂

Reply

[-]

No_Direction_4566@reddit

I just recoiled in my chair in horror.

Reply

[-]

MrAnonymousTheThird@reddit

Hope the chair is ok

Reply

[-]

supersayingoku@reddit

Goddamn, I'd have moved to a remote village in Mongolia and became a hermit after that

Reply

[-]

bigwillyman7@reddit

you have to leave the UK now, harrowing is the right word

Reply

[-]

cmdrxander@reddit

I have second-hand shame just from reading this.

Reply

[-]

bacon_cake@reddit

It's one of those instances where you think you've been really clever and found a secret hack that nobody else has thought of. But actually it clearly happen all the time. So not only are you cheeky, arguable immoral, but you're not even original!

Reply

[-]

EconomyLingonberry63@reddit

I’m a bin man and we fucking hate people who do this, great I’m in a different town the next day and now rather than going home I have to drive out 30 mins to the town we did yesterday to collect forgetful peoples bins, we also get in trouble and punished for “missing bins”

Reply

[-]

warlord2000ad@reddit

Haha, better luck next time.

Reply

[-]

slade364@reddit

You definitely have to move. To another council ideally.

Reply

[-]

NortonBurns@reddit

Oddly, here, they will fetch the black rubbish bin & brown food bin from your garden if you forget, but if you forget the blue recycling bin…tough luck. They will come back if you report it, though, which I do think is a great service.

Reply

[-]

candidate26@reddit (OP)

Tried this. They said soz but no soz.

Reply

[-]

NortonBurns@reddit

Damn. It seems your only option is to move then. Wish you luck ;))

Reply

[-]

dprophet32@reddit

My council has that too but they don't actually come

Reply

[-]

MiddleAgeCool@reddit

What's the "grey bin"? As someone with green, blue, brown and black, I have no clue what rubbish you're overflowing with!

Reply

[-]

WanderWomble@reddit

My grey bin is recycling, green is general waste. I'm in Hartlepool - I'm always jealous when I visit Whitby because they have purple bins!

Reply

[-]

Chevalitron@reddit

You often see this, people don't seem to realise it varies by what colours were available when each council switched to plastic bins.

Reply

[-]

robhaswell@reddit

The last time I said "the unthinkable has happened" it was because I dropped my phone in a portaloo.

Reply

[-]

candidate26@reddit (OP)

Same thing innit. result= digging through shit in gloves

Reply

[-]

Bennie16egg@reddit

Fly tip it at the end of my Street like everybody else seems to. The council pick it up regularly.

Reply

[-]

mentaldriver1581@reddit

Whew!

Reply

[-]

Quirky_Landscape_478@reddit

I didn't even know there were private collection companies. Thanks for updating. Good info!

Reply

[-]

yellowbin74@reddit

I'd just tell them my collection was missed- usually the come back within a day or 2

Reply

[-]

candidate26@reddit (OP)

I did this and they were like soz but wait 2 weeks haha

Reply

[-]

Rusty_spann@reddit

As someone who doesn't have a grey bin in my area - what waste goes into a grey bin?

Reply

[-]

candidate26@reddit (OP)

Everything, the bad stuff, the non-recyclable waste. hope and dreams

Reply

[-]

sheslikebutter@reddit

Seppuku is the answer im sorry You've failed us and your ancestors

Reply

[-]

candidate26@reddit (OP)

Thank you, this is a viable option.

Reply

[-]

Bloody-smashing@reddit

Either do a run to the tip or contact a private company for a pick up. The one near me charges £10. Have had to use them around Christmas a couple of times.

Reply

[-]

TheLionfish@reddit

Make sure they've got a waste removal certificate, you can check on your council website

Reply

[-]

BoredReceptionist1@reddit

Yep otherwise they just take it to the nearest countryside layby 🙃 Happens all the time here sadly

Reply

[-]

Odidlydokely@reddit

Da ya like dawgs

Reply

[-]

81optimus@reddit

No, but I do need my driveway tarmacked. Interested?

Reply

[-]

bacon_cake@reddit

Just tried to look up something near me as this would've been handy a few times. £20 per bin + £50 call out is the best I can find!

Reply

[-]

laddervictim@reddit

Look online for your local household waste disposal centre, but TBF can't complain for a tenner

Reply

[-]

PaulandoUK@reddit

A week after we moved in to our house our grey bin went missing, so we bought another from the council. Once that was delivered, the old one showed up again! So we’ve had 2 bins for 12 years. This has been handy when we’ve been on holiday and haven’t put our bins out, or forgot to put our bin out one week. The house number was never really on the old bin properly, so nobody has ever found out. I highly recommend this approach.

Reply

[-]

Equivalent-Roof-5136@reddit

Get into the bin and jump up and down on the rubbish till it compacts.

Reply

[-]

IansGotNothingLeft@reddit

Or put a small child in there. Make sure you take it out again though.

Reply

[-]

GrandWazoo0@reddit

Instructions unclear. I took out a bin that contained a small child, the bin still hasn’t been collected.

Reply

[-]

PM_ME_YOUR_STOMACHS@reddit

Instructions unclear. Forgot to take the child out of the bin before it was collected. Bye Timmy

Reply

[-]

Shnarf1980@reddit

Look little Timmy, a free trampoline!

Reply

[-]

fergie_89@reddit

I was going to say tip run but you've just edited to say you've paid for collection. British success?

Reply

[-]

cbob-yolo@reddit

Do what any other self respecting neighbour would do wait until night fall and put a couple in someone else’s bin. Then repeat the next night

Reply

[-]

bebu10@reddit

I've forgotten mine more than once. I keep a large piece of flattened cardboard in my garage that's about the same size as my boot. Put that down, throw a few bags on it and drive to the tip. There's usually always same day or next day appointments at my closest one

Reply

[-]

FeralSquirrels@reddit

>creative suggestions welcome Look really upset then in the dead of night, sneak bits into neighbours bins. If concerned, pop it in the boot and drive around, find somewhere suitably dark and shove it in their bins. Easiest is probably business ones - i.e those big jobs that a lot of companies have (often with easy access) out the front/side. Just bear in mind it's technically fly-tipping so at least try to do it somewhere you won't get recorded but if it's a little but in multiple bins chances are nobody will either notice, or care. Well, that or try to pass it off as modern art. Extra points if you charge admission.

Reply

[-]

ledow@reddit

Put it in your neighbour's bin and claim ignorance. (Note that I would never acrually do this!)

Reply

[-]

TurbulentWeb1941@reddit

Is the grey bin glass?

Reply

[-]

CatsCoffeeCurls@reddit

Flats usually have relatively unguarded dumpsters that can handle an extra bag or two. The backs of shops are usually a good spot for this, too. I've had to do that on an occasion or two. Disclaimer: obey trespassing signs and don't go where you're not wanted blah blah blah.

Reply

[-]

candidate26@reddit (OP)

I've considered this...

Reply

[-]

yourefunny@reddit

I have contacted the council a couple of times when I missed bin day. Just lied on the form. Bins were collected later that day or the next day.

Reply

[-]

Tripp_Loso@reddit

Hi, what do you put in a grey bin ? We have black/green/brown bins where I live. It's mad we don't have the same colour scheme across the country !

Reply

[-]

mozzamo@reddit

Fly tipping

Reply

[-]

Picticious@reddit

I’d send my other half to the dump with it.

Reply

[-]

candidate26@reddit (OP)

The issue is, I'm the other half and I don't want to!

Reply

[-]

TheLionfish@reddit

Have you considered divorce

Reply

[-]

Picticious@reddit

Lol, we all have to get shit done, make it worth your while and collect up some other crap you’ve been meaning to get rid of…

Reply

[-]

Suspicious_Brief_418@reddit

If it's only a few extra bags of rubbish ours will collect bags too as well as the bin. Just check on the website if that's available. If we ever miss collection we just double bag anything extra, tie it up tight and leave them next to our bin. Everything gets collected next time no problem. Make sure you can recycle everything possible too!

Reply

[-]

SceneDifferent1041@reddit

There are a few private companies which will collect. May cost £20-30 but learn the lesson and move on.

Reply

[-]

astromech_dj@reddit

Our friends missed theirs so decided to load it into the car and chase after the bin men. Car stank of refuse and they had to go to the tip with it on a hot day.

Reply

[-]

DickSpannerPI@reddit

Depending on your Council, you may be able to request an extra bin. We have two of each, but we hardly ever even fill one. It's really handy for when you miss a collection or have a clear out, though. Won't help you this time because they take a couple of weeks to be delivered (also our council gives you recycling bins for free, but charges you for general waste bins), but it'll help you next time.

Reply

[-]

jvlomax@reddit

Check out Bukka waste. You might have to pay a little, but they might be able to sort it for you

Reply

[-]

Sad_Cardiologist5388@reddit

You can pay a private rubbish removal company to empty it for you. We did this once when we were desperate

Reply

[-]

McNobby@reddit

Swap someone down the street that you dislike.

Reply

[-]

Sad-Garage-2642@reddit

Get in it and jump

Reply

[-]

GroundbreakingBuy187@reddit

Grey bin ???? What's that bone for ?????

Reply

[-]

HoneyIsSweetest@reddit

I can buy extra purple bags from Veolia, who are the company who have the waste pickup contract in my area. Has been a great help on a couple occasions. Maybe you can pick some up so everything gets picked up on the next visit from the bin men. I’d also make sure you bin is out of direct sunlight in the meantime.

Reply

[-]

OrdoRidiculous@reddit

Double bag some stuff and head to the tip.

Reply

[-]

allen_jb@reddit

* Squash it down * Take some of it to the local tip * Review the contents and see if anything can be moved to recyc (if this is getting full, folding cardboard and crushing cans and bottles can gain you extra space) * Ask a neighbour if you can borrow some space in their bin for the week Side note: If this is a regular issues and the council supplied wheelie bins are on the smaller side, consider purchasing an "old" large size - bin men will usually still collect these without issue (my current property came with a mix of "newer" smaller size bins and "old" large size)

Reply

[-]

knight-under-stars@reddit

I would just double bag the contents and take it to the local tip.

Reply

[-]

ZombieRhino@reddit

In this weather, the view from any rural layby is enhanced by some nice rotting black bin bags

Reply

[-]

AutoModerator@reddit

**Please help keep AskUK welcoming!** - Top-level comments to the OP must contain **genuine efforts to answer the question**. No jokes, judgements, etc. - **Don't be a dick** to each other. If getting heated, just block and move on. - This is a strictly **no-politics** subreddit! Please help us by reporting comments that break these rules. *I am a bot, and this action was performed automatically. Please [contact the moderators of this subreddit](/message/compose/?to=/r/AskUK) if you have any questions or concerns.*

Reply

Reply to Post

111 Comments