Do you separate your recycling within each box?
Posted by Sad_Interaction_2933@reddit | AskUK | View on Reddit | 37 comments
For example, we have a green box which takes plastic and cans. I’ve always just put them in together and not tried to sort or separate them within the box. Someone told me I should be doing this and it saves times as the people collecting have to sort it otherwise. Makes sense and I feel foolish for not thinking about this. I’m just wondering how many people already do this? Is it common practice? Thanks!
togtogtog@reddit
They are all tipped together in the lorry - and then at the recycling centre, they spllt them up in various ways, using machines and manually.
the main thing is to make sure you don't include non recyclable materials, as these are the ones that have to be removed by hand
Over-Language2599@reddit
This entirely depends where you live. Not in BANES, for example.
The only answer to OP is to walk out of your front door and ask the recycling operatives.
EyeAware3519@reddit
Then off to the incinerator is all goes.
IcyPuffin@reddit
We just have one bin for our recycling if plastics, paper/card and tins. All just goes into one bag then into the wheely bin. All goes into the lorry on collection day. Presumably to get separated later on.
Its likely best not to have separate boxes in our case. I live in a block of flats and it is way too much for everyone to flatten the boxes and rinse the bottles. Separate boxes would just confuse them.
VipKitten@reddit
Go on your local council website and read the recycling guidance, especially if it's boxes over bins, as they can be a bit more selective (usually smaller for a reason!).
We're a 6 (!) bin household, so pretty much everything is separate and taken weekly.
Worldly_Wafer_6635@reddit
This is absolutely not a thing.
Greavsie2001@reddit
Up here on Orkney we have different recycling collections on different weeks on a four week cycle so have four different green bins! They are kept separate when collected.
Week one: glass and plastic (separate bins) Week two: general rubbish (black bin) Week three: metal and paper & thin card (separate bins) Week four: general rubbish (black bin)
…and so on…
This means we have five wheelie bins.. luckily we have room!
GodOfThunder888@reddit
Just going to take this opportunity to complain why councils don't offer an extra bin/bag for soft plastic. They can be recycled, and most household waste is soft plastic. I always separate them in my bin, but as I can't recycle it with the weekly/fortnightly bin collection I end up throwing it with my mixed waste.
sihasihasi@reddit
Most major supermarkets take soft plastics. We bag ours up, and drop it off every couple of weeks.
pezholio@reddit
I’ve got a squishier that squishes down the soft plastics, so we don’t have a drawer of doom where soft plastics explode everywhere
sihasihasi@reddit
Yeah, I've seen these, they look good.
GodOfThunder888@reddit
I know they do, but they often don't accept a bin bag full of them so it's a hassle to get rid of the bag. And it's an extra step for me to bring the bag and not forget to drop it off at the supermarket. It usually ends up with mixed waste in the end, because there is no convenient way to get rid of it.
sihasihasi@reddit
Fair enough - round here, they just have a roler-cage somewhere, which you can just chuck the bag into.
pip_goes_pop@reddit
I'm also going to take this opportunity to complain about manufacturers who put the recyclable logo on their packaging which makes people think they can drop it in their usual recycling bin without checking what their council actually takes.
FelisCantabrigiensis@reddit
You're expecting manufacturers to customise the packaging for your local area? That's a non-starter when the item could be sold anywhere.
The recyclable logo is applied when most local authorities in the country will recycle it in one way or another (which may mean taking to a central point rather than having it collected).
pip_goes_pop@reddit
No, that's not what I'm suggesting at all. If anything it would be better not to put logos on at all as the rules vary so much across the country.
The logo gets put on soft plastics all the time, which only a minority of councils take kerbside. Yes there is sometimes a central place to take them to but I've come across lots of people who think the logo means it can be put in their household recycling bins.
geeered@reddit
*They can be sent around the world and dumped/burnt in a field in Turkey.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hmGrI_BVlnc
Which is probably part of why councils don't offer it.
FelisCantabrigiensis@reddit
The thing that leads to highest collection rates is one box for all recycling, as my local council does, and to collect as many waste types as possible.
My local council collects plastic film in the general recycling, as well as the obvious paper,metals, glass, hard plastics, etc. The main single-material item they don't recycle is polystyrene, because there is (nationally, not just locally) no market for it.
They also collect all compostable waste, including food-contaminated cardboard, garden waste, and food waste (there is also the separate food waste collection mandated by central Government but we've been diverting food waste from landfill for many years around here).
As a result, my household's non-recyclable waste is mainly used cat litter, mixed-material packaging (including metallised), and polystyrene. That's about as good as recycling and diversion from landfill can get today.
JennyW93@reddit
We have 6 recycling bins in the weekly collection (paper, plastic and cans, glass, cardboard, food, batteries). I diligently put the correct items in the correct bins. And I diligently watch it all get mixed up in the bin lorry, aside from batteries and food which do have their own contained sections in the lorry.
Tenstone@reddit
You have a BATTERY collection bin? Thats crazy. They don’t even collect glass here.
JennyW93@reddit
It’s an adorable little hot pink caddy that clips onto the handle of the ‘trolibocs’
pip_goes_pop@reddit
Well it depends on your council's collection service. If it's a box with those dividers in and you see the bin men chucking different things into different parts of the lorry, then yes it's courtesy to separate if possible. I had this a few years ago and the flaw was I'd have a lot more plastic than cans so the dividers didn't really work. But you do what you can.
If however you just have one big wheelie bin for it all to go in together and it all gets chucked into the the lorry in one go (this is what I have now), then of course you wouldn't do it.
takesthebiscuit@reddit
The trick is to not ask the entire uk as each council has its own collection guidelines
Check your own councils website for the information
Eg
https://www.aberdeenshire.gov.uk/waste/household-rubbish/rubbish-collection/
Flimsy-Sheepherder98@reddit
No paper and cans etc all go in together. Glass is a separate bin.
sconebore@reddit
Yes I do, as best I can. Plastic and cardboard have their own box anyway, paper has a bag and then foil, Tetrapaks and glass are kept separate-ish in one box and cans / aerosols in another. Plus the food caddy, and sometimes batteries. Winds me up when I see the state of some boxes, must be a nightmare to sort with the thick gloves that the collection guys wear.
Stefgrep66@reddit
We now have 5 bins provided by the local authority General waste black Green waste brown Plastics green lid Food waste small And a bigger food waste bin to put the food waste from the smaller bin into for collection.
Any more I'm going to have to move house!!
Informal-Intern-8672@reddit
All my boxes have ended up missing because the binmen just hook the whole bin up to the truck then everything goes in, including the box.
AdPrestigious2387@reddit
fts
ArmouredFlump@reddit
Lot of misinformation on this thread.
Some areas have kerbside sort, so your plastic and glass etc are split by the crews when the pick up the boxes. Some materials may still be mixed and sorted later.
Other areas will have full or part comingled collections where the waste is mixed and then sorted at an MRF (materials recovery facility) or similar.
Best thing to do is watch what they do with it when they collect. Keep in mind that sometimes there are different chutes you can't see from the outside of the vehicle but which direct different waste to separate hoppers.
Jharrn@reddit
Weve been upgraded to a purple lidded Wheely bin that all the recycling goes in, so deffo no sorting.
PorkAmbassador@reddit
Our council have done it this way.
Week 1 - Paper and card are collected from the Blue Bin.
Week 2 - Non-recyclables are collected from the Grey Bin.
Week 3 - Other recyclables are collected from the Purple Bin.
Food waste is collected from the Brown Caddy Bin every week.
We separate according to this.
ScientistJo@reddit
You don't have to sort things within the box, but each item should go in separately. Don't put your cans inside a plastic bag, for example.
firthy@reddit
Don’t the binmen just empty that box straight in the truck though? It’s sorted (if at all) later in the process.
Elegant_Mind7950@reddit
If it’s all just going in one bin don’t bother, it’s not saving anyone’s time.
KiwiShmiwi@reddit
No, watched them tip the plastic / aluminium into the same hole once and realised i’d been wasting my time.
Cultural_Tank_6947@reddit
Eh what? We have a big green recycling bin, you can't realistically separate within it.
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