How are you folk storing your ‘soft plastics’ for recycling? My solution lacks… elegance!
Posted by takesthebiscuit@reddit | AskUK | View on Reddit | 244 comments
Snailtrooper@reddit
I didn’t know people did this nor did I know we had to.
billy_tables@reddit
soft plastics recycling is just shipping them abroad to be burned ( https://www.everydayplastic.org/softplastic ) , so I put them in my general waste for landfill instead
DangerousDisplay7664@reddit
You make out like 100% of recycled soft plastics are burnt and that is simply not the case.
OF THE ONES returned to the TESCO OR SAINSBURY’S stores ONLY, 70% went on to be burnt according to that site. That means that 30% of the soft plastics recycled AT THOSE STORES actually DID get recycled.
Then there’s soft plastics returned to other stores, which are simply not mentioned. Also, this is only for England.
Your way is a very black or white approach.
billy_tables@reddit
Releasing 70% of the carbon in plastic to the air to get extra life out of 30% just isn't a good tradeoff. It could be as low as 20% burned to get use out of 80% and it is still not a good tradeoff. We need to stop pumping so much carbon into the air and this is a very easy way to do that.
For all the hydrocarbon we extract from the ground, whether plastic, oil, or gas, the longer we keep burning it, the faster we run out of time in the climate crisis. Plastic carbons came from the ground originally and there's no harm sending them back, it actually avoids problems. The hydrocarbons yearn for the ground
Dazz316@reddit
OK then.
Where's the option I can take to have it done eprfectly, from what I can see I can make the small effort to recycle at home for 30% or whatever it is to be actually recycled or just landfill everything. And between those 2, the 30% is the better option. So how do I go about getting 100% recycled?
billy_tables@reddit
It depends what you're trying to optimise for - if like me you're aiming for net zero carbon, in future (ideally before 15 years) the perfect answer is let it go to your general waste when you're in an area that routes general waste to an EfW plant which burns the waste for energy and captures the carbon dioxide. I think Runcorn will be doing that by 2040, so if you're in the north west or have an EfW plant on a similar timescale, that's your end goal
In the meantime it depends what your council area options are. If you are in an area that does EfW, just putting it into general waste will transport it by rail to an efw plant, which probably has the lowest carbon transport cost and results in 100% of the carbon being released as CO2, but at a tradeoff of displacing natural gas usage for electricity generation. That is definitely less than the carbon to transport your plastic abroad by ship and run it through EfW or "plain" incineration there so that should be your preferred choice.
A slightly better choice is if you're in an area where recycled plastics turn into ecobrick etc, where they are captured for longer and are kept outside the carbon cycle. I don't know how widespread this is though, so it may not actually be an option
Whether to soft recycle or not ultimately comes down to how consistently that 30% is actually higher 30%. Recycling that 30% of plastic is much less carbon intensive than producing new plastic, but burning 70% and recycling 30% is much more carbon intensive than just keeping the plastic outside the carbon cycle and producing virgin plastic
But in 15-20 years or so, there should be no market for recycling soft plastics at all. Their destruction will be net zero, and new production should be pretty well minimised
Dazz316@reddit
It comes down to this though.
2 but burning 70% and recycling 30% is much more carbon intensive than just keeping the plastic outside the carbon cycle and producing virgin plastic"
Is that better than burning 100%? Because that's the option no if that's what's happening where you are. If people stop, it's telling the council that further investment isn't worth much as people aren't going to bother recycling at all to justify the new infrastructure. But if they keep up the recycling will kicking up a fuss as to how shit it is, it pushes the council to hopefully do more.
billy_tables@reddit
I agree the question for today comes down to the CO2 impact of Burning 70% but recycling 30%, against burning 100%.
Compared to hard plastics, it does lean against burning 70% for energy and recycling 30% than burning 100% for energy and produce virgin soft plastic. But it is wildly variable. It needs to be closer 60% plus recycled to be a consistent yes, and that comes down to the state plastic has degraded to at recycling time.
It is power intensive to recycle soft plastic, you can only do it a few times, and you need virgin plastic to inject into recycled plastic anyway to get a useful product
The maths is different for hard plastics which recycle much better (both more efficiently and into higher quality end products)
The other risk is the social one. Just like how lateness rises when places charge late fees (because people feel they’re paying the cost of bad behaviour and feel less bad about it) soft plastic recycling makes feel better about recycling, rather than seeking to stop buying/using it
In 15 years time, I absolutely would prefer 0 soft plastic recycling and all plastic going to carbon neutral energy burning. Ideally with soft plastic usage down too, but I would accept it with constant usage too.
So in terms of what we’d want people to incentivise today, I probably would not want councils to start recruiting more people or investing more money in an industry that is only developing just in time to be superseded.
spider__@reddit
Contaminating the soil with micro plastics just because some of it may be burned to provide power is just not a good tradeoff.
Dans77b@reddit
Microplastics it better than C02.
sdwvit@reddit
Not using plastic is better than these two
PersevereSwifterSkat@reddit
Also totally unrealistic. You want your syringes wrapped in paper?
Grimdotdotdot@reddit
My cardboard syringes, you mean?
ffwillis@reddit
That’s a pretty extreme case when there are plenty of realistic situations where plastic could’ve been avoided.
JayChaos01@reddit
Why you buying syringes 👀
spangloss@reddit
No, just all the unnecessary shit like individual pieces of fruit.
billy_tables@reddit
When our choices are more carbon in the atmosphere, or more plastic in landfill. Plastics might kill us over thousands of years, greenhouse gases can kill us in 10s. Reducing greenhouse gases wins.
EVERYTHINGGOESINCAPS@reddit
Yeah in the time that microplastics have aaterial affect, we'll have developed the technologies to deal with it. There's already emerging research about microorganisms that like to eat this shit.
Climate change however...
AJEdge456@reddit
I am LEAVING a comment AND I will capitalise any WORD at random TOO.
kernowgringo@reddit
Recycling plastic also creates micro plastics, we should really just be locking it up and never using it again. So I don't feel bad about not recycling every little last bit of everything.
ChloeGoogle@reddit
“Only” 70%…? That’s shocking. Only the majority gets sent off to burn in incinerators? Hmmm
erroneousbosh@reddit
Do they say what that 30% is being recycled into? Because there currently isn't really a way to recycle "soft plastics", and even if there was the waste stream is so heavily contaminated with non-recyclable plastic you'd never separate it out.
Dans77b@reddit
30% isnt nearly good enough in my (uneducated) opinion. I knew it was bad, but didnt think it was that bad.
sihasihasi@reddit
... is a way of being lazy, and justifying it to yourself with flawed logic.
FIFY
pixeltash@reddit
If you send it for landfill it's probably either getting burned here or sent overseas and burned anyway.
billy_tables@reddit
Careful calling out particular bin colours, you'll start a war on them being different in every council area!
But yes, I am at the mercy of what the council do with it
pixeltash@reddit
Oh no! What have I started!
We have black for general waste, black with green lid for mixed recycling, green with green lid for garden waste (introduced free, then charged for collection, loads of pissed off posts on Facebook groups, you know the ones!) and brown caddys for food waste.
It never occured to me that black for general waste was controversial🤣
Ghostofthedramptybat@reddit
We have black for general, black with brown lid for garden, blue for mixed recycling (with a blue bag in for cardboard/paper), and silvery grey food caddy’s 😂
eggs_and_ham_i_am@reddit
I agree people can get funny over their bins being different colours to others and what can go in said colour bin.
But can we all agree, and is it universal that all general waste are black? I've never seen a different colour general I don't think.
FWIW: ours are Black: general Blue: recycle Brown: paid garden waste And we've just had a small caddy bin dropped off this week for food waste. It's already in my greenhouse being used as a shop bought fine grade seedling composite storage bin.
AmazingGraces@reddit
Nope, my general waste wheelie bins are green. Recycling is blue. Garden waste is brown.
billy_tables@reddit
Definitely not general - grey is general in trafford for example. It's not even nationally the same the _number_ of bins you have
eggs_and_ham_i_am@reddit
I know it's not the same regarding number of bins etc, I'm just asking if everyone's general is black?
But you haveing a grey one answers that. Is it the whole bin grey or just the lid?
Peahorse@reddit
Our general waste bin is solid green, definitely varies by area.
billy_tables@reddit
The whole wheely bin is grey; we also have a blue for paper, black for plastic and glass, and a green caddy and optionally a green wheely bin for food and garden
Optimal_Cherry2846@reddit
My general waste bin is green, recycling is green with a blue lid?? I hate it. Before I moved one county over it was always black for general and green for recycling.
crough94@reddit
Liverpool had purple bins the last time I was there. Been a long time though so I can’t remember what they were for but everyone seemed to have one so I’m guessing general waste?
Etheria_system@reddit
Nope. General waste in liverpool is purple and people here are weirdly proud of it.
No_Medium_648@reddit
Some in my street are black but the new houses are blue.
davehemm@reddit
No. London Borough I am in. General waste - green bin, green lid Plastics, metals - green bin, white lid Paper - green bin, blue lid Food - brown caddy bin Garden recycling - brown bin, brown lid
scott_work_account@reddit
In Glasgow general waste is usually green although it can be black as well, I think the black ones are just a bit bigger and usually only given if asked for
Organic_Reporter@reddit
I wonder if you're the same area as me? We are the same but also just lost glass bin and can now add glass to normal recycling. Which means I can't stand in the bin to squish it down any more!
eggs_and_ham_i_am@reddit
Never had glass bins here.
They go to the bottle bank when it's dark so no one knows my drinking problem......
h00dman@reddit
We still have wheelie bins and our brown bin is for recycling, and our green bin is for general waste (black bags).
It just feels backwards to me.
grayscalemamba@reddit
I have brown for garden/food waste, green for general and blue for recycling. I call them Walkers bins, because the blue and green seem the wrong way around to me.
Still better than where I used to live, with both recycling and black bins just dumped on the street for scavengers to tear open.
KingDaveRa@reddit
Our council incinerate, in an EfW facility. I consider it's doing something useful at least.
thevo1ceofreason@reddit
EfW - is it a good idea?
dbxp@reddit
Reduction would be ideal but the waste does exist and as for recycling that cost would be pushed onto the consumer. Better to burn it and make more impactful changes elsewhere like electrified logistics.
KingDaveRa@reddit
Nope. Not in the least.
But if we're burning stuff to make electricity (less and less of late), I take some solace in the fact an oil-derived product is used once as a plastic, then burned to generate electricity. Which is better than just using oil or gas.
I'd love to see an end to all plastics, it pleases me no end to find products contained in paper/card or cellulose made plastics (they aren't a perfect solution, mind). Better than virgin plastic. But we're a long way off.
So in the meantime, rather than my bread bag going off to some random country to be burned on a bonfire, at least for now it'll be put to work for something vaguely useful.
YoshiMK@reddit
Yeah but the emissions don't count as long as they're outside our border ☺️
ChrisRR@reddit
Burnt as fuel*. There's a difference between just incinerating and incinerating to turn into electricity
billy_tables@reddit
That is true - and if it is a foregone conclusion that it will be burned, it is better to burn as fuel and extract some energy from the process. And when if/we get carbon capture projects at EFW plants completed, burning will be really the best solution as there’ll not even be a net carbon impact
whatnotanotheraltacc@reddit
There are two big issues.
The first one is contamination, people put anything in those soft plastics recycling cages.
Dirty crisp packets, cardboard, I've heard of nappies and propane cylinders being put in there. Sorting is costly and it is more cost-effective to just incinerate it and harvest the energy.
The second one is the economics of it, virgin plastic is made easily by a by-product of mining/fracking for natural gas (which will happen anyway).
Some companies will literally pay you to take ethene off of their hands, which you can make into plastic films/bottles very easily.
Recycled plastic costs more to buy than virgin plastic, and is of a lower quality. Bottlers pay a premium for it so they can put "bottle made of recycled plastic" on the packaging.
TheYorkshireGripper@reddit
What an absolute clown reply.
Lazy as fuck that you can separate a bit of plastic and cardboard from your waste.
billy_tables@reddit
Don't understand what you mean about cardboard? I separate the cardboard already, and it goes in the cardboard recycling bin
har6inger@reddit
Where I live the plastic "turned into Ecosheet – a plywood alternative that can be used in construction, DIY, agriculture, and fabrication."
Different councils deal with waste differently. There is no one way that waste is dealt with and you should check your local council website for updated information.
OkSun8521@reddit
Burning it is a much better solution than recycling it or burying it.
My council incinerates our waste, so I absolutely do not recycling soft plastics.
takesthebiscuit@reddit (OP)
What ever, at least it’s Tesco paying the price of burning them it the council 🤷♂️
AirlineSevere7456@reddit
I come under Birmingham Council so can't recycle, they tell you to put it all in the main waste. Going to be chaos once recycling starts again.
normanriches@reddit
Your solution matches mine.
DullInflation6@reddit
We've got a 3-set of stackable, medium sized recycling bins from Homebase, use one of them for soft plastics
DeeDionisia@reddit
I wouldn’t exactly call it elegant, but definitely better than what we had before, which was pretty much what you have and it was an inexpensive solution. Got the bag from IKEA and the magnets online.
Jack_intheboxx@reddit
A cardboard box on the floor
Realistic-Analyst-23@reddit
We have a tote bag that hangs on the back of the kitchen door.
evilmusic@reddit
I watched a good video yesterday that taught me that we should put the majority of our effort on reducing and reusing over recycling. Got me thinking https://youtu.be/68zjxTTl5Ik
IAmAshley10@reddit
My District Council give out purple plastic bags that you put them all in to and they take them away.
Scottish_squirrel@reddit
My council gave us a whole wheelie bin for it. We store it in a paper bag by the bin then empty the next morning.
Remarkable_Ad_788@reddit
I gave up on recycling when a council worker at the local skip told me thatit all gets collected by the sake truck and taken to landfill. Apparently our local authority don't have the proper recycling facilities built yet. I live in a remote area of Scotland.
Aa8r@reddit
Check out a little gadget called the “Wholly Shrink!”
We got one for our kitchen, it’s a game changer.
And, from what I’ve heard, the roughly 70% of plastics that get burned are those contaminated with food, oil, etc.
OkSun8521@reddit
Burning them is far better for the environment than recycling them.
Aa8r@reddit
Interesting. How so?
OkSun8521@reddit
We already burn fossil fuels to generate electricity. By burning plastic, we can avoid burning some natural gas.
Plus, recycling soft plastics is very inefficient. It's very low density and needs transporting to specialist facilities. Once you recycle it, it produces low quality materials that no one really wants.
Aa8r@reddit
Thank you for taking the time to explain.
Lonsdale1086@reddit
It takes more energy to recycle than it does to create new plastic, and by burning at high temperatures you gain energy with minimal emissions.
Also compared with the energy required to wash them to recycle, both mechanical energy to physically wash them, the energy required to heat the water, and the energy that goes into making the detergent etc.
a_ewesername@reddit
Our council has a waste incineration policy, but ironically waste from far and wide comes in very big lorries to a landfill just 6 miles away from the incinerator.
bevymay@reddit
We used to do a homemade version of this but it was basically stuffing soft plastic into an old drinks bottle with a big stick. Not sure if the supermarket would take them as they’re now sat in the shed waiting for a time they’ll come in handy but we’d get a heck of a lot in.
We switched to the old bread bag method when the local supermarket made it easier to drop off soft plastics on the way in. Might try and 3D print something like this as it looks nice and smart
Sivear@reddit
I just looked it up, love the idea.
I’d buy it if it was half the price.
bevymay@reddit
I’m wondering if I could 3D print one as I like the idea but not the price too.
decidedlyindecisive@reddit
I had a look on their website, where do you get the plastic bags for it? Most of my soft plastic is packaging, can't remember the last time I had an actual bag.
vcockle@reddit
Used bread bags, plastic delivery envelopes/packaging, multipack crisp packets.
Any I have spare I pop behind it until I need the next one. Have never gotten to the point of not having anything spare to use.
Aa8r@reddit
We found that bread or bagel bags worked best. Zip loc bags or thin carrier bags also do the trick.
FireflyKaylee@reddit
Yesss such a good gadget. Makes it so easy to store and looks much neater.
Mattpattscutti@reddit
I just searched this and am astounded at this idea - absolutely perfect for me, thank you!!
Moment_13@reddit
I came to say the same - we used to fit a few days worth of plastic in a bread bag before it couldn't be squashed in any more and we had to start a new one. Wholly Shrink really compacts it and it'll fit over 2 weeks worth in for us.
I don't kid myself that it's being 100% recycled. But if I put it in my main bin I know it's 100% going to landfill. If even a small percentage of the soft plastics I collect is correctly recycled for the tiny amount of effort it takes me to separate it out and take it to the supermarket, then it's worth it for me.
TSC-99@reddit
I don’t recycle them. They go in the normal bin. I recycle other stuff though.
omghiemma@reddit
Luckily my council allows you to chuck all recycling in one wheely bin
smurphinden@reddit
Straight into general waste. They aren't getting recycled so you're just wasting your time.
quellflynn@reddit
how much time are you wasting?
milliseconds?
LogicalOrchid28@reddit
That was my first thought when I read that
SimpleFactor@reddit
Takes me about as much time collectively as it would do to chuck in the bin. People here are just being overly dramatic for some reason.
Samuraisheep@reddit
Maybe 10 seconds to rinse out anything that needs it. Couple of minutes to load the car with them. Half an hour round trip to the nearest soft plastics recycling (ignoring Aldi with the ridiculously small slots), or an extra 5/10 mins if I'm already going that way for something.
smurphinden@reddit
An awful lot more than that for absolutely no benefit.
RoohsMama@reddit
Yup. I used to be quite fastidious about gathering all the soft plastics and plopping them, one by one, into those waste recyclers at the grocery store.
Only to learn from articles (citing the one where they actually electronically tagged the waste) that these mostly end up in landfill
quellflynn@reddit
I'll understand the preface, but by adding an electronic tag, like an airtag, then the item will be sorted, classed as non-soft plastics and removed for landfill.
if they're binning items that have a bit of food on them, then theyre Def removing the bits that have hard plastic and batteries.
I wouldn't have said that's a clear picture of what's actually happening.
RoohsMama@reddit
That could explain it… but it still inspires little confidence, especially as other reports state that majority goes to landfill.
quellflynn@reddit
also, if you've got time to reply on Reddit, then you have time to recycle.
RoohsMama@reddit
I’m not sure you do it because the time to do it is not a few seconds like replying here. It’s time at the point of discarding, time at the point of collecting, time at the point of keeping, and time at the point of transportation and drop off.
RoohsMama@reddit
If you have time to do it good on you. As I said it’s the mental as much as physical exhaustion. I got two boys (husband and son) who don’t throw things in the proper bins, and segregating is enough hassle. I love to do it.
Also do you regularly recycle your plastics? Good on you. I did it for years. Would pike them in a big bag until we have time to take them to supermarket. In the meantime it’s an eyesore. Yeah, I just bin them now.
quellflynn@reddit
given that plastic is made from oil, and has some burning capability, as long as they are filtering the harmful bits then it's a decent used of unrecyclable materials.
it says in the report that they recycle what they can, but tainted stuff gets burned.
a tracker is tainted!
it just tells me the shitty system we have, works
RoohsMama@reddit
Yup. As I said you go ahead. I’ve done it for years. In fact I think i still have a hotdog shaped plastic bag full of soft plastics in the spare room.
thegrumpy0ne@reddit
Since moving to a property with a tiny 180l general waste bin I've started wishcycling my flexible plastic at the supermarket. Rather than having to go on a 6 mile round trip to the tip every other weekend my fortnightly emptied bin is 25% full and comprised mainly (by weight) of cat litter. Oh and polystyrene. If we're going to ban stuff, please can we start there?
RoohsMama@reddit
Indeed that’s one motivation to recycle soft plastics. It reduces the load in the non-recyclables. (I just scrunch them into tiny bundles.) I also save some soft plastics for packaging that I might need in the future (bubble wrap etc - my thinking is that if I need to buy it, I will not dispose of it) so there’s a couple of bags of packaging stored away in the loft.
BarSalt970@reddit
Waste recyclers at the where?
RoohsMama@reddit
RoohsMama@reddit
They have them outside Asda, Aldi and sometimes Tesco.
ColbysRevenge@reddit
Yeah, I read an article once that our plastics we put for 'recycling' get shipped abroad for some reason and then often dumped. I don't know why that system is in place but that's what I read and it stuck with me.
I also read plastic is not very recyclable when compared to metals and glass. And apparently most councils filter general waste for anything useful anyway. I'm not washing and recycling plastics if they're just going to be dumped on a beach in Turkey for some reason
Super_Shallot2351@reddit
Knew all the top comments would just be predictable Reddit snark.
smurphinden@reddit
Nothing snarky about my message. Your response however... 😂
smurphinden@reddit
Think some people need to look up the meaning of snarky 😂
Chuffing_Knackered@reddit
I wouldn't have room in my general waste bin if it all went in there, so might as well "recycle". We tend to fill both in the 2 weeks after they are emptied.
48panda@reddit
It's not like putting it in general waste is faster. And if they realise people aren't putting soft plastics in the recycling they definitely won't bother trying to actually recycle them
FiveWizz@reddit
Fair enough but if this stuff always went in my waste my green bin would likely be overflowing as they only collect once every 3 weeks. So it at least gives the bin a bit of relief.
thickwhiteduck@reddit
Same as you, but under the sink rather than on display 😁
VVhichdoctor@reddit
I'm not.
NekoZombieRaw@reddit
I bought a recycling bin from Ikea (about a tenner) with a flap on the lid so I can feed the plastics in. Game changer. Paper recycling stacked on top too.
D1789@reddit
Our council has recently started accepting all these in the recycling alongside plastic and glass, so it all goes in the recycling bin.
Our recycling bin is now full every two weeks, compared the general waste which is now only about half full. (Family of 4)
luckyrubberducker@reddit
Mine all go in my mixed recycling bin whether the council want it to or not, except ocado bags and whatever extra fits in those being returned. Beyond that I'd have to make extra trips to places just to recycle soft plastics and I'm just not that committed.
that-zoe-girl@reddit
My council won’t even allow hard plastics that aren’t bottles (a fact I only just found out after putting hard plastics in the recycling for years cause I was going off what the food packets said)
HeatheryLeathery@reddit
Our council has too but at the same time moved things to a three week rotation. Works ok as there's two of us but unsure how larger households fare.
gsko5000@reddit
Honestly this is a peeve of mine. Manufacturers should have a responsibility to package in something that's either recyclable in one of the 5 bins that my council ask me to use, or mark it as non recyclable. We shouldn't be having to take stuff back to the supermarket we brought it from to 'recycle' it (which doesn't happen).
Mrs_Mulligan2019@reddit
5 bins?! Our council gives us two.
I’m a little confused about this entire thread, can ‘soft’ plastics not just go in my recycling bin?
CannondaleSynapse@reddit
And so much of it doesn't need to be packaged at all! My partner was absolutely appalled moving to to the UK and finding all the vegetables plastic wrapped.
Super_Shallot2351@reddit
My Council collects it.
They have made it recyclable, but apparently the majority of people here think that's too much effort so they'd rather bin it, and pretend they're taking some kind of moral stand.
OliB150@reddit
I share your peeve. The onus should be on the manufacturers of the waste to be responsible with their packaging so that it’s easy for the end user to do the right thing with it. I *think* the upcoming legislation around it is moving in the right direction on this, but I think as a nation we need to work more as a collective.
I hate the whole premise behind packaging marked as “recyclable - check locally”. No, if the packaging is on the shelves it SHOULD be recyclable anywhere in the UK. Councils should share the load of specialist recycling, one focuses on one type and another council on another type, and just ship it semi-locally to be processed in the best way.
Don’t even get me started on the likes of dominos pizza boxes which my council won’t accept due to being contaminated with oil/grease but Dominos very proudly state that it is recyclable, which is maybe correct in its raw form, but it isn’t after it’s been used for its intended purpose.
gsko5000@reddit
🎯
takesthebiscuit@reddit (OP)
Yeah pisses me off as well if we are providing a final mile service we should get paid even if it some token # of club card points
Manufacturers and those that don’t try to recycle should be the ones that pay
Killerninjaz13Two@reddit
We just shove it all in the corner
Fit_Search_4751@reddit
DID YOU KNOW: If every person on earth just recycled, stopped using plastic straws, and drove an electric car, 100 corporations would still produce 70% of total global emissions,
katherinemma987@reddit
So far my only solution is pretty much this. My mum transfers them to a big one in the garage and has a small basket inside to for day to day but that relies on having a garage.
justaquad@reddit
Where do people even recycle soft plastics in the supermarket? Like physically where do you take it, as I have never seen anywhere as an obvious collector?
Ok_Taro7430@reddit
Please don't stop recycling based on comments here. My partner works in a plastics factory and the industry really is trying things all the time. It isn't perfect but some of it is being recycled and it is improving (and given the oil prices maybe it'll encourage more innovation in recycling).
SimpleFactor@reddit
I don’t think I’d trust most of the people in these comments with any level of responsibility. What’s the point in doing anything if you can just argue it’s all meaningless compared to something bigger?
billy_tables@reddit
How do you decide if you should do or not do something that is not obviously bad? It’s easy when it’s obvious but when it’s not, it is harder
Recycling and net zero are often in tandem but are also often at odds with each other. When they align there’s no doubt what to do, but when they are opposed you have to make a value judgement of what’s more important
SimpleFactor@reddit
What’s that got to do with all the people asking why they should bother when millionaires are worse, or that companies should just stop using plastic, or saying that it takes a bit more effort?
Virtual_Opinion_8630@reddit
Government needs to ban plastics but they won't
OkSun8521@reddit
This is a hilariously terrible suggestion.
Banning plastics would result in a massive increase in waste and in the carbon footprint of almost every product.
hulyepicsa@reddit
And guess who would pay the price of the more expensive packaging…
Brickworkse@reddit
Plastic isn't perfect but it's unavoidable. The government can't 'ban' plastic because there are no viable alternatives in lots of cases.
As an example, wrapping things in paper is more costly and heavier (and lots of time paper is covered with a thin layer of plastic film anyway). Using a glass jar instead of a plastic one would be heavier, easier to break etc.
The government has already mandated Extended Producer Responsibility (EPR) which encourages the use of more sustainable packaging (and charges producers significantly for hard to recycle packaging). That's a step in the right direction.
Still more to be done, but there's lots happening.
Dd_8630@reddit
Go 1 year without plastics.
I'll wait.
Virtual_Opinion_8630@reddit
Pretty sure I could.
Tinned tuna, fruit and veg from local supermarkets, tinned or jars sauces, spices etc, bread from a bakery, eggs, meat from a butcher, chocolate in paper wrapping
Dd_8630@reddit
What are you writing this with? A keyboard of solid metal?
Virtual_Opinion_8630@reddit
dumbass
it's not about avoiding all plastics
it's avoiding the unavoidable
Dd_8630@reddit
Go 1 year without plastics
Fascinating.
Virtual_Opinion_8630@reddit
use your brain
hashbrowneggyolk0520@reddit
It's not as simple as that
Virtual_Opinion_8630@reddit
yeah the alternatives need to be good and keep stuff as fresh as plastics do
hashbrowneggyolk0520@reddit
I don't doubt that there are people out there that are trying to come up with a solution to this problem but whilst plastic is cheap and easy to use there's nothing encouraging companies or the government to change anything.
The UK throws away about 100 billion pieces of plastic per year allegedly and I don't see that number decreasing anything soon sadly.
EmperorPedro2@reddit
I'm glad to read this. This whole attitude of "it isn't perfect, so I'm not going to do something that's definitely worse" is sad to see.
Dans77b@reddit
Trouble is, I get the feeling that anything that I put in general waste ends up in landfill.
Some of the stuff I put in recycling may end up on an Indonesian beach.
Aerodye@reddit
I get the sentiment but that looks awful lol
pgnlzbth@reddit
I bought a stuffy down thing that makes all the bags as small as possible, then tie the outer bag tightly and drop it off at the supermarket.
Karen_Is_ASlur@reddit
I chuck it in the bin. I recycle plastic bottles etc but none of those flimsy little bits are worth bothering with.
PapiMak@reddit
I use a bread bag and fill it up till it’s a almost a rugby ball.
yearsofpractice@reddit
(What’s soft plastic recycling?)
lookhereisay@reddit
My council started taking soft plastics in the regular plastic recycling recently, which has made life easier.
Before then I had a clip lid bin where all the soft plastics would go. Then every 1-2 months I’d take it to Tesco to hurl in their collection trolleys.
Existing_Doughnut985@reddit
I don’t worry about thing like this when there’s millionaires and billionaires producing more co in a couple private jet flights than I will ever produce in my lifetime
dannydrama@reddit
I recycled everything till the rubbish collection guys broke the bin and the council want to charge me for a new one. 😂
D-1-S-C-0@reddit
People who make domestic environmentalism a core element of their identity are like a kid playing with a toy steering wheel in the car.
Dd_8630@reddit
That actually is not the case.
Moreover, while you're one person, normal people make up 10s of millions of people, and proper recycling makes a bigger impact than Taylor Swift on her private jets.
Not recycling is like not voting. Not only do you rescind your right to complain about environmental catastrophes, you also end up fucking over everyone else.
Both can be true.
Change should be forced by legislation on industries, but public consumption is also a huge cause of pollution. If councils force the public to recycle more and/or penalise those who don't, that removes a large and non-neglible source of pollution.
PoolRamen@reddit
That'll happen anyway whether you recycle or not - so might as well recycle. But check that your recycling is a) suitable to recycle and b) recycled in the UK. Waitrose dropoffs are tracked and UK recycled where possible.
Virtual_Opinion_8630@reddit
Lots of recyclable products get incinerated.
Complete scam
OkSun8521@reddit
I don't think you know what the word "scam" means.
Virtual_Opinion_8630@reddit
yeah I do
just colloquial...
JonJo42@reddit
Unfortunately the U.K. is not in the EU so ours goes for incineration.
Virtual_Opinion_8630@reddit
oh yeah forgot about that lol
Remarkable-Sun-1391@reddit
"Every individual matters. Every individual has a role to play. Every individual makes a difference." ~ Jane Goodall
odkfn@reddit
Pretty poor stance - that’s like “there’s entire armies out there murdering people, what does it matter if I kill one or two people”. Or “loads of companies pollute, why shouldn’t I just chuck my litter in the street”.
The heaviest corporations and celebrities polluting everywhere should be held accountable but that doesn’t mean we don’t all have to do our part, too. What’s the downside?
Virtual_Opinion_8630@reddit
The sad reality of it all.
It feels good to do stuff like this (and for the record, I do recycle) but it's a massive exercise in futility.
cold_tap_hot_brew@reddit
Aye maybe but at least future generations will see we tried to work within the constraints we lived in and they’ll maybe make our oxygen overconsumption death penalty as painless as possible.
Existing_Doughnut985@reddit
I do recycle for the record, we are provided 4 bins by our council, 3 for recycling and I separate everything I can but I am not going to start keeping a shopping bag full of haribo wrappers and crisp wrappers in my kitchen to go post into another bin at Aldi
No_Medium_648@reddit
You'd have to wash the crisp wrappers, or the food would contaminate the whole lot, but then you'd have to dry them, because the wet would contaminate the whole lot. There's very little soft plastic that doesn't contaminate.
chrisl182@reddit
Exactly this. Why am I hoarding rubbish for recycling when millionaires are getting private jets to the shops.
I mean, not actually to the shops but you get the idea
Kailos32@reddit
Bread bag. Keeps it in a small footprint and surprisingly holds a lot!
Captain-Codfish@reddit
I live in a flat block with communal biffa bins and recycling wheelie bins. Some chavs stole our recycling bins, so now we don't recycle anymore. Everything goes in the biffa
RonBonxious@reddit
Tote bag hanging off the back of a door, which gradually fills up and gets taken to the supermarket and emptied when we do a big shop.
Extension-Aside-555@reddit
That's exactly how I do mine, before they started the curbside pickup I would save them for a year and then bus to the recycling depot to drop off
More-Dragonfly2007@reddit
I'm a very basic sewer but I took a rectangle of fabric, made it into a tube, sewed elastic in both ends and added a ribbon to hang it off a cupboard door. Made one for spare carrier bags and one for soft plastics, they go in the top and you can pull them out the bottom, works a treat.
mostexceptional@reddit
I'm in America, but I make ecobricks, so it doesnt take up as much space!
Brilliant_Orange637@reddit
best way to get rid of them 🙂
Trancer79@reddit
It all gets stuffed into empty cereal bags, sealed and chucked outside between the wheelie bins when full, gathered up when I have time and taken to one of the collection points at a local supermarket.
After reading some of the stats in this thread, I don't think I'll be so bothered about picking out the 'recyclable' bits that wifey just chucks in general waste anyway..
a_ewesername@reddit
A friend of mine told me that when he worked in villages in SE Asia, people cooked on fires using cheap fuel.....That fuel was imported soft plastics waste; so much for recycling. 🙁
They said the daily smell of the burning plastic and thick black smoke was nauseating. And toxic, obviously.
OkSun8521@reddit
This is blatantly not true.
a_ewesername@reddit
Yes it is true, sadly.
He had no reason to lie to me, we've been friends for years. I was surprised to learn about the practice.
You could consider doing some research of your own perhaps ?
Brickworkse@reddit
It's not true. Your friend is misinformed.
a_ewesername@reddit
He was out there working as a teacher, and living in a village where this was common practice.
...Unless you know better having been there yourself.
Direct-Substance1569@reddit
How many bins does everyone here have if you have soft plastics?! We have a blue lidded one for recycling (all kinds) and a black bin for general refuse and waste. Some people have brown bins for food but our council didn’t collect ours for 3 weeks so the rats and foxes had a feast, made an impressive mess and we never bothered with a brown bin again!
Moongazer09@reddit
Mine go in general rubbish currently - I don't drive so getting to a supermarket is tricky for me. As of next month in my area, soft plastics can supposedly go in with regular plastics along with tins/foil, glass bottles and jars etc. What they actually do with it afterwards though hasn't been made entirely clear from what I can see...
Dd_8630@reddit
Our council gives us free blue plastic bags to store soft plastic, and a big white bag to hold foil, cans, and hard plastic.
Honestly a pretty neat system.
marsman@reddit
I just have three bins in the kitchen that basically match my outdoor bins.. I do tend to clean and squash plastics/cans etc.. to make them take up as little space as possible though.
mudual@reddit
Soft plastics (for wrappers) go into an empty bread bag and gets filled. Soft plastics for frozen food eg chips or cat food pouches, get rinsed and get folded and put in freezer. Then taken to morrisons as they have a cage for that sort of thing.
_FreddieLovesDelilah@reddit
Why do you separate and freeze some of your soft plastics? Why not put them all in the same bag? (Thanks)
Sexy_Vegan_Pants@reddit
I'm confused why anyone plastic would need to be kept in the freezer, what am I missing here??
_FreddieLovesDelilah@reddit
Same I really wanna know lol
mudual@reddit
Its ok, just that if the plastic that was for frozen food may smell, even if washed out.
Think of it as when you put food scraps into food waste bin, it will smell )unless it is in freezer.
Cmdr_Redbeard@reddit
Lol, just put it in the bin, recycling is a bloody scam.
OkSun8521@reddit
What do you think the word "scam" means?
alopizza@reddit
At the moment mine’s in an identical Andrex wrapper (!), but inside a bin. As well as my recycling containers, I’ve got one big kitchen bin for rubbish and another for soft plastics.
LittleBulk@reddit
I have a tote bag that hangs in the kitchen cupboard and comes with me to the supermarket to be emptied fortnightly. Its never got much in it with that routine.
simonjp@reddit
I use one of those cereal tubs.. Put a cereal bag or similar in there, stuff it as tight as I can!
No-Door-3181@reddit
Didn’t know we were meant to be doing this tbh
Sexy_Vegan_Pants@reddit
Hard to miss the recycling instructions on everything soft plastic
r00phus@reddit
I store mine in the b.i.n file
Sexy_Vegan_Pants@reddit
A bag hung on the kitchen door. I try to put all the plastic into one large bag so that it's easier to empty
Frosty_Customer_9243@reddit
I have a black bin that I use and agreement with the council is they collect it every three weeks.
TehTac@reddit
I bought a set of 25l recycling bins and use one of them for the soft plastics. It holds several weeks worth and I just keep squishing the stuff down until I can't fit any more in and then I have to keep doing that for a couple more weeks until I remember to take the bag to the supermarket haha. (I write PLASTIC in big letters on the shopping list to remind me to take it, but it never works)
nbrazel@reddit
They go in…the recycling bin?!
takesthebiscuit@reddit (OP)
Which one?
I have :
Paper/card
Green recycling
Glass
Cans/plastic
Batteries
General waste
PapajG@reddit
Im currently just hoarding these, they compact pretty well, once I save up I’m gonna buy or make a compactor to make little bricks
DevilsAdvocate1662@reddit
Outside in the recycling bin
bars_and_plates@reddit
I don't recycle soft plastics.
I have a general trust that waste in landfill should be contained appropriately such that there's not runoff or whatever affecting agriculture. If it's not then that is an issue that should be solved.
I don't generally see an issue with just putting it all in a hole in the ground.
Additionally I believe that in general plastics recycling is false economy. I think recycling metals makes sense due to the amount of energy used in extraction. With plastic it's very close to break even, similar with paper.
hopping32@reddit
It can go in the recycling bin where I live.
mdmnl@reddit
Same as yours but hanging off the back of the kitchen door
poo_on_my_scarf@reddit
My what now?
TumbleweedHelpful226@reddit
Your best solution would be to try and avoid where possible.
apocalypsebrow@reddit
Our council has had a soft plastics recycling collection for a couple of years now, so I keep a bag in the kitchen, squish it until it's full and then put it out for the recycling collection
BaldPleaser@reddit
Same except in a Tesco’s carrier bag
takesthebiscuit@reddit (OP)
They cost 30p 🫣
BarSalt970@reddit
Put in my general waste bin.
CaptainRAVE2@reddit
In my landfill bin
OkStay5395@reddit
I store mine in the bin
SpecialistGas2884@reddit
Similar. But it stays in garage. Do you take them to Aldi.
pixeltash@reddit
My nearest Aldi is literally a few hundred metres away, but their soft plastics bins are the stupid tiny slot type, Great for a single bread bag, but not when you have several items bagged like the op (and I) do.
I save up a big bagful and take them to Morrisons or Tesco's, both have the large cage type so I can chuck them in over the top.
Yippym@reddit
Yeah, Aldi slot bin is rather counter productive when doing bulk recycling. We go Sainsbury's because they provides an cage for all their store, our local Tesco and Morrisons are randomly available which is not encouraging to drop off.
takesthebiscuit@reddit (OP)
Yeah this lot gets dumped in Tesco every other week or ao
melonslut@reddit
ecobrick. soft plastics rarely get recycled properly (lots of other comments here have also said this and cited sources to back this up). soft plastics that are sent to landfill release microplastics into the land, soft plastics that are ‘recycled’ may end up being burned which is horrible for the environment. with ecobricking you put the soft plastic into a harder plastic which breaks down less easily. there are usually local groups that collect these and then use them for small construction projects. it’s so easy and feels a lot more genuinely helpful. obviously as individuals we can’t do much against the conglomerates insisting on burning the earth to a crisp, but i don’t agree with totally becoming devoid of individual responsibility just because that happens. more ecobrick info : https://www.ecotricity.co.uk/our-news/2019/what-is-an-ecobrick
SeaworthinessNeat516@reddit
I use mine to catch hedgehogs
faroffland@reddit
For a roast? Nice bit of [squirrel] hedgehog
SeaworthinessNeat516@reddit
Glad you agree. When Stella did the plastic packaging for the cans I caught four hogs at once! Tremendous value! We got a Swan with one once but I was down the pub and the wife couldn't keep hold of it.
CreativeAdeptness477@reddit
I'm not. I've got a container for tins and shit, I've a carrier bag for cardboard packaging, I've my regular bin, and I've the big actual bags we leave out for collection. I've also got a really small kitchen in a really small upstairs flat with shite all space so they're lucky I'm doing what I'm currently doing. Shit like soft plastics go in the bin like they always did.
RoohsMama@reddit
I used to have a large, clear recyclable plastic bag, the kind that ties off, and this was in the kitchen next to the other bins. When it would grow to quite a size, I’d put it in the downstairs loo/powder room. I also had an extra one in my bedroom, hanging on the doorknob for convenience.
Pippin4242@reddit
Small pretty white pedal bin. Right capacity for my council's bags.
Humorous-Prince@reddit
Yes, once full take them to Tesco plastic recycling cage
wishy100@reddit
In the bags provided by my council!
Happy_Chief@reddit
Goes right in the general waste along with my glass.
If the council don't wanna collect it, they can burn it. I pay them enough already, no need for the free labour too.
takesthebiscuit@reddit (OP)
Ok you are kind of shooting your self in the bollocks here then
Every ton of waste that your council (YOU) put to landfill comes with a surcharge
Of you don’t recycle then your council will pay more which will put up taxes further
Happy_Chief@reddit
My local council burn all their landfill waste in their own facility to generate energy which they then sell back to the grid.
No gate fees here 👍
strodey123@reddit
In the plastic recycling bin or the general waste.
We (as the UK) send our soft plastic 'recycling' to Turkey or Malaysia where they burn it or bury it.
goingnowherespecial@reddit
Into the general waste bin.
takesthebiscuit@reddit (OP)
Nah these are destined for park benches made from bread bags and fast food lids
PoolRamen@reddit
Just a binbag in the storage shed - I clean any soiled articles so no infestation etc worries
takesthebiscuit@reddit (OP)
Yeah it’s all clean, I’m just to lazy to go out with all this crap
DangerousDisplay7664@reddit
I’m doing similar to what you’re doing, but it’s kept under the stairs, with the other bins.
these_metal_hands@reddit
At this point I just have four small bins. 1 for plastic, 1 for glass, 1 for paper and one for everything else.
rubberbandhands@reddit
Council have given us bags to store it ready for collection so am putting it into a tote and hanging it under the kitchen counter
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