How full is your recycling bin?

partist

Is your recycling wheelie bin less than two thirds* full when you put it out?

We have a recycling bin collection every fortnight. I reckon most people put their bin out for collection every fortnight whether it's full or not. Am I right?

If we all only put our recycling bins out when they were full that would make the binmen's round quicker, reduce cost and ultimately shave a bit off the Council Tax. Every little helps.

*Why 2/3 full? A quick experiment shows that the top 1/3 of the bin holds about the same as the bottom two thirds: the bin is wider at the top, and the bottom contents get compressed when the bin is full. So when the bin looks two thirds full it's actually only half full.
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PasturesNew

If you lived in one room you'd be keen to get rid of it asap.... and £1 off the council tax wouldn't convince you any differently.

Doom_and_Gloom

If you are on about the recycle bin inside the home then we basically fill ours every week and have fortnightly collections. If you are on about the wheely bin outside that gets collected well 2 sacks do not fill it, lol. Next door to us only puts a bin or two in their wheely bin aswell so we had a talk and share the wheely bin and my partner and next door take it in turns to take the bin to where it gets collected. We do the same with general waste as well (that gets collected weekly and even with us and next door we can not fill the wheely bin! I don't even think it gets half full). Much easier for us and the bin men although I bet they do wonder why our bins never seem to go out as they are numbered, lol.

keith_r59

No recycling bins where I live - just pink recycling sacks. Fill one up each week.

tanith

We have 4 different recycling bins/bags they get collected weekly and are usually all pretty full apart from the winter when we don't put garden waste out.. but with all the recycling it means I only put out a black waste bag once every 3 wks or so ..

Enterprise_1701C

Our bin is more or less jammed full - collections are only once a fortnight, and we have a business too. Figure they won't complain about business recycling going in our home bin! It is not unknown for another box full to go out too, and it's not just us, most of our neighbours have the same problem, and they came round recently asking if we wanted another bin, unforuntately we have no room for yet more clutter round the back.

Our glass one only gets put out once every 8 weeks or so though, a lot of neighbours beat us on that one!

dzug1

Round here we can ask for a larger recycling bin if it's needed. Ours is usually pretty full for a 2 week cycle but haven't yet felt the need to ask for it.

spadoosh

Theres only 2 of us and theres been afew times when its been 8 weeks before ive had to put them out. Dont like putting it out half full, feel like im wasting their time so wait till its full normally about once a month.

System

we have a green wheelie bin and it gets put out about once a month , even then it isn't full

partist

spadoosh wrote: »

Theres only 2 of us and theres been afew times when its been 8 weeks before ive had to put them out. Don't like putting it out half full, feel like im wasting their time so wait till its full normally about once a month.

Good for you. If everyone did that I wonder how many fewer bins would have to be emptied each round. There are lots of 2 person households that, like you, generate relatively small amounts of waste.

I've written to my local Council suggesting that when they next have occasion to write to householders they suggest householders follow your lead, spadoosh, and only put their recycle wheelie out when it's full.

If, for example, that results in 25% fewer bins being put out each fortnight that's got to enable the Council to negotiate a reduced collection charge with their supplier when it comes to contract renewal time.

JamesK10

I've really tried hard to tidy up properly before the end of this year so in August I filled all three recycling cartons for two properties at least three times with just my stuff as a LOT of paper waste had built up. However I tend to save up the glass and cans until there's enough otherwise you get the odd jar that breaks too easily and becomes a hazard. Plastic bottles, no problem, they just go straight out because they're light.

Compost on the other hand, that's fallen to fortnightly as next door has finished the annual tree surgery and other than that I'm just sticking the expired food into it.

I've had lots of special collections, like only electrical stuff, only furniture, only videotapes (60-100 at a time), which I'd rather not stick in the landfill bin - I assumed my council would go through and flog whatever they could fetch a price on, but it gets to the point where some of it will just go in the bin and I've filled that three times trying to get rid of a decade of junk that's been here since I moved in.