recycling plastic bottles

Legacy_user

i have always been a "lazy" recycler usually if it was easy [ie council supplied /emptied containers] after months of struggling with fortnightly collections i decided to see if taking plastic bottles to the local dump would make a difference,what an eye opener !my bin for the last month has been only 3/4 full. now im on a mission to get my rubbish down even further .

cardboard-collected by council
jars/tins-collected by council
paper-collected by council
plastic bottles -taken to dump

any more ideas ?:j

Horace

How about buying some sprinkler attachments for them and using them around the house/garden for your plants or ironing. You can buy them from Lakeland shops for a little over a quid for a pack of 4 sprinklers.

Ken68

Take a lump out of the main body and stick the plastic bottle onto a walking stick......an apple scrumper.

geordie_joe

CHRISSYG wrote: »

now im on a mission to get my rubbish down even further .

cardboard-collected by council
jars/tins-collected by council
paper-collected by council
plastic bottles -taken to dump

any more ideas ?:j

Why not take it all to the dump.

In a documentary I saw a couple of months ago the biggest recycling plant in the country said 70% of the stuff brought in by councils could not be recycled as it was unfit.

The councils were collecting the recycling, taking it to the plan and they were shipping it to a land fill site.

Our local council issues plastic boxes for glass, paper etc but the binmen come round and chuck it all into the back of the same truck.

What is the point of us separating it out when they just mix it up again!!!!

Then they have the nerve to say they will fine us for putting tins in the paper box!

Lizzieanne

My local tip will only recycle plastic that is 'bottle shaped', not the lids or anything else. I have a large dustbin in the garden in which I store the bottles but have been saving the lids for a few months now. I'm going to use them as 'drainage' in my garden planters, along with any broken crockery.

bigpaws23

I set myself a mission this week to be really conscious of everything I was about to put in the bin and see if I could do something else with it.
So far, I'm on day 5 and have 4 bits of plastic in the bin - 2 bags from the butchers that had meat in, 1 plastic bag from some potatoes because my local farm had run out and I had to get supermarket ones and another plastic bag from something; I can't remember now.
There are two tetrapack cartons in there as well from soya milk and a couple of yogurt pots (the cardboard outer has been removed, but I can't do anything with the pots apart from in the springtime when I start saving them for seeds).

This has been a real eye opener as usually we throw away 1 dustbin full a week.

By stopping and thinking first, (esp. before buying things) it looks like I have dramatically reduced our rubbish..............

I've started feeding the cat on chicken rather than tins of food - 1 chicken lasts her the week and if I get it from the butcher doesn't come on a polystyrene tray. I pay as much, sometimes less for a weeks worth of chicken as I did for crap-in-a-can for the cat and there are 7 less tins a week going to be recycled (or in the bin if I was too lazy to rinse them and take them outside)

Fruit and veg comes from local farms and orchards instead of the supermarket, so no plastic packaging. I can take my own paper bags for re-use without getting strange looks!

I buy oats from Mornflake that only come in cardboard - none of that inner waxed bags inside as well.

I'm using washable cloths rather than kitchen roll for cleaning up spills (but, tbh, we have a woodburner as well, so any tissues / kitchen roll can be put on there).

Well done on reducing your rubbish, Chrissy G - we've gone from 2 bins a week, to 1 and it looks like it may even be 1 carrier bag this week, which I will be delighted with

Bigpaws x

*niptuckfan*

I have been like you guys and trying to reduce my waste - and am now on a mission to reduce the waste at my work - we have a lot of magazines sent for which i have arranged a skip for recyling - does anyone know if envelopes with the window in them can be recycled?

vivatifosi

*niptuckfan* wrote: »

I have been like you guys and trying to reduce my waste - and am now on a mission to reduce the waste at my work - we have a lot of magazines sent for which i have arranged a skip for recyling - does anyone know if envelopes with the window in them can be recycled?

I asked my local council that question. They said that they could, but they prefer the windows ripped out. I'm in Hertfordshire, thought I'd mention as everywhere seems to be different.

System

my council wil not recycle envelopes something to do with the glue.