Do I need a Bin liner?

GreyQueen

For my sins, I work in a local authority call centre and answer the public's questions about many things, refuse and recycling being one of them.

Facilities to recycle various materials are not evenly distributed across the country and each authority will have some things which are technically recyclable but which they can't get (economically) to a recycling facility. Remember, your council is sorting recyclables for sale, it isn't physically recycling the items and returning those materials to the materials stream for further production. Private companies are doing that.

Plus, authorities have various kinds of sorting facilities, some more modern than others, and thus what seems like insane and arbitary rules about what goes where, and what doesn't, vary from place to place, due to however their sorting system is set up.

In our area, we have a list of definately recyclable, another list of definately NON-recyclable and a third list of just-about-recyclable-but-we-don't-really-want-them-because-they're-so-low-value-that-they're-barely-worth-collecting.:rotfl:

melanzana

How much does it cost to buy the bin liners?

I couldn't not use them. Yuk. Sorry folks but a little cost pays back sometimes.

gardner1

Xbigman wrote: »

Shopping in Tesco's today I wanted some of their value bin liners. There weren't any. Nor was there a space on the shelf where they might go. Instead I have a large choice of expensive ones that have drawstrings or are biodegradable, etc. As I only use one a week and they came in packs of 40 I obviously haven't bought any for a while so I don't know when this happened but the cheap option appears to have gone.

This prompted the question, do I need a Bin liner? They are certainly convenient but are they really needed. I recall my mother having an old bucket in the kitchen (early 70's council estate) and she would put newspaper or cardboard in the bottom to stop it sticking on emptying. So from a practical viewpoint that does seem the way to go.

I'm curious as to what others on here do? And do the council have a problem with this?




Darren

PS. I also noticed today that Tesco don't seem to do the bigger tinned pink Salmon (£2 - 418g) anymore. Over the past 6 months they have stopped the Value Quiches, Value dried milk, Value food bags and others I can't recall at the moment.
Seems a growing trend.

Just spend £1 and buy bin liners and save grief and mess

lewishardwick

Sadly having communal bins means the food waste in is full of crap, as is the mixed recycling.

Food waste goes in normal bin, I feel bad, but it's a continuous argument between the council and management companies.

Mixed recycling gets taken to the supermarket.

Sometimes I wonder why people are such lazy scum. But then I remember it's not worth the stress.

System

Sometimes I wonder why people are such lazy scum. But then I remember it's not worth the stress.

I wouldnt say i'm lazy but my recyclables are only collected fortnightly. I refuse to have rubbish hanging around me 2 weeks so i only recycle on the week that its collected.

edwink

Our three wheelie bins are emptied once a fortnight. Green for garden waste, black for household rubbish and blue for recycling. Plus we have a small green food waste caddy.

Kitchen rubbish bin is emptied straight in to black wheelie bin so no bags used for that. Kitchen recycling bin is emptied straight in to blue wheelie bin so no bags used for that either. As no food is put in either of these bins they never really need washing out and just get a wipe out every now and again.

Our little green food waste caddy has never been used ever because our hens eat anything and everything they can gets their hands on :rotfl: So nothing is ever wasted in this house.

Edwink

tiredwithtwins

I recycle where I can, have a compost heap and all the household waste goes straight into the black bin. its emptied once a fortnight, so after its emptied I give it a quick rinse out with the hosepipe and its clean ... not a carrier bag/bin liner in sight! anything that might be smelly (like meat,bones etc) is wrapped in a couple of sheets of newspaper and goes straight into the bin ...

YorksLass

GreyQueen wrote: »

For my sins, I work in a local authority call centre and answer the public's questions about many things, refuse and recycling being one of them.

In our area, we have a list of definately recyclable, another list of definately NON-recyclable and a third list of just-about-recyclable-but-we-don't-really-want-them-because-they're-so-low-value-that-they're-barely-worth-collecting.:rotfl:

Poor you, I bet you get lots of questions! And :rotfl: the three lists made me smile!

We have a lovely council chappie who's my "go to" person for problems with refuse/collections and I've had many a conversation with him about recycling and the reasons behind the what and why, all along the lines of what you said. Last year he knocked on every door in our street to explain to residents what should/shouldn't go in which bin, plus leaving every household a leaflet. Things did improve for a (short) while but alas, not for long.

The sad thing is that if the recycling bins are deemed to be "contaminated" (i.e. have the wrong things in them) they're not emptied for weeks on end until someone complains; eventually the council sends a wagon and the contents end up in landfill. Last time I spoke to "lovely chappie" he said we might lose our recycling bins altogether.

Sorry, a bit off the original topic of bin liners!