Are smaller bins the answer to our waste problem?

money-savvy-suzy

I was thinking about this the other day. When I was a child (in the 80's) our rubbish bins were a lot smaller (those black ones with the lift off lids). Now we were very poor, therefore hardly anything went to waste. We were a family of 5 and I never remember not having any space in our bins for the rubbish - and this was before recycle bins!

It may not be the solution, but I think the size of our bins these days are just encouraging our throw away society. I know that there will always be people that would dump their rubbish if our bins were smaller, but I do think its a case of filling the space - ie the bigger the bins the more we fill them.

When I was a kid we never wasted anything because we hardly had anything in the first place, even leftover food scraps (when there were some with 3 hungry kids!) were fed to our family dog! I couldn't ever have imagined throwing away old toys or clothes - these were swapped with neighbourhood kids to get new stuff! I also remember my mum dusting with old underwear :rotfl:

Ken68

That is the thinking, Suzy, in m y area, smaller bins on request, and why the binmen can't just chuck in extra bags, is unbelievable. Subject to being properly tied .

geordie_joe

I don't think many people throw away rubbish just because their bin is only half full.

It's more a case of having more rubbish these days. Food is so cheap compared to years ago so we eat more, and have more packaging to throw away.

When I was a lad in the 60's we had four meals a day and rarely ate anything in between. Also the food didn't have as much packaging as it does now.


We also had a coal fire, so anything that burned went onto the fire.

We also had a wire "dalek bin" and the binmen would take anything away that was within 3 feet of the bin. I don't remember it ever being full, but remember putting other things near the bin to be taken away.

ailuro2

Leaving bin bags out on the streets encourages them to be opened by crows, rats, whatever else, and making a mess, when I was young stray dogs would always tear open any rubbish left out in a bin with no lid, or just in a bag.

wheelie bins cut down on mess, as well as being easier for the bin men to lift.

Our council (Dudee city) has offered us BIGGER bins, for recycling:j

I wish there was a way for them to take away packaging and recycle that too- then we'd barely have any 'normal' rubbish at all.;)

Caterina

I think that one of the problems is that these days goods come over-packaged, for health and safety reasons, or just for consumer reasons I suppose? It is very difficult now to find shops where you can buy dry goods from the drums, like there used to be 20 years or so ago - even in London, where I have lived for 25 years.

People are taking notice now, and more people reuse their bags or use fabric ones (even though some are used as a fashion statement!).

I look forward to the time that plastic bags will be charged!

Caterina

geordie_joe

Caterina wrote: »

It is very difficult now to find shops where you can buy dry goods from the drums, like there used to be 20 years or so ago - even in London, where I have lived for 25 years.

When I lived in the North East, about ten years ago, we had a shop that sold dry good in bins. Flour, washing powder, raisins, just anything. You just opened the bin and scooped what you wanted into a paper bag. It was much cheaper and I used to shop their a lot.

Caterina wrote: »

I look forward to the time that plastic bags will be charged!

We had a Kwik Save that used to charge for carrier bags, a penny for the light ones and 3p for the stronger ones. Then it got taken over by Somerfield and they started giving them away for free. Of course they are not free, they add a bit on to the goods to cover the cost of the bags.

Have a look at this site for a bit of inspiration.

http://www.plasticbagfree.com/

Apparently many other towns are following their example

Queenie

money-savvy-suzy wrote: »

I was thinking about this the other day. When I was a child (in the 80's) our rubbish bins were a lot smaller (those black ones with the lift off lids). Now we were very poor, therefore hardly anything went to waste. We were a family of 5 and I never remember not having any space in our bins for the rubbish - and this was before recycle bins!

It may not be the solution, but I think the size of our bins these days are just encouraging our throw away society. I know that there will always be people that would dump their rubbish if our bins were smaller, but I do think its a case of filling the space - ie the bigger the bins the more we fill them.

When I was a kid we never wasted anything because we hardly had anything in the first place, even leftover food scraps (when there were some with 3 hungry kids!) were fed to our family dog! I couldn't ever have imagined throwing away old toys or clothes - these were swapped with neighbourhood kids to get new stuff! I also remember my mum dusting with old underwear :rotfl:

Were those also the says days when supermarkets were but a distant dream? "Packaging" meant a brown paper bag from the greengrocers and carrier bags were paid for at the till instead of handed out willy-nilly? Were those the same days when "ready meals" = a Vesta Curry and not the plethora of crud now on offer? Were those the same days when most people had functional gardens and grew herbs, vegetables and had a fruit tree/bush in their gardens that demanded homegrown compost? (Pre landscape gardening and Alan Titchmarsh? More like, Percy Thrower?) Same days when jumble sales were the norm and you had to fight, elbow to elbow, with the mature ladies to even get a look in! (and that was just in the queue!!! :rotfl:)

Ah, yes, smaller bins would be nice. So would less packaging, so would a less materialistic society, so would a less "I wannit-wannit NOW!" society.

Smaller bins, per se, are not the answer. You have to go back to source and we, as the consumers are at the end of the chain, not the forefront

Caterina

geordie_joe wrote: »

....Then it got taken over by Somerfield and they started giving them away for free. Of course they are not free, they add a bit on to the goods to cover the cost of the bags.

This reminds me of an exchange of words I had with a very young lady serving at the counter of Safeways many years ago.

I went to buy a small pot of loose olives, she put them in a tub and then wanted to put the tub in a small plastic bag. I said I did not want the plastic bag, because it is overpackaging, and pointed out that if she put the price sticker between the lid and body of the tub this will seal it and it won't spill its contents.

The girl insisted that she really had to give me the plastic bag, and I pointed out that all this packaging is costing the clients an absolute fortune. At this, the poor girl said: No, no, madam, the bag is free!

She really could not understand my gripe and in the end I saw that I was just making the life of this poor working underpaid teenager a misery and let her give me the plastic bag!

Caterina

geordie_joe

After posting the link to the site about the carrier bag free town I actually took the trouble to read all this page

http://www.plasticbagfree.com/baginfo.php


It's a bit long winded, but contains a lot of sense and carefully thought out information.