Differences in local recycling schemes

[DarloRich]

Local Recycling differences

Prompted by posts in this thread: http://www.railforums.co.uk/showthread.php?t=126401&page=3 I was interested to note the seemingly wide variance of items collected by local councils under their kerbside recycling schemes and wanted to know more. Milton Keynes Council seem really good with their recycling schemes. They give me:

1. Pink sacks : paper, card, tin, foil, plastics and even tetrapaks
2. Blue box: Glass
3. Little grey bin: Food waste into a small caddy
4. Green wheelie bin: garden waste into which the grey bin is tipped (which all goes off for compost)

All other waste goes into a black bin bag and all waste is collected weekly from the front street. I am now down to one standard supermarket carrier bag of waste a week!

Perhaps we are lucky having such a wide ranging service. What is it like elsewhere?

 

[crehld]

I live on the edge of Newcastle under Lyme borough council territory. We get:

- blue box: glass, foil and tins
- blue sack: paper
- green sack: cardboard
- red sack: plastic bottles
- white sack: textiles
- Brown wheelie bin: garden waste
- green caddy: food waste
- black wheelie bin: general refuse (of which there is next to nothing)

Batteries and small electrical appliances are also collected if put in plastic bags (remember those?) and left on top of the blue box.

Recycling and refuse are collected alternate weeks, while food waste collected every week.

Some people bemoan the fact its a biweekly refuse collection but there's so little of it it doesn't matter. Such people also moan about the smell but know not what they blither on about given all the smelly rotting food gets taken away weekly and the only thing going in the refuse is plastic packaging which is not bottles.

Others moan about the number of receptacles, but given most are sacks they take up no space at all and sorting takes no longer than one minute on a Monday evening before University Challenge comes on.

I'm impressed you get tetrapaks collected as they're notoriously hard and carbon intensive to recycle.

 

[dgl]

In Dorset it's,
Green box for glass
Big green wheelie bin for paper/card/platic Etc.
Smaller black wheelie bin for non-recyclables
Small brown bin for food waste
Small pink bag for batteries
Option of wheelie bin for garden waste

Food waste is every week everything else is fortnightly.

 

[Bletchleyite]

Perhaps we are lucky having such a wide ranging service. What is it like elsewhere?

MK Council's scheme is excellent - particularly in that it does not operate by penalising people, but just gets you to separate as best you can with the job finished in the recycling factory. I understand they even sort black sacks if they have spare capacity to catch any misplaced recycling.

OTOH, they plan to save costs by replacing the pink sacks with a reusable bag, which sounds a good idea in principle except for that it isn't likely to be big enough, which as I put out about one black sack and two pink sacks each week will mean some of my current recycling doesn't get recycled.

 

[gordonthemoron]

MK Council's scheme is excellent - particularly in that it does not operate by penalising people, but just gets you to separate as best you can with the job finished in the recycling factory. I understand they even sort black sacks if they have spare capacity to catch any misplaced recycling.

OTOH, they plan to save costs by replacing the pink sacks with a reusable bag, which sounds a good idea in principle except for that it isn't likely to be big enough, which as I put out about one black sack and two pink sacks each week will mean some of my current recycling doesn't get recycled.

Considering the large number of HMOs in MK, I foresee this change causing a lot of problems

 

[AM9]

Perhaps we are lucky having such a wide ranging service. What is it like elsewhere?

Here in St Albans we have:

A Black box for newspapers and cardboard
A Black box for Glass (not broken)
A green box for plastic and tin/aluminium containers
A green wheely bin for food and garden waste
A black wheely bin for landfill waste​

That all works quire well. For those who complained that food waste would be there for two weeks, the council explained that it could be put in the black wheely bin on non-recycling weeks.

Batteries I take to Waitrose, some 2 1/2 minute walk away. Britta cartriges go to Robert Dyas.

Something that did irk me recently at the local recycling centre was when I took a load of polythene wrapping including carrier bags, I was asked to put it in the landfill skip. The recycling of polythene was discontinued when the carrier-bag charge was introduced. With increasing home delivery/click and collect, there is still plenty of polythene sheet used which will now end up in te environment. Mmmm!

 

[Domh245]

Back home in Merton, they used to have a green box for glass and plastic, and purple box for paper and glass (or something along those lines) as well as a brown food waste caddy and black bags. They've since combined all of the recycling (bar food waste, obviously) so that you no longer have to sort it yourself. I remember thinking that was a good idea as you just had to put everything into the one box, especially useful for the lazy amongst us.

 

[Bletchleyite]

Considering the large number of HMOs in MK, I foresee this change causing a lot of problems

Even without it I see the same, to be honest. We don't want a change that discourages recycling.

I'd be happy with a large wheelie bin, OTOH, that would be big enough. Different sizes of bin could be allocated based on household size if necessary.

 

[northwichcat]

Cheshire East:
'Silver' bin: Paper (not shredded), cardboard, plastic bottles, plastic cartons, plastic bags, glass, cans
Green bin: Garden rubbish
'Grey' bin: Anything else

Previously we used to have a green box for glass and cans, a reusable white bag for paper and a reusable clear bag for cardboard but they were all replaced by a 'silver' bin which a lot of people would say is light grey. While the general waste 'grey' bin is actually a charcoal type colour so most people refer to as black.

 

[DynamicSpirit]

Greenwich is very user-friendly. We get three large wheely bins:

• Green for compostable garden and food stuff
• Blue for recyclables (with a relatively wide range of stuff counting as recyclable)
• Black for everything else - the non-recyclables.

And all three are collected every week, on the same day.

No need most of the time to use any bags, with the risk of animals tearing into them. But if you do have too much rubbish and have to leave bags out as well as the bins, they will still be collected. And if they see you've put the wrong stuff in either the blue or green bins, they'll just treat that bin as a black one, but will still collect it.

Definitely much easier than any other local authority I've lived in.

Incidentally, I find, once I've got into the habit of washing out food containers so they can go in the blue bin, it's very easy to get almost everything into being either recyclable or compostable. So the amount of stuff that I have to put in the black bin is usually very small.

 

[Arglwydd Golau]

Just a quick observation, there does not seem to be any standardised colour coordination of recycling bins across the UK, does there?

 

[radamfi]

Crawley have closed all their local recycling centres, citing excessive contamination. There is a comprehensive kerbside collection service where they collect all recycling in one bin, but for blocks of flats, which are many in this area, that is down to the residents' committees and my block of flats decided to remove the recycling facility because the council would often refuse to collect it because of contamination. So the council have told me to chuck my recycling with the refuse, or take it to the tip, 3 miles away.

 

[Busaholic]

When Cornwall lost its District Councils some years ago, to be replaced by an unloved unitary authority, a Lowest Common Denominator approach kicked in. In West Cornwall where you're never far from the sea, and therefore seagulls, especially near the fishing ports, we'd had council-provided wheelie bins for some time, although personally I'd opted for a very large green canvas bag. Instead we were told that only black sacks would now be taken, a system which they had in Carrick (Truro/Falmouth) and which Penwith had sensibly discarded previously when the detritus was strewn all over the roads by seagulls, especially in summer and often at 3 a.m.
An uneasy compromise seems to have been reached in that most people still have wheelie bins and, in most areas, dustcarts are provided with the necessary hoists, but, officially, this is not the agreed system! Collections are still weekly though, thank goodness.
A new problem down here is the lack of skips at supermarkets, etc, to take paper and cardboard. Of our three large supermarkets on the edge of town only one is continuing to provide this service and even the official tip has precious little space for paper, although cardboard provision is okay.

 

[northwichcat]

Just a quick observation, there does not seem to be any standardised colour coordination of recycling bins across the UK, does there?

No. As I mentioned my area has silver (grey), green and dark grey colour bins. In Liverpool they have purple bins, while other areas have brown bins or/and blue bins and there's probably other colours as well.

 

[gordonthemoron]

How do binmen tell the different colour wheeliebins apart when collecting on early winter mornings?

 

[Mojo]

My council has a black wheelie bin collected every fortnight.

There is a weekly collection of food waste in a food waste bin and a weekly collection of garden waste in a (reusable) garden waste bag.

Recycling is collected weekly, either in a black bin with green lid, or plastic green bags which are provided by the council. They collect:
- Paper
- Plastic (Polyethylene, High Density Polyethylene, Low Density Polyethylene and Polypropylene only)
- Food and drink tins/cans
- Aerosol cans
- Glass bottles and jars

I had a bin to put my waste in, but my neighbours are absolute PIGS and don't understand how to recycle properly, despite making everyone think they are eco by driving an electric car. So I moved to bags because they just don't get it.

 

[crehld]

Just a quick observation, there does not seem to be any standardised colour coordination of recycling bins across the UK, does there?

No, but that is to be expected given responsibility for waste and recycling is the preserve of local authorities, so it's up to local councillors to make the decisions.

 

[northwichcat]

How do binmen tell the different colour wheeliebins apart when collecting on early winter mornings?

Can't speak for everywhere but in my area general waste is collected one week and recyclable and garden rubbish is collected the following week. During winter garden rubbish collections aren't made so during the period of the year when it's dark post-07:30 there's only one type of bin out at a time. 07:30 is the time the council say your bin(s) need to be out by.

 

[Peter Mugridge]

Epsom:

Black bin for all plastics, cardboard and coloured paper - collected fortnightly. Ours is pretty much full every time!

Green bin for landfill - collected fortnightly on the opposite week from the above. In practice I only put ours out when it's full, which typically takes 3 - 4 months.

Green box for glass and metals ( excluding foil ) - collected weekly. Again, I only put it outside when it's full - takes about 6 - 8 weeks.

Small green box with hinged lid for food waste - collected weekly. Never goes outside; what little we have leftover that is inedible to humans goes on the bird table.

Newspapers and textiles - place outside in ( separate ) bags - collected weekly. The former is out most weeks for us, the latter as and when required.

Foil - needs to be taken to the local tip depot where there is a box for it.

White goods, damaged / life expired furniture etc - as above - need to be taken along although the council will of course collect for a fee.

Garden waste - brown bin, weekly collection, but needs to be paid for in advance by annual subscription.

 

[Mojo]

Small green box with hinged lid for food waste - collected weekly. Never goes outside; what little we have leftover that is inedible to humans goes on the bird table.

I'm impressed. What do you do with things like bones and egg shells? Do you do composting or just not eat stuff that produces this waste?

 

[DynamicSpirit]

Crawley have closed all their local recycling centres, citing excessive contamination. There is a comprehensive kerbside collection service where they collect all recycling in one bin, but for blocks of flats, which are many in this area, that is down to the residents' committees and my block of flats decided to remove the recycling facility because the council would often refuse to collect it because of contamination. So the council have told me to chuck my recycling with the refuse, or take it to the tip, 3 miles away.

Now I'm confused. I thought you lived outside the UK?

 

[TheEdge]

You lot have really complex councils and systems.

Here in South Norfolk. Green for all recycling and black for everything else. Each one collected every other week.

 

[Kite159]

Test Valley in sunny Hampshire:

Black Bin, Brown Bin & Green Bin

Collections alternative weekly, with the green bin being a paid-for garden waste service (which is fortnightly I think), black bin is for general household waste, brown bin is for paper/plastics/cans/cardboard which gets sorted by the council once collected.

No collection service for Glass/batteries as they needs to go to a local household recycling point, I normally put it into the back of the van when I take garden waste to the dump (large garden which means the garden waste service is pointless)

 

[radamfi]

Now I'm confused. I thought you lived outside the UK?

That was the intention but I've had to delay the move.

 

[SS4]

Birmingham:

Black lid - general rubbish. You can get a bigger bin if your household is more than six people

Blue lid - recycling. The main body of the bin is for glass and plastic and there is a separate pod for paper and cardboard. You can request an extra recycling bin if required. Ours is full of cans (soft drinks!) and amazon boxes

Brown lid - garden waste. A recently introduced subscription service which is collected every two weeks. Because it used to be collected for free there's still a lot of flytipping of garden waste


Rubbish is collected weekly whereas recycling and green waste is recycled fortnightly on alternate weeks

 

[Trog]

Central Beds.

Green wheelie bin for garden rubbish.
Orange topped black wheelie bin for recycling.
Black wheelie bin for glass and other rubbish.

Bins emptied every two weeks black one week and the other two the next.
Have had a couple of times in summer when the black bin has been crawling with maggots inside and out but not normally a problem.

 

[Peter Mugridge]

I'm impressed. What do you do with things like bones and egg shells? Do you do composting or just not eat stuff that produces this waste?

Eggshells - go on the compost heap ( I should have added that that's where things like potato peelings and beetroot leaves end up ).

Bones - you got it; I buy boneless cuts of meat. Boneless chicken breast, pork loin steaks, neck of lamb, lamb leg steaks, beef rump steak - that sort of thing.


edited to add:

Back in 2008, the council realised we had the highest recycling rate in the borough and decided to use us to help promote recycling; to the extent that they commissioned statues of us made out of our own recyclables:

http://www.getsurrey.co.uk/news/local-news/recycling-family-turned-rubbish-sculptures-4825945

A FAMILY of keen recyclers have had life-size models of themselves made out of their own rubbish to support Epsom and Ewell Borough Council’s new kerbside recycling scheme.

 

[61653 HTAFC]

Kirklees Council, West Yorkshire:
Grey bin for general waste, including food waste and all non-recycleables (and given the attitude of the council towards anything placed in the recycling in error, anything that you're not 100% certain of).
Green bin for plastic bottles, tin cans, newspapers/magazines and cardboard. There used to be a green box for glass, this was withdrawn a few years back and all glass must now be taken to the bottle banks or put in general waste.

Collected on alternate weeks.

 

[charley_17/7]

Personally, I think the Milton Keynes Council scheme is spot on as it is, and would be very unhappy if it changes. The recent change, under the new Liebour administration, to charging for large items collection was a huge mistake, which has led to a slight increase in flytipping.

I get all my recyclables and general waste collected promptly. Polite, friendly binmen employed by Serco on behalf of MKC. Although I understand the pink sacks were being abused by a small minority, I can't see these jute-style bags lasting very long, nor accommodating our volumes, which is split between 2 bags of pink (recycle), 1 bag of black (general), a full box of blue, and often a full (wheelie) bin of green/garden. My food waste I compost and rainwater is collected in water butts for the garden, etc.

 

[sheeldz]

Allerdale (in Cumbria)

- Black bin, collected weekly, for general waste.
- Purple bags, collected fortnightly, for tins, glass, plastics
- Green wheelie bin, collected fortnightly, for carboard and paper.

It is worse than my previous home in Burnside (South Lanarkshire)
- Green bin for recycling (all bar glass)
- Black bin for waste
- Red bin for glass