A Bin for All Occasions
I consider myself environmentally friendly. I used reusable cloth nappies (diapers) with my son, much to the bemusement of my neighbours. I love to reuse where I can. I am careful about food waste, and I recycle where possible. I was prompted to write this post when sharing a video of my son playing in the snow and Jane asked what all the bins were for!
The recycle cycle
In my garden, provided by the council I have four huge wheelie bins. ( they look like curbside Daleks)
Blue: Glass and plastic bottles
Green: Paper and cardboard
Brown: non compostable food waste and garden waste
Grey: Anything that doesn’t fit in the above categories.
We also have a compost bin that was provided by a grant from the council, along with two inside caddy bins, one for compostable food waste, the other for non compostable food waste.
There have been many complaints from people in our borough that this is bin overkill. These four bins take up a lot of space, and whist small, our garden is larger than most in our area, some only have tiny little yards.
Our council is also under fire for providing iPads to bin men. Bury Council issues… I presume that the main purpose of this is to keep track of who is currently recycling and who isn’t. Whilst at the moment I think the council is primarily trying to educate people, fixed penalty notices can be handed out.
In the neighbouring borough they are now installing communal bins at the end of most streets. I have to say I much prefer this option. Not everyone has room for all these bins. We struggle in our small garden, and they restrict the amount of room my small son has to play, particularly riding his bike. Also our main waste bin is collected fortnightly. The food bin is only collected once a month, so can get smelly.
My preference would be for the grey every day bin to be collected weekly and to utilise a communal depot for the remaining waste.
Community is very important to me, and in our area there are few opportunities to meet. We have no corner shop, no pub, nothing really nearby, even though just a small thing, it would be nice to have a point where folk can meet up and chat.
I am more than willing to do my bit to recycle and am passionate about doing what we can to be gentler on the environment. I don’t run a car, I walk and use public transport where I can and use the metro tram system over buses wherever possible.
I am sure that having the bins in each garden is good in terms of compliance, but at what cost? Surely the administration of the scheme is expensive, and to have communal recycling would be cheaper?
I have to say, that I do love the convenience, and I dare say my own compliance is better because it’s so easy, just sort as you go and pop it in the bins.
I’d love to know more about recycling where you are.
And ‘Curbside’ or ‘Kerbside’?
Kylie, I love how you recycle and really enjoyed the article. In WA we have curbised recycling and compost in our yard waste.. I try hard to recycle as much as possible. You definately have me beat ~ I still drive!:)
Hi Diane, where I live we only have 2 bins, and so I was very curious about all of the Kylie’s. I love her community concern
I like the system in Germany, they do some in their home and then each street have communal bins. It does look funny in my garden!
hmm yea sounds really interesting!
Hit the reply to soon.. our pick up is curbside and once a week.
Yes we have weekly too, but the one recycle bin is every 2 weeks which can be challenging.
I also live in bury and have read about the communal issue and it seems like the communal bins are not collected often, idiots put wrong things in (Since when could you eat aluminium foil?) and so are overflowing and smelly. Persuade BC to give you smaller bins perhaps, if you can cope.
I disagree with the frequency of the grey bin- After 2 weeks mine was less than half full and not a bit smelly. (3 person HH). My gripe is I have a big garden and BC do not want to give me an additional BB- so it’s either off to the tip with the branches, backyard burn or leave them to pile up for 2 weeks while half of them blow away. Wonder if they still do the compost bin offer? Then again if i’m not wrong you have to separate veggie and fruit peelings from meat and bones (sigh) but BC actually mistakenly gave me 2 Food caddies!!! :p
Nice article, though.