They've dealt with my wheelie bins, that is! When we got Cornerstones in 2009. we had two bins - regular, and recycling. The regular one was 20 years old [it said 1989 on the top] but in good working order.
The recycling was slightly newer, but had a couple of small cracks in the lid. We started paying for a garden bin. Four years ago, I stopped paying for that, as I was getting into composting properly, and felt it was £60 p.a. I didn't want to spend! I pushed that bin out of the way. Recently I realised those cracks were major splits, and my recycling bin was filling up with water in all the rainstorms. So my 'clean&dry' recycling was useless.
Last week [3rd March] I rang the helpful woman at Breckland Council. She made a note that I wanted the redundant garden bin collected, and a replacement for my damaged bin. "Don't worry if there is anything in them, they will deal with that, Should be dealt with inside 10 working days" And sure enough, early on 9th March, I got up to find the garden one gone, and a smart new recycling bin outside.
This was made in Telford [I remember Pauline telling me once that many of the UK bins are made there] and has 2026 imprinted on the lid. All I need to do now is stick my spare "4" numeral on the front, and spray-paint a recycling symbol on the lid. It can be quite confusing for visitors from other parts of the UK, when they helpfully offer to put stuff in the bin.
One site lists "Common UK Recycling Bin Colours" thus...
Last week [3rd March] I rang the helpful woman at Breckland Council. She made a note that I wanted the redundant garden bin collected, and a replacement for my damaged bin. "Don't worry if there is anything in them, they will deal with that, Should be dealt with inside 10 working days" And sure enough, early on 9th March, I got up to find the garden one gone, and a smart new recycling bin outside.
One site lists "Common UK Recycling Bin Colours" thus...
blue Commonly
used for "dry" mixed recycling, including paper, cardboard, and sometimes
cans/plastic.
green Often used for garden waste, but in some areas, it is used for dry recyclables.
red/orange Often designated for plastic bottles, pots, and, in some cases, food waste.
brown: Typically used for garden waste or organic waste.
But then it says "It is essential to check with your local council for the specific, definitive colour system in your area, as they can vary significantly."
Here in the Breckland region of central Norfolk, regular is green, recyclable is black, and garden is brown - totally different from both Leicester and Dorset. I wonder what colour our food waste bins will be when they arrive?
green Often used for garden waste, but in some areas, it is used for dry recyclables.
red/orange Often designated for plastic bottles, pots, and, in some cases, food waste.
brown: Typically used for garden waste or organic waste.
But then it says "It is essential to check with your local council for the specific, definitive colour system in your area, as they can vary significantly."
Here in the Breckland region of central Norfolk, regular is green, recyclable is black, and garden is brown - totally different from both Leicester and Dorset. I wonder what colour our food waste bins will be when they arrive?
What colour are your bins?
Lack or green for dirty waste, blue for paper, silver for bottles and plastics, and maroon for food and garden waste. Black emptied every two weeks, blue and silver every four weeks and the maroon one every two weeks if you have a permit. Catriona
ReplyDeleteBlue, silver and maroon sound like ceremonial colours!!
DeleteBrown for garden waste, green for general waste then the recycling comprises a blue sack for cardboard (why a sack when it rain can get in?) and three crates for glass, paper and the third plastic and tins. It used to be glass and paper in one bin until a thoughtless householder put broken glass in with paper and a council worker sustained a bad cut. We put paper in either a cardboard box or a carrier bag and then put that down one end of the glass crate. This is fine with our bin people as it’s an obvious separation.
ReplyDeleteWe are fortunate to have enough space for all these containers!
Jill
Lots of containers. Our bottles used to go to the bottle bank, but the council decided (against the recommendation of the Recycling Centre) that glass could go in with general recycling. It is much less efficiently sorted now I'm told.
DeleteOur regular bin is black with purple lid, recycling is black and Garden waste is green with yellow lid. We have a food waste caddy which is black with a yellow lid also!
ReplyDeleteI'm concerned that a food bin with a yellow lid will attract flies and wasps!
DeleteSmaller Green top is household, blue top is recycling and brown top for garden waste. Apparently in the early days people had to be told not to put redundant children's swings and other garden furniture into the garden waste... our food waste is due soon but at the moment any feelings and bits and pieces, even meat and fish scraps, go into our compost bin. It has a floor so vermin haven't been able to get in (so far, 30 years and counting)
ReplyDelete"wish cycling" is so common. " It's in my garden, I don't want it, so it can go in garden waste" - even if it is a dead gazebo or a plastic ride on toy...
DeleteI deal with the staff room recycling and there's alot of wish cycling that goes on in there. A chicken satay box in the plastics full of lucked, meaty sticks. Last week, a chocolate box with the plastic part still inside the cardboard and THREE chocolates still in it. People put their sandwich boxes in with the plastic film still attached all round so I have to pull it off, or in most cases, I just bin it and then they mix up all media so I have to sort it, despite signs. It does get me down sometimes as no one helps. They could go andempty some of it into the outdoor bins but they just pile it up!
DeleteIt is frustrating, I suppose many people working in schools also have to work through their lunch hours (I certainly did) and perhaps are in a rush to deal with rubbish. You work hard toseta good example the classroom. Be glad that the younger generation are learning good habits from you which hopefully they will carry on
DeleteI think the bin men and ladies do a great job. We used to have one large green bin for mixed waste, we still have ours with the lid 'tied' on but now, if you order a new one, it's a black slim line one, so we kept the older one as well, which seldom gets used. We have 2 black boxes, one for paper and cardboard and the other for glass. A blue bag for plastics and cans and a brown kerb side smaller bin for food waste which we top up from the kitchen food waste caddy. We used to have an allotment where most of our veggi peelings went but have it up last November but we do not have a garden waste bin as the recycling centre is a mile away. The soft plastics I save up and drop off at the supermarket when I have a bag full. It seems very strange holidaying in other parts of the country where less is recycled, especially food! In one part of Northumberland they do not have glass recycling so we had to take bottles to the local car park, would have been wrong to put them in the bin.
ReplyDeleteWell done for mentioning females on the bin crews. (Ours are all blokes) Apparently Norfolk really struggles to sort recycling, because we have so many holiday makers on the Broads and at the coast who get confused by our bin colours. A very high proportion of our counties waste cones from these visitors
DeleteIt's hard to believe that once upon a time, everything went in one small metal bin. Just goes to show how much more packaging we now accumulate. My local council is threatening to introduce yet another bin so we can separate paper/cardboard from tins/jars/bottles making a grand total of four bins. Such fun.
ReplyDeleteYou are right, just one small metal bin with a noisy metal lid back in my childhood. And the compost heap for the peelings. And leftover school dinners all scraped into the Pig Bin. As you rightly say, nowadays there is so much more packaging.
DeleteGreen for rubbish, brown for garden waste, red for mixed recycling (plastic food containers, tetra packs, glass, clean aluminium foil) and blue for paper and cardboard. I assume that we will be getting food waste caddies at some point too.
ReplyDeleteOur recycling all goes in one. I'm sure it would be better if all householders could sort some of it as you can
DeleteGreen for regular waste, brown for garden waste £35 p.a.), blue sack for paper, white sack for recyclable plastics and tins, green bucket for glass. I take my 'soft' wrappers/bags to either Aldi or Co-op and dispose of them in their recycling boxes, small silver bin for food waste.
ReplyDeleteI just flung my soft plastics into the big container at Sainsbury's (it is like netball practice, usually takes me 2 goes!)
DeleteTesco is the same but I prefer Aldi and Co-op's 'user friendly for short people containers' much more accessible! Also, forgot to mention that I recycle my blister packs at Boots now since you recommended it and I take my old spectacles to be recycled at my opticians.
DeleteWell done!! Morrisons have a high container. I don't remember seeing one at Lidl though.
DeletePs our green bins are collected once every three weeks but there's talk of that changing to once a month, I'm assuming because they're running out of landfill to put the stuff.
ReplyDeleteWe are fortnightly
DeleteOh my, here we are black for regular, green for recyclable, and brown for garden. Why can't we all have the same colour scheme? We have a lot of female members in our crews. The crews are really great and are very reliable, helpful and pleasant. Regards Sue H
ReplyDeleteGood to know the crews are great!
DeleteHaving the same colour scheme would be good. But councils like to maintain their individuality, hence the purple bins
DeleteBlack, all three of our bins are black. Only the lids of the two recycling bins are coloured. The tins/glass recycling lid is red and the paper/cardboard lid is blue. The garden waste bins are all green, but I have never had one, I compost all waste and use up all leftovers. Which will mean that our newly arrived small 'food waste' bins ... which are black ... will be redundant too. I think I will be able to use the smaller one on the work top in our new kitchen as the compost heap will be a tiny bit further away.
ReplyDeleteI am sure you will find a use for the new small bin!
DeleteWe have two - black for 'normal' rubbish and green for recyclables. Some people are blessed with brown bins, but they are something of a rarity. My uncle used to have two bins and a series of crates for different recyclables. It got incredibly confusing.
ReplyDeleteAnd we are supposed to be getting food waste bins in the next few months. I have no idea how that will work!
It is confusing I agree
DeleteGreen for paper and cardboard, brown for all compostable, black for general waste. Yellow bin or sack for all plastik packaging. Glass goes into container.
ReplyDeleteHilde in Germany
I understand that people on the continent are generally much better at recycling than the Brits!
DeleteThe Wirral bins are similar to your system in Norfolk Angela. I am going to have to relearn again!
ReplyDeleteThe bin warehouse in Telford have lots of different colours in their yard. I think they are doing a good business selling their bins to different councils up and down the country. The residents don't have to pay for the collection of their garden waste bin.
That is the only FREE garden bin collection I have heard of!
DeleteHull and East Riding both have 'free' garden and kitchen waste removal.
DeleteBrilliant
DeleteGreen bin is general rubbish, black is for recycling but glass goes in a blue bag. No room for a garden bin or a compost bin so mine either goes in daughter's garden bin or we save it for a tip trip. Your book has been posted, only 2nd class so look out for it. Xx
ReplyDelete👍 💓
DeleteBlack for rubbish,
ReplyDeleteBlue for recycling,
Green for garden and food waste.
I wonder if there would be less confusion, if we had the same colors at home and on holiday.
~ skye
It is so confusing
DeleteWe have a black bin for garbage (trash), a blue bin for all recyclables - glass, paper, cans, etc., all go in the blue bin, and a green bin for all yard waste. I compost all the plant based kitchen scraps and most, if not all, of the garden waste, but, there's still some yard waste that go in the green bin. Everything gets collected on a weekly basis, as long as the bins are set out by the curb. We pay for solid waste collection as part of our combined water/power/sewer/solid waste bill, once every two months.
ReplyDeleteWe have to pull our bins out - but residents aged over 80 do not have to do that, the binmen will collect them from the side of the house, or from behind the gate
DeleteOur wheelie bins are redtop for paper, blue top for plastic, glass and metal, black bin for non recyclable waste and green bin (free) for garden and food waste. We're very proud of our recycling record here in MK, we've had kerbside collections for recycling for decades. Very confusing when we stay elsewhere.
ReplyDeleteMK has always been ahead of the game with bins from what I understand!
Delete