[RMCF]

I am sure that most of us on here recycle to some extent.

I have started to take my rubbish recycling seriously only in the last year or so, as it is saving me money because we have to pay to get our bins emptied in Southern Ireland, and I don't want to be filling up my landfill bin too quickly.

Now the one thing that has really struck me is how much rubbish just 2 people in a house produce. Shocking, and most of it is paper, plastic, cardboard, tins and bottles.

I am never finished taking stuff to the recycling centres!!

I can't believe we threw so much of this in landfill for so long. Why wasn't this issue pushed a long time ago rather in the last 4 or 5 years?

I can only imagine the amount of waste we'd produce if we had a few children.

I also think it shows how much unnecessary packaging is on food these days.

[johntheexpat]

Me and Mrs Me produce, on average, 3 bin liners of recycling per fortnight which doesn't include any food waste, which mostly goes to the chickens, green waste (which we mostly compost and take the rest to the local centre where it is composted professionally) nor any bottles. Its really quite astonishing.
I remember my grandma used to have a soda syphon which was always ready for the invasion of the grandchildren, which when we had successfully emptied it, would be taken to the shop at the top of her road where they would refill it. This one syphon lasted years. Just a stupid memory of what is was like 40 years ago.

[dakara]

Originally Posted by johntheexpat

Me and Mrs Me produce, on average, 3 bin liners of recycling per fortnight which doesn't include any food waste, which mostly goes to the chickens, green waste (which we mostly compost and take the rest to the local centre where it is composted professionally) nor any bottles. Its really quite astonishing.
I remember my grandma used to have a soda syphon which was always ready for the invasion of the grandchildren, which when we had successfully emptied it, would be taken to the shop at the top of her road where they would refill it. This one syphon lasted years. Just a stupid memory of what is was like 40 years ago.

Not stupid at all. Years ago, packaging was minimal, with most of it being paper or cardboard, which could be used for other purposes, and there was a "deposit" on glass bottles.
There was not so much food waste either, with people getting smaller portions, and the remainder going off to be made into "Tottenham Pudding" to feed the pigs.
Nowadays, the food thrown away in London alone, could feed tens of thousands of starving people, let alone pigs.

[OFI]

We recycle a fair old bit between the two of use too. It's about time things stopped being sold in so much packaging. A few examples stick out for me:

Xbox Live Subscription Cards/Points Cards. If you don't know this is basically a credit card sized scratch card. The one I ordered from Amazon came in a purpose built DVD type case (which cannot hold DVDs) with a small leaflet inside about other products. It was than cellophane wrapped and then stuck in the usual cardboard box-type thing Amazon use to post to my address. Quite silly.

Sennheiser recently sent me some replacement earphones. Earphones, you know those really small things that tuck away in your ear. Well you would not believe the packaging. They come in a blister packet of course they then came wrapped in bubblewrap and inside a box large enough for a pair of shoes!

Pizza boxes? Why? Just put a fancy label on the front. The box just isn't needed.

[nvingo]

As for normal groceries, the "problem" is packaging made of mixed materials.
Cakes etc in a cardboad case (recycle or compost) with a cellophane window (landfill).
Same with those blister packs (landfill) with the card/paper inserts.
How many people have the inclination to separate them?
It should be possible to displose of the whole package in one bin - packaging needs to be designed and clearly marked with this in mind.

[nheather]

It should be possible to displose of the whole package in one bin - packaging needs to be designed and clearly marked with this in mind.

I agree although it's not always helpful. You have to know what your council considers as recyclable because it varies by post code. My council is particularly strict and items that are clearly display the appropriate recycle marks are 'not recyclable'.

Cheers,

Nigel

[Jenn]

Originally Posted by nheather

I agree although it's not always helpful. You have to know what your council considers as recyclable because it varies by post code. My council is particularly strict and items that are clearly display the appropriate recycle marks are 'not recyclable'.

Cheers,

Nigel

Indeed, the one that gets to me the most is the tetra pack stuff. It was designed to be recyclable, it is recyclable, it is recycled in other countries, yet my council want them in general rubbish.

[nvingo]

I understand, and my suggestion would be to have classes of recyclable packaging/material, so that eg. yoghurt pot material is class X and where councils have the facility to separate this from the recycle collections they should list class X under "allowed recyclables" on the leaflet/poster, until then they list it under the "landfill".

[Wild Weasel]

Luckily my council is one of the best for recycling. They take the tetrapacks along with plastic milk containers. They also collect compostable material like cardboard, grass & hedge cuttings;As well as the usual cans, glass and aluminium.

[lead]

Originally Posted by OFI

Xbox Live Subscription Cards/Points Cards. If you don't know this is basically a credit card sized scratch card. The one I ordered from Amazon came in a purpose built DVD type case (which cannot hold DVDs) with a small leaflet inside about other products. It was than cellophane wrapped and then stuck in the usual cardboard box-type thing Amazon use to post to my address. Quite silly.

I actually complained to MS about this. It took ages to find an email address and in the end it probably didn't go to the correct department, as they replied asking me to call a non-geographical phone number. I didn't call it. I'd lost interest by then.

The voucher scratch cards for my Wii came in a proper DVD case, which at least could be re-used as such (and is).

Nintendo
MS

I am never finished taking stuff to the recycling centres!!

And this is the thing that's always on my mind. It's all very well recycling stuff, but how much pollution is cause by me driving many miles, several times a month, to the not very local, recycling centre? I try to reduce the number of journeys, but there's only so much space in my back yard for all the recycle-able stuff. At the moment it looks more like a rubbish tip with piles of tetra-paks, plastic bottles, wood, metal, etc, than a back yard.

[johntheexpat]

Originally Posted by johntheexpat

This one syphon lasted years. Just a stupid memory of what is was like 40 years ago.

One fine example of how things can last if built properly. We have a bottled gas heater which runs off the classic style of butagaz cylinder. The latest cylinder to be used is date stamped Le Harve, 1968. 40 years old and still going.

[eric pisch]

Originally Posted by dakara

Not stupid at all. Years ago, packaging was minimal, with most of it being paper or cardboard, which could be used for other purposes, and there was a "deposit" on glass bottles.
There was not so much food waste either, with people getting smaller portions, and the remainder going off to be made into "Tottenham Pudding" to feed the pigs.
Nowadays, the food thrown away in London alone, could feed tens of thousands of starving people, let alone pigs.

packaging was minimal but then so was the products in them

sure things dont last but if you think i am giving up my 60 plasma, 24mb interent, ps3, bb storm, bd and CoD4 to go back to playing with crappy lead painted cars and clock work trains your smoking crack. A few extra sacks of rubbish a week is a small price to pay.