Domestic Waste and Recycling Patterns Across the CR4 Readership

One black wheelie bin for bagged garbage. Food scraps that don't go down the garbage disposal inside, grease other cooked organic food waste, non-recyclable plastics. Some paper and bottles find their way into this stream.

One blue WB for un-bagged glass, paper, some plastics, Al cans if not sold to scrap dealer($1.00/pound USD at the moment) other recyclables.

One green WB for grass clippings, weeds, palm fronds and other green organic waste.

All collections are weekly. Blue/green on Tuesdays and black on Friday.

Some auto parts stores accept used motor oil if you change your own.

This varies from city to city here in Arizona.

The residential waste stream here in Fargo ND is similar to that described by lyn. The local landfill, I believe, also has a manual sorting system to pick through bagged trash, further diverting recyclable metals, glass and plastics, compostable materials, wood, and plain old trash before it is placed.

West Valley: Black bin standard garbage Blue bin recyclables except AL cans sold as scrape for 1.39 a lbs. Yard clippings none mulching mower. Tree clippings sent to mulching facility.

2 WBs
Back for 'non recycleable'
Blue for 'recycleable' paper/card/glass/metal, but only takes certain plastics, (identified my microscopic numbers molded into difficult to locate places).
Small green bin for food waste (V small quantity from us, as most goes to compost).
Batteries, oil, dead gas boilers etc taken to Civic Amenity Tip.

Had trouble disposing of some small butane gas canisters a while back, but happened to see a delivery of camping gas bottles going into B&Q and the guy took 'em off my hands.
Del

Garbage - Monday and Thursday

Recycling - Thursday....news paper, books, magazines, glass, plastic, aluminum, tin

Yard waste - Tuesday

White goods (appliances) and tires - Wednesday

Clam truck - Wednesday ...Other large items

toxic and hazardous waste...collected periodically by announcement...or must be taken to site....or can be included with garbage

Old guns periodically bought for flat fee by law enforcement

Large quantity of items....call for pickup

We do have these plasma waste treatment facilities nearby, hope they will spread...

St. Lucie County, Florida, USA (GeoPlasma)

The first plasma-based waste disposal system in the USA was announced in 2006 in St. Lucie County, Florida. The county stated that it hopes to not only avoid further landfill, but completely empty its existing landfill - 4,300,000 short tons (3,900,000 t) of waste collected since 1978 - within 18 years.^[8] The plant was originally scheduled to come into operation in 2009, but experienced several setbacks. Backers originally announced that the facility would produce 600 short tons (540,000 kg) of solid rubble from around 3,000 short tons (2,700,000 kg) of waste per day at 5,500 °C (9,900 °F), but uncertainties arose regarding the safety of such a facility. The public health and environmental threats from incinerators coupled with the uncertainty of the community's ability to produce such large quantities of waste on a consistent basis have led GeoPlasma to submit a new proposal for a much smaller facility that would convert 200 short tons (180 t) of waste per day. Current plans are to begin building the $120 million facility in 2011.^[9]

[edit]Vero Beach, Florida, USA (INESO Bio)

INEOS Bio and New Planet Energy Florida are partnering to build a plant which will make about 8 million gallon of ethanol and 6 megawatts of electricity per year from the plasma arc waste disposal facility. The plant will use vegetative, yard, and municipal solid waste. More information on this project can be found at www.ineosbio.com. The project is targeted for completion and start-up in mid-2012. Utilizing a unique combination of gasification and fermentation processes, the facility will produce a synthesis gas that is cooled and cleaned before being fed to naturally occurring bacteria. These patented bacteria convert the synthesis gas into ethanol, which is purified for use as fuel in the transportation market.^[10]

Tallahassee, Florida, USA (Green Power Systems)

The city of Tallahassee, Florida has signed the largest plasma arc waste to energy contract (35 MW) to date with Green Power Systems to process 1,000 short tons (910 t) daily from the city and several surrounding counties. Completion of the project is scheduled for October 2010.

And this mobile unit ...

Hurlburt Field, Florida, USA (PyroGenesis Canada Inc.)

On April 26, 2011, the Air Force Special Operations Command (AFSOC) held a ribbon-cutting ceremony to commemorate the official opening of its Transportable Plasma Waste to Energy System (TPWES) facility, located at Hurlburt Field, near Fort Walton Beach Florida, USA. The facility was designed, constructed and commissioned by Montreal-based PyroGenesis Canada Inc., and the unit deployed at the facility is based on the company's Plasma Resource Recovery System (PRRS) technology. The plant is designed to process 10.5 metric tons per day of municipal solid waste, as well as hazardous and biomedical waste. The syngas generated by the process is fed to an internal combustion engine to produce electricity, while the inorganic fraction of the waste feed is converted into an inert, vitrified slag which can be used for building materials. The system is designed to be energy neutral and transportable to allow the Air Force the flexibility to potentially deploy it other bases around the world, including forward operating bases.^[7]

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Plasma_gasification_commercialization#St._Lucie_County.2C_Florida.2C_USA_.28GeoPlasma.29

Green wheelie for landfill on alternating weeks with;

Purple wheelie for tins/bottles/plastics

Black box for paper/card

Brown wheelie (or green sacks) for garden waste

Green caddy for food scraps (and a small grey caddy to jeep in kitchen)

Small plastic bags for batteries

Wow, your kitchen is soooo big you have a jeep to take the rubbish out.
And those Americans think they have everything big!
Del

Nah, not even enough room to swing a de.....

It's a pretty impressive array of disposal containers though. Maybe I should start hording,,,, it'd be fun to see the binmens faces one day when they get a purple wheelie bin with all the other containers inside like some absurd russian doll.

The environment is safe with me - I've got a second freezer just to stop all the food waste going smelly & spreading bugs. On top of that, any item that doesn't fit into any of the container categories is immediately driven up the council tip. What inspires me is how the binmen sometimes pull a sneaky and chuck all the sorted waste into the same truck.

My brother once got stopped by the special branch at the time of the IRA troubles. He was moving from one bedsit to another a few hundred yards away and was taking stuff in assorted bags. He was stopped on the way back with the empty bags and asked
" what's in the bag?"...
Another bag.
And what's in that bag?
Another bag...
And what's in that bag?
Another bag...
They weren't amused... but found he was quite correct!
Del

Summer time everything goes in the burning barrel and in the winter they go in the boiler and what metals survive later get tossed in the scrap metals pile to eventually be sold to the local scrap yard when prices are up.

The remaining ashes and unburned stuff gets dumped in a pit I dug someplace.

1. As many 35 gallon garbage bags/ 60 gallon wheelies as we put out to the curb every Thursday night (whoops, gotta run them out!!). No obvious recyclables or you get a pink slip & slap on the wrist.
2. 4 blue boxes that go out with above- plastic, bottles boxboard & cardboard broken down to less than 36" x 36" x 8". Just don't put Styrofoam in- that goes in the garbage.
3. 1 green wheelie for food scraps that was delivered by the municipality over a year ago & not touched since (Wal, the kids have fun with it but my wife prefers the garberator!).
4. Household haz waste can go to the landfill on certain days (oh yeah, gotta get rid of that acrolein I made 2 years ago that's sitting in the basement) or major retailers with dropoff programs.
5. Big junk gets put out to the curb in the hopes it disappears overnight or take it to the dump yourself.

I live in a retirement community. We separate paper and cardboard and mix plastics, metal and glass. I was told to include the first six types of plastic; when the depot people sorted it, they took only what was on demand at that time, the rest was fuel for the boiler.

This made me think of the BPA thread- an old lady told me once her "natural" health advisor educated her about how recycling works; "look at the number on the bottom, if it's 1 or 2 it's fine to reuse the container for storing food, but not if it's been recycled 5 or 6 times"...!

2 WB.

One recycling taken fourthnightly one other waste taken weekly.

Green waste collected twice a year as bulk, Bulk collected once a year with everything going onto the verge that you want to get rid off. Half of it never makes it to the pit.

Kitchen waste goes into the thumbler and later into the compost and much later onto the garden beds.

The grey waste bin is hardly ever full. But the Recycling is. Must be the beer consumption rate that is in the house!

Oh forgot, batteries can be placed next to the bin and get taken seperatly no problem.

Bulky green waste is a good source for Firewood.

Location Down Under more to the West.

Everything is streamed; paper, bottles, cans, plastic, putrescible waste, wood waste, and finally stuff we can't recycle. The stuff we can't recycle goes to the landfill sites. Metals can be sold for money. Hazardous waste is separate item and must be bought to special depots that are licensed to handle it.

I have no problem with recycling except the handling of glass. There is really a very poor market for used glass and often it is collected and stored and eventually only to be sent to the landfill site anyway. It seems a waste of effort to collect, sort, clean and recycle glass that only ends up in the landfill anyway. Homeowners are only allowed 1 bag of garbage per week. We are lucky to get one bag in a month. It seems to be the norm in our area with the exception of student housing. Students often rent one house and have 6 people living in the house. Lots of waste.

Glass!
You should have teams of recyclers making these!

That beautiful arrowhead was flaked from 5mm window glass... not by me. I just grabbed it of Google Images.
Del

We compost all biodegradable waste for use in the garden. Recyclables are segregated from other waste and separately bagged and kept for collection by the municipal authorities at random intervals, though a separate waste disposal tax is collected by the authorities per sq.ft. property area.

Red box - cardboard

Blue box - glass/cans

blue bag - paper

clear bag - plastic bottles, no.1 only, no lids

grey bin - food waste, wrapped in newspaper or in decomposable bags

Brown w/b - garden waste, but no soil

Batteries, light bulbs go to recycle points in local shops

Large items & soil/stones/slabs to municipal recycling site (and anything else if needed)

Green w/b - anything else

Red box/blue bag alternate Weds

Blue box/clear bag other Weds

Grey bin every Fri, with either w/b (as specified)

Simples!

A friend used to live in a certain street in Streatham, SE London, UK. Anything that wanted recycling (old appliances, small furniture, car parts and the like) was simply left outside the front of the house, and someone would eventually come along and scavenge it. Remarkable!

Black WB (I acquired a second which was very useful for the times we've been snowed in since...) I, or rather the 7 cats, fill each fortnight. If I'm lucky I can find room for a monthly kitchen bin bag!. All food and kitchen waste in here, too along with anything not recyclable.

Blue WB (1.5 x size of BWB) for paper, card, tetra packs, glass, Group 1 & 2 plastics, yoghurt pots, tins and cans. They won't collect if they spot prohibited stuff.

Green WB for garden waste only - no rubble, earth or veg peelings (on pain of something nasty. Used for municiple compost. Only one bin per household, nless you pay extra.

Blue & Green collected on alternate Tuesdays, Black on the other Tuesdays. Green bins not collected Nov-March inclusive. (Bummer, as that's when I actually garden!)

Both my compost bins are full and I have bags of well rotted compost (aka earth) awaiting scattering.

Identity sensitive papers are shredded. When I use the compost bins these are mised with the grass cuttings to raise the carbon content of those layers (a few handfuls of paper between each box of cuttings), or else I add them to the cat litter - litter goes further and I defy anyone to reconstruct the letters!

Domestic appliances, carpets etc take to tip Local Amenities Centre, where you ask which bin they want what bits in.

Batteries I keep forgetting to take to supermarket.

I like free supermarket bags as I use them (reuse being better than recycle) as bin bags (if the supermarket gives points, I use bags for life, if not: grab the freebies!). I also use the plastic bags in cereal packets, magazine wrappers and other non-recyclable bags as bins bags, usually to contain used cat litter. I figure if the bag's gotta go there, it might as well be useful on the way and it means I'm not buying plastic just to put it in the bin.

I have a pile of wood (garden waste too large for the green bin) for bonfiring with, but haven't had time this summer....

All this is in my Local Authority Area. 15 miles south, in the next one, they have black for non-recyclable, red/maroon for recyclables and brown for garden waste and glass. 15 miles north, they have black, maroon and a black box. Don't know what each is for, just seen them on the roadside.

My parents (200 miles away) have a box for recyclables, which are sorted at pick up by the bin men. The boxes hook on the side of the 1.5 tonne flat bed with wire mesh sides and the men throw the glass one way, tins another, etc etc. They also have black general waste WB and small brown kitchen waste boxes (smaller one for use in the kitchen). Not sure about garden waste.

I heard a couple of weeks ago that York are just starting a study on recycling their waste streams. With the myriad of schemes already in operation in the UK, one wonders what there is left to research (and why York have waited so long....)

As for plastic recycling, all I can say is:

a) they're bloody noisy all night long and

b) it covers the house, washing line, net curtains, crops and when they burn it wrong, the bathroom walls, in black deposits. (Must complain to local council - relocate it to the town, I say!!).

Why is there no uniform approach to all this, one wonders? Green bins, black bins, red bins....

Exactly. And all in a country smaller than most US states! (but several times the area of Wales). Have none of these people heard of efficiencies of scale? It's all about Local Councils and little fiefdoms. There are 4 local authorities in my county and each do rubbish differently....I only mentioned 3 or them earlier since I rarely visit the fourth!

There are 4 local authorities in my county and each do rubbish differently

lmao ! All local councils do rubbish.

C'mon, all these fiefdoms cannot possibly operate without their own flavour of waste collection. Endless committee meetings etc.

At one point Etherville had usual green wheelie (landfill), brown wheelie (garden waste), blue bag (paper and card), and black box (tins/bottles). They decided to charge for garden waste, so most folk switched to buying the occasional approved sack for lawn trimmings etc. Shortly after collecting the unwanted brown wheelie bins we got an entirely new system (ie brown top wheelie replaced by purple top wheelie) - I wonder what happened to the old wheelie bins - they weren't reissued with a new top.

I'm told that all the wheelie lids have a tag in them. Give it a couple of years and we'll be getting billed by the kilo. That's fine by me, though fly-tipping will get even worse than it is.

Councils seem strangely coy about publishing figures for the tonnage of each material successfully collected and recycled. Money is not the main issue. Landfill space here is running out and no sane person would want to waste 'waste'. For each category of waste I'd like to know the cost of collecting and sorting, as well as the cost/profit when the central depot hand on the materials.

When they start charging by kilo. I'll investigate composting cat litter!

Dog litter goes into our composter and in fact it speeds up the process!

I avoid cat litter, though, because of the Al in the sand.

We don't have wheelies in our neighborhood, plastic bags still allowed.

Recyclables collected on Thursdays, paper and Al are picked up by scavengers before coop's truck comes. "Common" domestic waste is collected 3x a week.

Cat and dog litter are not recommended for most domestic composters since the temperatures aren't always high enough to kill off the bugs in the faeces. This is important since dog faeces [can] containa bug that causes blindness and cat faeces one that burrows into the brain. The cat one causes mice not to be afraid of cats. I read somewhere that the majority of the French population are infected with this bug. There's a lower incidence in the UK. It's not fatal to adults (I'm sure if the effects are known or have been investigated) but it can have adverse effects on a foetus, so women wanting to start a family are recommended to get checked for it and not to deal with cat litter during pregnacy.

Composting any meat eaters faeces is troublesome, so I've been told.

Yes, I've heard about this cat disease. Crazy cat ladies/men are all infected apparently.

I put my dogs' turds straight into the toilet and flush them into my septic tank.

I'm no gardener, but my aged mother is. She's also a big fan of composting. The generalized rule she gives muppets like me who might be visiting and doing the washing up/cooking is that protein from animals is a no-no.

Small quantities of shredded paper get used, as do less obvious things like teabags. Several composters are always on the go. She rarely uses any purcheased fertilizer, the exception being when she moves house and the ground needs some serious treatment to balance acidity levels and such.

Food waste is minimal in my mothers house, and I guess that approach is a learned thing - very little food gets wasted in my own place. After a few decades, Mrs K is still amazer at what I'll eat.

I'm no paragon of virtue, but I couldn't resist adding to the composting sideline as a way of avoiding waste.

Going back to the cat-litter thing; When we had cats, Mr's K would sift out the chunky bits (I jest not) which made it last a little longer. All the same, it's amazing how much litter they produced. From my observations, cat crap (neighbours untrained cats) in the garden just never seems to rot down. Is there any possible way to recycle cat litter ?

Is there any possible way to recycle cat litter ?
Yes,
Plain brown envelope, post it to your local Mp/Lawyer/Bankers bonus recipent etc..
Del

Nah, they already have plenty of horse and bull so it probably wouldn't phase them. It'd be like sending them a poptart thingy. Could maybe work if they all thought they had slightly less than each other.

Going back to the original question, those charity bags that pour thru the door can be useful. Plenty of the ones I get are pure scams - non registered charities that try to disguise themselves as such. I don't even use the bona fide ones, because the scammers will nick them (I drop anything of use directly to the charity that might be able to use it). They make for good rubbish containers.

Fully agree on the charity bags...
Occasionally Mrs cat will fill a bona fide one and then it doesn't get collected anyway, so muggins here takes it to the charity shop.
I don't mind really 'cos the charity shop is a good source for leather belts/handbags etc for my making archery stuff.
Del

I'd love to come across the buggers that do that charity sack scamming stuff. Complete and utter *******. . There's a TV series (I think it's called The Real Hustle) which demonstrated exactly how it's done. OK, doesn't need much explaining, but they hauled in loads of sacks and churned the good bits out in an improvised West End store. Unfortunately that may have inspired people - pretty stupid of C4 or whoever to show that one, but I guess the toe rags already know it. It at least spread the messsage about being wary of doorstep collection for charity.

Last time I hired a skip, I filled it pronto to avoid anybody else dumping their junk in it, but I put all the possibly useful on the top. Half the stuff got taken ! I should have put up a 'help yourself' notice, but took it as said. 'Skipping' is my favourite urban sport, though I always make a point to ask permission before having a rummage. The only exception is if I spot the council doing a refurb on one of their housing stock - they run a scheduled maintenance program, regardless of whether stuff needs replacing, and to make it even worse the beaurocratic idiots will not let anybody take the 'scrap'. I got a massive sheet of spanking new lino out of one skip . wtf, it would half ended up as landfill -technically theft, but it was for personal use (ie I don't go around collecting stuff to sell). If the council are too obdurate to allow such things, it's time for a bit of rebellion.

The interesting thing to come from this thread is the chaotic way in which different areas operate. It's a situation begging for some unified approach, but local government is not condusive to such a thing. There's a risk of (at least me) going on a politics tangent, but I have a more constructive idea;

There's no such thing as a 'typical' street, but I can give an example; The road I'm living in has about 60 houses (within a very short space - this ain't America). At front of house is a small space that has no use, I could park 2 or 3 small sized skip containers. Now, I visit everybody on the street and tell them of my skips....'would you chuck your waste in my skips'.....if you don't want to walk down the road, no matter, I'll pick up a sack each week. The goal is to collect stuff that can be sold. After my 99% take (I'm joking), we divvy up the profit. The long winded question - what 3 categories of waste should the skips have. I'm unlikely to do this, but would be fascinated to see what people suggest, and why. Go on the assumption that it's items usually collected by the binmen. For what it's worth, I'm inclined toward tin cans for skip #1 - I'd add a can crusher (one of those lever action things) so the kids can have fun in helping. Any suggestions people ?

Sorry, brevquot error in your post...
I didn't get past the word 'spanking'
Got a touch of man flu so my attention span is even....
Del

Do you seriously think I'm going to check that and see if I mentioned spanking ? I'll ask ER . Post and be damned I say.

Please go have a look at Mizuti's current quoteline.

Excuse me for pointing out, but just the other day it was a "cold". You pussy, you told Mrs cat you had a 'cold' - go hide your head in shame before I expose any more shameful secrets !

I would suggest cast iron, but any metal would vanish faster than the thread of the conversation.

Now there's a thought -somebody could be lounging in tub right now ! I refuse to even contemplate the alternatives .

Interesting Q - is there any money in scrap enamelled cast iron?

I still have a chunk in the garden. Am just biding my time before launching the auction. There is a piece about 10cm x 20 cm. That's too much for any one person, so it will be cut up into small sections.

Hmmm ... how do you intend to cut it? .

Cut ?

No, no, no, dear chap. With enough bids, there will be a ceremonial smashing in the garden with <you know who>. Exactly how enthusiastic I get depend upon the number of sealed bids I get.

I've not figured the youtube profits yet, and so the price is not yet set, but CR4 members can PM me for a discount code. Priority will be given to all those who promise a tenner, though credit card detail will expediate delivery. This is a limited time offer, and each piece will come with a numbered certificate of authenticty. Buyers will have exclusive rights to purchase further items of crap historic memorabilia which will be automatically sent for approval.

Please tick the box below if you do not wish to receive further exclusive offers.

You said you got some spanking lino. I don't understand what that is, but I'm sure the CR4 Regulations hold discussions of sqibble proclivities alongside politics and religion....

I used to work in a lino factory. IIRC, "spanking" was not one of the product lines.

The main advantage is that it wipes clean fairly easy. I laid <did I spell that right ?> mine in one piece, but if using recycled it can be done one strip at a time in order to match any patten markings. One batch I got had faux wood pattern- it was a veritable jigsaw to plan out. The stuff has a multitude of other uses, though exactly which depend upon the type. Cupboard liners, mouse pads. I am going off in a fit of Blue Peter nostalgia. Where's me sticky back.......

Bless Dundee - Whales and flax, what more could an aspiring flooring maker want.

Whales were out of favour in my time. Oxidized linseed oil, wood resin, wood flour and ground cork were the main ingredients - tho' the substrate was prob'ly flax.

Nice thick stuff is good for printing.

I only use a fullers earth product called "Tidy Cat" (I get it at Makro...the makers told me Co-op own brand is made by them, but it costs twice the price!). It clumps brilliantly, so sifting the wet waste is also easy. Since it dessicates the solid waste, there's not much odour either. In fact, my Mum has remarked that my house doesn't smell of cats at all. A 20 litre bag last about a week, with 7 cats.

I've found that the slugs in my area eat some cat waste - at least the runny variety (it may have been cat sick, they definitely eat that). One variety of slugs will also eat up the remains of other deceased slugs. I don't get too many other cats messing in my garden though! Previously, I found that unremoved (previously unnoticed) cat mess grows some interesting fungus which rots it down. Unless it's a hot summer, in which it just gets dessicated and sits there...

I used the wood pellets stuff when the kittens were tiny (there's a thought they could ingest the fullers earth and it swell in their stomachs) and it's a) expensive and b) wateful. I did try sieving...in this case you keep the lumps - unexpanded wood pellets - and throw away the wet sawdust. I ended up mixing it with the fullers earth. The light weight stuff is useless, no clumping, no really absorbent and doesn't keep the smell down!

Hmmm...either I'm just incredibly observant, or I really need to get out more!

Is fullers earth the same as bentonite ? I have a a rather naughty plan that we could orchestrate selling used kitty litter to flog to French tunnelers (Americans may interpret that as gulf oil well drillers).

'clumps' - I was just about to have a mid-afternoon snack, but the thought has faded all of a sudden. No matter, there's some Turkish Delight in the cupboard.....barrrrf.

I thot it were Kieselguhr.

Yah, that's Germanisk for the same thing. I think....

No idea....but wiki says not:

In some countries calcium bentonite is known as fuller's earth, a term that can also refer to attapulgite, a mineralogically distinct clay mineral that exhibits similar properties.

I don't have to sort trash into different bins or any of that bother.

I sell all my recyclables. Somebody comes to every house to buy it many times daily.

Only kitchen scraps and real trash gets taken out every evening to be collected by the sanitation contractor (garbage truck). The trash collectors do another sort in the compactor's hopper before flicking the lever.

Hassle free, convenient and green.

I have one wheely bin that has never had trash in it. I was forced to buy when i built my house 15 years ago...i pointed out that the sanitation contractor's trucks aren't equipped to lift the darn thing. Never mind you still have to buy it. (some one made a buck out of that) It is perfect for storing rice.

Down here by the bayou lotsa folk just throw it far enouhg out back it don't smell up the front porch.

When the big storm come it wash it all away.

You can pay 20 dollars a month for one big wheelie can to be picked up but they don't let things to be separated it all goes to the same place anyway.

County provided big yellow (65 gallon / 246 L) wheelie for single stream recycling once a week (trash on the same day in residents' bags or containers). Yard waste in separate bags for composting but I operate my own compost piles for my lawn and gardens. A centralized county recycling center separates all the recyclables then throws it in the dump. No, just kidding. Last year, the county recovered $2 million on the sale of recyclables. That's a lower tax bill for me!

http://www.recyclemoreoften.com/

This is what they take for recycles:

PAPER - examples include:

Milk & juice cartons/boxes

Cardboard

Boxes (cereal, cracker, frozen food, shoe, pizza, etc.)

Books (hard and soft cover)

Sheets of paper

Newspaper & inserts

Junk mail

Magazines & catalogs

File folders

Envelopes

METAL

- examples include:

Aluminum foil & pans

Aluminum cans

Tin/steel cans

Empty aerosol cans

Wire hangers

PLASTIC

- examples include:

Plastic bags & shrink wrap

(secure in plastic bag)

Plastic cups, plates, utensils

Plastic buckets

Storage totes

Plastic flower pots

Plastic hangers & furniture

Trash cans & old recycling containers

Plastic toys, pools & playsets

Bottles, jars, jugs, tubs & trays

GLASS

Glass bottles & jars only

The county makes it so easy it's almost criminal not to recycle. No rinsing, nothing annoying to do other than toss it into the big bin and roll it to the curb once a week. We have two standard 13 gallon flip-top containers in the kitchen by the fridge. One for trash, never filled in a week and one that holds recycling until it gets dumped in the big wheelie bin in the garage.

There's a penguin on the telly.

I once innocently asked a friend what a certain mutual acquaintance did for a living . He informed me the chap was a 'skipper'. I expressed surprise , as he didn't really look the sort to command a ship's crew . It turned out he raided skips for stuff he could sell , and that is the job title these days . Must admit to a bit of occasional skipping myself .

As for wheelie bins of various colours , its bleeding stupid that it isn't uniform . I've got a campsite in Scotland , and try and recycle as much as possible . Problem is , even though I've got big signs for what goes in where , everyone is so conditioned by the colour , that they do what they would do at home , which is often totally wrong for here .