Well, my mind is never blank but my thoughts are sometimes rubbish!
I think it's about twenty years since I got my first wheelie bins and very glad I was to get them. The black bags we had used previously were not exactly rat proof and any recycling had to be taken to a recycling site. They were a great improvement.
At first we had just two: a blue one for glass and plastics and a black one for everything else. Both got pretty full despite the black one being emptied weekly and the blue one fortnightly.
Then we got a green one for garden rubbish. I used mine a little bit but I had a compost heap which I preferred. These days I no longer have a compost heap (very small garden) and, even though we have to pay an annual fee for green bins, I'm very grateful for it and pay willingly.
Next was a black bin with a purple lid for paper and card. We'd been putting card in our blue bins for a while but the fortnightly emptying had meant they didn't get over-full. Now our plastics-and-glass bin would be emptied once every four weeks and the paper-and-card one also four weekly.
Then came food waste caddies. Weekly collections for these but mine never gets anywhere near full.
But, to get back to my thinking about the bins, I don't think any of them are getting as well fed as they used to with the exception of the paper-and-card jobby. Somehow, almost imperceptibly, the amount of waste I create is diminishing. I honestly think that it would take at least two months, possibly longer, to fill the black and blue bins. (I'm not suggesting that for general waste which could get a bit smelly.) The paper-and-card wheely wouldn't last nearly so long but I'm less worried by paper waste than plastic.
Has anyone else noticed this very long-term trend in waste reduction? I'm not aware of any great change in my habits, just little bits and pieces.
I think you are right. My bins usually have one bag in , and it is a huge bin! I feel we are all more conscious of frugality and wasting less.
ReplyDeleteI hope so.
DeleteYes I agree, I have less in my bins too nowadays. Ours are collected fortnightly (one week recycling, the next 'regular' rubbish.) our food waste bins are due to arrive this month. I wonder how I will get on with them...
ReplyDeleteFood waste bins are odd but mine has to go rather hungry even though I no longer compost.
DeleteWe compost all food waste as our bin will take everything iqn moderation. But then there should only be a moderate amount of food waste; peelings, etc!
ReplyDeleteI used to like my home-made compost. But the food waste caaddy is very badly fed in this hose so there wouldn't be much compost either.
DeleteWe have three bins - a green bin for yardwaste, a blue bin for recycling, and a black one for trash/everything else. They get collected weekly. I don't put the green bin and the blue bin out if they are not full, but, the trash bin is put out every week. I usually have two, maybe three bags of trash in the bin, but, very often, my neighbors will add their overflow trash in my bin!
ReplyDeleteThat sounds like the West Lindsey system from a few years ago. We used to put paper and card with the general recycling but we now separate paper and card. The food waste caddy is new this year.
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