Recycling: Would a well-designed recycling bin encourage you to recycle more?

LordSplodge said:
Not exactly the best way to encourage people to recycle is it? You catch more flies with honey than you do with vinegar, after all!

The best way of getting people to recycle is by positive financial methods not by fines. Hell if I saved money by recylcing then I'd be greener than Greenpeace but at the moment it's easier and more convienient for me to stuff it in the wheelie bin and just compact in down to fit more in.

The trouble is how do you measure what people recycle? As per Sequiola's post in another thread if you charge per black bag who is to stop me putting my rubbish in the single guys bin four doors down at 2am?

Perhaps they can weigh what you recylce and give you money off your council tax rather than charge per black bag?

Brainier people than me are needed to sort this out.

Perhaps if a standardised recylcing system was introduced so that every area recycled in the same way it would avoid the current confusion.

Also, what about doing more at the processing end? If a lot of waste is dumped into landfills perhaps coucils should come up with methods of reducing waste. Yes it may cost more in council tax but then again what doesn't?


Obviously we can't keep just chucking reuseables away.
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The problem is even with kerb side recycling pick up, people on our street still dont bother. Some of our neighbours produce 10 bags of rubbish a week !!! Its a total disgrace and some need punishment through fines to get them motivated.
 
We try, we have a blue wheelie bin for recyclable items (most of them) and a bottle bank nearby.
Bottles get recycled, but cans and cartons sometimes dont.
 
I'd prefer it if our recycle bins were a bit larger (amen to the shoebox comment) and would allow more different types of waste and for our bin-men to actually collect them once in a while.
Also it'd be nice to know that they were really going to be recycled and not end up as landfill *suspicion*
 
Swindons recycling scheme is some what shocking. We have one of those tiny lil roadside things and tbh u can get nothing in there! By time u have folded down some cardboard and few other bits its completely full! We asked if we could have two as it would mean recycling more a lot easier but they said no its limited 1 per house. I cant see why they dont give us better options as if they want use to recycle they should at least TRY to make an effort them selfs. It seems pointless recycling such a little amount.
 
TerraS said:
Here in Toronto, Canada, we have the whole recycling thing as part of the way of life. :)
We have blue plastic boxes in most residential homes for newspapers and one for bottles. We have metal street bins which have compartments for newspapers, bottles and other litter. It is very well organised. :) Sometimes it is difficult to decide if something is actually recyclable or not though.
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I was under the impression that you are obliged to seperate some items in Canada? or is that just some provinces? or have I been entirely misinformed?
 
R5Rich said:
I cant see why they dont give us better options as if they want use to recycle they should at least TRY to make an effort them selfs. It seems pointless recycling such a little amount.
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lol we were told there would be a 'significant rise in council tax' to accomodate such an idea and the collection of waste to recycle... I don't get it; bin-men get about 19k per year (afaik) which is almost double what I get and all they gotta do is lugg some binns to the back of a lorry?! So where's all the extra expense (asside for the dealing with the waste itself) in collection comming from?
Council shennanegins!!
 
I work in cleansing in my local government here in Arun, we give are residents a recycle wheelie bin, that can take paper, tins and cans and plastic, the reason you cannot place glass inside is because any glass shards can make the paper impossible to use. We will give a resident who has a high level of recycling a second wheelie bin upon request.

You cannot please everyone all the time, some people do not want a large recycle bin and some do, to give 70,000 people a choice becomes a logistic knightmere.

With costing it works out that the total cost in Arun for you to receive a weekly collection of refuse and recycle to be 12p per person per week, which I do not think it costly.

In Germany when a house is built it would contain 3-4 seperate bins for different items, a good idea imo.

It would be impossible to have a country wide standard, each District Council who is responsible for your collection will have different budgets and also the size of districts in the number of households that they contain will differ a lot.

Also imo the boxes that some of you receive for recycling are a health hazard to the operatives who collect them, it is far safer with a wheelie bin.
 
jumpy said:
lol we were told there would be a 'significant rise in council tax' to accomodate such an idea and the collection of waste to recycle... I don't get it; bin-men get about 19k per year (afaik) which is almost double what I get and all they gotta do is lugg some binns to the back of a lorry?! So where's all the extra expense (asside for the dealing with the waste itself) in collection comming from?
Council shennanegins!!
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To answer your question the average bin man walks around 10-12 miles a day, they are paid just over the minium wage and work on average a 50 hour week.

Dustcarts cost a fortune to buy, diesel to run, maintance on the vehicles etc most of the refuse/recycle services you receive also supply street cleansing also, so you also have a second work force to think about.

I dont know about you but I would not want to work around 50 hours a week for min wage.
 
Sorry to post 3 times quickly but on the above post I have to agree, companies need to take responsiblity on the waste they produce, that 30p you pay for a mars bars and the wrapper goes to the company, the waste industry see's nothing

In Ireland if you buy an electrical product now you pay a cost for disposal when you get rid of it, I would like to see companies that produce items pay towards disposal of their rubbisg but you also have to remember that the majority of packaging is recycled so its swings and roundabouts.
 
I currently don't recycle, because it inconveniences me.

If I could just pop tins in one hole, glass in another, etc, and just remove the different coloured bags each week for the bin men.

I mean peeling labels off cans, etc? Can't we get some poor minorities to do this on the cheap for us?

Would be so much easier than these green buckets some of us have. :rolleyes:
 
I'm not really one for recycling because I can't be assed rinsing out cans, peeling lables off things etc so I just chuck everything in the one bin. My g'f does recycle though so I end up (when I can remember that is) leaving all of the glass and cans etc for her to do. :eek: ;)
 
We have 3 full size wheelie bins.

One is a regular wheelie bin that you can put whatever in it.
One is for garden waste only, and one is for recylclable household rubbish (paper, cans etc).

Works fairly well, but having three bins this size would be a real pain for someone who lives in a smaller property with no space for them to be stored out the way.
 
AcidHell2 said:
yes, look at germany recycling bins, can't exactly rember what they are but they where a hell of a lot better than are rubbish stuff..
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I hadnt thought of looking at whats currently in place in the world's top recycling countries. good tip
 
Sadgeek said:
We have one of these in the kitchen, helps with the sorting:

http://homerecycling.co.uk/catalogue.php?product_id=3

Outside there are just the two bins (one normal, one recycling), though we also have two boxes for paper or glass that we take to the recycling centre too.
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I quite like that, i think my design will be similar but with wheelie bin style wheels and a tall handle round the back so it can be pulled along (the design scenario does not involve collection, i have to work around the user having to take the materials to a recycle bank)
 
at home, recycling is pretty good, biweekly and they take most things.

I do think the amount of packing particularly on food is ridiculous, and i hate tetra-pak with a passion as you can't recycle it with the council scheme. I really think the government needs to get on these companies backs to minimise packaging, or at least use things that are easily recyclable as opposed to polystyrene and the like.

I really think the only way to force people to recycle more, is to hit them where it hurts - in their pocket.
 
Back at home we have a blue bag for papers which is easy enough, and then the black bin for general waste, a green bin for garden waste, and a pathetic small box for some kind of recycling.

Personally, I can't be arsed with the green box, its stupidly small, it just has a regular black lid no hinge or anything so you have to lift it off, often getting covered in rain water which collects in the top (not having that stinking thing inside!) and it blows off in the wind so you need to put a brick on it to keep it on. On top of that I dont even know what stuff you are supposed to put in it, but what you do put in needs ot be cleaned out first. Way too much like hard work. If we just had a wheelie bin for bottles and stuff which didnt need hours of preparation then it would be much better, and as for the green bin, whats the point?
 
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