Archive for the ‘home recycling bins’ Category

Rubbish on the Streets

Thursday, January 6th, 2011

The streets of the UK are awash with rubbish at the moment. So many areas, from Birmingham to Exeter, Milton Keynes to Thame, mountains of rubbish remains uncollected – some areas not having a collection for over a month.

Caused by the winter weather disruption and council strikes, the waste is becoming a problem in many areas, attracting vermin and providing an unsightly hazard for residents. And many home-owners are feeling rightly aggrieved at having paid their council tax bills, while the local authorities are failing to provide the services they have been paid to do.

Waste left on the streets can cause a myriad of problems. Not only is it unsightly, with mountains of bin bags dumped on corners, but it can have further consequences too. Vermin is attracted to rubbish and many of the uncollected bin bags are ripped open as cats, foxes and even rats scavenge for food.

And while many areas now have wheelie bins, these barely have enough space for one weeks worth of rubbish, let alone a months worth, with the result being bin bags piling up on the streets next to the packed wheelie bins.

While councils have promised to clear the streets of rubbish over the next few weeks, many local authorities may suffer in the forthcoming local elections as disgruntled residents mark their protests in the ballot box.

And with more and more rubbish being collected each year, this is a problem that may soon become common, especially as Coalition cuts may generate more strikes and forecasters suggest harsher winters may be more frequent in the future.

But what can house-holders do to help alleviate the problem? Well one way is to ensure you recycle as much as possible. If you don’t already own any its perhaps a good time to buy recycling bins. By recycling we can drastically reduce much of the waste we throw away and its not just the obvious paper and glass that can be recycled too.

Metal, plastic bottles (in some areas) and food waste can all be recycled rather than thrown away in the rubbish bin. As recycling bins tend to be colour coded, they are simple and easy to use, taking little getting used to.

By using recycling bins you can drastically reduce the waste you throw away and can help prevent the build up of waste that is now littering our streets.

 

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Coping with Christmas Rubbish and Waste

Thursday, December 23rd, 2010

While Christmas is a period of giving and receiving, with retailers experiencing the busiest time of the year, it is also a period when we throw far more rubbish out than at any other time. Rubbish bins are often full to bursting at this time of year as we all throw out packaging, cards, Christmas trees and food.

All this can be a bad time for the environment, as much of what we throw away ends up on landfill sites. But there are ways of recycling your Christmas rubbish and cutting down on what you throw away.

Christmas Trees

Every year nearly ten million Christmas trees are bought and disposed of each year, many of which are simply thrown away into the rubbish bin; however, Christmas trees are easy to recycle and provide useful materials such as wood chippings.

Many councils offer a collection and recycling service for Christmas trees but failing that, most household recycling centres will have somewhere for trees to be recycled.

Packaging and Gift Wrapping

Thousands of tonnes of wrapping paper is also thrown away each year. Sadly, the majority of gift wrapping cannot be recycled as the ink and sticky tape that covers it is too difficult to remove. You could of course look for better alternatives to the coloured wrapping paper, or try and reuse it rather than just throw it in the waste bin.

Excess packaging is also a problem at this time of year, and many people are now being careful of the products they buy are not full of excess packaging. Fortunately, a lot of it can be recycled so make sure you use the recycling bin and not just dump it in the dustbin.

Christmas Cards

Nearly a billion Christmas cards are bought and sent each year and many of these cards can easily be recycled, so again, use the recycling bins, not the dustbin.

Food Waste

While most of us eat and drink a little too much at Christmas, we also throw away tonnes of unwanted food. Try and buy less this year but if you do end up with too much food think of other ways of getting rid of it such as composting rather than just dumping it in the rubbish bin.

Recycling bins are inexpensive and look great

Recycling bins are inexpensive and look great

All kinds of recycling bins are available for around the home and if you have not got one yet, look around, especially on the internet, as you may be pleasantly surprised at how easy it is to find low cost recycling bins.

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Recycling Matters – Recycling Bins for Around the Home and Office

Thursday, December 16th, 2010

Recycling is becoming more and more important all the time. Not just around the home, but offices and workplaces are increasingly being encouraged to cut down on waste and recycle more. One of the difficulties both home-owners and businesses face, however, is how to encourage the family members and workers to follow suit.

One of the best methods of encouraging recycling is to replace the regular waste bins and buy recycling bins, which will actively force people to throw the right items in the right bins.

Recycling bins come in all sorts of variations and styles. Many are designed from home use but there is a wide selection of larger recycling bins ideal for the office and workplace.

There is, in truth, little difference between a recycling bin and a conventional rubbish bin, however, many recycling bins are colour coded, which means you can set-up your own rules as to what goes into each.

For instance, by replacing the kitchen bin with two-or-three recycling bins, each with a different colour lid, you can instruct the family members, to say, dispose of food waste in one colour, paper and wrappers in another, and perhaps tin cans and bottles in the third.

You can even match the colours with the schemes operated by your local council and it will save time when it comes to emptying the kitchen bin into the main recycling bins outside.

The same can be done around the workplace too. Recycling bins can be designated paper only, while others can be used for disposing of the cans or polystyrene coffee cups that can build so quickly around the workplace.

You can even get specialist receptacles for disposing of these items with cup collectors, bottle and can banks and even paper recycling bins.  While many offices have documents they need to hold securely, you can buy lockable paper recycling  bins to ensure your documents are kept safe until they are shredded and disposed of.

Lockable paper recycling bin

Lockable paper recycling bin

Recycling bins can be modern in design and style too. Often with contemporary designs they can look far better than the dowdy old dustbins so many workplaces use, and for the home there are a wide range of different styles to choose from to suit almost any décor of home.

Recycling bins are readily available on the internet and are inexpensive and will go a long way to ensure the rising costs of waste management in both business and domestic environments will not cause your home or business to suffer financially when you are eventually forced into recycling.

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Recycling Bins In The Home

Friday, November 26th, 2010

In this world of climate change and worry over wasting resources, recycling is an increasingly popular way for ordinary people to help do their bit towards keeping the planet a nice place to live.

Most councils now provide recycling services as well as their normal refuse collection and often they will provide you with the bins to do this, making recycling your household waste really easy. While the colour of these bins (as well as the general provision of said bins) varies between local authorities, as a general rule: the bins you use for your normal rubbish will be black, the paper bin will be blue and the bin for any garden waste will be green.

Even if such services aren’t available where you live, it can be a good idea to set up your own colour-coordinated bin system if you’re looking to recycle produce and cut down on the amount of waste you throw away. Ultimately, your colour system is up to you and doesn’t really matter as long as you can remember which bin is which. If your council also provides some recycling bins, it might be worth keeping your colour scheme close to theirs so there won’t be any confusion when they come to collect the waste. When you’re separating out your waste, make sure you have provision for: paper and cardboard, plastic, glass, recyclable metals such as aluminium, garden waste and general rubbish.

Having separate bins for each thing means it’s easy to tell what’s what, but there is the potential for you to end up with quite a bit of clutter.

One option you could consider for a more compact solution is the segregated bin, which comes with different compartments for different types of rubbish. These are increasingly common in public spaces and office buildings and they come in a wide range of styles so you can choose one that’s sleek and stylish. Make sure you buy one that’s clearly labelled so you don’t have to worry about people putting rubbish in the wrong segment.

Also, make sure all of your bins close securely to avoid spillages if they get tipped over. This will also help to contain any smells if the bin is hanging around for a while between recycling sessions. If they are stored outside, it will also help prevent rats or other animals getting inside the bins and causing you problems.

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