Recycling is now compulsory in many areas of the country. It is no longer something that just a few people do that are conscious about the environment. Recycling is now a prerequisite for many householders and is often enforced with fines or a refusal to collect rubbish.

But is can be a confusing issue, especially considering the different schemes that run up and down the country where different materials are accepted for recycling. Often there is a lot of disparity in the number of recycling bins and what items can go in each too which adds to the confusion.

However, if recycling is compulsory then local authority recycling bins should be provided to most householders with instructions as to what can be placed in each. In general recycled materials can be summed in the following categories:

Different Recycling Materials:

Metals – both ferrous and non ferrous, often both can be placed in the same recycling bin.

Plastics – Many local authorities can’t yet recycle plastic but there are a few that do and plastics these would therefore have to be separated from the general household waste that would go into the conventional rubbish bin.

Paper – Paper and card are recycled by most local authorities. Sometimes large tubs or containers are used rather than  paper recycling bins doesn’t cause smells of other environmental hazards.

Food/organic waste – This can’t really be recycled by your local authority but you can do so at home by composting. Food waste rots anyway so it doesn’t pose too much of an environmental hazard.

Ceramics – Again, not all authorities will recycle ceramics and some will combine it with glass recycling too.

Clothing/fabrics – A lot of clothes that aren’t worn can be distributed to needy causes but fabrics can be recycled too so enquire to what schemes are on in your area.

Glass/bottles – Some authorities expect you to go the bottle bank, others will provide you with a recycling bin for glass

Garden Waste – this can be used by local authorities and recycled and often gardening bins are provided to recycle grass cuttings and the like.

In some local authorities many of the above items can be placed in the same recycling bin, in others separate recycling bins are provided (in one local council in the UK – nine different recycling bins have been supplied to residents) so it is important to check what can go in each bin.

Each year in the UK alone, 22.5 million tonnes of waste is thrown in rubbish bins or waste bins around the home and office. All this waste has to be managed and waste management is of vital importance to ensure we are not all knee-deep in rubbish.

Waste management is becoming increasingly more important as government’s across the globe are trying to reduce the impact of waste on the environment. But what happens to all that rubbish that ends up in our waste bins and wheelie bins?

There are only really three methods for disposing of waste that we throw into our rubbish bins:

Landfill
Recycling
Incineration

And there are advantages and disadvantages in each method of waste management.

Landfills: land fills are either holes in the ground that are naturally forged such as canyons or ravines; holes forged by former industrial processes like mines or quarries; or just mounds where rubbish we place in our waste bins piles up.

Land fills are not necessarily detrimental to the environment. While they do create greenhouse gases such as methane, this is actually offering potential benefits as not only can the methane be captured to prevent it damaging the environment but also it can be used as a method of creating energy.

And while it is true that landfills can cause pollutants to enter the water table. Land fills can be covered over once used and the land can be converted into nature parks which can offset any damage the original land fill had on the environment.

Recycling: recycling is not just done at home by separating our rubbish by using a recycling bin. Much of what ends up in our conventional waste bin is now being recycled by waste management teams. And while recycling is obviously good for the environment, there are detrimental effects too. Some of our waste is exported abroad in vast quantities to be recycled but this can have harmful effects due to the carbon costs of transportation and the damage to local environment where the rubbish ends up, as often these are developing nations that have less stringent environmental rules.

Incineration: Incineration is perhaps the most environmentally unfriendly method of getting rid of the rubbish in our waste bins. Unfortunately, there are many nations that are forced to incinerate a lot of rubbish due to constraints in land space. The only alternative is to ship the rubbish abroad which is not only financially costly but also has environmental costs too.

Having a child can be the most joyous of occasions but it can also be one of the most hectic and expensive. We are more fortunate than our parents and theirs before them in that we have some great technological advancements that make parenting a lot easier.

Washing machines, powdered milk, designer push chairs and baby monitors can make parenting far less of a chore than what our parent had to endure. However, some technologies and advancements come with a price.

Disposable nappies may save us bundles of time and hassle when it comes to changing babies but they are quite expensive products and are environmentally damaging too. Disposable nappies account for nearly five percent of all household waste and as they can’t be recycle and take ages to degraded they linger around in land fills for years. They are very expensive too with the cost of nappies for a new born baby can reach easily be in excess of several thousand pounds.

However, is going back to using washable nappies really as troublesome as we may imagine? Well disposable nappies need not be any more hassle than disposables – the baby still has to be changed and as the washing machine does most of the hard work it is really just a case of storing the dirty nappies in a nappy bin until it’s time to wash them.

A good quality nappy bin is essential for this. Not only can dirty nappies be extremely unsightly they can of course smell so a good sized nappy bin – and the size will depend on how often you get round to washing them – with a decent lid will ensure the nappies are kept out of sight and smell, until they are washed.

There is no need to wash the nappies from the nappy bin at extreme temperatures either. Even soiled nappy will get clean at normal wash temperatures, especially with modern machines and washing powders.

By returning to washable nappies not only can you help reduce waste on the environment but you may also save a packet too – as the only outlay is a good quality nappy bin.

Any good gardener knows the importance of a good gardening bin. It seems it doesn’t matter whether we are weeding, mowing, planting or seeding the garden is a key place for generating waste.

Many of us are now fortunate to receive gardening bins for our household gardening waste but so much more can be done with the waste from our back gardens that we are quite literally wasting our waste.

Most of the stuff that gets thrown out from when we are gardening such as lawn mowing clippings, weeds we’ve pulled up and leaf litter; can actually be reused by composting. Composting is simply the process of rotting down vegetable matter and using the by-product (compost) as food for the garden. It all sounds quite yucky and messy but there are compost bins available that can keep you compost out of sight.

A good gardening bin is still essential as not everything can be composed. Branches for instance will just sit on top of a compost heap and not decompose so a good sturdy bin is still required. It is always best to select a gardening bin with wheels for convenience as its better to bring the bin to you than traipse handfuls of gardening waste through the house.

Most gardening bins are similar to the conventional wheelie bin although they are mostly coloured green this is also quite useful as it stops you confusing gardening waste with other household rubbish which can be quite important as most gardening waste can be recycled but a lot of household litter can’t.

A good gardening bin needs a good lid too. Especially in the summer as keeping out flies from any bin is important otherwise they will slip through and lay eggs in the bin which can be horrible to clean up.

If you local council does not provided a gardening bin then they are not too expensive and a good quality gardening bin should last years so they are excellent value for money. Heavy duty gardening bins are also available for those that have allotments or work professionally in the gardening industry. These are often larger and are built to a higher standard to allow them to take the rigours of a busy working garden.