Is Once A Month Enough?

cormie

It's 16 days until my recycle bin is collected again, it's already overflowing! I think they should collect them at least once every 3 weeks. Are we the only house with this problem?

LegacyUser

why not just order another one. but ye, they should collect em every 2 - 3 weeks.

Thomond Pk

Cormie,

Good on ya

A possible solution would be to seperate your waste into different categories and take say the paper or which ever one is the bulkiest to a bring centre. The good news is that pay per weight waste charges are being introduced and that those who make the effort will pay least as domestic deposits at bring centres are free.

Bamboozled

Ours gets collected every 2 weeks. We're supplied with plastic see through bags, and we can use as many bags as is necessary.

Plastic bags are used so they can be checked before being collected. If we use more bags than we're allotted, we can buy more, but we can put out 3-4 a a fortnight if necessary.

It all works quite well.

Simi

We have a rubbish bin and a recycling bin which are collected every 2 weeks. So its rubbish bin one week recycling bin the next etc. and i'm fairly sure we can fill up a few of those clear bags for the recycling aswell if we have too much.

Kolodny

Once a month isn't frequent enough for my household. Even bringing stuff like tin cans to the recycling centre ourselves doesn't stop the bin from getting full to overflowing by the collection date.

NeilJ

No. We normally go up to a local recycling centre about once a fortnight to get rid of paper which makes up the bulk of our recycling. Our rubbish is almost never full when it's being collected because of the recycling bin. Prehaps weekly is a bit to much but I think both bins should be collected fortnightly.

Neil

cormie

The main bulk in ours would probably be the damn milk cartons! By the way, some people think you can't recycle tetra pack, you can!! So get recycling:) Do different companies take different things? I'm with Oxegen. I'm really obsessive about it, like I'll tear the plastic screen on envelopes off and put that in the bin and then the paper in the green bin.

We actually only ever put our normal bin out once every 2 weeks now also. We used to have to put it out every week.

The good news is that pay per weight waste charges are being introduced and that those who make the effort will pay least as domestic deposits at bring centres are free.

Are you saying the green bins will have ppw soon or just the waste bins? I want to get a compost heap going too, so much of the waste is just fruit skins etc. I want to give the lil guys out the back a hand too.

saibhne

cormie wrote:

. I'm really obsessive about it, like I'll tear the plastic screen on envelopes off and put that in the bin and then the paper in the green bin.

Thank God Cormie, I thought I was the only one who did that!

S.

kasintahan

Me too...

Do you take the plastic tube out of the Tetrapaks?
I find that a bastid to remove.

cormie

Haha, the plastic tube as in the bit with the seal you open when the carton is new? Yup, I just rip the top of the carton and rip it out, it comes off pretty easily. On the premier milk cartons anyway:)

If I'm out somewhere and buy say, phone credit which is printed on the paper, I wont put it in the nearest bin, I'll put it in my pocket and bring it home to put it in the recycling bin

Why can't they take them plastics though

saibhne

kasintahan wrote:

Me too...

Do you take the plastic tube out of the Tetrapaks?
I find that a bastid to remove.

Do you have to do that? I used to do it but then I thought that since it was part of the Tetra pak it was recyclable, plus I'd say 99% of people would leave them in leading me to think that they must have a process to remove them when recycling, as usual no one at the council could give me a satisfactory answer. :rolleyes:

Bamboozled

People around my area didnt know about cigarette boxes. If there's foil in it - tear the foil out and just put in the paper box. If its a foil covered packet (like Benson and Hedges - the Gold packet) - it must not go in recycling. yes i know we're not supposed to smoke, but there's always a lot of cigarette boxes thrown around up by my house because of kids going drinking in the fields.

Recycling plastics - underneath is a triangle usually with a number inside it. The ones that can be recycled are 1, 2, 3, 4, 5. Anything above 5 and it would have to go to a specialist centre. If you cant remember, just think of a handful (5 fingers) and recycle any plastic that has the triangle with any number 1-5 inclusive.

I tear out the windows of envelopes too

cormie

Can plastics 1-5 be put in the Oxigen bins?

Bamboozled

I dont know who they are or what county they come from. I'll post up the Recycling stuff I got for you to read through. You should have got a leaflet telling you what to put in when you got your bin.

Bamboozled

When I queried what plastics i could recycle I was sent this. Its not specific to any county or organisation that recycles. Its just what plastics that can be recycled generally.

As far as i'm aware (in any of the counties i've lived in) if you're allowed to put plastics in your bin, its only these plastics that can be put in - the 1-5 ones.

cormie

Gravy! Thanks allot, when we got our Oxigen leaflet it said "plastics cannot be accepted yet". I wonder???

Bamboozled

Why not send an email to your local office and see if they are collecting plastics. I got more information through email than I did on the phone when I rang about which plastics. Its easier for people to think of a response and where to send you when they have time to think and write it down. Rather than getting the "eh... i dont know... ring back in a month" i think email is much better for htings like that.

And you're welcome Its quite handy to have it.

Board@Work

cormie wrote:

The main bulk in ours would probably be the damn milk cartons! By the way, some people think you can't recycle tetra pack, you can!! So get recycling:)

Mine Greenstar don't take tetra pak..

http://www.greenstar.ie/htm/03_domestic_customers/domestic_recycling_kerbside_mat.htm

cormie

I just emailed Oxigen and pointed them towards this thread too. I know 17 votes aren't much to go by but anyway. Hopefully I'll find out about the plastics too. BoardWalk, get onto Greenstar and ask about Tetra Pack. Surely if one company can do it, others can too. I don't know why they don't put all their resources together for the good of the world. If only everything wasn't based on contracts and money.

Board@Work

I emailed Greenstar and we shall see..

tetra pak is one waste product that my household produces alot of. Hopefully I can change their policy but somehow I doubt it.

Bamboozled

cormie wrote:

I just emailed Oxigen and pointed them towards this thread too. I know 17 votes aren't much to go by but anyway. Hopefully I'll find out about the plastics too. BoardWalk, get onto Greenstar and ask about Tetra Pack. Surely if one company can do it, others can too. I don't know why they don't put all their resources together for the good of the world. If only everything wasn't based on contracts and money.

It really does depend on the company and whether they ahve the resources to deal with it or not.

It also would depend on how far the recycling has to travel to the recycling plants. Some companies in some counties can take a lot one stuff, but further down the country they wont take the same stuff because of the cost of getting it all to the same place.

Victor

How about "Reduce. Re-use. Re-cycle"?

cormie

Victor wrote:

How about "Reduce. Re-use. Re-cycle"?

Down to the cattle market it is then

Board@Work

Got a reply from Greenstar and they do now accept tetra pak. They have yet to update their website.. nice one

Their Mail:

We do accept Tetra Pak now, we did not previously as we did not have the machinery to separate the plastic coating from the cardboard but we do now, the other materials we recycle in the bins are as follows :

Newspaper
Paper ( junk mail )
Magazines
Light cardboard e.g cereal boxes
Drink (aluminumin) cans
Washed food tins
Washed plastic bottles

We do not accept the following :
Glass
Food / Green waste
Contaminated food packaging
Polystyrene packaging
Sanitary Waste

Kind Regards

cormie

Good stuff:) No word back from Oxigen yet.

I don't think updating their website will address many residents. I think it's in the door leaflet time! sure they will get their leaflets back anyway and can use them again:D

Bamboozled

cormie wrote:

I don't think updating their website will address many residents. I think it's in the door leaflet time! sure they will get their leaflets back anyway and can use them again:D

Now that's quick thinking

No matter where i've looked for information on stuff that can be recyced, on all the sites and leaflets and emails, it states that the plastic thingie has to be taken out of Tetrapak cartons before being recycled. So theere ya have it.

That was good going Board@work. I doubt many would have emailed and would know about them accepting them now.

saibhne

Bamboozled wrote:

No matter where i've looked for information on stuff that can be recyced, on all the sites and leaflets and emails, it states that the plastic thingie has to be taken out of Tetrapak cartons before being recycled. So theere ya have it.

Bamboozled, can you give me a link to where it says that please? - I've looked for ages and can't find anything!

Thanks,

S.

Bamboozled

I'll have to do the searches again. When i find it, i'll post it.

[Edit]
http://www.raceagainstwaste.ie/take_action/at_home/recycle/
Scroll down towards the bottom of the page and theres a chart there. Under ITEM look for Beverage Cartons eg Tetrapak and across from it, it says: Take off plastic lid, rinse out and flatten.

Here's the full list: Items and preparation for recycling. Note: Unless it is stated by your recycling company, not all of these are accepted by your company. This is just preparation of what can be recycled generally, not necessarily by your own company. Please check with them if you want to recycle any of these and they're not on your list.

Paper / Newspaper / Magazines / Junk Mail It is helpful to take out staples
Light Cardboard Flatten
Heavy duty cardboard Flatten, remove any polystyrene
Aluminium Cans Rinse out and crush
Steel Cans Wash out, ensure there is no food left - there is no need to remove paper
Plastic Bottles Remove caps/corks. Rinse out and crush - there is no need to remove paper
Beverage Cartons e.g. Tetrapak Take off plastic lid, rinse out and flatten
Glass Bottles & Jars Remove caps. Rinse out - there is no need to remove paper.

Glass banks do not accept drinking glasses, pyrex or sheet glass


Soft Plastic Packaging Ensure it is not contaminated with food
Textiles No preparation needed
Household Hazardous Waste Ensure it is still labelled
Green Waste Remove any soil, litter or branches from palm trees which get jammed in shredder
Timber Remove nails or other such items.
Electrical Equipment No preparation needed
Batteries (domestic & car) No preparation needed
IT Computer Equipment No preparation needed
Brown Goods - Televisions, Radios, Video players No preparation needed
White Goods - Fridges, Freezers, Washing Machines, Cookers, Tumble Dyers No preparation needed

There's others that mention removing the stuff too, but to find them i'd be there all day, linking.

saibhne

Thanks a mill Bamboozled, really gets up my nose that this information isn't readily available. I've been chucking tetrapaks in my green bin with the plastic thingie on for months now - I wonder if this makes all my efforts null and those tetrapaks were thrown into a landfill?

S.