Brian Gaff formulated on Thursday :
That is a standard isn't it? All the bin sizes are the same height, to suit mechanical emptying, but their width/capacity varies. The only way they could accept smaller than the standard, is by making the bins narrower, which would make them unstable.
ITYM *more* unstable ...
I compost card but am finding these days more card has a plastic film layer which doesn't compost. There also seems to be a lot of waxed card which is somewhat waterproof and takes a long time to break down in a compost heap.
Both here and where we used to live, instructions are to remove all caps and put them in the recycling separately.
Never had a problem with them springing back into shape, anyway.
If we're talking milk bottles here, I haven't seen one this century with the cap made of a different material - only the colour is different.
Might make it difficult for sorting at the recycling site, though.
:-)
Yup you have to be careful with our non recylceables bin - its the same height and depth as a full sized bin, but only about two thirds the width. Net result it has a tendency to want to tip to the side when wheeled over rough ground, and try and twist your wrist off!
you're not suposed to put broken glass in recycle bins because of the risk to collectors.
I was thinking of how easily they blow over when empty. Not sure quite how the movement of refuse lorries creates such a predictable micro climate, but it seems to get gustier immediately after the bins have been emptied, and are left on the footpath to blow onto their sides into the road ...
I use a spade. It's a combination squasher and chopper.
One of our garden bins has split, and I'm pretty sure it was done by the lorry...
Andy
2 litre fizzy water bottles in particular and some other fizzy drink/cordial bottles.
How do they sort? I know it is automated (that's why black ready meal trays can't easily be recycled, as the systems can't see them). I assume that they use different frequencies of "light" and the different plastics show up differently. Separate peices rather than whole bottles should stil be sortable. I am not talking about cross-cut shredding into tiny pieces. Pieces a couple of inches square would probably be small enough to pack together well and large enough to be sorted.
SteveW
What risk? The bins are wheeled, with the lid closed; picked up by the machine and emptied into the wagon - glass is likely to break during tipping into the wagon anyway.
SteveW
Flattening plastic milk bottle and PET drinks bottles is easy. Just rinse out, then when you have the kettle on for a drink, pour a beaker full of hot water (i.e. more than hand hot so over the thermoplastic setting temperature), put the lid on give a quick shake, pour out the water and flatten the container. Within seconds it cools and stays flattened.
# Also remove any outer plastic wrap used to decorate some PET drinks containers.
Apparently coloured PET bottle are NOT wanted by the recyclers. only clear PET is recyclable.
I thought that's what the Metro was for :-). (placing in the tray with cat litter on top).
Yes, annoying. Higgidy pies still have plastic windows that can be pulled off and recycled with bread bags etc (where possible) leaving the cardboard to be recycled as normal. They even have the instructions on the box !.
All supermarket sandwich containers now seem to be made of cardboard with a polythene film laminated all over it, like takeaway coffee cups, so cannot be recycled in most places.
One of my complaints is the lack of information on what we might to make things better for recycling. For example it is trivial to remove the polythene cap from PET bottles, and not much work to take of the remains of the PE locking ring as well. We have an incinerator opening soon and the offer of "tours". This will be one of my questions! Another irritation is that there seems to be no central guidance on moving towards a consistent strategy across the country.
Escpecially when the hydraulic ram squashes the lorry contents after every bin is tipped in !
try pushing it with both hands :-)
Will an incinerator care that much about what plastics are separated, provided it burns?
Doesn't even matter if it doesn't 'burn' provided it decomposes... The idea is to get down to as little ash as possible, and hope it isn't toxic.
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