Wheelie bin liners

Isn't the whole point of wheelie bins that you can save the planet by not using plastic bags?

alan_m presented the following explanation :

She insists on plastic bags, so this at least makes the bags last a few emptyings.

I don't understand. Why not empty directly into the bin?

I have a swing-top bin for dry household rubbish that's not recyclable, and a pedal bin for putrefiable kitchen waste. Both get lined with appropriately sized bin-liners, and when the bin-man comes round, it's just a matter of tying them up and putting them in the wheelie bin. No need for a wheelie bin liner as such, as the rubbish is already bagged.

It also makes it easier for said bin-man to empty, as they don't have to waste time loading the wheelie bin onto the tipper mechanism and emptying it into the back of the garbage truck; they just grab the bags out of the wheelie bin and throw them in; much quicker.

Chris Hogg presented the following explanation :

Ours are all (three types) machine emptied. The general bin has a mixed contents some quite messing and sticky. So, many around here use liners, so the bin interiors remains a bit cleaner. It avoid having to regularly clean the bin out.

Are you lot still in the stone age? Our lot do not touch the bin it is all mechanical.

Why do you clean the bin out?

Seriously, I have better things to do!

The purpose of the lid is so you don't have to look inside!

FMurtz has brought this to us :

It would seem so, the mechanical system was the whole point of wheelie bins. We just wheel the appropriate bin down to the end of the drive, on the appropriate day. It then takes them just a couple of seconds to hook it onto the wagons lift and return it empty. No need to handle or lift anything anymore.

The mechanical arms seem to take an age to empty the bins and put them back down again. I'm sure it was quicker for bags to be simply thrown in!

Fredxx laid this down on his screen :

For the same reason many around here pay someone to follow the truck and pressure wash their bins, then add a liner - so it doesn't stink.

That is a darn good idea.

We don't have 'general' wheelie bins (at least not yet) but we are encourage to put food waste into the garden waste bin. We buy special compostable bags and have a special bin in the kitchen but still worry about stray leaks etc. (They don't mind 'black bags' for green waste- I don't know how they cope with them down the line.)

Other 'recycling', at least at the door step, is rather limited high. They don't even collect glass.

In which case I assume your bins must be put out close to exactly the right places for the 'grab' to be manoeuvered to pick it up. Flipping open the bin lid and lifting out one or two bags of rubbish by hand has to be much quicker than a grab being manoeuvered over the bin, so more bins can be emptied per man per shift or whatever, and it saves the ratepayer money.

My bin stays outside, and my lid is sufficient to keep the smells in and flies out. Perhaps yours is different?

We use carrier bags as bin liners indoors - then tie these off and chuck then loose in the wheelie bin. Works well, they tend to pack down into the gaps better than say a big biner load and keep the wheelie bin reasonably clean of scunge.

We have a son who is enthusiastic about his pressure washer, so we take advantage of that!

Charity bags are also quite handy ...

Chris Hogg expressed precisely :

They don't maneuver the grab. The truck drives along the street and stops at each four houses, the guys grab a couple of bins from each side, drag them to the rear, where they are picked up tipped into the back and dropped back down. Where upon the guys drag them back to the kirb. Any heavy repetitive lifting these days, is frowned upon.

Well, yes, that's what would happen here if the bin had a lot of stuff in it, whether in bags or loose, but just for one or two bags it's quicker just to pick them out by hand. FMurtz did say that his lot didn't touch the bins as it was all mechanical. I assumed he meant that that included dragging the bin from where the householder left it to the back of the lorry and locating it on the lifting mechanism.

Brian Reay laid this down on his screen :

We have the black general waste, brown one for grass/cuttings only, then a brown one for paper; card; recyclable plastics. So the black is used for glass, food waste, vacuum contents; kitchen waste and anything which is contaminated. Some of that from the kitchen, is already pre-bagged in old carriers, or charity bags of which we gets several delivered per week. Any actual charity items, we deliver to the shops, I don't trust the collectors to be genuine, unless I have made collection arrangements with them.