Vocal Voices

Cans and plastic bottles, that.

I was just taking some things to the local charity shop and the lady was fiddling with a contraption of sorts.

"Do you know how this works?"
"Yes, it's a can crusher, You put the can or bottle in here and pull the handle, but it won't work because a bolt or rivet is missing from the hinge."
"Oh well, do you want it?"
"No thanks I just drop them on the floor and stamp on them."
"Me too," she laughed, "I like a good stamp, it gets rid of stress."

So that got me thinking about how people deal with bottles and cans - to crush or not to crush, that is the question?

Defo crush the six litre bottles of water we buy. Very satisfying, although it ssets the dogs off

And the wine boxes, makes it easier to put them in the recycling anyway.

I’m with you Frank, stamping on cans is a great stress reliever

Plastic bottles, no. We’re asked by the council to separate bottle/containers from the lids so obviously it can’t be done.

We don't have many cans but when we get a wine delivery I shred the big cardboard box into little bits so that it doesn't take up too much room in the bin.

Plastic bottle tops are saved here Jo. As well as the beer bottle tops.

I crush the ribbed bottles. I don't stamp on them though, loosen the lid and crush them between my hands. Good exercise for the arms. Tighten lid and drop in bin. It takes a lot of room, especially milk bottles we get here, if you don't.

We use very few cans now so I don't bother crushing them.

JanB wrote:Plastic bottle tops are saved here Jo. As well as the beer bottle tops.

Both can go in the recycling Jan but have to be removed from the bottles, jars or containers beforehand.

Leeds is very relaxed about what can go in recycling as it take more types of plastic than some other places, but tops do have to be removed - that's one big rule to follow. Suff's method is a no-no.

As a bonus we only have one big green bin to use and not a rainbow of crates for all sorts of things. Rinse it, crush it, bin it.

They go for charity Jo, no idea what. The mayor's mum collected the fulkl bottles, down by the bar.

Trying to explain, we have a proper bus top and shelter, which was never used but now houses our post-boxes.

We leave anything there that can be re-used by other people, also the beer and plastic bottle tops.

That’s good then Jan!

They’ve really messed up with recycling around here. Last year it was decided that cardboard and paper had to be separated from glass, cans and plastics so every house was issued with a blue bag for card and paper. New bin lorries were bought with a large section for cans etc and a smaller section for card and paper. However, it was underestimated just how much card and paper waste there is and while you can ask for extra bags the compartment on the lorries fills up quickly, way before the other larger compartment so it means extra trips to wherever recycling is dropped off. We don’t have a great deal of plastics, cans etc so our bin is less than half full each recycling day (but I always put it out seeing as we’re paying for it in our council tax) and that’s a complaint a lot of people are having, it should’ve been done the other way around with a smaller receptacle for cans, glass and plastics and the existing bin being used for card and paper.

Before this, if we had a large piece of cardboard it could be put at the side of the bin, you now have to cut it up into small pieces because anything that doesn’t fit in the bag isn’t collected because it won’t fit through the hatch in the back of the lorry.

Bags are supposedly weighted but they’re still blowing away if they’re emptied on windy days, and quite a few are being lost in the back of the bin lorries too. Oh, and the bags have got a poorly fitting velcroed lid which doesn’t fasten too well and they won’t collect anything that’s wet