disposing of empty pouches

[Sonya(Buttersmum)]

I've come to the conclusion that they come in just to annoy us for the fun of it. They come in through the tiniest of gaps and then can't find their way back out through a wide open door 

A lot like the ruddy Herring Gulls here. They come in to nick cat food and then fly to the window instead of back out of the back door and cr*p all over the sink, the draining board and any dishes and cutlery thereon. Of course Herring Gulls are a bit bigger.

[Judecat (Paula)]

I've come to the conclusion that they come in just to annoy us for the fun of it. They come in through the tiniest of gaps and then can't find their way back out through a wide open door 

A lot like the ruddy Herring Gulls here. They come in to nick cat food and then fly to the window instead of back out of the back door and cr*p all over the sink, the draining board and any dishes and cutlery thereon. Of course Herring Gulls are a bit bigger.

[Lyn (Slugsta)]

In Bournemouth we used to have general refuse emptied every week and recycling, in larger bins, every 2 weeks. Just as we left they were changing to 2 weekly for both (alternate weeks). We did not have to separate types of recycling and we also had a food caddy.

Here in Poole the big 'dumpsters' are emptied weekly. The recycling is often full within 24 hours! I think people with 'normal' bins are supposed to separate recycling into  different types. There are no food caddies. I didn't think I would miss the food caddies - but I do, I hate throwing food away but sometimes it cannot be helped.

[Susanne (urbantigers)]

We have a green bin for garden and food waste.  Not meant to put plastic bags in but people do.  Being communal bins it would be a pain if they stopped emptying due to that.  Tbh I'm not entirely sure how often they're collected but seems to be fairly frequent.  For ages we had no recycling bins.  Some appeared then just as rapidly disappeared leaving the only ones those up at the sheltered housing complex - way too far for me.  Think this was probably due to lack of room in the bin room.  For some reason loads appeared about a year ago (think actually a new tenant may have ordered some) and they sit outside looking a bit of an eyesore but there are currently 2 blue, 3 brown and 1 green!  That vairies!  I think some of the other bin rooms may have some (hence the changing number depending on where they are returned to) but they effectively serve 24 households!  So if they want us to recycle more they will have to provide more and the HA will just have to find somewhere to put them.  I would imagine they empty the green one weekly if it contains food waste.

Authority I work for have started charging for emptying of green bin, but it is just for garden waste as they have food caddies as well.  Fortunately my authority doesn't charge at the moment and I can't imagine they will as long as they contain food waste.

We have difficulties getting our grey bins emptied as the HA always used to get them out of the bin rooms but we have problems with them not doing that now.  Don't know who does it at the moment but I thought ours were due to be emptied today but it's still in the bin room and is full.  We have one grey bin between myself and neighbour (but nothing to stop others using it as it's in communal area) but fortunately the upstairs flats have rubbish shutes and large bins which are emptied weekly so I lob stuff in there when I can reach especially the night before they are emptied.  I sling the cat litter in there every morning as it gets emptied weekly.

I appreciate that we need to recycle but I do hate the sight of wheelie bins everywhere.  I also hate them being put back where they may fall on my car 

[Sonya(Buttersmum)]

I've come to the conclusion that they come in just to annoy us for the fun of it. They come in through the tiniest of gaps and then can't find their way back out through a wide open door 

[Judecat (Paula)]

Swingbin in the kitchen Kay. But the flies come in for everything, the potting compost in my plants, cat food, you name it.

[Desley (booktigger)]

That’s quite surprising Susanne, you aren’t that far away from me, but our bins are done on a 3 weekly basis (waste/glass/paper) – while we recycle a lot, our bins are still heavy due to cat litter!! Our food caddies are annoying, when they first arrived, we were told to just leave them outside the house (other bins have to be put at the end of the street), and for over a year, that happened nicely, then I went weeks before it got emptied, as they suddenly stopped emptying it, I tried various places before realising they will only take them from the top of the street, but we didn’t get told that, and now they have broken my lid.

[Susanne (urbantigers)]

Weekly household waste wheelie bin and green wheelie bin and fortnightly for recycling wheelie bin. We do pay a lot of Council Tax though. My neighbours household bins are overflowing every week, I can only guess that they don't recycle like we do. As I said I chuck pouches in nappy sacks to avoid the flies, I can't abide them doing their little dances round the kitchen.

Interesting - the opposite of the way it's done here (and I assumed everywhere) where we have fortnightly General refuse and the recycling is collected weekly.  The idea being we should recycle most things and have only a small amount of rubbish. 

I'm glad I don't live in neighbouring authority area though - they go through your bin and if there's stuff in your general refuse that should be in recycling they don't empty it!   Afraid I don't recycle as much as I should as it's just not feasible with my mobility problems and lack of space indoors.  I can't carry stiff to the communal recycling bins on a regular basis.  I go past them on the way to my car and try to take some paper/cardboard with me for that but can't be chucking bottles in at 6.45am.  Can't walk out with food waste to the green bin as I have it (don't have much food waste because I'm a greedy pig  ).  So good intentions and all that but it's a good job they don't rummage through the grey bin to see what could/should be in the recycling bins.

[Kay and Penny]

do you not have a lid on your bin, Paula? Those bins with an opening you push down on make it practically impossible for flies to get inside

[Judecat (Paula)]

Like I said it's mostly the flies I guard against, I have never lived in such a place for the ruddy things.

[Sonya(Buttersmum)]

I went on a tour of our local recycling centre, and we were told that cat food pouches are their biggest bugbear, along with lined tin cans - because the pouches look like foil a lot of people think they are recyclable

my big beef with them is that the fold at the bottom makes it really difficult to wash out, especially gravy and sauce ones

but I have been putting them unwashed in my kitchen bin for a week now, since Sonya first told me she does, and no smells - yet

To make sure most of it is out i squeeze as much of it out with my hands then i use a fork to squeeze the rest out 

[Kay and Penny]

I went on a tour of our local recycling centre, and we were told that cat food pouches are their biggest bugbear, along with lined tin cans - because the pouches look like foil a lot of people think they are recyclable

my big beef with them is that the fold at the bottom makes it really difficult to wash out, especially gravy and sauce ones

but I have been putting them unwashed in my kitchen bin for a week now, since Sonya first told me she does, and no smells - yet

[Mark]

I never wash them. I use bin bags from Lidl - the best I have found anywhere and I have tried lots. When it is really warm. I use the 25L ones and change at least every 2 days and double bag. When it is cooler, I use the 40L ones. They never leak. The Aldi ones are OK, but not as good as Lidl - Even the Lidl ones are thinner than they used to be, but still better than other, much more expensive ones. (the 40L ones also used to be 50L until a couple of years back.

I phoned Canterbury council a few years back about recycling pouches. They have the recyclable symbol one them, but I was dubious. The woman there said they aren't recyclable in the UK and suggested I switch to foil trays! 

[hollycat]

I just chuck them in the bin, I don't wash them

[Sonya(Buttersmum)]

Before we moved to the bungalow the newbuild flats where we lived had the big industrial bins, there were a lot of youngsters who moved in that actually used them! mind you, they were only filled with microwave meal, pizza boxes and coke bottles *rolls eyes* 

[Lyn (Slugsta)]

Since we moved to the flat, we now have big, industrial size, bins that are emptied once a week. One for recycling and one for rubbish. We lost the food waste collection when we moved from Bournemouth to Poole. We were warned, when we moved in, to ensure we separate the recycling properly as the block is on a 'final warning' with the prospect of a £2000 fine if we don't!

[Liz]

1 normal swing bin of human stuff, 1 80l bag of tins and sachets per week, 3 bags of cat litter - solids flushed and septic tank emptied every 2 years and we go to the tip once a week as we have had no rubbish uplift for 10 years since our bins were stolen and we wouldn't pay for new ones we recycle everything, glass, paper, plastic, tins, all garden waste goes on our compost heap in the woods and food waste to the composting bins at the bottom of the garden!

[Sonya(Buttersmum)]

I bought some of those green food waste bags once, what an absolute joke they were!! they wouldn't even open without tearing 

[Judecat (Paula)]

I get my black bin liners from Lidl, really thick, good quality ones that don't leak or easily puncture.

[Kay and Penny]

I buy mine from here http://www.binlinersdirect.com/

though for the food waste I always use the paper sacks, as they stand upright in the caddy so I can just open the lid and drop stuff in - I hate those corn starch green ones which won't stay pu

[maryas]

TOOK ME AGES TO FIND SOME DECENT BLACK BAGS.

A ROLL OF 10 FOR £1 AT ICELAND, VERY STRONG AND HAVE A DRAWSTRING. I HIGHLY RECOMMEND THEM, IN FACT MY CLEANING LADIES HAVE BOUGHT SOME NOW INSTEAD OF THE ONES THEY WERE USING.

MARY

[Sonya(Buttersmum)]

I always double bag the waste in the kitchen bin now! binbags aren't as strong as they used to be! Our wheelie bins are emptied on alternate weeks, general waste bin only ever gets about a quarter full in a week and the recycling bin gets almost full in a week

[Frances]

Empty pouches – unwashed into bin in kitchen – bag takes about 10 days to fill up and I’ve never noticed smells/flies
Food waste – into council-supplied food bags
Poo – flushed down loo (flushable clumping litter)
Wee clumps – bin in utility room

The kitchen bin doesn’t have a lid (well, it does, but I don’t use it; more trouble than it’s worth); the utility bin is a small dustbin, with a lid, which I use.

General waste (landfill) collected every three weeks – I had to get a bigger wheelie bin when they went from two to three week collections because of the cat litter!
Recyclables, including food waste, collected every week
No garden waste collected at roadside, has to be a tip trip

[Kay and Penny]

I put litter tray deposits into a bin outside, and then add them to my kitchen bin and tie up the liner each week, so have two bags for the fortnightly collection - I'm going to put the pouches unwashed in the kitchen bin - a Brabantia push top one - and if there is an unacceptable smell before the week is up I shall just have to bag up and place outside earlier than usual - if I have to put out 3 bags instead of 2 so be it - I pays me council tax

we have a new system here for garden waste - for £40 you get a huge wheelie bin and a fortnightly collection - it seems expensive to me, but makes such a difference to my gardening, as I couldn't get to a recycling centre and my garden is too mature to risk a   bonfire - now I can hack down all the overgrown stuff 

[maryas]

'S TRUE.......

[/color]

LOVE IT

YOU'RE ALL MAKING ME FEEL DIRTY AS I JUST BUNG MINE IN THE KITCHEN BIN AND IT GETS EMPTIED IN TO THE WHEELIE BIN WHEN IT IS FULL

NO SMELLS IN MY KITCHEN AND I HAVE A VERY GOOD SENSE OF SMELL.  HEELIE BINS HAVE NEVER HAD A SMELL EITHER, I DON'T GET OUT NOW BUT I DO MAKE SURE MY CARERS ARE ALWAYS TAKING CARE OF MY RUBBISH. MY DIRTY LITTER GETS DOUBLE BAGGED AND THAT'S OK TOO.

MARY

[Rosella moggy]

I chuck direct into kitchen bin which is a large pedal bin 50L. We have weekly collections for household and alternative fortnightly for garden and paper/cans ...... at least we did before they went on strike in Brum. Last two collections missed.

I might be more concerned if I had a swing bin as I imagine smell escapes easier.

[Judecat (Paula)]

Weekly household waste wheelie bin and green wheelie bin and fortnightly for recycling wheelie bin. We do pay a lot of Council Tax though. My neighbours household bins are overflowing every week, I can only guess that they don't recycle like we do. As I said I chuck pouches in nappy sacks to avoid the flies, I can't abide them doing their little dances round the kitchen.

[Kay and Penny]

seems as if the consensus is that I might get away virtually whiff-free if I chuck them in the bin for a week - though I have a sneaky feeling gravy dregs may be smellier quicker than jelly remnants - we shall see, or rather smell

I feel as if someone should be paying me for this important piece of research

[Desley (booktigger)]

I have a little bin in the cat room for pouches, I tend to empty it once a week, doesn't seem to smell much. Our rubbish bin only gets emptied every 3 weeks, but if it wasn't for cat litter, I'd barely have a bag a week, I recycle more than I throw.

[CarolM (Wendolene)]

Our collection is fortnightly but we do have a wheelie bin and the lid does a pretty good job at keeping smells in.  it's stored  far enough from any doors or windows for any that do escape not to matter.

[CarolM (Wendolene)]

I use 'nappy sacks' for litter trays too but just throw used pouches in the kitchen bin. We empty the bin every 2-3 days and neither of us have been aware of any smell (mind you, I do not have the most sensitive nose!).

phew have been waiting for someone to say that, thought I was the only one just chucking pouches in bin!!!

ME TOO. 

[Kay and Penny]

we're turning into a cat owners version of Mumsnet 

do you still get rubbish collected every week then, Paula? it's been fortnightly here for ages - which  is why I buy extra large black bin bags on the internet, so I can still have only two bags to put out 

[Dawn F]

I use 'nappy sacks' for litter trays too but just throw used pouches in the kitchen bin. We empty the bin every 2-3 days and neither of us have been aware of any smell (mind you, I do not have the most sensitive nose!).

phew have been waiting for someone to say that, thought I was the only one just chucking pouches in bin!!!

[Judecat (Paula)]

More hygienic that me then, anything that can be gets chucked to the gulls and foxes, bones etc. into nappy sacks, we recycle everything possible, so our kitchen bin bag goes out, only half full, once a week.

[Lyn (Slugsta)]

I use 'nappy sacks' for litter trays too but just throw used pouches in the kitchen bin. We empty the bin every 2-3 days and neither of us have been aware of any smell (mind you, I do not have the most sensitive nose!).

[Judecat (Paula)]

Can't go through too many nappy sacks with imaginary furkids Sue.

[Sue P (Paddysmum)]

  'S TRUE.......

[Kay and Penny]

dear me, Sue - people often refer to their pets as their babies, and in your case it really is true

[Sue P (Paddysmum)]

Nappy sacks here too - we also use them for the poo deposits.  And we use Puppy training pads for under the litter tray.

[Kay and Penny]

thanks girls - if they only smell after a few days I think I'll try storing them in a sealed container in the fridge as plan A and move on to nappy sacks as plan B