So you have just finished tying up your refuse bag and walked out to place it in your wheelie bin… only to find out it’s completely full? The bin collection is another four days away and there is absolutely no place in your wheelie bin. Don’t worry, we sometimes underestimate the amount of household waste we produce and are shocked to see an overflowing wheelie bin!
Depending on your local council, some wheelie bins will not be collected. This includes wheelie bins with a lid that can’t be fully closed, are too heavy, or accompanied with extra refuse bags on the side. Sure there are ways to prevent this from happening (and we will go through those), but what can you do to deal with the problem at hand?
Dealing with an overflowing wheelie bin
1- Remove all recyclables from your rubbish
This might mean getting your hands dirty and going through week-old rubbish. However it could be the quickest and least costly solution for you AND the environment. Check your local council’s recycling scheme, whether it is wheelie bin, caddy or sack waste segregation and separate accordingly.
2- Compress your packaging waste
Ensure that your refuse bags do not contain any trapped air by squashing down any packaging. This could be squashing plastic bottles, flattening milk cartons, pizza or cereal boxes, and stacking containers. Make sure that when you are placing the rubbish back into the trash bag, you are stacking them neatly while keeping in mind the size and shape of your wheelie bin. If there are still too many gaps in your wheelie bin between refuse bags, consider using smaller refuse or carrier bags to fill them.
3- Make use of public recycling centres
After separating recyclables, you can take advantage of shopping centres’ and supermarkets’ recycling banks. Simply check your nearest commercial centre and place your extra general, cans, plastic and paper waste into their recycling containers. Alternatively, find a household waste and recycling centre. You do not need a permit if you are going to the site in a family car.
4- Arrange for a bulky household waste collection
If your waste is too bulky, consider phoning your local council and arranging for a collection of your household waste. Please bear in mind that this can be a chargeable service, but it will ensure proper and quick disposal by your local council.
Hopefully, you will have found one of the above solutions useful and your bin collection will have gone smoothly. However, if you think that the amount of household waste you have been producing has been steadily increasing, it might be worthwhile to look at a few preventive steps.
How to prevent an overflowing wheelie bin
1- Review your shopping habits
Are you consistently finding yourself purchasing carrier bags every time you take a trip to the supermarket? Keep a spare shopping bag handy near your front door. And if you’re a bit forgetful, stowing a carrier bag in your everyday bag and a couple of them in the car trunk can go a long way! While shopping, make sure you purchase food items that are fresh (they’re the best choice for your wheelie bin AND your health, two birds one stone?) and contain the least packaging. Remember, fruits and vegetables often have a natural protective layer. Oranges don’t need to be peeled and repackaged with plastic!
2- Find out how to reuse your rubbish
Wash and reuse plastic takeaway boxes as much as possible. They can be used for planning and measuring your meal portions! Stacking these out in the fridge is a spatially economic alternative to huge half-empty pots and pans. Research your local scrap stores, charity shops and schools, and find out how your rubbish can benefit them. Scrap stores take unwanted items and sell them to community groups for arts and crafts projects. Save your plastic bottles, yogurt pots and newspapers for schools, as they’re always looking out for extra material for art classes!
3- Create an internal recycling centre
It can be tempting to not recycle and dump everything in the same bin. Segregate your waste from the get-go so you know what needs to go right away (food waste) and what can wait (glass, plastics and paper). Make sure your recycling station mirrors your council’s so that your bin collections go smoothly.
4- Make your own compost centre
Composting is a natural process which breaks down organic matter into a nutrient-rich soil. This can greatly benefit a garden by feeding plants a rich homemade compost soil. Compost is also an environmentally conscious decision. Sending organic waste to landfills causes it to be squashed and trapped by all the other waste, deprived of any air. This produces methane, a greenhouse gas more powerful than carbon dioxide. Find out if your local council offers compost bins or build your own with a wheelie bin! Make sure you have a healthy balance of greens (grass cuttings, fruit and vegetable peelings, plants, coffee grounds, tea bags) and browns (egg shells, paper, cardboard, vegetarian animals’ bedding, ashes from paper, wood or charcoal) in your composting bin. Find out how to get composting right.
5- If all fails, get another wheelie bin
If none of the above are options for you, an extra wheelie bin can’t hurt! Contact your local council to find out if they can replace your wheelie bin with a larger one, provide another wheelie bin, or offer more recycling containers. Alternatively, you can take advantage of our Free Next Day Wheelie Bin Delivery service. We recommend that before placing your order to check with your local council what wheelie bin sizes they will collect.
Hopefully this post has proved helpful for you and your overflowing wheelie bin nightmares are over! If you would like more information on our wheelie bin sizes, read our blog post, or live chat with us. We also offer a wide range of recycling solutions, simply visit us at Wheelie Bins Direct2U.