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We got our new bins today. So tiny! They do not want any organic waste/garden waste/recyclables in these bins. The bins are literally only for non recyclable waste, meat bones, broken glass, nappies and styrofoam. They want everything else to go elsewhere.
I think it's great! And I think we'll be getting a worm farm ASAP!
I think that's how big our bin is - we don't have a worm farm, but do have compost bins.
We had a small bin before I think it was 100 litres. These are even smaller. I remember the days of the big green bins lol.
Our recycling bin is larger than our other bin but they only pick it up once a fortnight so it's about the same capacity.
I loved our worm farm when we had one. Worms are great pets - they don't need to go to the vet, they don't need training, they don't care if you go away for a few days and leave them.....
Just don't ever crash your car when you are transporting your worm farm to a new house. The sight of worms everywhere may cause shock and hysteria.
BAHAHAHAHA. I shall remember that. DS has a morbid fear of worms. So yay.
We have two 240 litre recycle bins. A 240 litre green waste bin. And they rotate fortnightly. We will have always packed the recycle bins by the time the fortnight is around and the green bins too.
Hhmmm, worm farm may be something to add to our list of things to do in our new back yard!
I love the bin system we have. One small bin with a red lid, goes out weekly for general rubbish. A bigger bin with a yellow lid goes out fortnightly for recycling, and a big bin with a green lid goes out the other fortnights for green waste. I like that the council is doing something about recycling!
I just went to look at the bin (I've been sick) its so cute! The small green bin we had came up to just above my waist. This new one is lower than my butt. I could sit on it. It looks like a toy bin. I think this is why the council is doing a rebate for compost/worm farms. A lot of families will need to halve their waste. Which is great!
In other news we tend to not have as much rubbish I find because we don't buy much stuff in packaging. 80% of our groceries are fresh produce and the rest is staples and cleaning/toiletries. So another reason why cooking from scratch is good ;)
I'm one of those lazy bastards who just chuck anything in any bin. I'm glad our council haven't introduced the mini bins yet. I saw some being delivered in the Knox area the other day, I seriously couldn't' cope with a bin that small.
Lol tinks. We were like this until we had 6 people and newborn nappies. We had to get strict or nothing would fit. That's when we got the second recycle bin.
We only just cope with the smaller bin we've already got - and I wish I'd known previously about being able to get another recycle bin! We fill ours right up to the point of overflowing every fortnight ...
We would also fill our green bin every fortnight if we actually got around to gardening regularly ...
I dread having to cut down any further! But yeah, I feel for people who use disposable nappies. It's hard enough with cloth.
They remind me of the big itti bitti bins from the 80's! It's doable I think people will just need to be wiser about packaging. And if not there's plenty of those extra bin companies around. They just cost a fortune.
We have a big old regular size bin. Our council won't supply anything else. Backwards, if you ask me. Anyway, ours goes out about every six weeks. It was less when we were childless. Once a Garbo came in to get it because we hadn't put it out for so long, he thought we'd forgotten or were incapacitated or something. Our recycling goes out once a month. We compost everything, including a lot of paper, so that cuts down on recycling too. Probably a bit easier in Qld with the humidity!
:o what do you people put in your bins?
Our rubbish is half full (or less) every week. Our recycling is half full every fortnight (unless we have bought something big like a new appliance) and our green bin only goes out once a month or so with lawn clippings because we have a compost bin. Lots of our paper goes in the compost so I guess that reduces our recycling...
We don't have compost because every time we do we end up with rats and wasps. I don't do wasps (or bees for that matter ... and I don't really want rats either, frankly). Once these are resolved, I'm happy to start composting again.
I would try a worm farm though ... happy to look into that further.
A lot of our rubbish is poor planning, frankly - food that's gone off, and excess packaging would be the main ones. In an ideal world almost all our food would be in string bags or cloth wraps from the farmer's market, and we'd cook and eat everything we bought and only eat out when pre-planned, but my lofty ideals and DH's reality (as the at home parent with two kids and part time uni) are very different. We dabbled with Aussie Farmers Direct, but it's not the same as picking your own produce, and when push comes to shove no one can do everything no matter how much you'd like to ...
With recycling, we have a LOT of paper - largely because I read and highlight things in hardcopy and I'm trying not to hoard these days - and DH drinks a LOT of soft drink and the boys drink a LOT of milk. As a household, we'd easily go through 10L of each in a week and then there's cans from stuff you thermomixers all probably do from scratch (lentils, beans, crushed tomatoes, etc). And then there's my wine bottles ........
So yeah, a lot of it would not be there in an ideal world, but until there's an extra few hours in the day, uni is over, the boys happily come shopping and fit in a trolley with all the shopping, I have a thermomix (or a free chef ... I'd settle for one of those...) and we're all in a fallen world, I suspect we will continue to fill up our rubbish and recycling bins.
;)
But I'm sure we're the only ones :P
**potters off to google worm farms**
I honestly don't know how we have so much rubbish. Our rubbish bin and recycling bins are full to the brim every week, sometimes have to put some in our neighbour's bin. I don't buy much packaged food, it's mainly meat, vegies and fruit.
Have you tried the tumbler compost bins Nutter? They're not on the ground and they are enclosed so tiny insects (fruit fly size) can get in but not rats etc. To work well compost needs some dry fibrous matter so paper is actually pretty good in compost especially if it's shredded. Good composting is about science - the right balance of stuff stops it from being a stinking, rat attracting mess.
The problem with worm farms is that to start with they don't eat a lot and even once they grow you have to be careful not to put too much in or you end up with lots of rotting matter. And worms are fussy eaters - no fruit and no citrus.
When we had worms, chooks and compost we never used our green at all.
We have two recycling bins too both are always full each fortnight. Don't think I would like an even smaller garbage bin we have two using nappies still.
It must be all those dead bodies.
I suspect they can go on your worm farm, when you get one.
Hey - worm farms kind of sound like a compost bin that worms live in. Have you started looking into it yet, Rouge?
If your council doesn't want any "organic waste/garden waste/recyclables in these bins" I'm guessing my council isn't far behind - so I'm guessing they will expect everyone to compost ...
Has anyone found effective methods for not getting nasties? Specifically wasps and bees ... but I guess anything which might get hurt, or hurt your property or pets - rats, mice, possums, undesirable neighbours, etc ... ?
Tiny bin is tiny.
We have 120L bins. It's collected on a Tuesday and by Friday it's full (usually due to having extra rubbish from the week before dumped in straight away). I'd say 1/4 to 1/2 our rubbish is nappies!
Rubbish is collected weekly, recyclables every fortnight and green waste on the alternate fortnight
I don't think a smaller bin would be good for us lol
Great questions PN. All ones I've been wondering myself. I'd love to do the Japanese compost thing. But it's very expensive co like the idea of worm farms because its quicker but I still worry about rats and mice. Maybe I should start a thread.
Do you mean Bokashi Rouge? I have been doing it for 5 years and maybe spend 30 dollars a year on stuff and the bin was 40 (some councils give you discount Whitehorse used to). Have no problems with it - it smells a bit vinegary in summer but no pests around it. I had problems burying the pickle output but that is because have no garden - now I take to community garden and gives great soil. They have worm farm too I can take scraps (no onion or citrus) too and daycare have one too now.
Thanks wysiwyg! How much was the initial outlay? As in. Do you buy in bulk? Where did you get it from. Is it easy to use? What happens when it fills up?
Can't remember where I bought bin from - I know I buy the malt stuff in Bunnings now in a quite a big bag ($30) and prob buy one a year. The juice I put on plants or down drains as is a natural drain cleaner. When is full you bury it in the garden or add to a compost bin. In the ground it breaks down in a couple of weeks. I have two in rotation so get to decompose in bin for longer. You can keep in kitchen e.g under sink but we don't have room so is by our front door but if garage was closer would put in there. You can put everything in it including meat which is very convenient.
we fill our big regular bin in a week - mainly with nappys admitidly. our green bin cops all the ouchy weeds the rest we burn on a bonfire (woo for being rural) or in the heater.
we have thought about compost but we already deal with the ones from next doors compost bin comming into our sheds... and had one in the chook shed kill a few chicks towards the colder months this year >.<
Before kids we had many weeks where we had only one shopping bag of rubbish!
I dream of having bins. We have to do our own garbage run. You really get to see how much garbage builds up over time. We compost or feed to the chooks what we can. It is the glass, plastic and cardboard that can build up. I try to offload the smaller items for craft ;)