A whinge.

Every time something about our garbage/recycling changes, I read that other cities in NB - including Fredericton - don't do it the same way. Related to different dump/waste facilities available I think.

I'm all in favour of recycling, but sometimes I think too much responsibility is placed on ordinary folk with an assumption that everyone can do it - it being what they decide.

Our kitchen isn't small but there is only one spot suitable for garbage. We have two medium size bins there.

We used to have "Wet" and "Dry" (clear green/clear blue) and that was easy enough. Wet/Green if it was mucky and Dry/Blue for recycling.

We generally had a bag of each and a separate bag for plastic 2l pepsi bottles but no transport to get them to the recycling place.
(initially I could manage 20 by bike but here we only get half the deposit back and just for a dollar it's not worth it, especially in winter, so now a local 'down on his luck' guy collects them and puts the money to better use than we can do...at least I assume he's not an eccentric millionaire)
Of course they are bulky and they take up space. But at least the bulk starts off small and grows to maximum in time for collection either by the guy or the garbage truck.

The system got changed to Organic/Green and Recycle/Blue and was compulsory on pain of death, with bags rejected with an orange sticker for non compliance and possible fines.
But there are contradictions. Coffee grounds in green but coffee grounds in pods in Blue for example.

And rinsing out of otherwise mucky things to go in Blue.

This greatly reduced green garbage and increased blue. But you still need your bin for the green stuff. So what we have now is the same two bins but they are no longer enough because there's too much blue to go in blue, so two bins has become three and there's also the plastic bottle bag - occasional cans and wine bottles - bonus deposits for the guy

Finding somewhere for 3 bins and a big bag isn't that easy. We have a box lined by one of those bags so big you can climb in and we use that for bulky blue stuff.

It would be a struggle to bring it up from the basement so it's near the front door. A bit unsightly to be honest, but what can you do?

Outside is just as unsightly, may attract animals and is not practical in winter.

So now it's changing again, with Clear bags added, to make three.

Green will be compost. Blue for recycling. Clear for the rest.

So now our two bins plus box will need a further bin. Where does that go? Middle of the living room floor?

A double-decker bin might work if there is such a thing.

As an added complication, the blue stuff is only to be collected every two weeks. So what currently builds up to be a large amount but at least is collected after a week will now grow to be a large amount and grow further during the second week.

I'm open to ideas

Sorting is an issue in apartments as well. So in the past I always kept it all in one and sorted at the bins. But suppose for a house that may not be viable.

Not sure where one would expect to place sort bins in say our apartment, the kitchen is maybe 4 feet wide, and no closest and under the sink is too small. So only place would be the living room.

Studies have shown the easier you make recycling the more likely people will do it.

I like how they do it where my dad lives in California, everything goes into one box, and they sort the recycling at a central sort plant.

No sorting needed at the consumer level.

I do return soda cans and other items with deposits, it can add up to a fair chunk of change.

Do you have your own yard? Then, perhaps you could start your own compost bin.
Here in Ottawa, we have a blue box of plastics/glass and a black box for paper and cardboard - each is picked up every 2 weeks on a week about rotation. Proper rubbish collection is every 2 weeks, same day as blue box uplift. We also have a mini green wheelie bin for compostables, with a kitchen catcher bin to make it easier to collect. I use the kitchen catcher, but just tip it into my own compost bin when full. Ottawa also picks up brown yard waste bags every week during the non-snow months.
I'm fortunate in that I have space for the blue and black boxes in my mudroom, so just chuck stuff in there in passing, so it makes it easy.

I'm quite impressed with the recycling here in Ottawa, but, as the OP said, the easier it is, the more people will want to do it. I know some folks who won't use the kitchen catcher/green wheelie bin, as they moan that it smells in summer/racoons attack the bins/the extreme cold in winter makes the green waste freeze to the bottom of the bins. However, there are ways around these issues, but it seems that some people here just can't be bothered putting themselves out and making the effort (typical Ottawans) to make changes in their routines.

Maybe keep one of your blue bins for paper/cardboard only and make sure you flatten down cardboard food boxes when you chuck them in, so they take up less space.
Squish your pop bottles/disposable water bottles/cans flat.
Can any of your recyclables be used for something else rather than throw them away? I use unprinted cardboard and paper in my composter and cut open water cooler bottles to use as planters and cloches.
Got an open fire or wood stove? Maybe burn the paper/cardboard, use flyers to make firelighters for the winter.

Of course, the easiest thing is to buy less stuff in packaging in the first place, which isn't always easy these days.
I know everyone's circumstances are different and space limitations can be a real pain, but just a few suggestions of things that have worked for me since Ottawa moved from weekly to fortnightly garbage pick-up.

Our garbage/rubbish/non-recycleable waste goes in a small bin under the sink. It takes is 2-3 weeks to "fill" it (the bin is smaller than the liner bag). Vegetable waste goes in the compost. Meat scraps and bones which would make the garbage smell, go into a soda cup which we then drop off somewhere that has a litter bin - the gas station, outside the grocery, at the park 'n' ride, etc.

When the bin under the sink is full I take the liner bag and fill it up with the bins in the bathrooms then take it to the 96gal wheelie bin outside. It takes 3-4 months for us to fill the wheelie bin, though in the summer I drag it to the kerb more often. If it wasn't for soda cups and cat litter it would probably take us 6 months to fill the wheelie bin.

Our plastic, glass, and paper/cardboard recycling accumulates in a paper carrier bag (one of those with a flat bottom) in the garage, pending transfer to the 96gal recycling wheelie bin. Our recycling wheelie bin is, on average, full for every fortnightly collection. Several times a year we have stuff held back because there isn't room in the bin, so the problem can roll over to the next fortnight and it takes us 6-8 weeks to get caught up and all the recycled into the bin. This is despite me dismantling and flattening every cardboard box and squashing milk bottles, etc.

Plastic bags for recycling go in a bag on a hook in the laundry room.

Cans of any sort (steel or aluminium) I accumulate in bins under the sunroom and sell them for scrap, usually when I have something else to take to the scrap merchant.

you learn something everyday on BE & I must say reading what Pulaski posted, this has given me further frugal saving tips

Our trash/garbage pick up is every two weeks contains 2 x 5 gallon bags inside a 20 gallon bin + a small half full recyling blue box containing paper, glass or the half dozen tin cans

In this part of the world we dont pay an extra charge for garbage disposal, its all part of the expensive services included in the property tax bill

We generally do not use plastic bags, always use our own carry shopping bags (wash & use over & over)

Where my mum lives in east londres, you can't pout glass in the recycling.

Nuff Said.

My stepdaughter started one this summer so we're already doing it
We do that too...well I say we but it's mainly me and the mother in law. I'm fed up telling the kids (adult kids now ) that the big cereal boxes they put in the kitchen bin should not only be flattened but put in the big bag instead. And they're always putting lids on things and throwing them away full of air.
Now I just grumble to myself when I see it in the wrong bin and transfer it. It's less stressful
Ditto.
Stepdaughter uses 4l ice cream tubs to for collecting the 'to be composted' stuff and MIL uses the big coffee tins for her cigarette butts on the deck

MIL is a bit of a hoarder, unfortunately. If a couple of filing cabinets with decades old paperwork weren't "there" we'd have more space to play with.
SD is using paper in small quantities and has utilised some plastic things...she's even made a scoop thing out of a plastic bottle.
Yes, but we don't use it. It's in a room that gets a bit cold in winter, even with the wood stove used, and we find it warmer and cheaper to use our other downstairs room.

Good ones too, thanks...making me think. ..I know there must be more we can do

We might have to revisit that. The position of the pipework under the sink doesn't leave much room for something on the inside of the door and what's stored there leaves less room but maybe there's something small/narrow we can get.

We have a red garbage container from IKEA attached to the back of the cupboard door under the skin. We put a plastic grocery bag in there, and use that for all non-recyclable material.

We have a small white plastic container from IKEA on the kitchen counter for ALL compostable, including meat scraps, bones, fish, bread, veggies, cooked and uncooked, etc. It has a lid, and OH transfers the contents to the council-provided wheelie every 1 or 2 days (depending on how smelly the contents might get). We also FREEZE possible smelly items, and put them in the wheelie on the morning of collection.

You can also buy a stainless steel compost lidded bucket from IKEA which looks good on the counter or fits nicely under the sink ........... line it with a plastic bag or wash out every time you empty it.

Many years ago, daughter bought a set of 3 wire shelves from IKEA which fit nicely on the end of one of the kitchen counters. Each shelf is approximately 13" long by 4" deep, and has a lip that is about 2" high.

The top shelf has a metal can for metal lids, scrunched up aluminum foil, and other metal bits and pieces. Next to it is an empty plastic large yoghurt container for all bits of plastic small plastic vials, etc. There is a small amount of room at the end of the shelf for larger plastic bottles and vials.

The second shelf is lined with plastic so nothing will fall through and is used for plastic bags, saran, etc.

The bottom shelf has a large plastic bag into which we put all paper, small pieces of cardboard, flattened cardboard boxes, etc.

Bottles and jars are rinsed out and place on the counter just above that shelving, along with large cans, flattened milk cartons,ice cream containers, etc ......... whoever is going downstairs takes these items down and puts them into the relevant containers down there, such as the yellow bag, the blue box or the cardboard box for milk containers and ice cream boxes, etc which have to be returned by us to the Recycle Centre.

Newspapers and magazines, large cardboard boxes etc are put on the floor under the shelving unit, and are taken downstairs as quickly as possible, usually by OH.

Time taken .............. probably 2 or 3 minutes a time to put stuff in the correct place in the kitchen. Another couple of minutes to take downstairs and put in the large containers.

Garbage wheelie bin is kept under the carport, and wheeled out to the back lane for emptying every other week. The blue box for plastic containers is also kept under the carport.

The compost wheelie is kept just outside the carport, used for both garden waste and food composting ......... we can even put pizza boxes in there (if we ate pizzas). That is wheeled out to the back lane every week.

The yellow bag for all paper is kept just inside the door out to the carport. The new gray box for all glass bottles is also kept inside the house.


It isn't hard to do!


OH also has a compost box in the garden, that he built himself, and where most of the garden material is put, including all grass clippings, shrub trimmings, etc etc.

We have a ceiling to floor food cupboard at one end of the counter and on the other end is the stove and the back door. There's no space to add anything at all on the surfaces and there's only one bit of floor space to use for bins and that's where two bins are housed.

None of us drives/has transport to take stuff to places.

Garbage wheelie bin is kept under the carport, and wheeled out to the back lane for emptying every other week. The blue box for plastic containers is also kept under the carport.

Do you get 13 feet of snow falling in the winter that gets in the way of such things? It's as much as we can do to keep the deck reasonably clear of snow and maintain a space at the front of the drive for the taxi to use when we unload shopping.

Once the system is up and running we'll have a better idea of what's needed. We're still waiting to hear exactly how it's to be done. All there's been is a few details in the paper and it's supposed to be happening in October

No, of course we don't ................ we just get rain, rain, and more rain.

Although I do remember years when Vancouver got dumps of 3 and 4'

We have a car, the carport is at the back of the house and is entered via a driveway from the back lane, so OH has to keep that clear if he wants to drive the car.


We're lucky in that one of the counters is about 6-8" shorter than the wall it is against, largely I think because that wall ends at an archway leading to a hall way and the door downstairs to the basement. Thus ending the counter before is a bit of a safety feature for those of us who have a tendency to take sort cuts round corners There is room there to attach that narrow wire shelving closer to the wall than to the outer edge of the counter, so those who live dangerously can also miss hitting that

Canada is big, and unencumbered by people, which is just as well as it means we have lots of space to park our rubbish in landfill!

I collect my recycling and take it to one of three places in Fredericton (1 Southside, 2 Northside) all of which would be a difficult stretch without a car. Every other week you can put a recycling container outside your house with cans, paper and plastics....if you live in a house. There are no facilities for this if you are in an apartment. Then you take it yourself or stick it in the rubbish.

When I was working in UNB my building was meticulous with regard to recycling...we sorted everything into the correct container. Owing to a lost cheque my company had to resort to dumpster diving, where we discovered that the janitor took all our recycle containers and emptied them all in the garbage too.

We may as well give up...the planet, I fear, is doomed!

For us to keep clear access at the front of the house, the snow has to be pushed back up the drive. Which makes it even deeper than it would otherwise be. I gave up trying to keep a clear pathway to the back some years ago.

I've worked at more then one hotel who have recycling bins in the rooms to give an illusion they recycle but the housekeeping just tosses it all into the trash.

I have a feeling things like that are more common then we realize.

I used to regularly run with an empty shipping container from Southampton up to Loughborough and load with compacted cubes of recycling. It was exported to China via Southampton Docks where it was incinerated.