On 23/08/2013 08:54, The Medway Handyman wrote:
We have three bins in our kitchen, one for food scraps, one for
recycling (don't have to sort it, everything goes in one bag), and a
third for 'general waste'.

It occurs to me, that we throw out either food waste or recycling stuff.
What would you throw away that doesn't fall into either of those
categories?

I'd like to get rid of the 'general waste' bin.


You are lucky to have just three bins...

we have a brown wheelie for garden waste
Green box for cardboard and paper
Blue box for cans and plastic
Black box for glass
brown box with lid for food waste
lilac plastic bag for textiles
clear plastic bag for batteries
black wheelie bin for general waste
Another box for light bulbs

Like you I don't put very much into the general waste bin.

In my case its mainly filled with

ash from my wood burner
sawdust from carpentry
off cuts of chipboard or plywood (unless I've got loads in which case a
trip to the tip is needed.)
cat vomit from resident cat
dead birds brought in by resident cat
dead mice brought in by resident cat
dead frogs brought in
"walnut whips" left by visiting dog (belongs to M.I.L)
empty paint cans. I tried leaving these with the food cans but the
operatives were having none of it
used worn paint brushes and other general D-I-Y emptied consumables.
used rags that hev went paint/sealant on them etc.

I can see that for families, there is probably used disposable nappies
as well.

As this is collected fortnightly alternating with the garden waste bin,
I sometimes use both wheelie bins for garden waste and put them out the
same day, leaving the black wheelie bin lid open so the operatives can
see its garden waste.