A bin man has caused a stir after detailing a quick and easy job everyone ought to be doing with their recycling. If you don't, it could lead to your bin not being collected and emptied.
The 10-Second Job That Could Save Your Recycling
Being a refuse worker is not for the faint of heart. It is a physically gruelling job that comes with early morning starts and high labour demands, all year round, regardless of the weather. These essential workers are responsible for ensuring our neighbourhoods remain hygienic, neat, and clean. They collect and sort through household waste, pulling wheelie bins towards a large lorry where they are lifted and emptied. Once inside the vehicle, the rubbish is dragged along and then crushed by a compactor blade to make space for more. Refuse workers also collect commercial and business waste, and there is a round for recycling, too.
A man named Ashley, who posts on social media as The No1 Binman, has grown a decent following online after sharing tips and tricks of the trade with the masses. In a recent video shared on TikTok, Ashley can be seen dancing and lipsynching while moving towards a recycling bin. He then lifts the lid to look inside before shaking his head “no”. In text added over the top of the footage, he penned: “When Karen says ‘I’m not rinsing out my plastic. I just put it in the recycling bin’. That’s up to you but that means I can’t take the bin”.
Public Reaction to the Recycling Rule
The video caused a stir among fellow TikTok users, who flocked to the comments section to share their thoughts. One person said: “Never once in my life have I rinsed anything I’ve put in the bin”. Another said: “Everyone should wash and squash to protect our environment and support recycling and not be so petty as ‘why should I, it’s not my job’, it takes seconds. Not doing it is being lazy”. A third commented: “I always rinse it. Why would anyone want dirty stinking containers outside their house??” But a fourth said: “On a water meter, I won’t be rinsing”. And another added: “All about recycle but why waste resources like water which we pay for to rinse?? Don't take it then”.
Recycling Myths and Environmental Benefits
Many claimed recycling “ends up in landfills” but national recycling campaign Recycle Now is keen to dispel common myths about the practice. Of the environmental benefits of recycling, the campaign states: “More and more people recycle everyday. This helps to reduce the need for landfill and more costly forms of disposal. Recycling also reduces the need for extracting (mining, quarrying and logging), refining and processing raw materials all of which create substantial air and water pollution. This helps to save energy, reducing greenhouse gas emissions and helping to tackle climate change.” It continued: “Recycling is a real success story and we should be proud of what we have achieved as a nation – but there is still much more we can do.” Of the claims that there is “no point” in recycling as it “doesn’t make a difference”, the campaign added: “Recycling stops tonnes of waste being buried in landfill. In the UK, recycling saves about 10-15 million tonnes of carbon emissions a year, the equivalent of taking 3.5 million cars off the road. Your recycled material is a valuable resource. Once it has been collected from your doorstep it is then sorted, bailed and transported to reprocessors to be made into new products.”
