What Goes In The General Waste Bin?

Spring has finally come, and we can’t wait for the first glimpses of summer. If you are like us, you would agree when we say now is the perfect time to declutter and organise your homes inside out for the summer months. However, as you declutter your home, you might often wonder which waste items from your home clear out go in the general waste bin and which items cannot be disposed of as general waste.

To help you get your home ready for summer, we have outlined a few tips and key information about what goes in the general waste bin. We have also outlined where to dispose of items that can’t be put in a general waste bin and how to dispose of other oversized items that won’t fit in your household bins.

 

Why Is General Waste Disposal Management Important?

Proper general waste handling, collection, transportation, and disposal aims at minimising the adverse impacts of waste on the environment, public health, and safety. Understanding the importance of effective waste management is crucial for ensuring sustainable development and preserving natural resources.

 

What Goes In The General Waste Bin?

Generally, the black bin is for any waste items that you CANNOT put into your recycling or organic bins. It’s also important to remember NOT to include any kind of liquids in your general waste bin and ensure you separate the packaging to segregate out the food waste and recyclable materials such as envelopes, milk cartons, and newspapers. This way, you are saving costs, maximising space, and making sure that you are not overloading your general waste bin.

The waste in your black bin is collected by Barna Recycling and processed to recover any recyclables. The remaining non-recyclable fraction is then sent for landfill disposal with energy recovery.

 

Correct Waste Disposal: See a List Of General Waste Items

In general, most non-recyclable and non-organic waste go into the general waste bin. However, there are exceptions, items that don’t go in any of the three bins and, therefore, should be properly disposed of at civic amenities. See a list of items that can go in the general waste bin:

• Nappies
• Ashes**
• Tin Foil
• Aero board
• Contaminated & Wet Paper
• Non-recyclable plastic
• Food wrappers

**When disposing of ashes in your general waste bin, ensure you place the ashes in a bag first. There are two critical reasons for this:

1. Hot ashes are the number one reason a bin can catch on fire. So, placing the ashes in a bag will help you determine whether they are cool enough to be placed in the bin.
2. It keeps the bin and the truck from getting dirty with loose ashes, which could also dirty other householders’ bins. Moreover, on windy days, the ashes can be blown over and dirty the area.

 

Items Not To Go Into Your General Waste Bin

• Paint cans – You can bring them to a local Civic Amenity Site
• Clothes – Clothes can’t go in your waste bin but can be brought to a clothes bank or charity shop.
• IT equipment and electrical goods—More commonly referred to as WEEE (Waste Electrical and Electronic Equipment), all electrical goods retailers must be registered as producers of WEEE and will take back your old electrical equipment free of charge when you buy new goods.
• Batteries—You can bring used batteries back to shops. Many supermarkets have drop-off points for recycling batteries.
• Glass – Should be washed and brought to your nearest bottle bank.
• Duvets – Can’t be disposed of in your waste bin, but they can be brought to your local Civic Amenity Site.
• Bulky waste items – Old furniture, couches, mattresses, tables, and large household appliances that have seen the end of their useable life can be brought to a local civic amenity site near you.

 

Disposing Of Large Items That Can’t Be Put In Your General Waste Bin

You can consider hiring a skip for larger items that can’t be disposed of in your general waste bin, which makes decluttering your homes much easier. At Barna Recycling, we have skips of all sizes, so you can be sure we’ll have one to suit your needs and the space available to you – check out our handy skip sizing guide here.

 

Benefits of hiring a Skip

Here are the top 3 benefits of hiring a Skip to dispose of large items:

• You can keep the skip as long as you require it.
• You have the convenience of not having to take large, awkward items in your car to the Civic Amenity Site.
• If you are a Barna Recycling customer, you can get a discount if you order a skip from us. All you need is to have your Barna Recycling Account number handy.

 

Items that can’t go in a skip are as follows:

• Hazardous Waste: A significant rule that is often forgotten is that hazardous waste should not go in a skip. It can leak and contaminate other recyclable materials.
• Asbestos: If asbestos is found during a renovation project or a home clearout, it must be dealt with by a team of specialists and not put into a general skip.
• Appliances: Other items that we find cause great confusion are electrical items, especially large household items. Refrigerators, freezers, microwaves & cookers should not go in a skip but instead be brought to a Civic Amenity Site.
• Oil or paint cans & tyres
• Solvents, fuels and batteries
• Chemicals, flammable materials
• Household waste includes food scraps, soiled nappies, and sanitary items.
• Liquid Concrete

Find out where your nearest recycling centres might be located. If you have any questions on skip hire, do not hesitate to contact a member of our skip hire team on 091 771619.

Safety Tips for Hiring a Skip

One of the easiest and most cost-efficient ways of disposing of large amounts of waste is by hiring a skip. At Barna Recycling, we deliver skips to households and businesses for a wide range of waste materials. There are some important aspects to consider when hiring a skip, such as the best place to put it and how to fill it safely. Whatever your reason for hiring a skip, please keep these important tips in mind!

Hiring the right skip for you:

It can be hard to know what size of skip you need as what looks like relatively small waste might take up a lot of room in a small skip. Likewise, for bulky waste, many people think they the need the largest skip possible, but often when these items are broken down the skip may not be full and not the best value for money. When phoning our customer service team to book a skip, they will help you establish what skip size you need. Alternatively we have developed this handy skip sizing guide to help you choose the right skip.

Best place to put a skip:

Try and avoid resting it on any dips or slopes as it may move once unbalanced due to the loading of waste materials. If you require the skip to be left on a main public road, please let us know as it is likely you will need a permit for this. As well as a permit the skip may require added safety equipment such as nets, doors, or signage. Once delivered, skips cannot be moved and is important that you do not attempt to move it.

What cannot go in a skip:

• Hazardous Waste: The big rule that is often forgotten is that hazardous waste should not go in a skip. It can leak and contaminate other recyclable materials.
• Asbestos: If you come across asbestos during a renovation project or a home clear out, this must be dealt with by a team of specialists and not put into a general skip.
• Appliances: Other items that we find causes great confusion is around electrical items, especially large household items. Refrigerators, freezers, microwaves & cookers should not go in a skip but instead be brought to a recycling centre.
• Oil or paint cans
• Tyres
• Solvents, fuels and batteries
• Chemicals, flammable materials
• Household waste: Such as food scraps, soiled nappies, and sanitary items.
• Liquid Concrete

How to load it safely:

We recommend that you load heavier items first, putting lighter items on top. It is very difficult and unsafe to load heavy items when the skip is nearly full and there is an increased risk of injury in doing so. It is key to have an extra pair of hands when filling a skip, especially when dealing with large bulky items that may be heavy to lift by yourself. Smaller items or materials will naturally fill the spaces in and around these larger items and it is a more efficient way of filling the skip.

How to maximise space in the skip:

To maximise the space of your skip, make sure to have a good plan in place. Simply throwing everything into the skip without having a plan will result in wasting plenty of space. It can also waste time as you may have to take items out to ‘rebuild’ your skip. If you are working as a team of people, make sure everyone filling the skips knows the plan.

Where possible have the items lined up in the order that they need to go in the skip. For example, if you have dismantled a kitchen, you could place all the cupboard doors, shelving & unwanted timber first in line to be placed at the bottom of the skip. You could then have the bulkier items such as furniture, building blocks and other materials lined up and ready to be placed on top.

Break down large items like tree limbs down into smaller pieces, remove any arms and legs from furniture and dissemble old appliances where possible.

Ensure you’re distributing the weight as evenly as possible to reduce the risk of it tipping over once it’s full.

Our tips for maximising the space in the skip:

• Break down furniture before loading it
• Don’t leave gaps in between, try and fill gaps with smaller, lighter materials
• Load all the flat items first, things like plywood, table tops etc
• Put bulky items in after laying down the flat materials

Do not overfill the skip:

In the interest of everyone’s safety, it’s important that you do not overfill your skip. Something could fall out and injure you, or when it has been collected, items may dislodge during transport.

For health and safety reasons, overflowing skips cannot be removed and transported from your property to the Barna Recycling waste management facility. Skips should be filled to the top and no further. To avoid other parties from placing items for disposal into your skip Barna Recycling have a number of skips available with security lids.

To view the hiring process and some frequently asked questions, read this blog.

If you have any further questions on skip hire, don’t hesitate to contact a member of our skip hire team on 091 771619.

Barna Recycling offer a wide range of skips for hire across Galway, Roscommon, Mayo, Sligo and Leitrim.