# Rubbish and Recycling



## Evilbungle (Jul 8, 2016)

Hi, just been in Spain a few days now and have a quick question about recycling. When you put food waste into the food waste bin are you supposed to put it into a special kind of bag? Surely putting it into a normal bag will mean it can't be composted/recycled whatever they do with it?


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## jimenato (Nov 21, 2009)

Evilbungle said:


> Hi, just been in Spain a few days now and have a quick question about recycling. When you put food waste into the food waste bin are you supposed to put it into a special kind of bag? Surely putting it into a normal bag will mean it can't be composted/recycled whatever they do with it?


I've never seen a food waste bin in Spain. Everything just gets put in the big bin at the end of the road that gets emptied every day. You sometimes see a glass or cardboard recycling bin.


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## Lynn R (Feb 21, 2014)

jimenato said:


> I've never seen a food waste bin in Spain. Everything just gets put in the big bin at the end of the road that gets emptied every day. You sometimes see a glass or cardboard recycling bin.


We have recycling bins for cans and plastic, as well as the ones for glass and paper/cardboard. There are also recycling points for batteries, used cooking oil and old clothes in our town, although I think all of those are operated by private companies.

For the basura organica (food waste) we aren't asked to put the waste in any special bags. The biggest battle would be to get people to 
a) stick to the times when waste is supposed to be put in the bin (7.00 - 11.00 pm in winter and 9.00 - 11.00 pm in summer)
and b) put the waste in the bin at all instead of leaving the bags on top of a closed bin or worse still leaving bags and boxes on the ground beside the bins, or even in waste paper bins which are nearer to people's homes so they fill those up instead of being bothered to walk a few metres more to the rubbish bins.


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## Helenameva (Aug 15, 2014)

Evilbungle said:


> Hi, just been in Spain a few days now and have a quick question about recycling. When you put food waste into the food waste bin are you supposed to put it into a special kind of bag? Surely putting it into a normal bag will mean it can't be composted/recycled whatever they do with it?


Look for a brown wheelie bin in the communal refuse area, that's for compostable waste. Barcelona province is pretty good with recycling, I'd be surprised if they didn't have one. You should find paper, glass, clothes, plastics can all be recycled. Like most of the UK, except there are communal drop-off points that are emptied every day or two instead of individual bins emptied once a fortnight.

Anyway, if you have a brown bin nearby, you can buy little bin liners for the composter, they're available from Esclat for sure but probably the other supermarkets too. We have a little bin in the kitchen for food waste with a compostable liner in it that we take down to the brown bin every couple of days. The heat means it starts to smell quite quickly.


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## xabiaxica (Jun 23, 2009)

Lynn R said:


> We have recycling bins for cans and plastic, as well as the ones for glass and paper/cardboard. There are also recycling points for batteries, used cooking oil and old clothes in our town, although I think all of those are operated by private companies.
> 
> For the basura organica (food waste) we aren't asked to put the waste in any special bags. The biggest battle would be to get people to
> a) stick to the times when waste is supposed to be put in the bin (7.00 - 11.00 pm in winter and 9.00 - 11.00 pm in summer)
> and b) put the waste in the bin at all instead of leaving the bags on top of a closed bin or worse still leaving bags and boxes on the ground beside the bins, or even in waste paper bins which are nearer to people's homes so they fill those up instead of being bothered to walk a few metres more to the rubbish bins.


It's much the same here. We have recycling points for pretty much everything - known as _zona verde_. The battery recycling points are inside supermarkets & the clothes ones are a charity. The rest are dealt with by the company which empties the green _contenedores_.

We don't have to put the food waste into any specific kind of bag either - just normal bin bags.


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## jojo (Sep 20, 2007)

I dont know what its like now, but when we lived in spain 2008 - 2012 I remember recycling as we were supposed to and then the bin lorry would come along and throw it ALL into the same compartment in the back of the lorry - no segregating at all!

Jo xxx


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## Lynn R (Feb 21, 2014)

jojo said:


> I dont know what its like now, but when we lived in spain 2008 - 2012 I remember recycling as we were supposed to and then the bin lorry would come along and throw it ALL into the same compartment in the back of the lorry - no segregating at all!
> 
> Jo xxx


Our glass, plastic/aluminium and paper/cardboard recycling bins are alongside the rubbish bins for general waste including food, but they don't get emptied at the same time as the general rubbish bins do.


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## Pesky Wesky (May 10, 2009)

jojo said:


> I dont know what its like now, but when we lived in spain 2008 - 2012 I remember recycling as we were supposed to and then the bin lorry would come along and throw it ALL into the same compartment in the back of the lorry - no segregating at all!
> 
> Jo xxx


They all go separately here.
I remember seeing some refuse lorries somewhere that took more than one thing, but they went into different parts of the truck


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## jojo (Sep 20, 2007)

Pesky Wesky said:


> They all go separately here.
> I remember seeing some refuse lorries somewhere that took more than one thing, but they went into different parts of the truck


 I thought that they must have segregation in the truck and that what was happening, so I went out one day and looked - nope! But like I say that was a few years ago now!

Jo xxx


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## Pesky Wesky (May 10, 2009)

jojo said:


> I thought that they must have segregation in the truck and that what was happening, so I went out one day and looked - nope! But like I say that was a few years ago now!
> 
> Jo xxx


I would like to believe that things have improved.
Torrelodones (the town that had a campaign about dog poo with a giant blow up poo that was stolen) is having a photo shame campaign about rubbish. They take photos of rubbish left in the street or by skips (like matresses and clippings from the garden etc) and post the worst case every month all around the town hoping that the person responsible will realise how unsightly/ unhygienic it is and feel shamed into never doing it again


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## rspltd (Jul 5, 2016)

According to Eurostat in 2002 Spain dumped into landfill over 56% of its waste. It's difficult to find figures but it's recycling has gone down substantially from 2004 to 2014 (according to Eurostat).


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## Maureen47 (Mar 27, 2014)

Recycling is good where we are , there are numerous point in and around the village for separate disposal of glass , cans, cardbooard and plastic , olive oil containers have a special bin and a black bin for food waste. You can also late on a Tuesday and all day Wednesday leave larger items next to the bins which are either picked up or taken by people who reuse them. I have a lovely bamboo chair i picked up at the bins (OH was mortified !). I cleaned and repaired it , spray painted it and nade some lovely cushions for it , it has pride of place on the terrace with all my friends thinking I am joking when I tell them I got it at the bins ! I love the fact here I take my rubbish anytime and dont have to wait for it to be picked up , especially when its hot and there is a food waste bin near my house that I can drop off to on my evening dog walks , I guess all areas are different , we have a mayor who on a weekly basis on the Bandos reminds people about the need to recycle !


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## Pesky Wesky (May 10, 2009)

Maureen47 said:


> Recycling is good where we are , there are numerous point in and around the village for separate disposal of glass , cans, cardbooard and plastic , olive oil containers have a special bin and a black bin for food waste. You can also late on a Tuesday and all day Wednesday leave larger items next to the bins which are either picked up or taken by people who reuse them. I have a lovely bamboo chair i picked up at the bins (OH was mortified !). I cleaned and repaired it , spray painted it and nade some lovely cushions for it , it has pride of place on the terrace with all my friends thinking I am joking when I tell them I got it at the bins ! I love the fact here I take my rubbish anytime and dont have to wait for it to be picked up , especially when its hot and there is a food waste bin near my house that I can drop off to on my evening dog walks , I guess all areas are different , we have a mayor who on a weekly basis on the Bandos reminds people about the need to recycle !


Yes, picking up stuff from the bin area is something foreigners often marvel at. However, if it's a stinking old matress or beaten up armchair it should not be left by the bins! The articles that really are no use to anyone are to be taken to the punto limpio zona verde what ever it is in your area and not left at the bins with the excuse of "someone will pick it up". In reality nothing should be left there, but I suppose it can actually be a help to people.
In Madrid people used to go round the posh districts on Wednesdays which was the day you could leave things out and town hall workers would come and pick them up to take them to the dump. I suppose they still do, I don't know.
I think the point rspltd was making was that even though there are lots of recycling bins a lot of it goes to landfil anyway
BTW there are usually timetables for chucking your rubbish out as Lynn pointed out, but people, myself included, don't often stick to them.


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## Maureen47 (Mar 27, 2014)

Pesky Wesky said:


> Yes, picking up stuff from the bin area is something foreigners often marvel at. However, if it's a stinking old matress or beaten up armchair it should not be left by the bins! The articles that really are no use to anyone are to be taken to the punto limpio zona verde what ever it is in your area and not left at the bins with the excuse of "someone will pick it up". In reality nothing should be left there, but I suppose it can actually be a help to people.
> In Madrid people used to go round the posh districts on Wednesdays which was the day you could leave things out and town hall workers would come and pick them up to take them to the dump. I suppose they still do, I don't know.
> I think the point rspltd was making was that even though there are lots of recycling bins a lot of it goes to landfil anyway
> BTW there are usually timetables for chucking your rubbish out as Lynn pointed out, but people, myself included, don't often stick to them.


I am not aware of timetables here other than the late Tues all dat Wed for biggr items , everything is left there though even the stinking old mattresses and beaten up armchairs , it is a very small village and good items dont stay at the bins very long ! We took a perfectly useable table and chairs and it was being picked up as we pulled away lol !


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## Pazcat (Mar 24, 2010)

We have the big green bin drop off points which is for all the household waste that is not to be recycled and we have various bins for things like plastic, paper, glass and so on. It works okish for us, we recycle everything and make our own compost and put all ours in the appropriate bins but nobody else does and therefor it becomes really messy. 
The peak season is worse, the recycle bins fill up in a week and they normally empty that monthly and twice a month in the summer.

In theory it´s a reasonable system but in practice it just doesn't work very well, but that is just in our area.

What we do have once or twice a month that is excellent is on a nominated day you can bundle and bag up your green waste and put it out and it gets collected. They also do a day for household junk like chairs, mattereses etc that you leave by the green bins. Half is gone by the time they pick it up but those are both great services.

There is also a local recycle park place that you can use or arrange them to pick stuff up which is done through the town hall.


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## Pesky Wesky (May 10, 2009)

Pazcat said:


> We have the big green bin drop off points which is for all the household waste that is not to be recycled and we have various bins for things like plastic, paper, glass and so on. It works okish for us, we recycle everything and make our own compost and put all ours in the appropriate bins but nobody else does and therefor it becomes really messy.
> The peak season is worse, the recycle bins fill up in a week and they normally empty that monthly and twice a month in the summer.
> 
> In theory it´s a reasonable system but in practice it just doesn't work very well, but that is just in our area.
> ...


That's the way it works here, and I'm not sure how much of this is actually recycled. I hope most of it in this day and age. I do know for a long time cartons (tetrabriks) were collected all around Spain, but there was no recycling plant here. Is there now? Cartons are one of the worst things you can buy if you are thinking about recyling as there are layers of paper, plastic and foil that have to be separated in order for them to be recycled and this process uses a lot of energy in itself


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## Pesky Wesky (May 10, 2009)

Pesky Wesky said:


> That's the way it works here, and I'm not sure how much of this is actually recycled. I hope most of it in this day and age. I do know for a long time cartons (tetrabriks) were collected all around Spain, but there was no recycling plant here. Is there now? Cartons are one of the worst things you can buy if you are thinking about recyling as there are layers of paper, plastic and foil that have to be separated in order for them to be recycled and this process uses a lot of energy in itself


Answered my own question
https://www.repsol.com/es_es/energia-inteligente/informate/reciclaje-de-tetra-brik.aspx


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## Lynn R (Feb 21, 2014)

Pesky Wesky said:


> Yes, picking up stuff from the bin area is something foreigners often marvel at. However, if it's a stinking old matress or beaten up armchair it should not be left by the bins! The articles that really are no use to anyone are to be taken to the punto limpio zona verde what ever it is in your area and not left at the bins with the excuse of "someone will pick it up". In reality nothing should be left there, but I suppose it can actually be a help to people.
> In Madrid people used to go round the posh districts on Wednesdays which was the day you could leave things out and town hall workers would come and pick them up to take them to the dump. I suppose they still do, I don't know.
> I think the point rspltd was making was that even though there are lots of recycling bins a lot of it goes to landfil anyway
> BTW there are usually timetables for chucking your rubbish out as Lynn pointed out, but people, myself included, don't often stick to them.


In our town there is a collection service with a free telephone number (or it can be done online) where the Ayuntamiento will collect old furniture and domestic appliances from people's homes, free of charge. However, people still persist in dumping these things by the side of the rubbish bins and that must be more effort than ringing up to get them collected. If we're disposing of anything which is in reasonable condition and usable, we ask a neighbour if they have any use for it or if they know anybody else who would, and anything offered in that way has always been snapped up immediately.

Some people have been fined, so neighbours tell me, for putting basura organica in the bins outside of the permitted times, but it certainly doesn't seem to be much of a deterrent. By the time I get there with mine just aftrer 9pm, the bins are full and overflowing! The time restricions don't apply to the recycling bins but the blue bins for basura organica have notices on them setting out the times when rubbish is supposed to be deposited.


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