Since the evolution of humans, waste products have been produced from every household. Where does this garbage go? Generally, a garbage wheelie bin, of course.

'A big mess', excuse the pun. Across the United Kingdom, garbage bins are inconsistent across each county, proving to be a great annoyance for movers and causing a cost issue with the fact that differently designed bins have to be manufactured. If all bins were manufactured with the same designs and colours for the types of waste, surely this would streamline waste management across the United Kingdom.

The general garbage types are the following

  • General trash, meaning non-recyclable waste
  • Mixed recycling, like glass and plastic 
  • Paper and card
  • Food and garden waste

It would make sense to assign these colours universally, like below

  • General trash meaning non-recyclable waste | Grey
  • Mixed recycling like glass and plastic | Anything, could be white?
  • Paper and card | Blue
  • Food and garden waste | Green

Across the country, here are some examples of the inconsistencies that show how idiotic the matter is. 

Barnsley Borough Council

  • General trash meaning non-recyclable waste | Grey
  • Mixed recycling like glass and plastic | Brown
  • Paper and card | Blue
  • Food and garden waste | Green

Birmingham City Council

  • General trash meaning non-recyclable waste | Grey
  • Mixed recycling like glass and plastic | Green
  • Paper and card | Blue
  • Garden waste | Brown
  • Birmingham City Council is introducing multi-coloured bins 

Bolton Borough Council

  • General trash meaning non-recyclable waste | Grey
  • Mixed recycling like glass and plastic | Burgundy
  • Paper and card | Beige
  • Food and garden waste | Green

Bradford City Council

  • General trash meaning non-recyclable waste | Green
  • Mixed recycling like glass and plastic | Grey
  • Paper and card | Grey
  • Food and garden waste | Brown

Bury Borough Council

  • General trash meaning non-recyclable waste | Grey
  • Mixed recycling like glass and plastic | Blue
  • Paper and card | Green
  • Food and garden waste | Brown

Calderdale Borough Council

  • General trash meaning non-recyclable waste | Grey
  • Mixed recycling like glass and plastic | White sacks = cans + plastic, Black box = glass 
  • Paper and card | Blue
  • Food and garden waste | Brown

Coventry City Council

  • General trash meaning non-recyclable waste | Green-lidded
  • Mixed recycling like glass and plastic | Blue-lidded bin
  • Paper and card | Blue-lidded bin
  • Food and garden waste | Brown-lidded 

Doncaster Borough Council

  • General trash meaning non-recyclable waste | Black
  • Mixed recycling like glass and plastic | Green Box
  • Paper and card | Blue
  • Food & garden waste | Green

Dudley Borough Council

  • General trash meaning non-recyclable waste | Black
  • Mixed recycling like glass and plastic | Black box/ Green bag
  • Paper and card | Blue bags
  • Food | Caddy sack
  • Garden waste | Brown

Gateshead Borough Council

  • General trash meaning non-recyclable waste | Green
  • Mixed recycling like glass and plastic | Blue
  • Paper and card | Blue with brown lid
  • Food and garden waste | Green

Kirklees Borough Council

  • General trash meaning non-recyclable waste | Grey
  • Mixed recycling like glass and plastic | Green
  • Paper and card | Green
  • Food and garden waste | Brown

Knowsley Borough Council

  • General trash meaning non-recyclable waste | Maroon
  • Mixed recycling like glass and plastic | Grey
  • Paper and card | Grey
  • Garden waste | Blue
  • Food | Maroon

Leeds City Council

  • General trash meaning non-recyclable waste | Black
  • Mixed recycling like glass and plastic | Green
  • Paper and card | Green
  • Food and garden waste | Black

Liverpool City Council

  • General trash meaning non-recyclable waste | Purple
  • Mixed recycling like glass and plastic | Blue
  • Paper and card | Blue
  • Garden waste | Green
  • Food | Purple

Manchester City Council

  • General trash meaning non-recyclable waste | Grey
  • Mixed recycling like glass and plastic | Brown
  • Paper and card | Blue
  • Food and garden waste | Green

North Tyneside Borough Council

  • General trash meaning non-recyclable waste | Grey
  • Mixed recycling like glass and plastic | Brown
  • Paper and card | Brown
  • Food and garden waste | Green

Newcastle Upon Tyne City Council

  • General trash meaning non-recyclable waste | Green
  • Mixed recycling like glass and plastic | Blue
  • Paper and card | Blue
  • Garden waste | Brown
  • Food | Brown lidded bin

North Tyneside Borough Council

  • General trash meaning non-recyclable waste | Green
  • Mixed recycling like glass and plastic | Grey
  • Paper and card | Grey
  • Garden waste | Brown
  • Food | Green

Rochdale Borough Council

  • General trash meaning non-recyclable waste | Dark Green
  • Mixed recycling like glass and plastic | Light green with blue lid
  • Paper and card | Light green with blue lid
  • Food and garden waste | Brown

Rotherham Borough Council

  • General trash meaning non-recyclable waste | Pink lid bin
  • Mixed recycling like glass and plastic | Black
  • Paper and card | Green
  • Garden waste | Brown
  • Food | Pink lid bin

Sheffield City Council

  • General trash meaning non-recyclable waste | Black
  • Mixed recycling like glass and plastic | Brown
  • Paper and card | Blue
  • Food and garden waste | Green

Trafford Borough Council

  • General trash meaning non-recyclable waste | Grey
  • Mixed recycling like glass and plastic | Black
  • Paper and card | Blue
  • Food and garden waste | Green

Wolverhampton City Council

  • General trash meaning non-recyclable waste | Grey
  • Mixed recycling like glass and plastic | Blue lidded bin
  • Paper and card | Blue lidded bin
  • Garden waste | Purple
  • Food | Green lidded bin

London | Croydon

  • General trash meaning non-recyclable waste | Black
  • Mixed recycling like glass and plastic | Black with grey or green lid
  • Paper and card | Black with blue lid
  • Garden waste | Green
  • Food | Brown

London | Kingston upon Thames

  • General trash meaning non-recyclable waste | Black
  • Mixed recycling like glass and plastic | Green
  • Paper and card | Blue lid
  • Food | Caddy
  • Garden waste | Brown lid bin

Fife Council

  • General trash meaning non-recyclable waste | Blue
  • Mixed recycling like glass and plastic | Green
  • Paper and card | Grey
  • Food and garden waste | Brown

Glasgow Council

  • General trash meaning non-recyclable waste | Green
  • Mixed recycling like glass and plastic | Purple
  • Paper and card | Blue
  • Food and garden waste | Brown

Belfast Council

  • General trash meaning non-recyclable waste | Green/Grey
  • Mixed recycling like glass and plastic | Separate box
  • Paper and card | Blue
  • Food and garden waste | Brown

Cardiff Council

  • General trash meaning non-recyclable waste | Grey
  • Mixed recycling like cans and plastic | Red box
  • Paper and card | blue box
  • Glass | Dark blue
  • Food | Brown
  • Garden waste | Green

As you can see from the number of examples we have listed, they are very varied to the extent of being ludicrously idiotic, yet this simple issue could be standardised.

Introducing standardisation would ensure that no matter where you are in the country, x, y, z type of waste goes in this specific bin. Now, a problem with the examples is that there are variations of plastics, and for food and garden waste to be separated. A solution to this is the lid colour, but sticking with the universal colour that represents that type of waste. 

If the universal colour were red for mixed recyclables like plastics and glass, we could have different lid colours to separate types if necessary, but every citizen would automatically know the red bin is for the mixed recyclables. As trivial as the matter is, if the colours were universally set across the country, this would eliminate the great inconsistency that has been plaguing our great country since the 2000s.