Bins

Out of everything which has caused confusion since I moved from London to Amsterdam, it's THE BINS!

So in London, we had four bins. One for general waste, one for garden and food waste and one for cardboard, tins and plastic and the last bin for paper, glass and tins. 

All the bins lived on our drive and were collected weekly. It was something I took for granted. 

The Blue Bin

Imagine my surprise when we only had one blue bin outside our house when we arrived here in Amsterdam. The blue bin said 'paper' on it. It is stuffed full of paper and we have been here for 9 days and it has not been emptied. There are no other bins. I have since found out that this bin is emptied once a fortnight. So the first Thursday, I diligintly placed my bin on the edge of our property, so not to obstruct the pavement. It was not emptied. I noticied my neighbours bin, which was in the middle of the pavement had been emptied. The next time it was blue bin day, I left the bin in the middle of the pavement and it was emptied. So at least now I know what to do...

Bins in the Ground

At the END of the street there is a bin set in the ground where you can take your general waste. Yes, you take your general waste. This is kind of tricky. I've tried to hold the big sack of rubbish and my toddlers hand, but I need two hands to hold the rubbish. I can't leave my toddler in the house by himself while I take the rubbish to the end of the street. I can't put him in the buggy and take the rubbish as the rubbish is too heavy and I can't push the buggy with one hand. We now make it into a game (which takes about half an hour) and involves much hand washing afterwards.

As for recycling...I spotted some differently coloured bins at the end of a street a few blocks away. I went and checked them out and as the signs were in Dutch, I had no idea what they were for. I have no internet access unless it is WiFi, so I couldn't translate the signs on the spot. I took photos of the bins (what has my life come to), went home and used Google Translate to figure out what the bins were for.  It transpires that there is a provision for glass and paper. But that's it, no cardboard, no plastic, no tins, no cans. Bulky cardboard is collected one night a week. I thought the Dutch were into recycling. I looked up the local waste service on the internet and the advice is to take any other recycling to the nearest tip. 

Until today, I had no idea how the bins were emptied as they appear like postboxes, sticking out of the ground. Check this out...This bin we saw being emptied on a very busy high street in Haarlem, on a Saturday afternoon. A very strong magnet lifts the bin out of the ground before it the contents are released into a truck.