alt.hn

6/29/2026 at 1:45:13 PM

Creating a Personalised Bin Calendar

https://alexwlchan.net/2026/bin-calendar/

by surprisetalk

7/2/2026 at 12:08:40 PM

Interesting what works for some, we just use two recurring calendar events for a 3-bin system the night before. Where the pickups differ like end of year holidays, we revert to no tech and just glance into the street and see what everyone else is doing.

by mortar

7/2/2026 at 12:45:37 PM

The Dutch have a brilliant app for this which works nationwide - Afvalwijzer (Waste guide).

Complete with notifications when you want them and automatic updates when pickup are changed due to holidays/disruptions

by adrithmetiqa

7/2/2026 at 12:14:17 PM

I always smile when I see Anglophones and their outdated concepts. You could just have a communal or public bin and then never have to worry about putting the bin out. But no, let’s instead make a complicated schedule and penalize people who don’t keep to that schedule. And have everyone sacrifice a square meter of their yard to stinky bins.

by artisinal

7/2/2026 at 1:06:14 PM

You need to put those communal bins somewhere. And they’re very unpopular to be next to. See the discussion about bin hubs [0] in Edinburgh. Bear in mind that the city centre already had communal bins, this is just a slight shift to how they were set up.

[0] https://www.reddit.com/r/Edinburgh/comments/18f1f5e/how_are_...

by maccard

7/2/2026 at 1:18:34 PM

Interesting read. I still much rather have communal bins a short walk down the road than having multiple stinky bins in my yard.

by artisinal

7/2/2026 at 12:50:47 PM

Communal bins mean everyone pays for everyone's garbage and/or lack of sorting.

Here the rate per kg is different depending on which bin it is, so you're "rewarded" for sorting properly.

by Dries007

7/2/2026 at 1:23:35 PM

The EU has laws for that and countries with communal bins are doing just fine.

Communal bins are even better for sorting trash as you can easily have seven different types* next to each other. Nobody wants seven personal bins in their yard.

https://eeb.org/en/library/explained-europes-new-laws-for-se...

* paper, textile, plastics, biowaste, chemical/oils, glass, other

by artisinal

7/2/2026 at 1:03:29 PM

At least in France, you sort the garbage then choose the correct communal bin to put it in.

by rjsw

7/2/2026 at 12:49:31 PM

My local garbage org has a site where you can download an ical for your location or put in an address and get it for the entire year.

So nice, until it's the third week of January and I remember that I need to manually import a new year :P

by Dries007

7/2/2026 at 12:13:08 PM

I’m suppose this only needs to show two types of collection days? (Black and green).

Things are more complicated in other states: Recycling (Blue?) Organics (Green?) General (Black?) Bulk (Red?) Yard Waste (Brown?)

And you’ll need to show multiple items for single days.

I’m starting to think a calendar isn’t the best reference tool for my own situation. I don’t need to see the entire month. Maybe something along the line of just the listings of the pickup days for that week (Fridays in my part of town).

Fri Jul 3 (Moved to Sat Jul 4) Garbage. Recycling. Organic. Bulk. Yard.

Fri Jul 19 Recycling. Organic.

Etc

It’s an interesting design problem

by whycome