A UK refuse worker has urged all households in the UK to stop putting one common material in their recycling bins, warning it may prevent your bins from being emptied
Alice Sjöberg Social News Reporter
13:52, 17 Apr 2026
Putting this common material in your recycling bin can prevent bin men from emptying bins (stock image)(Image: Getty Images)
A bin man in the UK has urged all households to stop placing one common material in their recycling bins, warning that it can prevent bin workers from emptying your recycling bin altogether.
The No1 Binman on TikTok, a self-described ‘binfluencer’, regularly shares helpful content assisting Brits in understanding proper waste disposal practices.
The majority of his videos respond to questions he’s received from his 168,700 followers, as his aim is to stop people placing different materials and refuse in the wrong bins, since doing so could prevent your bins from being emptied on collection day. However, keeping track of all the different rules can be confusing.
While some products carry logos indicating whether they should be recycled or thrown into the general waste bin, this isn’t always the case.
One material that frequently lacks any guidance on how it should be disposed of is polystyrene. Also known as Styrofoam, this material is commonly used for takeaway food containers and to package white goods such as microwaves. Polystyrene is also sometimes used for other food packaging, such as multi-pack yoghurts.
While it can be tempting to simply assume this material should be recycled, the binman has now set the record straight, in an informative yet entertaining video shared on TikTok.
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“When Karen tries to explain why her recycling bin has polystyrene in it,” he wrote in the overlay text of the video. The video then saw the binman lip-sync to Kylie Minogue’s song ‘Better the Devil You Know’, and specifically the lyrics ‘no more excuses, no no. Because I’ve heard them all before, a hundred times or more.”
While some viewers praised the refuse worker for his video, it left some with more questions.
“And where are we supposed to put polystyrene?” one viewer wondered. Meanwhile, someone else said: “But but the kids did it.”
How to dispose of polystyrene
According to the website RecycleNow, polystyrene, also known as Styrofoam, should generally be disposed of in your general waste bin because it is difficult to recycle, breaks easily, and clogs machinery.
Because of this, bin men may refuse to collect rubbish, which they can do if bin contents violates council guidelines. Common reasons include contaminated recycling (wrong items), overfilled bins with open lids, excessive weight, or “side waste” (extra bags left next to the bin).
However, large, clean pieces of polystyrene can sometimes be taken to specialised Household Recycling Centres (HRCs) or retailers for recycling. Do not put it in household recycling bins. Clean, moulded polystyrene can also be kept for future shipping, insulation, or craft projects.
For guidance in your area, you can use a local council website or a search tool to check whether they have dedicated polystyrene recycling facilities, as rules vary by location. Given how challenging polystyrene is to recycle, it’s best to try and avoid purchasing food and drink that comes packaged in it. If that’s not possible, simply dispose of the containers in your general rubbish bin.