You be the judge: should my girlfriend stop letting the recycling pile up?

double quotation markWe’ve had little flies buzzing around – I know they’re coming from the recycling

My girlfriend, Robin, likes to keep the recycling on a ledge above the counter in our kitchen, instead of taking it straight outside. I absolutely hate it. It’s not just empty cereal boxes or clean bottles – we have a dog, so there are often empty dog food cans too. There’s always a bit of food left around the edges, and if they’re left for long enough they start to smell and attract flies. It’s gross.

If recycling has any food residue in it, you can’t leave it sitting around in the kitchen for days. We’ve had little flies buzzing around before and I know they’re coming from the recycling. Robin thinks I’m making too much of a fuss and that it’s only there temporarily until there’s enough to justify taking it outside, but I think it needs to go out immediately.

We live in a flat on the third floor, so I understand not wanting to make a trip to the bin every time we finish something, but there has to be a limit. If the cans are growing mould or attracting flies, we’ve passed it. I don’t want to be preparing food while there’s a collection of old things sitting above the counter.

I’ve suggested rinsing the cans as soon as we’ve used them, which Robin does sometimes, but not often. We have a small kitchen and clear surfaces make it feel calmer and cleaner. Twelve pieces of recycling lined up along the wall is an eyesore.

Robin is not as environmentally conscious as me and I think she would put a lot of things in the rubbish bin if it wasn’t for me. She likes pointing out the stuff on the ledge as if to say: “See, I recycle.”But we all should recycle.

Sometimes I take individual items downstairs to the recycling bin because I can’t stand looking at them any more. Robin never does this because she says it’s inefficient. My options are therefore to become the household recycling porter or accept that the ledge has been totally annexed by empty packaging.

I’m willing to compromise: we can collect clean recycling in a box, bag or container, and take it down when it’s full. But Robin needs to relinquish that ledge. When the ledge starts attracting wildlife, it’s not an environmental initiative, it’s a biohazard.

The defence: Robin

double quotation markI don’t understand Benny’s obsession with buying a recycling box. Where would it go?

Benny is making our kitchen sound like a landfill site when it’s not. We live on the third floor of a block of flats and the recycling bins are all the way downstairs, so I’m not going to make a special trip every time the dog finishes a tin of food.

The ledge is practical and out of the way. Benny says it’s unhygienic to have recycling above a kitchen counter, but we don’t use that counter, so if they fall off it doesn’t matter. When a reasonable amount accumulates we take everything downstairs together.

I disagree that Benny takes all the recycling down. I do it when I can, but he goes in and out of the building more as the bins are on his route to work and I work from home.

The ledge is dead space. We have a small kitchen with hardly any storage, floor or counter space, which is why I don’t understand Benny’s obsession with buying a recycling box. Where would it go? It wouldn’t fit on the ledge, there’s no room on the counter and I don’t want a big box taking up the limited floor space. We’d be replacing some cans neatly lined up against a wall with a massive container we’d have to manoeuvre around every day. How is that better?

Benny is exaggerating about the dog food cans. I do rinse them. He makes it sound as though we have mushrooms sprouting out of them. If something smells or is genuinely dirty, obviously I’ll get rid of it. I just don’t agree that every piece of packaging needs to leave the flat immediately, especially if it’s cardboard or plastic I’ve rinsed. Benny thinks any old packaging has germs. I think it can stay on the ledge if it doesn’t have food debris on it.

I also reject the idea that I don’t recycle. Benny might be more militant about it, but me putting something on the ledge is making sure it gets recycled. His real problem is that he hates seeing things on surfaces. I’m just not as bothered by a few cans or bits of cardboard waiting to go downstairs.

I’m not giving up the ledge for a box we don’t have room for. If Benny wants every single tin removed the moment the dog finishes eating, he’s welcome to keep making those journeys down three flights of stairs. I will wait until there’s enough recycling to make the trip worthwhile.Names have been changed

The jury of Guardian readers

Sounds like the best option is to find a recycling bin that fits the space, whether that’s a plastic bag hanging off a door knob, or something else. Having open empty tins of dog food in the kitchen is nasty, whether they’ve been rinsed or not. Also, rubbish should not be above food prep areas.Sebastian, 33

Perhaps Robin could look on this not so much as an inefficient use of her time, but as an opportunity to be kind, get some exercise and improve the hygiene of her kitchen. Get a can crusher – and a small container to mount inside the under-sink door.Elizabeth, 63

Abolish the ledge! However, making a trip downstairs for individual items is unworkable in the long term. Shop around and find a container that is tall rather than wide, to minimise the floor space it takes up, and fill the ledge with a painting, a houseplant, or literally anything other than dirty tins.Morag, 29

Benny’s request to have a box or bag is completely reasonable. Surely a small box is better than having mouldy cans tumbling on to the counter?! Even if Robin doesn’t see the issue with it, it should matter to her that it’s making Benny uncomfortable.Lucy, 32

Why can’t Robin rinse out her recycling, put it in a canvas bag and hang it on the back of the kitchen door? Then she can take it down once there’s a bag collected.Mike, 54

Now you be the judge

In our online poll, tell us: who’s getting cann