Saturday, December 20, 2008
Where do they go?
The big refuse lorry comes down my street and collects the green dry recyclable bags. I have done my civic duty and legal responsibility and have put all my clean, dry recyclable refuse items into the green bags. Off the refuse lorry goes and I have my doubts over what happens to my recyclable waste. I often wondered if recycling schemes were run by councils to condition their residents into sorting their waste into different groups so that in years to come they could introduce a workable recycling scheme. Maybe this is just a con by councils to see if their ideas would actually work. Tell the rate payers that they must recycle and the waste is being recycled but behind the scenes monitor the waste before sending it to landfill or incineration. Maybe recycling was just a myth put about by councils but once you have doubts about the situation, they linger in your mind.
And what is in the newspaper today?
Councils dumping more than 200,000 tonnes of recycling every year. Household rubbish put out for recycling is being dumped in landfill sites or sent to incinerators by three out of four councils, a Daily Telegraph investigation has discovered. Up to 200,000 tonnes of recyclable waste was dumped last year with some councils failing to recycle over 10 per cent of glass, paper, plastic and other materials left out by conscientious homeowners. The Daily Telegraph surveyed all 400 councils across England and Wales. Of the 209 which replied, more than 75 per cent admitted to sending at least some of their recyclable waste to landfill sites or incinerators. The councils responding to the survey admitted dumping a total of 100,503 tonnes of recyclable waste in landfill or sending it to incinerators in the 2007/08 financial year. If the figure is extrapolated to all councils in England, it suggests that nearly 200,000 tonnes of recycling is being dumped every year.
...Ah well, I have done my bit for the environment but have I been wasting my time? I have my doubts but I know that my legal responsibility is to sort my rubbish and my conscience is clear.
The big refuse lorry comes down my street and collects the green dry recyclable bags. I have done my civic duty and legal responsibility and have put all my clean, dry recyclable refuse items into the green bags. Off the refuse lorry goes and I have my doubts over what happens to my recyclable waste. I often wondered if recycling schemes were run by councils to condition their residents into sorting their waste into different groups so that in years to come they could introduce a workable recycling scheme. Maybe this is just a con by councils to see if their ideas would actually work. Tell the rate payers that they must recycle and the waste is being recycled but behind the scenes monitor the waste before sending it to landfill or incineration. Maybe recycling was just a myth put about by councils but once you have doubts about the situation, they linger in your mind.
And what is in the newspaper today?
Councils dumping more than 200,000 tonnes of recycling every year. Household rubbish put out for recycling is being dumped in landfill sites or sent to incinerators by three out of four councils, a Daily Telegraph investigation has discovered. Up to 200,000 tonnes of recyclable waste was dumped last year with some councils failing to recycle over 10 per cent of glass, paper, plastic and other materials left out by conscientious homeowners. The Daily Telegraph surveyed all 400 councils across England and Wales. Of the 209 which replied, more than 75 per cent admitted to sending at least some of their recyclable waste to landfill sites or incinerators. The councils responding to the survey admitted dumping a total of 100,503 tonnes of recyclable waste in landfill or sending it to incinerators in the 2007/08 financial year. If the figure is extrapolated to all councils in England, it suggests that nearly 200,000 tonnes of recycling is being dumped every year.
...Ah well, I have done my bit for the environment but have I been wasting my time? I have my doubts but I know that my legal responsibility is to sort my rubbish and my conscience is clear.
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