The effect of recycling... More Damage Than Good!

overworked_underpaid · 9 January 2007 at 6:50PM

Just came across a news article on the sky news website about the waste we recycle here in the UK is actually doing a lot more harm than good, half way around the world.

http://news.sky.com/skynews/article/0,,30200-1246242,00.html

I try my best to recycle as much as I can, but after reading this article, I'm not too sure if I want to continue. What are your thoughts?

HugoSP · 9 January 2007 at 6:59PM

I'm not surprised. I used to work for a large blue chip company that uses 3rd world labour when it can.

There are only two criteria that are considered - price and quality.

With waste processing the issue of quality is non existant. Either they process it or they don't

Jonesya · 9 January 2007 at 10:42PM

I will still recycle because I believe, but I might be wrong, that this issue is restricted to plastic waste as it needs a lot of labour to sort it into the different types of plastic.

I think that other recyclable wastes are processed in the UK as they are either received pre-sorted by the general public (eg. glass at bottle banks sorted into colours), easily sorted (steel/aluminium tins, cans separated using magnets) or not requiring sorting like paper waste.And green waste is composted locally.

Cardew · 10 January 2007 at 11:01AM

China exports huge quantities of merchandise to Europe and the USA and imports very little. So the container ships would largely travel back to China empty unless they carried our rubbish; which they do at a fraction of the real cost of transport – on the ‘any revenue is better than nothing’ principle.

I have read articles that claim recycling is cost negative i.e. it costs more to recycle than treating everything as garbage to be lumped together. However an important side effect of recycling is that we are educated into saving our resources – reusing plastic bags etc.

I don’t pretend to know who is right, but as it is ‘politically correct’ to recycle we will not get a reasoned debate from our ‘political masters’. Just imagine a politician advocating we stop recycling as it is not cost effective and our rubbish is causing huge pollution in the Third World!

martinpike · 10 January 2007 at 11:22AM

And let's not forget that Reduce and Re-use come before Recycle...

overworked_underpaid · 10 January 2007 at 11:51AM

I agree that we need to recycle and re-use but have you noticed that some recycled goods cost more than non-recylced items. For example, some notebooks made from recycled paper cost more than those made from non-recycled paper. Where is the logic in that?

Ken68 · 10 January 2007 at 12:46PM

The recycling yard in my town is not unlike that rubbish factory in China.
Plus the queues on a Sunday morning spewing out petrol fumes, and the Freecyclers charging about.
B.P. and Esso are the gainers.

martinpike · 10 January 2007 at 3:00PM

Most Freecycle users I know are very aware of the environment and try and collect/deliver their items during their normal daily routines.

Dustykitten · 10 January 2007 at 11:56PM

I saw this program and am now seriously reconsidering recycling plastics, although I do agree with the fact that the boats are going back. I've read a bit about plastic recycing and one big problem is that I don't think you can recycle it back into packaging so it is not closed loop, ie we will keep needing to use oil to create packaging and can only recycle it into limited things.

I am going to try even harder to avoid plastic packaging and thus the need to recycle it but I know that this is a tall order.

I am going to email by council and ask them what happens to the plasic when they remove it from the recycling bins to see what they say.

banthecar · 12 January 2007 at 11:50AM

martinpike wrote:

And let's not forget that Reduce and Re-use come before Recycle...

This is so true, I cant believe more isnt being done to stop companys producing so much packaging in the first place. I use the farmers market when I can. But when you have a family and 2 kids the convenience of Tesco sometimes wins - but i do resent giving them my money.

I try to buy things like ketchup in glass bottles rather than the squeezys as they are more recyclable. why cant you get milk bottles anymore?

postie1001 · 13 January 2007 at 11:32PM

banthecar wrote:

I try to buy things like ketchup in glass bottles rather than the squeezys as they are more recyclable. why cant you get milk bottles anymore?

While I am with you there in principle, there is also a valid argument that glass can be more environmentally damaging than plastic. I don't know if I fully subscribe to that view (so don't chew my head off) but plastic is as recyclable as glass. it's just that we aren't set up in the UK to make it a viable option.
Also, glass is much heavier than plastic. Which uses up more fuel in transportation. Recycling of glass does use less natural resources and energy than using virgin glass, but it still uses up a lot more energy than the recycling of plastic. (transport from the bottle bank / energy to make it back into useable glass)
Don't know for sure either way, but I can see the logic behind the argument in plastic bottles can be "greener"...

The effect of recycling... More Damage Than Good!

Comments

Confirm your email address to Create Threads and Reply

🚀 Getting Started

Categories

Is this how you want to be seen?

Get our FREE Weekly email full of deals & guides - and it’s spam-free