Recycling rip-off?

freezspirit

I remember for awhile when I was in primary school that we collected tin foil, milk boottle tops sweet wrapper foils for charity. Another occasion it was tin and cans I remember that one cos we spent one afternoon on the play ground sorting and crushing cans. To be honest I think it was stopped for health and safety issues (I remember alot of kids got cut fingers) plus storage problem. Strangely another has sprung to mind we collected newspapers as I remember dad went to school with a couple of car loads (we went round the neighbour and asked) they run out of space to put them at school so they used one of the school governs garage. To be honest I don't think the charities or the school made any money. Oh another one was a 2week period for clothes this one I can't remember if it was for schoolchildren in africa or orphans in another country but I do remember that the school hall was completely full and it was 2or3 large army truck loads.

twinklefish

Taadaa wrote: »

I think though that if you are motivated enough to take your waste to a site, you are going to make sure you put it in the right place.

You'd think that wouldn't you but, last year I was accused of harrasement for pointing out to two pensioners that polystyrene and plastic was not suitable for the cardboard/paper recycling skip! Apparantly everyone else put 'that sort of stuff' in which is course made me turn into my mother and respond with 'and if everyone else jumped off a bridge would you do that too?' hehe They said wouldn't recycle again because of MY attitude!

Wrinklies!!! :rolleyes:

Tx

hula-hoops

I have never understood the concept or logic behind driving to a recycling point.

Over-reliance on cars is what annoys me the most. It's not just the petrol/diesel and the fumes but it's what happens to people when they have cars. Suddenly they use them for very short distances when they could walk or cycle and also they buy more than they need when they go shopping, thus creating excessive demand for packaging and goods. I keep reading about how much food is thrown away in this country and it doesn't surprise me at all when I see people in supermarkets with trolleys piled high to the heavens. They have trolleys at the local Sainsbury's which are so deep I can't reach the bottom of them without falling in.

According to Google maps, Sainsburys is 0.9 miles from our house. We walk or cycle there and only buy what we can carry - which is what we actually need. Our next-door neighbour drives there and comes back with a boot full of stuff. No wonder his bin is always over-flowing and we throw one carrier bag of rubbish out each week.

Fire_Fox

hula-hoops wrote: »

I have never understood the concept or logic behind driving to a recycling point.

Over-reliance on cars is what annoys me the most. It's not just the petrol/diesel and the fumes but it's what happens to people when they have cars. Suddenly they use them for very short distances when they could walk or cycle and also they buy more than they need when they go shopping, thus creating excessive demand for packaging and goods.

According to Google maps, Sainsburys is 0.9 miles from our house. We walk or cycle there and only buy what we can carry - which is what we actually need. Our next-door neighbour drives there and comes back with a boot full of stuff. No wonder his bin is always over-flowing and we throw one carrier bag of rubbish out each week.

I agree with you on over-reliance on cars. I go on the bus to Asda and taxi home as it's too far to walk, I don't have anywhere to store a bike and everywhere is uphill from my flat!

We have too much recycling for me to carry on my own, no doorstep collection, and if I take Mr. Fire Fox to the supermarket we end up spending twice as much. :rolleyes: I carry what I can, but all the cardboard, some glass and most of the paper ends up waiting for my mum to drive me to the recycling centre every couple of months.

I think it's important people get into the habit of sorting their waste for recycling, often it shocks you how much of one type there is. Eventually we will have doorstep collection or easy-drop off points for a lot more recyclables.

belfastgirl23

We're lucky, we have a kerbside recycling scheme operated by a local social enterprise where all profits go back into a local community organisation. This means you can be green and charitable all in one go. And all you have to do is put your little kerbie box out one morning a week.

I did have a good chat with someone from the org a while ago. She said that prices for recycled goods are very unreliable. So whilst one year you might make a load of money recycling paper, the next year you may have to pay someone to take it away. They make most of their money through contracts for waste management from councils rather than through recycling raw materials.

And apparently when they use ships they use ones that would otherwise be empty leaving NI

The_Wall

My local council collects; paper, plastic, cans, glass, food waste and garden rubbish.

But not tetra paks or foil lined containers, for which the only place I have found to recycle them is the local tip, and no I don't just throw them in the general waste :eek:. So I collect them up until I'm going to the tip anyway, rather than making a specific journey.

But, and this has been better covered elsewhere, surely it would be better if the packaging was reduced in the first place, thereby reducing the amount of paper / plastic / glass that needs to be recycled in the first place

AdrianW2

hula-hoops wrote: »

I have never understood the concept or logic behind driving to a recycling point.

Round here you need to apply for a permit in advance if you don't want to drive:

http://www.buckscc.gov.uk/bcc/waste/permit_scheme.page

"permits are required to dispose of household waste being deposited in commercial vehicles, people on foot, or trailers which are 1.2m x 0.9m and above"

EMGhb

I work at a local market that takes bottle receipts from the hopper in the lot. People routinely give me receipts for over £10, sometimes over £30. Makes me wonder where they keep all of those cans. It does seem like one should be paid for the service of delivering the recyclable materials though, in an amount exceeding the bottle deposit.

DCFC79

MakingEndsMeetToo wrote: »

I've just returned from the recycling centre, having posted my bottles and had my fingers crushed by the stupid metal cover on the letterbox flaps in the cardboard recycling skip (why do they have such small openings?), when a thought occurs to me. Here am I, along with the other dutiful recyclers providing gratis raw materials for a fully-fledged business, delivered to a convenient collection point. Shouldn't I (we) be paid for this service?

In the early days when we got a nice warm feeling from being "green" it might have been OK, but hasn't the world moved on? After all in the "good old days" manufacturers recognised the value to their business of receiving recycled bottles and paid accordingly. Isn't it time that the beneficiaries of the other hand-picked materials did likewise?

To prevent your fingers getting crushed by the metal flaps you hold the flap open with 1 hand then put the stuff in with the other, its easy to do, i do it this way, why should we get paid for it, its optional to do it so no i dont think we should get paid

sillyvixen

freezspirit wrote: »

I remember for awhile when I was in primary school that we collected tin foil, milk boottle tops sweet wrapper foils for charity. Another occasion it was tin and cans I remember that one cos we spent one afternoon on the play ground sorting and crushing cans. To be honest I think it was stopped for health and safety issues (I remember alot of kids got cut fingers) plus storage problem. Strangely another has sprung to mind we collected newspapers as I remember dad went to school with a couple of car loads (we went round the neighbour and asked) they run out of space to put them at school so they used one of the school governs garage. To be honest I don't think the charities or the school made any money. Oh another one was a 2week period for clothes this one I can't remember if it was for schoolchildren in africa or orphans in another country but I do remember that the school hall was completely full and it was 2or3 large army truck loads.

a local school where a friend of the family used to work used to do this for charity - as she went to our church loads of people used to collect for them and some weeks she would get so much that a church member would have to make arrangements to take a car load down to the school! they no longer do this and while cans can be put in the council box - how do you deal with foil!

i do try to sort my recycleable stuff and visit our local tip (recylcling centre) and take stuff that can be recycled every few months as it is on my way to my parents house (a few 100 meters of car usage) but it has t be when i am visiting in the week in office hours - i go most sundays but it gets too busy at a weekend!