Travelling On

themadvix

I'm sure (I hope!) the incinerators do recapture some particulates/gases, but I doubt very much it's entirely clean (and would be suspicious of the motives of anything saying that it was). Now biogas plants, on the other hand, are wonderful things - where all the methane from the food waste can be used for household gas use (definitely a NIMBY though, as we have one we pass occasionally and it's *so* smelly!) and the remnants become compost. We need more of those!

Be suspicious of the recycling of your black plastic trays (and all other stuff) - I'm sure lots (despite the good intentions of the councils etc.) still ends up in landfill, here or overseas.

The seaside sounds great I'm hoping to see the sea (and dip my toes in?) this weekend too.

rtandon27

Ooooo - just checked those league tables & as suspected our council is very low in the rankings!

I wonder about the methods used in ranking though, as much of the population in this area is rural - does this influence what the councils deem viable in terms of offered services?  For instance, a good majority of folks around here are rural and have their own compost heaps, so don't tend to have a need for yard waste bins which our council does not even offer...

Food for thought...a lovely rabbit hole to wander down for this evening's reading!

badmemory

rtandon27 said:

Ooooo - just checked those league tables & as suspected our council is very low in the rankings!

I wonder about the methods used in ranking though, as much of the population in this area is rural - does this influence what the councils deem viable in terms of offered services?  For instance, a good majority of folks around here are rural and have their own compost heaps, so don't tend to have a need for yard waste bins which our council does not even offer...

Food for thought...a lovely rabbit hole to wander down for this evening's reading!

This is what I was wondering.  With councils with only 200kg per household being low down the list but ones with 450kg being high up the list.  The ones with 450kg are still sending more to landfill than the others, surely landfill avoidance is the first objective, obviously followed by max recycling.

QueenJess

themadvix said:

Be suspicious of the recycling of your black plastic trays (and all other stuff) - I'm sure lots (despite the good intentions of the councils etc.) still ends up in landfill, here or overseas.

Yes... so I am always really diligent about recycling everything I possibly can and trying to reduce as much waste as is possible with a 3-year-old.  As I have a DS who is obsessed with vehicles, we've been watching the bin men closely every week for months (who actually are very nice and always wave to him).

Anyway, I've been horrified a few times when I see that the recycling side of their bin lorry has filled up first and so they've just tipped the recycling straight into the landfill side.  I highly suspect that a lot less recycling actually occurs than people are putting out. 

beanielou

Luckily we have different lorries for the recycling. 

badmemory

beanielou said:

Luckily we have different lorries for the recycling. 

So do we.  They even drop their differing loads in different local towns.  I suppose based on economies of size.  Nothing like a bit of co-operation.

Karmacat

Oh my.  This is really, really interesting, thank you all so much for chipping in. 

Badmemory, I understand what you were saying earlier, now - I'm new to digging in to league tables, so thinking outside the box is a good thing.

Jess - omg, horrendous that they'll put the recycling into the landfill   my lot use different lorries too, so that doesn't happen at *that* stage, anyway.  I love the idea of you watching the bin lorry with your little one, that sounds great

Madvix: the council *say* they've been following through on the end user for their sales of recycling, since they started it 20 years ago.  And that the black plastic recycling works because they do it by taking everything away, and thats all thats left, rather than finding a way to get the black plastic.

Hmmm!  I'm going to work harder at it.

themadvix

Queen Jess, that is shocking! Have you reported this to your council? I doubt very much that that is policy.

badmemory

I too doubt that it is policy.  For no other reason than it will cost them more money.  The money is one reason why councils have adopted these policies.  To encourage more people to recycle my local council have in the past sent out leaflets explaining the difference in the costs of various types of waste disposal.  Landfill obviously the most expensive.

Karmacat

Yes to the councils doing it because of the money - it needed voluntary initiatives at first, but business has moved in now that recycling can be profitable.  Which is fine in itself, but it does mean that the lessons about producing less in the first place aren't being learned

The other thing I need to enquire about is whether charity shops are still collecting textiles for ragging ... my policy of wearing out selected t shirts is really bearing fruit!