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The War against plastic waste
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Must be Winchester that are particularly useless (Basingstoke were certainly better), but apparently as a county our recycling rates are pretty low - rumour has it that it has something to do with needing to keep feeding the waste-to-power incinerators
Closing local recycling facilities doesn't really help - people either have to drive miles or don't bother.
As for the climate emergency, well maybe it'll make them think a bit more about their waste and recycling. But I'm not expecting great things....
I know the feeling! The only fruit/veg I will put into a bag is if the potatoes still have the soil on them and I don't have a spare bag to put them in separate or mushrooms (learnt the hard way with these :rotfl:) then I either go though self check out or make sure they are all together easy for the check out person to "slide" them all onto the scales. I had a minor victory with my dad last year when I was living back at home with NOT putting bananas into a bag
I worked at Mr T while saving to travel late last year and I did a 4 hour training shift on the tills (I was shelf stacking so didn't work on the tills again) and the amount of people who would get a 10p bag for one item is just scary :eek:
So, I am doing my bit to save the planet round here! I pull the bags out, wash them and pass them on. I've had a bag from recycled bottles (bet that cost a bit) lots of the big shopping bags with tape handles and up to 100 BFL. Sheer waste.
I've also found Bonsai plant pots (the largest would have cost £15 ish) 6 mugs, tin of Heinz Tomato soup BBE2018, 2 rustic galvanised jugs, pyrex casserole.........
We have fortnightly waste & recycling collections. No food waste. garden waste is £50 ? ish per year. No glass in recycling.
I agree it's time there was a national agreement for recycling (but there also needs to be better monitoring- to stop folk from putting food, nappies etc in those bins!!)
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With that that means that any nosey Tom/!!!!/Harry can see exactly what is in them.
So thieves wanting to monitor which houses might be worth their while stealing from (ie "Look at that Bernard. That household frequently throws out cardboard cartons from some quite expensive electrical goods. Worth our while that one". Also nosy neighbours that also fancy the thought of monitoring their neighbours' spending ("Oh look at that Bert. Next door are fibbing when they say they are as poor as churchmice. Just look at what sort of stuff they are throwing out. They are always buying consumer goodies"). There are definitely some neighbours out there that do their darndest, on a regular basis, to virtually see what you've had for dinner and what your underwear drawer is like and some villages/towns where that information will soon be shared with "Her Down The Street" and "Him Up the Road".
So Councils do need to redesign recycling bags so that they are just as non see-throughable as black dustbin bags.
I don't know why that doesn't seem to have occurred to them.
Have come to the conclusion I'm living in 1930's Germany - but not going to give up hope it can be changed back to 21st century Britain-as-normal.
I used to live in Italy where pretty well everything could be recycled in my local area (it varies in Italy too!). They'd accept any plastics unlike here where it's just plastic bottles. Last winter I did my annual return trip and stayed in a friend's flat and there were further improvements to the system I recalled. A bit of effort is required but no hardship.
I used to see tomato tins in the glass and aluminium bins, but whether that was stupidity (as referenced above) or menefreghismo (couldntgiveatossism) it was difficult to say..
The problem with rubbish collection is dealing with the lowest common denominator.
Recycling is good but there needs to be a bigger initiative in reduction or most likely will end up with Australia's issue recycling pretty much everything but they got stuck when China closed its door to outside waste.
Should be easy enough to present you cardboard in such a way that can't see what it contained. Fold it or stack it. It is usually printed on one side only.
The bags need to be clear so the collectors can check for contamination.
Quite a lot of hotels have already done this and just have large dispensers, so you don't need to lug your own around. The stuff I do need to take with me I decant into small plastic containers that have been reused 100s of times. No need to take shampoo or bodywash - you always get those, so conditioner, body lotion (in a metal tin), facial soap (wrapped in a flannel to dry it out), toothpaste are the essentials.