Recycling??? ITS NOT OUR FAULT!!!

secretdancer

bridiej wrote:

Shepway finally came yesterday morning - and emptied everything into the normal lorry.

Are they likely to sort it once it gets back to their depot?

Our council does the same.
However I am reliably informed by people in the know that they use a series of machines to separate the waste.

bring1t

When I was in the US recently I really admired their dedication to recycling due to the monetory implications. Let me explain...

Consumers are charged an extra 5c for all bottles / cans (glass, plastic, metal), this 5c is then refunded when the consumer brings the bottles back in. Now 5c is not much but you would be surprised (milk, juice, squash etc) how it all adds up.

The other thing this promotes is homeless people litter picking on the streets to make a few bob, two birds - one stone.

What do people think?

mrcow

Packaging.......my pet hate is chewing gum.

It's vile stuff, all individually wrapped (sometimes in a silver wrapper plus a paper jacket). The wrapping may be recyclable, but I wonder how much of it actually ends up as litter on our streets, and then to top it all, the gum itself get spat out onto the street/pavement, waiting for someone to step in it (eugh!) to form a permanent black blotch on the ground so that the coucil has to come along and either blast or scrape it off.

Watching/listening to someone chew gum is vile anyway. Why do people buy it? If your breath smells that bad that you feel that you have to chew gum, my advice would be to spend more time cleaning your teeth correctly and regular visits to your dentist.

(Well........this is the VENT board!)

klondyke

rm-lewis wrote:

When I was in the US recently I really admired their dedication to recycling due to the monetory implications. Let me explain...

Consumers are charged an extra 5c for all bottles / cans (glass, plastic, metal), this 5c is then refunded when the consumer brings the bottles back in. Now 5c is not much but you would be surprised (milk, juice, squash etc) how it all adds up.

The other thing this promotes is homeless people litter picking on the streets to make a few bob, two birds - one stone.

What do people think?

I bet that will bring back memories for some of us oldies who remember the days of refunds on glass bottles. Not just the homeless, but a way for children to collect extra pocket money by offering to take empties back to shops!

Murtle

i agree with having the returnable bottles back. and paper bags in supermarkets, or for the ability to use the boxes to pack your groceries in. We always used these in Waitrose when I was a kid, but don't see the option available in many supermarkets now. I guess the problem might come from, glass being recycled into plastic....and then we end up with too much of that! If i buy loose produce in a shop, I chuck it in the trolley - I doubt there is much in there that won't come off with being washed in warm water or by being cooked!

Where I live, the council are meant to be providing kerbside recycling for *all* so far this omits the flats again!! Which I think must be the easiest place to put bins for mass collecting! So they are now removing the big mass collection points, leaving us with no where to recycle the stuff!! I won't leave heaps of cans in my car until I can find somewhere else that takes the stuff....I don't get out much!!!!

klondyke

We have kerbside recycling facilities for bottles, tins, foil, rags etc but not plastic, cardboard or envelopes. However, there are some mass collection bins for cardboard and envelopes in the borough. Some people dutifully trog along to these, only to find them full - and if they leave the stuff close to the full bins, and there is any identification on it, they are likely to get fined for 'fly tipping', This has happened to several people and the local newspaper took the matter up. Net result, fewer people bother to attempt recycling and just leave cardbard and envelopes for the normal dustbin men, so it presumably goes to landfill. Plastic, if we are good citizens, can be taken to an adjacent borough's recycling site - but actually, that means we aren't good citizens after all, as other boroughs' sites are only intended for their own local residents and, of course, a car journey to make our offerings only adds to the problem. Can't win, really:-(

irnbru_2

rm-lewis wrote:

Consumers are charged an extra 5c for all bottles / cans (glass, plastic, metal), this 5c is then refunded when the consumer brings the bottles back in. Now 5c is not much but you would be surprised (milk, juice, squash etc) how it all adds up.

In addition to this they (California) had machines where you could refill your bottled water thus saving having to buy another plastic bottle.

jenpoptab

In my area we have 3 bins:
black for non-recyclables i.e waxed juice cartons,
blue for plastics and papers
and
brown for garden waste & veg peelings.
We get on with it ok, other people refuse to sort and stick everything in black bin. Council considering charging these people.

BWZN93

To be honest - it would help if our stupid council would actually provide recycling boxes for our stuff - I would gladly sort if they provided the means to do so - I dont have the time to run around town to different sites to deposit various bits and pieces, and I certainly dont see why I should do when I pay to have the stuff removed in the first place.

Our council hasnt even given us WHEELIE BINS yet for gods sake! Instead, we buy black bags, which have litter the pavement until the council gets its lazy !!!!!! into gear and picks them up. And we have a pavement door too, in a busy thoroughfare, near a river and train station, and there is a big rat population in the area. Lib Dem councils are a waste of space IMO.

Jo xx

bridiej

jenpoptab wrote:

Council considering charging these people.

Why? Council tax is already a complete rip off (ours is over £100 a month!)

Our black box this week has about two plastic bottles and one jar in it - yet our wheelie bin is already full and they're not emptying for another week under this new "schedule". It's ridiculous, we have nothing else we can recycle that they will accept! :mad: