so WHAT DOES happen to our recycling ??

[brett53]

er found this rather disturbing article here : http://science.howstuffworks.com/conser ... ality1.htm

and it got me wondering , do you know where your recycling ends up ?? - or more to the point do you care once its gone from your bin /box/bag /whatever ??

in fact DOES a lot of what is supposedly "recycled " actually GET recycled ( which implies REUSED ) ? or is this all part of the great green con ?? - with us getting berated to "recycle more " , then big business just cherry picking the bits that make them money and dumping the rest - sometimes after shipping the stuff half way round the world ( like VERY Eco friendly - er NOT )

interesting point to ponder me thinks - and i bet if one started asking a few pointed questions of our local authorities - one would get stonewalled / side tracked /ignored etc - as there always must be money in it somewhere along the line other wise why would they bother ??

but this CAN be negative too as here we are faced with "fines" from the EU for every tonne landfilled - ( vis the good old rate payer gets screwed AGAIN ) - and there seems to be like so much disparity between authorities as to what can and cant BE recycled - whats good for Plymouth is totally different to Birmingham for instance - or so my friend there tells me as she is amazed we just have one bin and it all gos in there - yet they have numerous boxes for different things

so any one know whats REALLY going on ??

discuss

[Nick69]

Nothing happens to mine as the dont pick it up! everyone elses in the village but just not ours.

[Carltonian Man]

Councils avoiding landfill costs might explain what I've encountered. I contacted a large land owner about plastic rubbish in fields (http://www.selfsufficientish.com/forum/ ... 26&t=16247). The estates manager was very much on the ball with his speed of response and assured me the problem had already been addressed. Let's see what hapens this year..

[crowsashes]

i know with recycling it is STILL hit and miss, in redditch they had a brown bin ( landfill) green basket ( glass ) green bag ( paper and plastic)

here ( in plymouth ) you can recycle plastics ( except plastic bags) paper, tinfoil cans etc but not glass. thankfully i dont have that much and what i do use i reuse to make jams and pickles, repeatedly! last years jam jars were saved and will now be there for this years batch! bottles are scrubbed and used to make flavoured oils and bath oils, the rest go in the bottle bank.( the dark brown bottles are great for this job )

and your right with birmingham and the random bags and boxes!

i try where ever possible to make sure i compost, reduce then reuse before i actually recycle.

i think we put too much rubbish in our bins 70% at least ( in my opinion) isn't necessary
on bin day ive seen people leave out perfectly good toys for the bin men to take ( the charity shop is a 10 min walk and we have regular doorstop collections from the heart foundation etc! and freecycle is even easier!)

i think before anything else happens we MUST change our own individual attitudes towards waste before i can see any change with how the government is going to deal with it. its a shame they are reactive rather than proactive.

and all the business with the EU is actually damaging us as a country. what might be right for france and spain is clearly not right for britan. we shouldnt be shipping our waste around the globe because of eu fines, it should be here where we can deal with it and dispose/reuse/recycle accordingly. this may mean we need to build recycling plants to deal with it and drum it in to the heads of those still burying there heads in the sand what needs to be done.

maybe a return to the rag and bone men etc might actually be the way forward
and before you ask im 25 and saw one a few years ago in birmingham clearly earning a living too. collecting all sorts from scrap iron, to paper, tin, alu cans old furniture etc. all of it sold on, recycled or reused.

[snapdragon]

We have paper, cans and glass collected and hopefully recycled, and a green bin for council compost (which I use for the woody stuff as we compost the green stuff and kitchen scraps)
but at the 'tip' recycling centre there is a space for plastics, milk cartons and cardboard so we save those up and OH drops them off when having to drive in that direction (ten miles away)
BUT there is a notice there that basically says 'if we don't get offered enough money for the plastics/cardboard etc we will landfil them'
Bah bah and bah again!!!
Why on earth aren't they burning the rubbish in those nice new clean burn boilers and using the heat for public buildings or for making electricity.
The 'rubbish bin' is collected fortnightly here, but reducing rubbish means that we rarely put ours out for collection more often than six weekly

[brett53]

i know with recycling it is STILL hit and miss, in redditch they had a brown bin ( landfill) green basket ( glass ) green bag ( paper and plastic)

here ( in plymouth ) you can recycle plastics ( except plastic bags) paper, tinfoil cans etc but not glass. thankfully i dont have that much and what i do use i reuse to make jams and pickles, repeatedly! last years jam jars were saved and will now be there for this years batch! bottles are scrubbed and used to make flavoured oils and bath oils, the rest go in the bottle bank.( the dark brown bottles are great for this job )

and your right with birmingham and the random bags and boxes!

i try where ever possible to make sure i compost, reduce then reuse before i actually recycle.

i think we put too much rubbish in our bins 70% at least ( in my opinion) isn't necessary
on bin day ive seen people leave out perfectly good toys for the bin men to take ( the charity shop is a 10 min walk and we have regular doorstop collections from the heart foundation etc! and freecycle is even easier!)

i think before anything else happens we MUST change our own individual attitudes towards waste before i can see any change with how the government is going to deal with it. its a shame they are reactive rather than proactive.

and all the business with the EU is actually damaging us as a country. what might be right for france and spain is clearly not right for britan. we shouldnt be shipping our waste around the globe because of eu fines, it should be here where we can deal with it and dispose/reuse/recycle accordingly. this may mean we need to build recycling plants to deal with it and drum it in to the heads of those still burying there heads in the sand what needs to be done.

maybe a return to the rag and bone men etc might actually be the way forward
and before you ask im 25 and saw one a few years ago in birmingham clearly earning a living too. collecting all sorts from scrap iron, to paper, tin, alu cans old furniture etc. all of it sold on, recycled or reused.

yep apparently the "tat" man is still a feature of the area where my friend lives - but no one seems to do it down here much ( at all ) - probably they are hamstrung by these waste disposal edicts from the EU gestapo - and cant be bothered as i think you have to be licenced now ?? ( the guys in brum probably just flip rules the finger and carry on ) - i often have bits of scrap i need removing - and although i can get some taken by the council gratis - usually i have to pay for the privilege

bloody crazy system

[brett53]

We have paper, cans and glass collected and hopefully recycled, and a green bin for council compost (which I use for the woody stuff as we compost the green stuff and kitchen scraps)
but at the 'tip' recycling centre there is a space for plastics, milk cartons and cardboard so we save those up and OH drops them off when having to drive in that direction (ten miles away)
BUT there is a notice there that basically says 'if we don't get offered enough money for the plastics/cardboard etc we will landfil them'
Bah bah and bah again!!!
Why on earth aren't they burning the rubbish in those nice new clean burn boilers and using the heat for public buildings or for making electricity.
The 'rubbish bin' is collected fortnightly here, but reducing rubbish means that we rarely put ours out for collection more often than six weekly

they want to build a waste to power plant down here - but the NIMBY's are up in arms - well lets hope they are happy paying more council tax so that the authority can comply with all the EU gestapos fines - what annoys me is most of those moaning are complaining its just not green or will harm our kids etc etc etc - what they mean is WE DONT WANT THAT NEAR OUR HOUSES - AS IT WILL AFFECT THE VALUE

bleeding hypocrites - its no wonder we in such a mess with all this too many people with self interest at heart rather than the good of the whole - and poss cheaper electric too ??- or waste to heat

they fired up the new power plant a while ago and because there was a bit of smoke form the start up ?? - OMG end of the universe time - what IS the matter with people these days ?? - moan about that - yet tell em to drive less because they will be doing MORE good for their kids health ( like making the little brats WALK to school - oh sorry i forgot - perverts lurking round every corner - and lots of nasty hazards out in the REAL world ) - like we had to when i was young - 3 mile plus each way - not many "obese " kids then !! + and we caught buses on our own - and used telephone boxes - and played outside in the street

we are breeding a nation of "PUSSIES " - ( and not this type either )

don't get me started ................... ( oops you already have )