Why can’t this Govt deal with our rubbish?
Posted by Ellee on Aug 27, 2006 in Uncategorized | 7 commentsI find it extraordinary that electronic “spy bugs” have secretly been planted in 
hundreds of thousands of household wheelie bins.
It is hardly the best way of getting the message across about recycling, engaging with the public and gaining their full support to ensure the government meets strict targets set by the European Parliament – else face a hefty fine.
A few years ago, householders in Cambridgeshire were written to by the local authority and asked if they would mind their blackl plastic rubbish bags being randomly picked on to check what rubbish was being thrown out to give council officers further insight into recycling. Anyone who objected was excluded. I was the press officer promoting recycling for East Anglia and it made a great slot on Anglia TV when a reporter split open a rubbish bag and demonstrated how more than half the household waste could have been recycled.
Dealing with rubbish is something this government has not been able to grasp, it needs to be kept as simple as possible. At the moment, different local authorities provide a different coloured bag, box or sack to denote where recyclables should be placed. Why can’t one system operate county wide? All local authorities have a different system, some will collect plastic and kitchen waste while others others focus on paper, cans and glass; this depends very much on whether they have an outlet to send it to. Collections are often made alternate weeks with household waste, a system which has had no public support and fills many column inches in the local press from irate householders. But their views are ignored.
It’s obvious why the government wants to keep a track on people’s rubbish, to prevent them losing any future prosecutions. Legal cases are based on firm evidence and proving ownership of wheelie bins is one step in this direction.
Our landfill sites are rapidly filling up which is why recycling is so essential. I regard these items as valuable resources which can be given a new lease of life. I would love to track discarded medical or IT equipment from the UK through to its new, grateful home in Africa. We are such a throwaway society.
Do you remember fridge mountains and the chaos this caused? And what about the delayed implementation of the Waste Electrical and Electronic Equipment?
We will never support incinerators in this country, just like power stations, even though in Denmark there is even one sited in view of the royal palace – and their Queen does not object! So recycling must be one solution to divert waste.
And it is no surprise that fly tipping is a growing menace, a blot on our landscape, with Defra shamefully admitting that rubbish is illegally dumped every 35 seconds in the UK. My solution would be to offer to remove these items free of charge from households and recoup the cost by selling them on either to the public or to a manufacturer, make it easy for everyone all round and protect our environment.
Will this prove to be NuLab’s Poll Tax? What will it take to get ordinary people to rise up and throw off the chains imposed on us by this bunch of Stalinist ***wits?
If Local Authorities start charging for waste disposal just to pay the EU landfill tax (sorry, fine), will we get a reduction in Council Tax? Not a chance in hell! If I find a bug on my wheelie bin when I move house, I shall drill it out.
Perhaps all wheelie bins should carry the logo:
“Spying on you for XXX Council”
In Worcester they will only collect one wheelie bin either green or general each week, if you you do not close lid they will not collect and if any rubbish is left in box or bag alongside it is not collected. If you commit either ” offence ” you can get a letter from the Council warning you . As a result in our street half the houses have had letters . The only alternatives are to drive regularly to the local tip which is at present closed (!!!!) or litter the countryside with non identifiable waste.
As a police officer, I think they should make “failing to recycle” a recordable offence, that way we could get detections for it and improve our numbers!
John,
I agree with what you say. Manufacturers seem to think that consumers prefer packaging to display their goods when most of the time they do not, unless it was essential to protect the item.
I also agree with what you say about cooking. Besides pizzas, I buy little pre-packaged food, but do have a few in the freezer for emergencies. I always maintain that is is cheaper to buy a fresh chicken than a bag of frozen chicken nuggets which has no nutritional value.
Lets take one step back. Why is there so much rubbish in the first place? I don’t have the figures, but I would guess the per capita increase in waste is probably several hundred percent over recent decades. Am I being overly cynical by suggesting that vested interests can’t get enough packaging because recycling is seen as a potential nice little earner by the government.
A return to earlier times of less and simpler packaging might be worth a look. For example, imagine people cooking meals rather than watching cookery on TV and then buying the plastic wrapped cardboard lined meal in a foil tray.
How about recycling news papers for wrapping takeaways? Fish and chips always used to taste better with printers ink. (I’d better stop there, this is turning into a nostalgic trip down memory lane).
Jennyta, glad you like my new site, I’m still getting used to it, but I really love being able to publish my pics on flickr and share them on this site. If you click on the pics at the top of the site, which will change from more pics are downloaded, it take you to even more pics.
I could talk about recycling for hours, it is one of my pet subjects. Plastic is a problem for local authorities because they can collect so many different types, but only those that they have an outlet for. So it often ends up on the slow boat to China where poor people work in inhumane sweat shops to make plastic Christmas trees which are then shipped back to the UK. What do you make of that?
Nice site, Ellee – very professional looking.
As for recycling – couldn’t agree more. I rang my council because half the plastic items were being left behind in my green box and was told that it was ‘the wrong kind of plastic.’