In my garden I h
ave a little table I bought for 50p from my local recycling centre in Grunty Fen (yes, really!). My son bought a few discarded golf clubs there for 50p which he sold on in true entrepreneurial spirit. I’ve often seen people searching out bargains at the site for a few pence. The last time I went to the Grunty Fen centre, it had a shed full of discarded items which it was selling on, such as dozens of unwanted books, LPs, cassettes, video games, TVs and computers, as well as old bikes and lawnmowers which could be spruced up and given a new lease of life.
Today I read a letter in today’s East Anglian Daily Times which totally took my breath away. One reader in neighbouring Suffolk said his site was no longer allowed to sell on dumped stuff because of “health and safety”; I am not sure whether this is also the case with Grunty Fen in Cambridgeshire.
This is what Max Hotope from Saxmundham wrote:
“What are dumps for if not to recycle?
Normally, at Leiston dump, there is a row of stuff that people might like to take home – old bikes, that sort of thing.
Now we are told that this breaks ‘health and safety’ rules. Nothing is allowed out again.
As someone who has come away with barbecues and brewing equipment, I find the new rule weird and worrying.
The best way to recycle something is to find someone else who wants it.”
Yes, Mr Hotope, local authorities have been keen to promote “reduce, re-use, recycle“. If they are not allowing these unwanted items to be re-used, what happens to them? Do they go to the local landfill site? What sense does that make? And these sales surely provided local authorities with additional much needed income which they have now lost. And at a time when charity shops are flourishing and people want to seek out bargains because of the recession.
P.S. My local authority in East Cambridgeshire has also abandoned its doorstep collection of plastic on cost grounds which we are all disappointed about.
Ah I think you have just resolved something that was puzzling me Ellee.
The recycling centre at Thriplow in South Cambs ( run by the County Council ) always had things for sale very cheap and I often popped in just to see what they had available ( got some bargains in garden tools and the like)
Now its recently been upgraded and no longer anything on offer .
Isnt it pathetic, a plague on elf and safety say I .
I will have a word in our county councillors ear .
Wouldnt worry too much about the plastics bit as it all used to have to go to China for recycling and thats hardly planet friendly.
disaffected, it is pathetic and goes against the spirit of recycling, it’s certainly a step backwards.
Sadly, you are right about the plastics. We are totally unprepared for recycling plastics in its many forms.
This is very disconcerting. Of course, here in the States, we have a workaround: Anything that someone else might want… old bicycles, furniture, even appliances… gets put out to the curb with the rest of the trash… and mysteriously disappears before Streets and San shows up.
Just the other night, coming home, I was behind a pickup truck stacked high with what people considered junk — and what the driver considered worth taking.
It would appear that our Grunty Fen Recycling Centre is still open as thieves broke in and stole containers of scrap aluminium and electronic items, so they clearly hold some value for someone.