The Same Old Rubbish (Bins, Waste Management & Recycling)

Member Name: jasminesarah

Product:	Bins, Waste Management & Recycling
Date:	04/11/08 (207 review reads)
Rating:

Advantages: It makes sense to use things again!

Disadvantages: We need clearer guidelines

Although I've always considered myself to be a bit of an eco warrier (albeit usually just an armchair one), my relationship with recycling has been a bit sporadic. That is, as I have moved around Britain I have found that provision of facilities has been very different from area to area. I now live in Devon and we have a great recent record for recycling - Devonian households recycle about 50% of our waste, which is way above the national average.

In Exeter we have Green Bins - either a large bucket style or a huge wheelie bin, depending on household size and, more importantly, available storage for the bin. In these we are encouraged to recycle paper, card, plastic and foil. This sounds simple but in reality is not so clear cut - plastic comes in many shapes and forms and I'm never quite sure what can go and what can't. What about cardboard cartons with plastic lining? Or cellophane, or cardboard with a lot of staples in it....? Most things gets washed and put in the Green Bin - which is always overflowing by the time it is collection day. However, glass is not collected and must be taken to a bottle bank. I find this quite strange as glass was one of the first things to be collected for recycling and iwhen I lived in Bath a few years ago it was the only thing that was collected. At my local recycling bank it is also possible to recycle books, shoes and clothes in banks.

Food waste and other non-recyclable waste goes into black bags to be collected from the street on bin day. However, in other parts of Devon, separate bins are provided for food waste, to be composted. We're the same county but each district council decides how to implement recycling. I think people find this confusing, not to mention unfair. In Exeter, for example, it costs me 60p to buy a clear garden refuse bag to fill with my garden clippings, which will then be collected by the Council. A few miles away in East Devon a similar bag costs nearly 6 times as much, although East Devon Council do apparently have a whole new Recycling Policy about to go into implementation.

In Exeter, as in most parts of Devon, collections of recycling and non-recycable waste are made fortnightly, on alternate weeks. Or at least this is what is claimed, although the black bags have been collected every week for the three years I have lived here. I think this is because fortnightly collection is unpopular, and the Council are attempting to get the black bag collection down to a minimum before rationing it to fortnightly. In my road, the seagulls are already becoming a problem, and fortnightly collection will only encourage them further - we won't even mention the rats... (of course, if food waste was not in these bags the problem would be greatly reduced).

Of course, recycling is not a new thing, people used to make do and med, and reuse where they could, up until fairly recently when we developed a throw-away culture. When I was a kid, I remember that some bottles could be returned to the shop and you'd get a discount off your next purchase. What happened to that idea? Instead of threatening people with prosecution for not recycling, I'd be much more comfortable to see incentives introduced. Tesco, and to a lesser extent some other supermarkets, have introduced this idea with rewards for re-using carrier bags, and did also offer club card points for recycling but found the scheme impossible to maintain. (Apparently due to vandalism of the recycling units.) More thought needs to be given to these schemes, and to implementing national recycling policies instead of each area making it up as they go along.

Summary: We're muddling on with no clear idea of what happens to our recycled stuff