Where does your recycling go?

[smartie]

An interesting little snippet of research by the BBC

BBC NEWS | UK | Where does your recycling go?

[Paul mabbott]

Quite encouraging, really.
As I've said before - the big problem in UK is that it's not 'joined up' - different things are recycled (or not) in different boroughs. In some ways that's good - means things are being dealt with locally - but in other ways is problematic because people see the inconsistency as some sort of conspiracy! It is also a difficulty for those of us who move around: I'm never sure what goes in the various recycling bins in Northamptonshire, various London boroughs or West Yorkshire (in fact, I'm not always sure about South Yorks!).

[Jacky]

I used to work for a town council in Hampshire and was told that the plastic that that town did not currently accept for recycling (but that some other places did) ended up as landfill in China, who are happy to accept it for the payment they receive. Yes, they could deal with the plastic milk bottles but other plastics create the problem as England isn't equipped to deal with it. At least that council was honest and didn't even pretend it was recycleable so I didn't buy products using it as packaging but others aren't so honest and that's another problem. If, at least, we know that something isn't recycleable we can then make an informed decision as to whether to use/buy it or not and put pressure on the relevant companies to stop using it.
The council also alternated weeks as to whether it collected 'normal' or recycled rubbish, which did increase the figures towards the Government targets. However, if you think about it, previously the residents had 1.5 collections per week (weekly normal, fortnightly recycleable) and now they only get one, plus a garden rubbish bag. I wonder if the local tip has had more customers since to get rid of the rest of the household rubbish?

[Kayleigh]

In northants, we get one black wheelie bin for household waste, emptied once every two weeks, maggots are unbearable in the summer. One green wheelie bin for garden waste emptied every two weeks. Nearly always empty, Small black box for plasics emptied same week as black wheelie bin. Small green box for glass and papers, emptied same week as green wheelie bin.

We also have three garden compost bins, so alot of the waste we get goes in there for useing in large buckets for growing potatoes

[wyevilla]

Originally Posted by Jacky

The council also alternated weeks as to whether it collected 'normal' or recycled rubbish, which did increase the figures towards the Government targets. However, if you think about it, previously the residents had 1.5 collections per week (weekly normal, fortnightly recycleable) and now they only get one, plus a garden rubbish bag. I wonder if the local tip has had more customers since to get rid of the rest of the household rubbish?

...or they might resort to fly-tipping, with all the associated problems.

[ripplingwave]

My council is very good, they take all recyclables except cloth materials and compostable waste. We have aweekly waste collection and a fortnightly recycling collection.
A big help to my time management as I don't have to traipse the town with boxes upon boxes of stuff to deposit at various banks!

[Rich_]

This was a surprise when I read it.......
News & Star

[agrumpycow]

There is still so much inconsistancy with recycling. I contacted my local council asking why they can't take so much of my rubbish that could be recycled, such as plastic food containers, food wrapping, etc. All I got back was a pathetic excuse about how they ship their waste to third companies who specify what they can and can't take! i.e. not the council's fault apparently! This was followed by a link to one of their websites giving blue peter-type uses for the waste they can't take! Purleese!

[m1keanderson]

Originally Posted by Paul mabbott

As I've said before - the big problem in UK is that it's not 'joined up' - different things are recycled (or not) in different boroughs.

I agree Paul - It should be the Government who take a cradle-to-grave look at recycling and put in place a sustainable infrastructure to cope with this issue (as you highlighted it doesn't stop at borough boundaries). If they can organise £9 Billion funding for the Olympics (and that is something else they SHOULD be funding but please let's not go there with this thread) then the cost comparative will be a drop in the ocean...hmm...ocean...now there's a big place to lose a lot of waste...maybe lock up a tonne or two of carbon whilst we're at it...

[Varan Komodosky]

Interesting thoughts indeed. I work in a large district general hospital, the home to two NHS Trusts. The catchment area we cover has a population of (around) 300,000 and looking to expand to around 500,000 in the next year or so.

Can anyone guess how much of the massive amounts of waste paper, glass, plastics and so on - excluding clinical waste, obviously - get recycled? Given that the the organisation is similar to a small town?

oooooo all, that's how much.