Recycling.. Why bother?

Abraham said:
As for washing your recyclables with hot water, I'm pretty sure a quick rinse with cold water will suffice, they don't have to be clean enough to use again straight out of your recycling bin :confused:
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Actually, yes you do - in the areas that collect them. From what I've been told by family, Uttlesford District Council insist on plastic being clean.

Anyway, Veolia are very well known around these parts for these tricks. The usual excuses are either that they don't have enough recycling trucks or their trucks are too big to gain access.

It's all about image really. If they were up-front and say what they do and why, then there probably wouldn't be a problem. But oh no, they have to pull this sort of stunt and then wonder why residents get all antsy over it. In any event, they sort recycling at the depot so splitting recycling at the kerbside is probably just a convenience (e.g. it might help them weed out stuff that can't be recycled, particularly among plastics).
 
There's nothing around here for it. Though saying going by how much rubbish flies around I do agree that it probably won't be any different for plastics and glass left in special boxes.

There needs to be wholesale changes made for it.

People also need an incentive to do it. A German housemate has just moved in and he was shocked at how little recycling actually goes on here. When he buys a bottle of water back home he tears off a voucher on the label - and that then is a discount against the next bottle of water. It's not from the water company directly but instead is from the bottle maker.

I've never believed that doing it here and there, and then for only a few things really is the point of it. Some countries fare very well by recycling, probably because they're really ontop of their waste management e.g. Finland.
 
Berserker said:
Actually, yes you do - in the areas that collect them. From what I've been told by family, Uttlesford District Council insist on plastic being clean.
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Note the distinction between being rinsed clean and being clean enough to use again. You don't have to "wash up" your recycling, you just have to rinse it so there's none of the product left in the container.
 
What really bugs me is the amount of rubbish left behind on the streets after they have picked the recycling up.

If its a windy day it's 10x worse with bits of paper / plastic being blown about all over the place.
 
I know a lot like to moan about councils and rubbish collections but I have to give credit to Scottish Borders Council. They suck arse in a lot of areas but we get weekly collections for all of our bins without fail, their is never any moaning or awkwardness from the bin men and have never heard of anybody ever having a mess left or a bin left without being emptied.

The local recycling points are always kept spotless and their is usually somebody around to help you out with your rubbish once you get their.

I actually cannot think of a time where I have had a moan about refuse collection around here and I appreciate it all the more when I see others moaning about how it works for them.

:cool:
 
Isolated incident blown out of proportion by Daily Mail shocker.
 
It's a shame the Daily Mail couldn't sacrifice a bit of manufactured outrage and sensationalism by placing the whole article and corresponding headline in the context of Veolia's response. Instead the response is tagged on at the end of the article, where, if the replies to this thread are anything to go by, the overwhelming majority of people won't see it.

What a total non-issue.
 
Longbow said:
They smell fine because I wash then out with cold water. :p

Here though, not only have to sort out the recyclable goods, but I also have to take it to a recycle point myself in the car. Can't say it really bothers me. Although we do at least get weekly rubbish collections.

Also, why is your title "pUnderboss"?
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We have had recycled waste tipped out when they decide it's not clean. On some jars, you need hot water because it's the only way of doing so. Also, they will insist on chucking tin lids out too. Very annoying.

Duke said:
Isolated incident blown out of proportion by Daily Mail shocker.
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Regardless of the publisher, the issue is still of significant debate.
 
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Fegruson said:
I was under the impression that plastics CURRENTLY don't get recycled, becuase it costs too much to send abroad for it to be melted down or whatever, and that everything else was recycled.
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Does melting plastics down by heating it wont send poisonus gas into air :confused:
 
rjkoneill said:
Am i misinformed or does it all get put in a landfill in the far east anyway?
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Not any more, they won't take it now.

All depends on the local authority TBH. Glass will always get recycled, so that's well worth doing. I'm lucky in that out LA are one of the best when it comes to recycling, and it all gets done properly.
 
Duke said:
Isolated incident blown out of proportion by Daily Mail shocker.
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+1
Can't trust the source, a.k.a the "Daily ****"
It was probably just 1 lazy bugger on minimum wage that couldn't be bothered on a monday morning.
Invalid, but still a good point of discussion.
 
How many times do I have to say this before people get it? No, this is not an isolated incident. And no, I'm not a Daily Fail reader either. I know of at least one other area (mine) where this has happened. I've seen it happen - first hand. I suspect it's not a coincidence however that both areas are operated by Veolia Environmental.
 
I try my best to recycle stuff.

My block of flats has a bin room, which contains five of the huge recycling containers, yet just two of the general refuge bins.

The trouble is, that you go in there to throw stuff out and find that the recycling bins have a few bits in them, but the general refuge bins are overfilled and piles of bags are left next to them which the binman have to carry.

I assume Islington council has done this deliberatly to make people recycle more, but not everybody does, and as such, the binmen still end up carrying all this extra stuff away. Which I presume in the eyes of the council they shouldn't be? At least at a single occupancy address they might not.
 
Musty Pie said:
On a more serious note i have had many arguments with our local bin men (and hate to be stereo typical but most of them are *****) over them not collecting bins due to many reasons, even though i follow the rules down to the last detail. And make sure all my family do.

I feel most of them like a power trip now and then.
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yeah, ours are ******* too, in our locality we're pretty much the only family that puts the bin outside the gate, the bin men have to go in to everyone else's gardens to fetch it, so what do they do the one or two times we leave it inside the gate (like everyone else) a mere 2 metres from the gate and in plain site? the ********* leave it :rolleyes:.

Admiral Huddy said:
they will insist on chucking tin lids out too. Very annoying.
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ours did that too until we put the lid inside the can and closed the top of the can by squeezing both sides together, watch them as the struggle to take the lid out and ultimately give up after the 5th can and chuck them in anyway :D
 
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