Recycling bins at train stations? April 16, 2008

A campaign by the local green party in the area of St Albans have been successful in winning recycling bins at their train station.

 

Spokesmen Simon Grover has said: “It’s an opportunity to recycle a huge amount everyday”.

 

However, I find this new system somewhat strange. Placing recycling bins in train stations may reduce the amount of newspapers being littered, mainly the free London papers, but I don’t think it will reduce the amount of paper being used in total, if anything it will increase it.

I’ve always liked the idea of reusing anything that can be reused, and a newspaper is one of those products that can be reused numerous amount of times. So why place a bin which is going to encourage commuters to dispose their paper rather then leaving it on the seat for someone else to read. Seeing as we all do pick up newspapers on tubes, trains, trams and busses I think it’s an unintelligent step to take.

 

That is my opinion and I would be very interested in hearing some of yours, some comment away and let me know of your thoughts.

 

=)

Ditch Plastic Bags… April 13, 2008

At the check out point in the supermarket today, I noticed plastic boxes used instead of plastic bags to carry the shopping in. At £1 a box, it’s a very good investment as they can be reused many times, and will most defiantly be a step forward in reducing the waste in landfills, many of which are plastic bags.

 

I personally have made a start and purchased two boxes, and I found to be much easier to carry then carrier bags.

It would be great if one by one we could change our old habits and notice the problems we are causing subconsciously.

 

=)

Recycle Food Waste April 12, 2008

I’ve read an interesting article on the BBC news website about a new 12-month collection trial which involves thousands of householders in East Renfrewshire recycling their food waste.

This is really good news, as £800 million worth of food is thrown away each year just in the Scottish area, which according to the Scottish Environmental protection agency works out as almost £370 per home.

 

All the talk about authorities not doing enough has proved us wrong because they are finally doing something which actually seems to look like a good plan. There is nothing the householders will not be provided with as each house receives a seven-litre kitchen caddy and bags to go inside them. They even thought about vermin and foxes and a large seal-able container would also be provided to keep them out.

 

So really, there is no reason why these households who have been invited to take part shouldn’t recycle! It will make them realise how much extra food they buy which ends up in their bins and will also help the environment as they can reduce the amount of waste they send to the landfills from the current 65% to the expected level of 35% by 2020. That is a huge task that will only be achieved with the help of householders.

 

The authorities are hoping to spread this trial to the whole country, meanwhile we should start to do out bit by reducing the amount of unnecessary food we all purchase so we can reduce such big amounts of waste being taken to landfill sites…after all, there only so much space for rubbish.

 

How Many cans can you find in ONE day? April 11, 2008

I came across this Youtube video of a guy who walked 19.6 miles in 20hours in London with the aim of collecting 1000 used cans.

Surprisingly enough he managed to do it.

 

So 1000 used cans which could have been recycled, instead they were dumped on various places such as bushes, streets and rubbish bins.

 

It is making me realise more everyday, that one by one we actually CAN make a difference.

 

 

Grow your own produce to reduce household wastes. April 10, 2008

Today’s episode of Loose Women on ITV1 starred guest Kim Wilde, an 80’s pop singer and current professional gardener. She made a very interesting point which got me thinking about other ways which we could REDUCE the need for recycling.

Growing our own produce would mean less packaging and hence less waste for recycling.

Growing your vegetables is very easy as you can use pots on your windowsill, balconies and gardens. There are many useful websites which advice you on how to grow produce such as herbs, peas and salad ingredient: http://www.ehow.com/how_2148816_grow-windowsill-herb-garden.html.

 

This approach of home produced goods would decrease household wastes and slowly help environmental issues such as global warming. It is cheaper, healthier and more exciting than buying your vegetables or herbs from Tescos.

 

So would you consider growing you own produce?

 

MEPs tougher recycling targets April 9, 2008

According to the Members of the European Parliament (MEP) who held a vote on 8 April, recycling targets should be increased and incinerators subjected to efficiency criteria when burning waste for energy ‘recovery’ purposes.

 

Their aim is to make sure by 2020, 50% of the EU’s household waste and 70% of construction waste is recycled. These targets should, according to MEPs, accompany member-state efforts to stabilise waste production by 2012.

The vote is part of the Parliments second reading on waste production and a controversial piece of legislation that is plagued by widely differing waste and recycling practices across the EU.

 

What has shocked me is the level of recycling in the UK compared to the neighbouring European countries. According to the Friend of the Earth (FOE), Germany, Austria and Switzerland recycle over 50% of their household wastes, whilst the UK only manages to recycle 19% of all household wastes.

 

 

So why is this? Are the British public lazy? Or have the British government not made enough effort in motivating households to recycle their waste?

“RECYCLABLES” April 7, 2008

As I am sitting here in my class for this unit, I can see a recycling bin the corner of the room for paper and labelled. Great… Makes me feel better that my University is taking part in recycling. However, what I find strange is the material in which the bin is made from. Yes, you may guess, its plastic, not very environmentally friendly! It doesn’t seemed to be used frequently and ironically the rubbish bin is placed right next to the recycling bin…and is overflowing with many recyclable products such as coke cans..

So maybe what I’ve said before doesn’t work. Placing recycling bins are not attracting anyone and it’s a habit which is hard to kill.