Should there be a law against this? (Chain Reaction)

[technodup]

How hard is it to put some of it into another bin and waste food into another. Oh no 3 bins, to much for some :roll:

About 3 times harder.

There's one thing you can't buy- time. And I'm not spending mine fannying about separating garbage into different piles to help the council out. Given I don't use schools, libraries, housing, care, social work, swimming pools or almost any other service I pay for a proper refuse collection isn't much to ask for for my £1500, is it?.

Ultimately the issue of waste is a product of consumption. We consume too much in the first place. We eat too much, drink too much, travel too far, buy gadgets we don't need and so on. When people are buying half an apple sliced up in a wee plastic bag for twice the price of an actual apple no amount of pissing about with coloured bins is going to help.

 

[Neil]

How hard is it to put some of it into another bin and waste food into another. Oh no 3 bins, to much for some :roll:

About 3 times harder.

There's one thing you can't buy- time. And I'm not spending mine fannying about separating garbage into different piles to help the council out.

I don't get that, though.

It hardly takes time to sort or separate anything - at home it's just a case of putting somethings in the non recycling bin, and the things that can go in the other bins, um, in the other bins.

It's not like everybody has to spend an hour a week, with all the rubbish laid out,then sort it into different piles.

Given I don't use schools, libraries, housing, care, social work, swimming pools or almost any other service I pay for a proper refuse collection isn't much to ask for for my £1500, is it?

Very idealistic, in a sort of non-sequitur manner. You do get how tax works, don't you?

Ultimately the issue of waste is a product of consumption. We consume too much in the first place. We eat too much, drink too much, travel too far, buy gadgets we don't need and so on. When people are buying half an apple sliced up in a wee plastic bag for twice the price of an actual apple no amount of pissing about with coloured bins is going to help.

You say the issue is consumption - I don't disagree - it is partly the issue - society has become more focused that way - hell our economy has bet the house on it - all the same, though it's not the only problem. Other major ones being the disposable nature of peoples' consumerism, and the "I'm alright Jack, bollocks to everyone else..." attitude, one of Thatcher's lamentable legacies.

 

[technodup]

Very idealistic, in a sort of non-sequitur manner. You do get how tax works, don't you?

Most tax doesn't work. Excessively high rates, badly collected, poorly distributed and massively inefficient. But let's not derail a waste thread into a tax one.

"I'm alright Jack, bollocks to everyone else..." attitude, one of Thatcher's lamentable legacies.

I don't think it was ever a manifesto commitment but have a anyway.

 

[unkleGsif]

Just another way do-gooders can feel all superior imo. When buying or selling a product or service the key question is always "What's in it for me?" Millions are converted to community recycling and I can't think of one tangible reason other than smugness.

I just don't get it.

Have a free :facepalm: :roll:

Try the fact that hundreds of millions of people greedily scoffing up finite natural resources then lobbing them in a hole in the ground, never to be used again. Not to mention the rise of a further several billion more out of poverty, clamouring for a "Western Lifestyle" and following our example.

This sort of behavior only serves to make resources more sarce and expensive. Can you get that?

Thread has veered slightly off topic, but I just had to respond to a pretty short sighted comment


G

 

[cornholio's RC200]

Anyway, cutting up apples and putting them in plastic bags keeps someone in work. Can't whack that

 

[unkleGsif]

More like "cutting up apples and putting them in a bag keeps 20 illegal immigrants in work, and 1 Ring Master rich"

G

 

[greenstiles]

I was a bin man for a year and a half up untill last xmas. (private contract not council wages) here are some facts/observations.

Our council recycles a lot and at the plant i think they got something like £40 a ton selling paper and £400 a ton for alu.....but the government charge them about £100 to dump a ton of black waste.They do have to dispose of about 10% of the recycled bails due to contamiation.

To put this into perspective there were about there were about 5 main bin wagons and 2 smaller ones that did farms etc, each and every day most trucks would collect and dump about 11.5 tons twice a day !(2 runs of 11.5 to the tip) recycling is lighter but more bulky and hard to compress so you can't get as much in a truck as black bag waste. This was for a population of about 35,000 people.



People in general (round here) are good at recycling, but there are a few dicks who put nappies and food in the recyling bins !!! when that gets on the convayer belts and to the hand pickers, it's not nice.

The landfill sites are full of stuff that mixed with earth will break down quite well. But the biggest problem is plastic bags, if only they could include soft plastic bags for recycling the land fills (if good recycling is taking place) would be mostly biodegradeable stuff.

Honestly you would not believe after the rubbish has started to break down you are left with layers and layers of plastic bags.


Now here's something, the food waste collection (which i worked on too) only collect every other week, so the alturnate week we had to just throw the food waste in with the black rubbish.

When it was collected, about every 3 days when the truck got full it had to make a 60 mile round trip for just over 1/2 a ton of food to be turned into compost.

 

[technodup]

Just another way do-gooders can feel all superior imo. When buying or selling a product or service the key question is always "What's in it for me?" Millions are converted to community recycling and I can't think of one tangible reason other than smugness.

I just don't get it.

Have a free :facepalm: :roll:

Try the fact that hundreds of millions of people greedily scoffing up finite natural resources then lobbing them in a hole in the ground, never to be used again.

I've already addressed that point. Use less. If all the efforts and money spent on recycling were instead directed at changing purchasing habits that would be more sustainable imo. Surely it makes more sense to treat the cause rather than the symptom?

Not to mention the rise of a further several billion more out of poverty, clamouring for a "Western Lifestyle" and following our example.

One part of the western lifestyle they aren't following is the green agenda. So if the billions in China, India, Brazil, Indonesia etc don't care what difference is a few million in the UK going to achieve? Next to nothing, other than the self-satisfaction of 'doing their bit'.

 

[greenstiles]

As an ex bin man i would say 'ban the plastic bag' it is grossly under estimated .........really.

The average bin contains, shoppng bags, food packaging, consumer packaging electical, lesiure , cosmetics etc etc etc and then is put in a big black plastic bag. All soft plastic.

 

[unkleGsif]

One part of the western lifestyle they aren't following is the green agenda. .

How do you know.... do you live there? are you active in these societies enough to be able to comment?

So if the billions in China, India, Brazil, Indonesia etc don't care what difference is a few million in the UK going to achieve? Next to nothing, other than the self-satisfaction of 'doing their bit'.

We might as well give up and jump off the cliff now then, eh?
You are however, utterly correct that consumerism and excess is an issue that needs addressing

G