Why can't people recycle

Jan 31, 2018
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Went to the bins at Eye Kettleby. Couldn't be clearer. 3 sets of bins with gaps and colours! One set card ,tins ,one set general, one set glass only. Opened the glass only to hide the evidence from last night and there is a cardboard box full of glass and beer tins. Grrr. I sorted it but really? Laziness or ignorance? Maybe they were drunk. There was a lot!!!! There's no hope for the planet
 
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Nov 11, 2009
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It’s the same wherever we have been, but we noticed that on our last trip to France both campsite and municipal bins were used correctly. Could it be a British thing as even at our council skips some peoples understanding of what constitutes wood or hard plastic beggars belief.
 
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Ern

May 23, 2021
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The procedure around the country is not standardised, so people may not realise that what they are doing is wrong in this particular area. In our area we recycle tins and plastic together. In other areas they put plastic in the landfill. We use CL's a lot and find it difficult to know what to do sometimes. If you follow what others are doing, it could be wrong.
 
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May 7, 2012
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Yes I have been known to do some peoples recycling in similar circumstances. It is usually beer or other alcohol so may be they have had too much . I can't even get my daughters to do it right so there is work to be done.
 
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Nov 6, 2005
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The procedure around the country is not standardised, so people may not realise that what they are doing is wrong in this particular area. In our area we recycle tins and plastic together. In other areas they put plastic in the landfill. We use CL's a lot and find it difficult to know what to do sometimes. If you follow what others are doing, it could be wrong.
Exactly - one of Swmbo's jobs while I'm setting up is to find out what the CL owners want recycled into which bin as it's almost always different to home - where all recycling goes in one bin but black plastic is banned.
 
Dec 6, 2021
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Exactly - one of Swmbo's jobs while I'm setting up is to find out what the CL owners want recycled into which bin as it's almost always different to home - where all recycling goes in one bin but black plastic is banned.
As government figures show more than half recycled refuse goes to land fill; the whole activity is mainly a PR stunt.
So stop worrying about trivia.
 
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Nov 11, 2009
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As government figures show more than half recycled refuse goes to land fill; the whole activity is mainly a PR stunt.
So stop worrying about trivia.
Surely that’s as good a reason as possible to keep on doing the best that you can, as it will put more pressure on local authorities to up their game. The other thing people can do is to change their approach, by not buying stuff that has to be recycled or sent to landfill. Small actions multiplied millions of times over do make a difference.
 

Ern

May 23, 2021
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As government figures show more than half recycled refuse goes to land fill; the whole activity is mainly a PR stunt.
So stop worrying about trivia.
I don't know where you have that figure from, but our county has a very much better recycling performance rate than that.
 
Nov 11, 2009
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One of the problems with household waste is that it’s such a mixed bag. Our county had a contract to send some of it for incineration with energy recovery. But that didn’t work as people kept putting waste into the energy recovery bags that was detrimental to the plant machinery. So the incineration company terminated the contract. I know incineration isn’t really the answer but it’s less harmful to the environment than emmisions from landfill.

The other aspect is that a lot of our household waste was being exported to other countries such as Turkey, Malaysia, SE Asia etc and they quite rightly have now banned it. So we have more of our own to deal with. The latest HMG report is linked below. The eye opener is the impact of Building and Construction waste.

https://assets.publishing.service.g...tistical_notice_July2021_accessible_FINAL.pdf
 
Jan 3, 2012
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Last time we were at my brother place in Sleights i was sorting the recycling bins out they had name tags on but the stuff was not in the right bin .
 
Jun 20, 2005
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One of the problems with household waste is that it’s such a mixed bag. Our county had a contract to send some of it for incineration with energy recovery. But that didn’t work as people kept putting waste into the energy recovery bags that was detrimental to the plant machinery. So the incineration company terminated the contract. I know incineration isn’t really the answer but it’s less harmful to the environment than emmisions from landfill.

The other aspect is that a lot of our household waste was being exported to other countries such as Turkey, Malaysia, SE Asia etc and they quite rightly have now banned it. So we have more of our own to deal with. The latest HMG report is linked below. The eye opener is the impact of Building and Construction waste.

https://assets.publishing.service.g...tistical_notice_July2021_accessible_FINAL.pdf
A heck of a read Clive! But why is Wales so far ahead? Well done Boyos
 
Mar 14, 2005
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A couple of weeks ago I had a new 1200mm long chest freezer delivered. The entire package was enclosed within a thick plastic sheet. Once that was removed, every edge of the freezer was protected by a 100x100mm angle of moulded polystyrene which was 35mm thick. The packing was extremely well-engineered with dovetailed joints. I felt sure it must be reusable - so I rang the Council. I was dumbfounded to be told it goes to landfill. Even with breaking it down into suitable lengths and packing the angles together, it quickly filled both my wheelie bin and that of my neighbour.
I later read that beaded polystyrene takes more than 500 years in landfill to break down. Surely it must be possible to devise a method of reuse?
 
Nov 11, 2009
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A couple of weeks ago I had a new 1200mm long chest freezer delivered. The entire package was enclosed within a thick plastic sheet. Once that was removed, every edge of the freezer was protected by a 100x100mm angle of moulded polystyrene which was 35mm thick. The packing was extremely well-engineered with dovetailed joints. I felt sure it must be reusable - so I rang the Council. I was dumbfounded to be told it goes to landfill. Even with breaking it down into suitable lengths and packing the angles together, it quickly filled both my wheelie bin and that of my neighbour.
I later read that beaded polystyrene takes more than 500 years in landfill to break down. Surely it must be possible to devise a method of reuse?
That’s part of the problem in that manufacturers of some items are still in the dark ages. Three years ago when we moved house we bought quite a lot of new stuff from IKEA. Now there’s an object lesson in how to do environmentally responsible packaging. Most of it was cardboard and paper based. And the cardboard honeycomb used to protect surfaces or corners was incredibly strong. So in many respects it is sheer laziness on the part of the businesses and their supply chain.
 
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Jun 20, 2005
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Taken from a “Green” site

Of course, polystyrene can be recycled. Now polystyrene recycling has informed a mature industrial chain. In fact, polystyrene is a kind of material composed of 98% air. That means it can be greatly compacted into ingots or blocks through polystyrene densifiers and compactors. And those ingots and blocks will be cut into pellets, which can be used to manufactured into many products such as photo frames, garden benches, clothes hangers, and other industrial materials.

You have to ask who is it that wasn’t to do the recycling?
 
Nov 11, 2009
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Taken from a “Green” site

Of course, polystyrene can be recycled. Now polystyrene recycling has informed a mature industrial chain. In fact, polystyrene is a kind of material composed of 98% air. That means it can be greatly compacted into ingots or blocks through polystyrene densifiers and compactors. And those ingots and blocks will be cut into pellets, which can be used to manufactured into many products such as photo frames, garden benches, clothes hangers, and other industrial materials.

You have to ask who is it that wasn’t to do the recycling?
I suspect that the answer as to why polystyrene packaging goes to landfill is that there is a limit to the amount recycling factories can process and then sell on for other companies to use. Whilst recycling such material is laudable, the real answer is to reduce or stop using it in the first place if viable alternatives can be used. An alternative approach would be to make the retailer of the goods accept the packaging materials back, and then to pay the real cost of its recycling or disposal.
 
Jul 18, 2017
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I suspect that the answer as to why polystyrene packaging goes to landfill is that there is a limit to the amount recycling factories can process and then sell on for other companies to use. Whilst recycling such material is laudable, the real answer is to reduce or stop using it in the first place if viable alternatives can be used. An alternative approach would be to make the retailer of the goods accept the packaging materials back, and then to pay the real cost of its recycling or disposal.
My son bought a recycling plant last year in Eswatini and they recycled everything. It is now the biggest recycling plant in that country and they deal with everything. They are now exporting the recycled stuff to China to use in manufacturing.
 
Mar 27, 2011
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Went to the bins at Eye Kettleby. Couldn't be clearer. 3 sets of bins with gaps and colours! One set card ,tins ,one set general, one set glass only. Opened the glass only to hide the evidence from last night and there is a cardboard box full of glass and beer tins. Grrr. I sorted it but really? Laziness or ignorance? Maybe they were drunk. There was a lot!!!! There's no hope for the planet
Hi Jezzer are you staying at eye for the rat pack show?
 
Jan 3, 2012
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We donated a chest freezer to BHF- British heart foundation and brought a new Lowry Black 31L Table top mini freezer 10 days ago it came in a cardboard box what was twice the size inside it was well pack with polystyrene . and then we recycle it .
 
Jul 18, 2017
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If people saw how some heavy goods are handled in the delivery company's warehouse they would be very grateful for all the extra protection on the item which is there for the consumer's benefit.
 
Nov 11, 2009
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If people saw how some heavy goods are handled in the delivery company's warehouse they would be very grateful for all the extra protection on the item which is there for the consumer's benefit.
But IKEA stuff is also very heavy particularly the full sized full height wardrobes. Ours all came packed in cardboard with internal corners reinforced with honeycomb cardboard, and the flat sections also protected by honeycomb cardboard. So it’s not necessary to use such large sections of expanded polystyrene foam.
 
Jul 18, 2017
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But IKEA stuff is also very heavy particularly the full sized full height wardrobes. Ours all came packed in cardboard with internal corners reinforced with honeycomb cardboard, and the flat sections also protected by honeycomb cardboard. So it’s not necessary to use such large sections of expanded polystyrene foam.
We have never bought from IKEA and probably never will so no idea of how they pack anything.
 
Jan 3, 2012
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Well this thing has come in very handy for moving a chest freezer and other stuff for recycling is this 2 wheel trolley
 

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Nov 16, 2015
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We bought a new Tumble dryer from a know on line outlet, I paid the extra £20 for the old one and the packaging to be removed, saved me the hassle of trying to fit it into the Santa Fe, to take it to the recycling tip.
Or just leaving the old Tumble dryer, outside the house for The Night time , White Van man.
 

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