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Forums - General - Green zealots succeed in nine-bin nightmare

SamuelRSmith on 23 April 2010
highwaystar101 said:
SamuelRSmith said:
In my local area, we have three bins. One for all recycling materials, one for non-recycling, and one for compost.

That's it. Not confusing at all. Our local authority deals with the sorting of all the recycling materials.

Yup, same system we have here. Obviously I have no idea what goes on behind the scenes, but it seems to work fine.

Well, seeing as we're in a Daily Mail thread, I'll posit the following: the recycling materials are all sorted by immigrants, the good stuff gets sent to Europe, whilst the bad stuff is delivered to Gordon Brown, and he personally sneaks it into children's school milk and baby-food.



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FootballFan on 23 April 2010
famousringo said:
highwaystar101 said:
FootballFan said:
The people of Britain are capable of recycling however, having it shoved down our throats and being told if we don't cooperate we get fined is extremely harsh

I find that by and large the people of Britain are lazy, we don't do something if it inconveniences us for ten seconds.

Funnily enough, my Dad wanted to throw an old broken Playstation out today, just in the bin. I said he should take it to the tip to be recycled, and he basically replied with "Why bother?"... At which point I started citing to him how much resources go into computers and why we shouldn't just throw electronics away. (Did you know that Gold is 17 times more concentrated in electronic waste than it is in mined ore?)

The point is, he wanted to just throw it away because it would save him ten minutes of his time, even though the facility for recycling exists.

I can imagine a lot of people I know not bothering to recycle.

It's not the British, it's the whole universe. Even flowing water and orbiting electrons take the path of least resistance.

So the trick is to indulge the laziness and design systems that are easy to participate in.

Or small financial incentives?



highwaystar101 on 23 April 2010
famousringo said:
highwaystar101 said:
FootballFan said:
The people of Britain are capable of recycling however, having it shoved down our throats and being told if we don't cooperate we get fined is extremely harsh

I find that by and large the people of Britain are lazy, we don't do something if it inconveniences us for ten seconds.

Funnily enough, my Dad wanted to throw an old broken Playstation out today, just in the bin. I said he should take it to the tip to be recycled, and he basically replied with "Why bother?"... At which point I started citing to him how much resources go into computers and why we shouldn't just throw electronics away. (Did you know that Gold is 17 times more concentrated in electronic waste than it is in mined ore?)

The point is, he wanted to just throw it away because it would save him ten minutes of his time, even though the facility for recycling exists.

I can imagine a lot of people I know not bothering to recycle.

It's not the British, it's the whole universe. Even flowing water and orbiting electrons take the path of least resistance.

So the trick is to indulge the laziness and design systems that are easy to participate in.

A. I like the way you wrote your post.

B. I agree with just having a system that is easy to participate in. Perhaps the easiest system for people to use and maximise recycling potential is to limit general waste pick up and just pick up recycling more frequently instead, so that people find it easier/more convenient to put something in their recycling bin as opposed to general waste.

Although, saying that, it is pretty much the system that is in place where I live.



highwaystar101 on 23 April 2010
SamuelRSmith said:
highwaystar101 said:
SamuelRSmith said:
In my local area, we have three bins. One for all recycling materials, one for non-recycling, and one for compost.

That's it. Not confusing at all. Our local authority deals with the sorting of all the recycling materials.

Yup, same system we have here. Obviously I have no idea what goes on behind the scenes, but it seems to work fine.

Well, seeing as we're in a Daily Mail thread, I'll posit the following: the recycling materials are all sorted by immigrants, the good stuff gets sent to Europe, whilst the bad stuff is delivered to Gordon Brown, and he personally sneaks it into children's school milk and baby-food.

Where does the constant threat of paedophiles and Islamic terrorism fit into it?



SamuelRSmith on 23 April 2010
highwaystar101 said:
SamuelRSmith said:
highwaystar101 said:
SamuelRSmith said:
In my local area, we have three bins. One for all recycling materials, one for non-recycling, and one for compost.

That's it. Not confusing at all. Our local authority deals with the sorting of all the recycling materials.

Yup, same system we have here. Obviously I have no idea what goes on behind the scenes, but it seems to work fine.

Well, seeing as we're in a Daily Mail thread, I'll posit the following: the recycling materials are all sorted by immigrants, the good stuff gets sent to Europe, whilst the bad stuff is delivered to Gordon Brown, and he personally sneaks it into children's school milk and baby-food.

Where does the constant threat of paedophiles and Islamic terrorism fit into it?

These are no longer problems. Labour's letting all the pensioners starve or freeze, and we all know that male pensioners make up 95% of paedophiles. Meanwhile, we're only 10 years away from a Muslim majority population, and we'll have sharia law... there won't be any need for Islamic terrorism.



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SeriousWB on 23 April 2010
SamuelRSmith said:
In my local area, we have three bins. One for all recycling materials, one for non-recycling, and one for compost.

That's it. Not confusing at all. Our local authority deals with the sorting of all the recycling materials.

We have a bin for rubbish, a bin for garden waste, a bag for plastic and cardboard, and finally a box for metal and glass.



SamuelRSmith on 23 April 2010
SeriousWB said:
SamuelRSmith said:
In my local area, we have three bins. One for all recycling materials, one for non-recycling, and one for compost.

That's it. Not confusing at all. Our local authority deals with the sorting of all the recycling materials.

We have a bin for rubbish, a bin for garden waste, a bag for plastic and cardboard, and finally a box for metal and glass.

For us, plastic, cardboard, metal and glass all go into the same bin. Paper can either go into the compost or recycling bin, as long as it hasn't got that waxy coating stuff on it.

Typically, though, they're not all that strict on it. I haven't ever heard of anybody being fined, and people are always putting non-recycling in recycling and vice versa.



famousringo on 23 April 2010
FootballFan said:
famousringo said:
highwaystar101 said:
FootballFan said:
The people of Britain are capable of recycling however, having it shoved down our throats and being told if we don't cooperate we get fined is extremely harsh

I find that by and large the people of Britain are lazy, we don't do something if it inconveniences us for ten seconds.

Funnily enough, my Dad wanted to throw an old broken Playstation out today, just in the bin. I said he should take it to the tip to be recycled, and he basically replied with "Why bother?"... At which point I started citing to him how much resources go into computers and why we shouldn't just throw electronics away. (Did you know that Gold is 17 times more concentrated in electronic waste than it is in mined ore?)

The point is, he wanted to just throw it away because it would save him ten minutes of his time, even though the facility for recycling exists.

I can imagine a lot of people I know not bothering to recycle.

It's not the British, it's the whole universe. Even flowing water and orbiting electrons take the path of least resistance.

So the trick is to indulge the laziness and design systems that are easy to participate in.

Or small financial incentives?

Could be, but that part gets tricky. Recycling is a pretty marginal business even when they get the waste for free, and it's very sensitive to commodity price fluctuations. Trying to track who recycles what adds administrative expense on top of any payouts for valuable waste (oxymoron?).

You'd probably have to work out a deposit system, like we have for beverage bottles and cans. Charge people a fee for using recyclable materials, and re-imburse them when (if) they go to recycle them. I suspect a lot of people would rather not pay a packaging tax on all their goods, though...



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Kasz216 on 23 April 2010
highwaystar101 said:
FootballFan said:
The people of Britain are capable of recycling however, having it shoved down our throats and being told if we don't cooperate we get fined is extremely harsh

I find that by and large the people of Britain are lazy, we don't do something if it inconveniences us for ten seconds.

Funnily enough, my Dad wanted to throw an old broken Playstation out today, just in the bin. I said he should take it to the tip to be recycled, and he basically replied with "Why bother?"... At which point I started citing to him how much resources go into computers and why we shouldn't just throw electronics away. (Did you know that Gold is 17 times more concentrated in electronic waste than it is in mined ore?)

The point is, he wanted to just throw it away because it would save him ten minutes of his time, even though the facility for recycling exists.

I can imagine a lot of people I know not bothering to recycle.

See if i was your father... I would of said "So you do it."

Us... we simply have 2 bins.

One for Recycleables and one for Trash.

They sort out the Recycleables at... well wherever the hell it goes.

You get money for recycleables and I ain't seeing any of that money so someoene else can sort it.



JustinUK on 23 April 2010

Just a quick glance of the story suggested it was from the Daily Mail. Middle England's indignation generator.

My council is the first in the UK to start rewards for recycling. Not compulsory with £130 vouchers if you participate. Always had weekly rubbish and recycling collections. 2 bins. 1 recycling and 1 for rubbish. Plus a 4% cut in council tax.