[Archived] The Green Thread

[roversmum]

Having noted the discussion in the General Election Thread, thought it might be an idea to start a Green Thread to discuss all issues Environmental - preferably in a light-hearted manner - no handbags please, send them to the Charity Shop.

Is Global Warming a figment of imagination? Despite whether you believe in it or not we have too much rubbish and allegedly are running out of disposal room for it.

Recycling - useful tips.

How can we do our bit?

[yoda]

Having noted the discussion in the General Election Thread, thought it might be an idea to start a Green Thread to discuss all issues Environmental - preferably in a light-hearted manner - no handbags please, send them to the Charity Shop.

Is Global Warming a figment of imagination? Despite whether you believe in it or not we have too much rubbish and allegedly are running out of disposal room for it.

Recycling - useful tips.

How can we do our bit?

Bring back glass bottles with a deposit!

[roversmum]

Now there's an idea!

[Cheeky Sidders]

I work for Blackburn with Darwen Borough Council which has tried hard over the last few years to get the populace of our great borough to recycle household waste. As such it has introduced weekly recycling collection for plastic, glass, metal and paper and it would appear to have been a great success in many ways. It has reduced the amount of rubbish we throw away, re-usable stuff gets used again and it has provided gainful employment to several young people I know of modest academic achievement who had struggled to get work elsewhere. So far, so good.

How ironic it is then that the same council fails to encourage its own staff to recycle waste. The office I work in generates a vast amount of paper waste and while a lot of it is confidential (scrupulously collected and incinerated as is only proper) there is a lot of other paper and cardboard that simply goes in the bin because there's nowhere else to put it. I, and several others, bring waste paper, cans, plastic bottles, milk bottles and whathaveyou home to put in our household recycling tubs, but we're only scratching the surface. I've raised it at work several times but nothing has ever come of it.

So I'd say a good start would be for the council to put it's own house in order and recycle its own rubbish.

[yoda]

I work for Blackburn with Darwen Borough Council which has tried hard over the last few years to get the populace of our great borough to recycle household waste. As such it has introduced weekly recycling collection for plastic, glass, metal and paper and it would appear to have been a great success in many ways. It has reduced the amount of rubbish we throw away, re-usable stuff gets used again and it has provided gainful employment to several young people I know of modest academic achievement who had struggled to get work elsewhere. So far, so good.

How ironic it is then that the same council fails to encourage its own staff to recycle waste. The office I work in generates a vast amount of paper waste and while a lot of it is confidential (scrupulously collected and incinerated as is only proper) there is a lot of other paper and cardboard that simply goes in the bin because there's nowhere else to put it. I, and several others, bring waste paper, cans, plastic bottles, milk bottles and whathaveyou home to put in our household recycling tubs, but we're only scratching the surface. I've raised it at work several times but nothing has ever come of it.

So I'd say a good start would be for the council to put it's own house in order and recycle its own rubbish.

Education, Education, Education

It is still a Labour council, is it not!

[Paul]

We seperate all recyclable waste as deemd appropriate by Chorley Borough - paper, cardboard, plastic, tin, glass. It doesn't cause any real hassle though I do get fed up with the soggy, sticky mess we have to put out every other Wednesday. In appropriate places I'd like something more centralised with proper containers. I'd also like to see better containers for home collection rather than the rather unpleasant stuff we have at present.

Of late I have given up commuting by car whenever possible. Admitedly injury forecd this on me originally but now I won't go back to the car by choice. Recently when buying over packaged goods I unpack them in the retailer's car park and return the packaging to the shop. I doubt this makes the point but I feel better. Recently I bought two plastic rain butts which came in huge cardboard boxes, the staff at Wickes thought I was very strange. I do get riled when a shop offers me a carrier bag for a pint of milk or similar. When out and about I make a point of collecting our rubbish and dispose of it properly.

Working in a supposedly "green" industry I find the lip service paid to environmental issues by multiple retailers disturbing. While some have very strong environmental policies these are driven by a desire to stay out of the headlines rather than a real concern for the environment.

[cletus]

Instead of using up valuable landfill space, i prefer to fly-tip!

[adopted scouser]

Speaking as one of many who actually go out and work for a living, and whose monthly tax contribution to the coffers at the Kremlin could fund a small village, why do we have to sort out our own waste ?

We should be able to put everything in the one bin and have 'can't work won't work' and every other scrounger on unemployment benfit in overalls and rubber gloves sorting it at the other end. Why not ? Let them earn their bloody money !

[92er]

Education, Education, Education

It is still a Labour council, is it not!

No.

[SAS]

Speaking as one of many who actually go out and work for a living, and whose monthly tax contribution to the coffers at the Kremlin could fund a small village, why do we have to sort out our own waste ?

We should be able to put everything in the one bin and have 'can't work won't work' and every other scrounger on unemployment benfit in overalls and rubber gloves sorting it at the other end. Why not ? Let them earn their bloody money !

haha YES

i help the world by walking to work, this mianly contributes to the fact my transport was stolen ..

[AlanK]

Use the low energy light bulbs.

They may cost a bit but save 60-70% energy and last for up to 10 years. Its a huge saving in the end for everyone.

Its a win win.

[pg]

We recycle all our glass every week. Our council has green waste and plastic/paper recycling collections as well.

I'm still amazed that there is ZERO paper recycling at work. All Australian offices have a paper recycle bin in them.

[cn174]

I try my best to recycle as much as I can. But sometimes it can be difficult. About this time last year we noticed that some houses had a blue bin for paper waste, which we thought would be a good idea - with a house of 6 students we tended to create quite a lot of paper waste. So we rung the council and they said we couldnt' have one unless we paid £20/month for it (don't think so). Two/three weeks later we got a brown bin, for garden waste only, except we didn't have a garden just like the rest of the houses in our area. We phoned the council again to see if we could swap our brown useless bin for a blue one but still no. So we painted it blue, wrote 'paper' on it and the bin men emptied it every week!

In this case we were quite willing to recycle things we produced much of, but seeing how difficult Manc City Council made it most people would just give up and stick it in with normal waste, which is just the opposite of what they you want to do.

Also we've just ordered a compost bin, free from Chorley Borough council (and every other council I think)

[Wolverine]

I used to recycle, but Hyndburn Borough Council soon saw to that. Shambles.

[cletus]

with a house of 6 students we tended to create quite a lot of paper waste.

Have a little fire in your back yard/garden once a week, it gets rid of all the waste paper, junk mail & newspapers......AND it makes you feel good!

[American]

I try my best to recycle as much as I can. But sometimes it can be difficult. About this time last year we noticed that some houses had a blue bin for paper waste, which we thought would be a good idea - with a house of 6 students we tended to create quite a lot of paper waste. So we rung the council and they said we couldnt' have one unless we paid £20/month for it (don't think so). Two/three weeks later we got a brown bin, for garden waste only, except we didn't have a garden just like the rest of the houses in our area. We phoned the council again to see if we could swap our brown useless bin for a blue one but still no. So we painted it blue, wrote 'paper' on it and the bin men emptied it every week!

In this case we were quite willing to recycle things we produced much of, but seeing how difficult Manc City Council made it most people would just give up and stick it in with normal waste, which is just the opposite of what they you want to do.

Also we've just ordered a compost bin, free from Chorley Borough council (and every other council I think)

I would guess that they actually have to pay to get rid of rubbish and get paid for the recyclables, so it is stupid of them to charge for bins, either that or they aren't being smart with who they send their recyclables to.

As for us, we recycle (the Mrs more than me) and haven't owned a car in 2 1/2 years.

[Beta Ray Bill]

We phoned the council again to see if we could swap our brown useless bin for a blue one but still no. So we painted it blue, wrote 'paper' on it and the bin men emptied it every week!

Is this act of recycling a recycling bin a first?

Kirklees are introducing a full rotational pickup service from this month, similar to Chorleys which I experience when I'm over at the parents. Only thing is, the extra bins & boxes are nowhere to be seen yet...

[bblue]

Speaking as one of many who actually go out and work for a living, and whose monthly tax contribution to the coffers at the Kremlin could fund a small village, why do we have to sort out our own waste ?

We should be able to put everything in the one bin and have 'can't work won't work' and every other scrounger on unemployment benfit in overalls and rubber gloves sorting it at the other end. Why not ? Let them earn their bloody money !

At least you're being given the chance to do something about recycling. In my country there's hardly any effort in that, only recently they've thought of asking people to throw away PET bottles in a separate bin, but other than that all garbage is processed together.

[ABBEY]

its a complete pain in the arse where i live ..we have to take the recycled stuff thru the house because someone decided its better than collecting at the back like they do for the big bins.It leaves a trail of stink and wet thru the house its outrageous and when you ring the muppets at the council they dont give a toss.

[broadsword]

You should see what teh recycle in Germany, you can recycle everything apart from food waste.

You can even recycle crisp packets.

I go down my local tip and a lot of stuff just gets dumped in non-recyclable household waste :S

[Wolverine]

I complained to Hyndburn BC ages ago about the state of recycling on our estate (collections missed, or ignored, recycling dropped by collectors and left, bags and boxes going missing after collections), but have got nothing back.

Anyone who wants to complain, call 01254 399988 and get ignored by them, then try Steve Riley who again will ignore you. Just emailed Peter Clarke who is the deputy leader so maybe we will get somewhere now.

[Cheeky Sidders]

Education, Education, Education

It is still a Labour council, is it not!

I think you are the one in need of education as it hasn't been a Labour council since May. I can only conclude you use the pseudonym of Yoda as some sort of ironic joke.

Funnily enough, when we had a Labour council we had recycle bins in the office. Now the ever-so-green Tories and Liberal acolytes are in power the recycle bins have disappeared.

[colin]

Good subject Roversmum,

It's not really that difficult to do a little bit.

We're lucky enought to have a garden and a compost bin, so everything that can go in there does go in there. Keeps the worms busy.

Manchester City Council has a scheme where you keep your glass, tins & paper in a box which we put out every fortnight on the front & they come and collect it all.

I don't think we've put our wheelie bin out for about two months.

At work we all have these little paper recycling boxes on our desks to store waste paper & envelopes. Once they get full you go and empty them into the "big paper bin."

Curiously, someone gets a copy of the "Manchester Evening News" and then takes it into the office kitchen and dumps it into the general waste bin. I suppose there's nowt as strange as folk.

[Paul]

I thought this was interesting yesterday's Observer. We supposedly run a paperless office and I reckon to have cut our paper consumption by 60% over the last two years, there are though some bits of paper that are essential. We shred all unwanted paper, partly for security, partly to reduce bulk and then put it in the general waste!!!! That will have to change.

We also have the biggest compost heap you've seen which is used to re-cycle enormous amounts of waste.

[yoda]

I think you are the one in need of education as it hasn't been a Labour council since May. I can only conclude you use the pseudonym of Yoda as some sort of ironic joke.

Funnily enough, when we had a Labour council we had recycle bins in the office. Now the ever-so-green Tories and Liberal acolytes are in power the recycle bins have disappeared.

[/quote

Actually its because I Live in France and have probably lost touch with the local political events in Blackburn, in France recycling is not an issue, everybody does it and you can go to the tip freely even with a van or truck without having to buy a permit, hence no fly tipping and clean streets etc.

The name Yoda started years ago when having banter with the dingles, as poeple like Usablue can confirm,

'Cheeky Sidders' would'nt be some ironic joke by some chance would it?

Anyway thanks for the education about Blackburn politics, I will endeavour to keep up!