At the recycling centre in Drayton a pink guitar, a painted wooden duck, and a cookie jar have been put aside. Somebody thought they were worth saving.
The big yellow claw will crush the other rubbish.
Some of our old things get sold on Gumtree or Ebay, donated to charity shops., or left out on the street for FREE.
Out with the old and in with the new means MOVE FORWARD.
New lamps for old means the old was worth more than the new.
At what point do items left out on the street become fly-tipping? The cupboard on Conduit Road has been there for weeks.
I had a very thorough response to an FOI request that I made regarding our waste and our ‘recycling’ centres.
I will summarise here, with my own personal bias. We all have a bias.
The recycling centres are a business. They are not run for our benefit. ‘Recycling’ only means recycling if it suits the business model.
We pay w&s to take our waste and run the site. Anything ‘recycled’ and having a value they sell on. That’s twice they get money.
This explains why, when I asked if I could have a look for a piece of wire for a school project I was told ‘no’. I jokingly asked what would happen if I picked a piece up from the floor? I was told that if I did that I would be stealing and could be prosecuted. They said that anything that crosses the threshold to the site “is theirs”.
This isn’t recycling. This is a shame. Other boroughs have separated out ‘good stuff’ for people to help themselves to. That is recycling. Is that what’s happening with the pink guitar and biscuit tin? I’d love to think it is. But I’m sure it isn’t.
I have asked other users of the site; “oh, is that being chucked out, can I have it?” as I look in their boot. “Yes, have it”.
What an earnest, community recycling opportunity we had. Who’d have thought we were breaking the law.
It’s a sorry state of affairs that we can’t recycle properly.
Our compostable waste? Do we have the opportunity to get all that back as prime compost? Except for a single couple of hours in November (or whenever), no. Why can’t we have free compost whenever we want?
They (The Veil) or the council’s in general have us over a barrel yet again. Like they do with the roads, planning, parking etc.
But hey, at least it’s the same barrel; now THAT’S recycling!
It is quite expensive to book the refuse collectors to pick up items. People on low wages could not afford it.
Daniel – I agree with your main point, but assuming that attempting to persuade the Vale and its contractors to change its approach would be futile, there are other things we can all do to help.
Nothing that is still useful should go to the recycling centre: take them to a charity shop or put them on e-bay, free gone or gumtree. For larger items, some of the charity shops (eg Kathryn Turner Trust will collect them.
Your point about less obviously useful things like bits of wire is a good one – wood can go to the wood recycling place, but I dont know about metal. Maybe someone from Carbon Cutters might have some ideas..
I would recommend the Kathryn Trust mentioned above. We often drop larger items there and the other day I picked up a chest of drawers for £10 that was perfect for the garage. They will pick up and deliver – they should be used more often!
You have to pay for wood at wood recycling place (I understand why that is) but my point is that we should be able to ‘pick through’ the recycling rather than be threatened with prosecution for stealing.
We also pay thrice for ‘building waste’ that is crushed and used as hardcore.
It all don’t a good system, but it the one we are subject to.
Like I’ve said before; never let common sense get in the way of a tidy profit.
I’m sure the council could negotiate a scheme where people could pick through the recycling (presumably dodging the jcbs compressing stuff), but I’m also sure the recycling company would then need to charge them more as it no longer gets whatever revenues it earns from selling stuff on. This would then increase our council tax or stop them spending money on something else – simple economics Daniel.
‘Joe Public’ picking through the skips is probably a recipe for Anarchy. The Injury Lawyers would relish the fallout.
In some countries there is a “free-exchange” day each month. Householders put out stuff at the roadside and anyone cruising can take it. If the stuff hasn’t gone, the householder has either to take it to a recycling centre or take it back in by the next day. It is not a license for local flytipping !
It does require a certain level of public discipline.
I know Iain, and you are totally correct.
And that is exactly why we will not save the planet, and why ‘recyling’ is fruitless, and there’s no real point standing at the sink washing out yoghurt pots.
It’s a shame.
We can’t change the system of course, but at the very least could we stop dressing it up as doing something good, or earnest. That’s what economics is. Profit first.
(Just as a point of fact, the ‘recyclables’ weren’t left in a skip with a JCB and residents bashing about at the same time. The ‘good stuff’ was taken out and put aside, out of harms way).
Happy New Year! Will 2019 recycle 2018?