Thousands of tons of UK recycling being dumped or burned
I wondered a while back about what exactly happens to the recycling that people put out on the curb, and a troubling report that has just been publicized says that much of the council recycling (that is, the stuff picked up house-to-house by the recycling trucks) is just getting put in the landfill or burned.
No indicators WHY exactly, and only half of the town and city councils contacted for the government survey responded, but surely that’s not a good thing?
Where I live, the city council gave every household a new green bin (for plastics & glass) and a brown bin (for compostibles) in addition to the black bin (for regular garbage). At the same time, they reduced the collection times from every week to every two weeks, I’m assuming to force people to use the recycling and composting bins. Of course people grumbled about this, and in some places you have to separate the recycling before putting it in the bin. There’s also talk about the bins being inspected to make sure that the right stuff goes into the right bins. So there’s more talk about how the government is trying to control everything. Since it’s for the eco cause though, I don’t mind this so much.
But imagine what the grumblers and complainers will say when they hear that what they dutifully recycle may not even be going to a recycling facility?!
What a shame. There’s a way to lose public confidence, eh?
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