letter to the Standard, 23/3/11
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colchesterfoeEssex County Standard, letters page.
Let's sort ourselves out at the kerbside!
Dear Editor,
I wonder why Roger Buston (ECS 11/3/11) didn't realise that the costly clear one-use plastic recycling sacks are being supplied in huge rolls yet again for this next year? They go to people willynilly, whether they use them or not - what an unnecessary waste. I wonder what they get used for if people don't recycle mixed plastic or mixed card and paper?
The value of our recyclates is being lost. By mixing paper with card it then has to be sorted out. WRAP, the Government-funded advisory body says that paper should be collected separately at the kerbside for local baling, and brings a high income for the clean paper our UK reprocessors are desperate for.
We need reusable boxes or bags for separated recyclables and the right vehicles to collect valuable materials separately. The notorious and unsuitable 'split' vehicles have come to the end of their lease now, so where are the plans for getting the more economical and suitable vehicles as recommended by two separate independent consultants after that costly debacle?
Around Christmastime we saw the huge pile of collected mixed glass contaminated with loads of metal cans and tins. We used to collect glass separately in the 'Fame' flatback vehicles which we still have. The colours were separated into the stillages at the kerb. This can go straight back into glass containers which gets the highest prices and saves a large amount of energy.
If glass is mixed it has to go to a special sorting centre to try to separate the colours, wasting energy and transport costs. If the mixed glass is instead used as aggregate or landfill filtration you have wasted this valuable resource and have no energy savings. For the first time ever less than half of UK glass collected is able to be used for new glass containers.
The county council wants all the councils to have three wheelie bins per home. This is for an area collection contract including taking all our crushed and contaminated recyclables to a costly central sorting 'MRF' to be sorted, wasting energy and losing the value of the recyclates.
WRAP says separated recycling collections, sorted at the kerb, cost less and bring in top prices for clean recylates for our UK reprocessors instead of exporting degraded materials. Chelmsford council is doing it, so let's just sort ourselves out at the kerb!
Yours sincerely,
Paula Whitney, Co-ordinator,
Colchester & North East Essex Friends of the Earth, 4 Shears Crescent, West Mersea, Essex.
Let's sort ourselves out at the kerbside!
Dear Editor,
I wonder why Roger Buston (ECS 11/3/11) didn't realise that the costly clear one-use plastic recycling sacks are being supplied in huge rolls yet again for this next year? They go to people willynilly, whether they use them or not - what an unnecessary waste. I wonder what they get used for if people don't recycle mixed plastic or mixed card and paper?
The value of our recyclates is being lost. By mixing paper with card it then has to be sorted out. WRAP, the Government-funded advisory body says that paper should be collected separately at the kerbside for local baling, and brings a high income for the clean paper our UK reprocessors are desperate for.
We need reusable boxes or bags for separated recyclables and the right vehicles to collect valuable materials separately. The notorious and unsuitable 'split' vehicles have come to the end of their lease now, so where are the plans for getting the more economical and suitable vehicles as recommended by two separate independent consultants after that costly debacle?
Around Christmastime we saw the huge pile of collected mixed glass contaminated with loads of metal cans and tins. We used to collect glass separately in the 'Fame' flatback vehicles which we still have. The colours were separated into the stillages at the kerb. This can go straight back into glass containers which gets the highest prices and saves a large amount of energy.
If glass is mixed it has to go to a special sorting centre to try to separate the colours, wasting energy and transport costs. If the mixed glass is instead used as aggregate or landfill filtration you have wasted this valuable resource and have no energy savings. For the first time ever less than half of UK glass collected is able to be used for new glass containers.
The county council wants all the councils to have three wheelie bins per home. This is for an area collection contract including taking all our crushed and contaminated recyclables to a costly central sorting 'MRF' to be sorted, wasting energy and losing the value of the recyclates.
WRAP says separated recycling collections, sorted at the kerb, cost less and bring in top prices for clean recylates for our UK reprocessors instead of exporting degraded materials. Chelmsford council is doing it, so let's just sort ourselves out at the kerb!
Yours sincerely,
Paula Whitney, Co-ordinator,
Colchester & North East Essex Friends of the Earth, 4 Shears Crescent, West Mersea, Essex.
