Any news on recyling???

jakki



Joined: 23/10/2007
Posts: 865

Message Posted:
07/01/2011 17:08

Whenever we visit TRNC for our holiday - I hate to throw away the mountains of plastic that we accumulate such as water bottles etc. At home, it's an entirely different matter - our council collects glass, cans, paper, plastic, garden waste, clothes and food.

spider


Joined: 03/01/2009
Posts: 5527

Message Posted:
07/01/2011 17:24

Now that would be very nice, but as I keep getting told by Mr Spider these things cost money and the island has no investments for such things and it seems Turkey has no interest in putting the money forward,silly because it would bring jobs and revenue,and it seems they can just about keep up with the potato needs here ) Such a shame about all the rubbish. :(





Spider,X

greenman


Joined: 16/02/2008
Posts: 526

Message Posted:
07/01/2011 18:03

jakki, You have fallen for another environmental con which is even worse than the 'man is creating global warming' lie. Essex nor any other council carry out recycling of material other than composting which you could do perfectly well at home if you have a reasonable sized garden. What councils do is to collect waste, either in a separated form or mixed. But what do they do with it - in other words where and how does the material get transformed into a recycled product? You mention plastic - which is a very difficult material to recycle as there are so many plastics in the family, and like many families many of them do not mix well with each other. The water bottle plastic (PET) is at the top of the domestic plastic hierarchy as it can be converted into polyester and often ends up as polyester filling in such things as duvets for example. So you are right to consider collecting these for recycling, but where will this conversion take place? Not in Cyprus - more than likely China.

jakki



Joined: 23/10/2007
Posts: 865

Message Posted:
08/01/2011 10:16

I have been told by various people that our so recycled rubbish ends up in andfills or is shipped and dumped abroad - buty somehow I cannot get my head around just putting all my ribbish in black refuse sacks - I am really quite paranoid about it.



We have here in Essex (well Southend County Council) separate lorries collecting waste, I am suspicious however when the dustmen (sorry operatives) throw recycling rubbish bags into the back of the lorry and watch them get crushed.



I think I will now contact Essex County Council and ask them what they do with the 'recycled' waste. I think that the food waste is used for fuel - but I don't know what they mean by 'fuel'

greenman


Joined: 16/02/2008
Posts: 526

Message Posted:
08/01/2011 11:08

Let me relieve you of some of your paranoia. There are few materials in the household waste stream that can be considered suitable for recycling. The point of recycling is to save energy (not materials as commonly thought). On that basis of all the materials in the household waste stream the only one that could be considered suitable for recycling i.e. actually saves energy through reprocessing instead of using raw material, is aluminium - hence it's high price. Glass is also readily recycled, but most UK household waste glass is coloured and of little use to UK reprocessors who mainly use clear glass. But why put a good glass container (bottle) into a bottle bank where breaks, is taken to a local waste collection point and then onto a glass processor (often hundreds of miles away) who crushes and washes the glass ready for selling on to anyone who wants it - mainly non UK so another long journey to be made into wine bottles ??? Wait a minute isn't that what you threw away??

sienna


Joined: 09/01/2009
Posts: 1627

Message Posted:
08/01/2011 11:13

message 1 yes find the nearest ravine

spider


Joined: 03/01/2009
Posts: 5527

Message Posted:
08/01/2011 11:20

greenman So what you are saying is there is no point ! is selling these thing on to whoever is able to to the job not the whole point.Like I was saying no such places here.I guess you make your own wine,very nice too would you like to set up a collection point,maybe two or three and the idea might catch on ) That would just bring a pile of glass to one place,and all who need jam jars would be happy







Spider,X

greenman


Joined: 16/02/2008
Posts: 526

Message Posted:
08/01/2011 11:43

Spider, I am not saying there is no point, but that the efforts of householders are in vain if they think that putting waste materials into different boxes is going to going to have an environmental benefit. In the UK we have gone from one waste collection from one waste bin a week to ...... the variables are so great depending on where you live, but in all cases more than one vehicle and certainly a lot more bins ( and look how your UK council tax has risen - have you checked to see the cost of the waste collection??)

As for making my own wine - I'm teetotal, but what is wrong with taking your empty bottle to get it refilled.

spider


Joined: 03/01/2009
Posts: 5527

Message Posted:
08/01/2011 22:05

They must be paying a lot more council tax on one side of this street !





http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-1345025/Street-boundary-2-councils-Rubbish-taken-away-side.html





That reminds me, we pay our dues and have not bins,roads or street lights )





Spider,X

spider


Joined: 03/01/2009
Posts: 5527

Message Posted:
08/01/2011 22:16

This reminds me of something too.We should all take our rubbish home with us, but then where do we put it..





http://www.dailymail.co.uk/sciencetech/article-1344356/Claims-island-plastic-waste-twice-size-Texas-floating-Pacific-false.html





Spider,X

Groucho



Joined: 26/04/2008
Posts: 7993

Message Posted:
09/01/2011 08:42

The re-cycling economies of scale will never come to fruition in Cyprus. Think about it, the population of a large town/small city spread over the whole island; where things like glass-making etc. are not major industries. If you build in transportation costs it's bonkers. You want real jobs with a net value not made up ones that end up being worthless in monetary terms.

In the UK recycling cost/benefit is marginal at best. Here it will never have a cost benefit worth the investment. The island is poor enough as it is so money has higher priorities.

This doesn't mean we couldn't all do better and use less packaging which has to be the way to go.

Why do we need a bag for bananas? They've got their own wrapping! Think about rejecting an unnecessary bag for every item.....

The Danes have the right idea.. nearly every bottle has a deposit and the place where you bought takes them back for washing and re-use by the same manufacturer... would it work here?

cont...

Groucho



Joined: 26/04/2008
Posts: 7993

Message Posted:
09/01/2011 08:42

Only if the manufacturing base was here too

Groucho



Joined: 26/04/2008
Posts: 7993

Message Posted:
09/01/2011 08:48

The biggest scandal in waste terms is bottled water, with brands like Evian, using 3 1/2 litres of water to produce one and then transporting it to the US and distributing it via lorry to outlets all over the US in a country with no clean water shortage... It's madness.



The oil and water used to make the bottles and water used to fill it alone makes it bad but then factor in the transport costs and... well, totally and utterly bonkers.