by Micheal Smith (Veshengro)
Wyre Forest residents have rather reacted badly to the council announcing that it will halt all waste collection services for three weeks while it transitions for a recycling revamp.
The new recycling scheme, which will be implemented to make collections in the district greener, will begin Monday, July 5. This move, however, has caused the local authority to come under fire from taxpayers for its decision to shutdown fortnightly collections, as if fortnightly collections were not bad enough already. Under the new plan some areas of the district will see their normal collection times changed.
Initially residents reacted strongly after an error was made in collection information when a mistyped pamphlet was sent out to 15,000 households. And, there was even more backlash when householders realized more money and paper had to be used to send out correct leaflets. Many residents will be forced to wait three weeks instead of two to have their rubbish collected.
One resident said that he was disgusted with the council’s actions. He said waiting two weeks was bad enough, but it was not right for them to deprive households of having wheelie bins added.
Councils across the country have been scrambling to implement new schemes that will save money as the nation braces for cutbacks. Furthermore, looming EU recycling targets have cause authorities around the UK to revamp waste collection services in favor of boosting recycling efforts.
The entire refuse collecting and recycling efforts which, in fact, seems to be getting nowhere fast are a waste of rime, money and resources.
Most of the so-called recyclables are not even going anywhere near being recycled. They still go to the landfill for they cannot be sold. Sold to companies abroad, that is.
Our biggest problem is that we ship our recyclables to other countries, such as with Wee Recycling only for the stuff to be put into holes in the ground there in those countries, and that includes China.
If we would really be serious about recycling then recyclables would be recycled in the “country of origin” so to speak, such as in Britain, USA, or elsewhere and not shipped abroad where the safety regulations that are in effect in this country do not exist.
The same is basically true for most countries of the EU so how the parliament and commission can pass all those regulations and then permit sending the stuff abroad beats me.
We must be serious when we talk about recycling, recyclables and all that, and not just pay lip service, as do the great majority, if not indeed all, of the councils in Britain.
When councils start having their own recycling facilities turning recyclables into new products then, and only then, will I begin to believe that they are serious.
I see far too many trucks picking up glass for recycling in the same containers even though the public have been so kind as to sort it into clear, brown and green.
When that happens you know where that glass goes. One place and one place only and that is the landfill.
Rethink the three Rs...
© 2010
