http://www.telegraph.co.uk/earth/earthn ... rease.html

Yes but they will also make a fortune from fining people from not recycling properly.

Councils need to put more money into roadside recycling collection. The range of recycling material collected in Cornwall from the roadside is rubbish, and they make the household sort out the recycling on their behalf - this means many people don't bother. In Cardiff however, a wide range of materials is collected and it all goes into one bag. This means I effectively put out 4 bags of recycling for every 1 of rubbish to be buried.

There should also be investment in recycling bins for the streets.

New bin taxes = increase in fly tipping.

every new power station that is built should be designed so it can incinerate household waste and sewage to produce power
that way no more need for land fill or the need to pump raw sewage into the north sea

the resulting ash could be used as a base for fertiliser, completing the recycling cycle
its not rocket science …

There needs to be a proper national recycling policy, not leaving it up to the councils. Where I live, we can't recycle plastic and cardboard but the neighbouring council can.

Also the threat of fines/extra taxes/misc punishment really doesn't help IMO.

Agreed, people are more than willing to do it. Those that do not should not get their rubbish collected.

There was an interesting example of one council giving households clear bags for recycling. So the bin men could see what was in the bag without opening. So could reject without risk of injury. That was a lot cheaper than providing recycling boxes or bins.

We also have a second problem of fly tipping/people dumping things in the flats' bin store though this has been reduced with CCTV cameras. A few weeks ago I found that some twat had dumped a box of metal coat hangers in the paper recycling box.

So there is getting people to actually recycle and getting the idiots to put the right things in the right bin. Teaching them to use their eyes and read would be a start.

Here's a question: Where does our recycled waste actually go to, by which I mean, who gets and uses it in the end?

The resultant ash would be hideously contaminated with unacceptable amounts of heavy metals, thus rendering it useless for fertiliser for produce destined for consumption by humans/animals but nice idea.

funny that
as they have been doing the same in Sweden for over 20 years …

note
house hold waste should read
organic house hold waste …

Its not the household waste that would lead to the metal contamination its the sewage.

i wasn't suggesting it was, just making a correction
and sewage etc doesn't have to used as fertiliser
its just a use it may have afterwards

as we already place untold chems into/onto the soil to grow our food

but sewage can produce power generation along with other waste
a nearly inexhaustible supply of energy generation …

We need a rethink on the entire range of industrial production methods.

For millions of years, everything that was produced could be easily recycled. It's only in the last century that we've been using toxic inorganic compounds in any quantity. Some of that is for hi-tech goods which need very special treatment, but the bulk is just packaging and other needless crap.

Everything we consume was made from material taken from the Earth. With a little forward thinking, there really is no need for it to be a problem. Unfortunately, our capitalist society has turned us all into greedy thoughtless pigs.

its about time that we started thinking outside of the box, or rely on heaven too help us …

I agree. One thing that could be done to help is ban packaging that is non re-useable or recyclable. Then it will get rid of much of the plastic packaging. Recycled cardboard punnets are perfect for many vegetables and fruit, plus can be composted or recycled.