ZERO WASTE TO TIP OR INCINERATOR
Mike Hedges MS
We have unfortunately ended up with a debate over incineration or land fill for the disposal of non-recycled waste. Should we be seeking ways to fulfil the three Rs- Reduce, reuse, and recycle in that order to eliminate waste going to either landfill or incinerators.
According to Dr Ian Boyd chief scientific adviser to DEFRA who said “If there is one way to extinguish the value of materials fast is to stick it in an incinerator and burn it”. Incineration leads to toxic ash and carcinogens in the air.
In the 1960s and earlier refuse collectors were known as dustmen or ashmen as the major item collected was ash from coal fires and this was then tipped and several sports grounds such as Ashleigh Road in Swansea created.
Wales has an excellent record on recycling where collection involves materials being separated by the consumer and then placed in lorries thus leading to little or no contamination of waste. Why has Wales such an excellent record? This is down to three things which are consumer commitment, council organisation and the most important, especially at the beginning, land fill tax which made using a tip far more expensive to councils than recycling.
There is a paradox, the better we get at reuse and reduce the less material there is to recycle. We need a second target, a more important one, to reduce the amount of waste going to landfill or incineration. The good news is that, due to the Land disposal tax, that data is readily available.
The food consumed in the UK is the cheapest in Western Europe — costing 8% less than the EU average. It is also much cheaper in relative terms than the food bought by our parents and grandparents. The proportion of household income spent on food has more than halved over the past 60 years .
Whilst Foodbanks and other schemes provide food for those in food need, very many of us buy food that we do not eat and then discard it. Not enough of us recycle all of it and some goes into landfill, how do I know that because landfill sites give off methane which is caused by waste food
If our intention is zero waste, then the best place to start is the easiest and the largest which is the removal of organic wastepaper/cardboard and food which is up to 70% of the waste we produce.
This is where we hit our first problem, plastic covered paper and cardboard used in things as diverse as milk cartons and wrapping paper. If you try and recycle you end up with bits of plastic getting into the eco system. The only solution is a complete ban on plastic covered paper, too many of us sent Christmas wrapping paper to landfill or incineration this Christmas if there was a ban on wrapping paper being covered in either glitter and or plastic it would increase recycling.
There are many uses for recycled paper and cardboard; it is easy to separate and recycle there is no reason why all paper and cardboard could not be recycled and banning plastic coating and glitter takes away the need for consumers to know what paper and cardboard they can recycle.
With food the first thing you should do with food you do not want, that is in date, is to donate it to a local foodbank then recycle. In Swansea, the following can be recycled- Fruit and vegetable peelings, left-over cooked food, tea bags and coffee grounds, eggshells, gone off/mouldy food, meat, and fish (raw or cooked), dairy products, small bones up to and including chicken carcass.
A recent survey found that more than a quarter of black bag waste in Swansea was food. This is unacceptable, this causes bags to smell which encourages animals to tear them open creating a mess on your street. This waste is buried underground in landfill sites where it rots and releases harmful greenhouse gasses.
We need to encourage, and if that fails take action to ensure we have no food waste in black bags. One other way is to create your own compost for your garden with food waste by burying the food scraps in the dirt or using a 3-stage composting bin or tumbler.
Plastic, the wonder material of the 1950s and 60s, has turned into the environmental disaster of the 21st century. The problem starts with the fact that the term plastic includes many different polymers often in combinations making the finished item impossible to economically recycle.
PET and HDPE are recycled resins and manufacturers need to guarantee take back. Soft drinks need to come with a deposit for a deposit return scheme.
Glass and metals are easily collected and recycled but as plastic has become cheaper items such as pop, sauce and vinegar are now sold in plastic rather than glass bottles. Batteries can also be recycled, and many shops now collect them for recycling. Large and small electrical devices can be recycled and should be taken to a recycling point.
Textiles can either be given to a charity for reuse or with wool can be unravelled to give balls of wool for re use. Finally, wood items can be repaired for resale, firewood or animal bedding if turned into sawdust.
Zero waste must include every material thing. It cannot be an issue of what we recycle and what we do not.
Part of it needs legislation and/or taxation to reduce unnecessary plastic use but most of all it needs all of us to do our bit in reducing, reusing, and recycling. It is no good being angry about the plastic in the sea we must do something about it.
Two rules
If it cannot be recycled it should not be sold
If it is expensive to recycle a tax is needed to enable the cost to be met