Tuesday 8 March 2011

Being "green" - a 'cereal' crime ?

All this green environmentalism - saving planet Earth, one way or another - seems to be unravelling, whether you consider wind farms that do not/cannot produce all that is promised, solar panel farms that will have the same dismal output, or sorting rubbish into various recycling receptacles in order to avoid land-fill. Some time ago I read a report that showed plastic only has a limited 'recycleability', due to its chemical composition, before needing to be sent to landfill; and it now appears that re-using cardboard and newspapers has its drawback too, according to this report from the BBC; resulting in companies such as Kellogs and Weetabix having to cease their use of recycled cardboard.

Whilst it is logical to reuse waste material where it is practical, which has resulted in new industries being created - in itself no bad thing, the whole idea that we as a country should be penalised for excessive land-fill is ludicrous when you consider we extract from the land far more than we replace with waste. Quoting from this piece of admirable research by Raedwald:
"1. The UK has some 819 million cubic metres of licensed landfill capacity, sufficient for over 11 years of waste at current levels
2. The UK's potential landfill capacity is increasing at the rate of 114 million cubic metres a year, a surplus of some 42 million cubic metres a year over and above our annual landfill waste disposal needs
3. There is no shortage of landfill in the UK."
So, bearing in mind the cost of all the red-tape and bureaucracy that recycling entails, how about we tell Brussels what they can do with their 'Landfill Directives' - along with the remainder of their ideas on just about every subject?

4 comments:

F***W*T TW****R said...

Shit loads of methane from landfill as well. I'm pretty sure there's a use for all that flammable gas, there must be.

microdave said...

iDave telling Brussels what to do?

You're being silly now....

TomTom said...

I was unaware that recycled materials were permitted in food-packaging. At least in Germany it was prohibited

WitteringsfromWitney said...

FWTTWR: There is - If I recall correctly being done in America and Ireland.

md: ok slapped wrist this end.

TT: So was I.