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Is recycling waste just a rubbish idea?
Rural councils have recently complained they can't afford to recycle, but does it really matter if we separate our cardboard from our plastic and are trips to the bottle bank just a waste of time? Sarah Freeman reports.
Some are obsessive about it, others go for months without giving it a second thought and if they had their way the Government would like all of us to do it better and more often.
Apart from the conscientious few, most of us would probably admit that when it comes to recycling there's room for improvement.
We might duly fill up our green and blue boxes for doorstep collection and trips to the bottle bank may be a regular occurrence, but few of us really recycle everything we could or should, compost bins bought in earnest now lie redundant and under even the lightest interrogation the vast majority would confess to kitchen drawers full of never to be used again plastic carrier bags.
The Government has been busy drawing up targets about how much the country should be recycling – 30 per cent of household waste by 2010 – and drawing pie charts to show how much we recycle and where. Only yesterday, the Tories jumped on the bandwagon, by announcing that if they came to power they would increase the proportion of green taxes to combat pollution.
However, Labour's environmental pledges were recently called into question when it emerged landfill sites are being filled with thousands of tonnes of trade waste which could be recycled, as rural councils face increased costs for collecting recyclable material from businesses.
But does it really matter?
A group of experts from Sweden recently suggested that separating household waste was no longer a sign of the virtuous, but actually is often a waste of time and money, and the waste should instead be burnt.
The country is renowned for its forward-thinking approach to waste and recycling, and amid the sea of green there are voices of dissent who claim incineration may actually be best for the environment, particularly in remote areas where it would make more sense to burn waste locally, using the process to generate electricity, rather than transporting it long distances to the nearest recycling depot.
While the Environmental Services Association, which represents the British waste industry, won't go so far as their Swedish cousins, they admit incineration is a valid option, but one which is just misunderstood.
"The reality is that there is a finite amount of waste which can be recycled, and that's where other technologies come into play," says Marian Kelly, policy executive at the ESA. "Historically incineration has suffered from a bad public image and while in the past there were concerns about the affect on the surrounding area and the environment in general things have changed."
While incineration has long been the black sheep of the waste disposal family, what about the health risks? The main concerns have surrounded the pollutants emitted from the chimneys with some of the dioxins suspected of causing cancer.
Clearly anyone who discovers an incinerator is about to open on their doorstep is unlikely to bring out the bunting – there have been ongoing protests about plans for a plant near Saltend, East Yorkshire, which will burn 240,000 tonnes of household waste a year. Similar opposition is likely if the go-ahead is given to an incinerator in Leeds, and a public consultation is being launched about the possibility of burning increased amounts of rubbish collected in Barnsley – but some claim the health risks have been greatly exaggerated.
"There are now stringent guidelines issued by the European Union which limit the amount of emissions and the incineration industry has come a long way and since they were introduced in 1996 many of the older incinerators have been closed because they failed to meet the stricter standards.
"The Environment Agency is responsible for checking all the levels and if there were any danger to human health we would know about it.
"A certain amount is used to run the site, but the rest is pumped into the National Grid, in fact of the UK's renewable energy totals, a third comes from landfill and incineration."
Others point out the ash can be used in construction, but none of this is likely to sway environmental groups, who want everyone, including the Government, to make recycling a way of life.
"In recent years there has been growing interest in developing incineration plants," says a spokesman for Friends of the Earth.
"However, it wastes valuable resources and because it needs a constant supply of waste, it is a barrier to increased recycling, Apart from all that it also causes air pollution and creates toxic ash.
"In some cases, recycling plants can create increased traffic and litter, but these problems are true of incinerators, which are also a visual eyesore and all too often fail to provide community benefits in terms of education and local involvement in solving the problem of what we do with our rubbish."
With the two sides battling to have their own views heard and accepted, as the arguments surrounding recycling and the country's own green agenda continue, it is, sadly, the public at large who are increasingly finding themselves in the dark.
HEAP OF TROUBLE
Since 1950, we have consumed as much as all the generations before us combined.
In one hour we produce enough waste in the UK to fill the Albert Hall. In one day enough waste is produced to fill Trafalgar Square to the top of Nelson's Column, and in a year, enough waste is left to fill dustbins stretching from the Earth to the Moon.
Nationwide, only 19 per cent of household waste is recycled or composted, which is less than many other EU states, although many Yorkshire regions are above average.
Leeds: 21.3 per cent
Bradford: 19 per cent
Sheffield: 21 per cent
York: 25 per cent.
WASTE NOT... THE FACTS ON EVERYDAY RECYCLING
Paper
Almost any household waste paper can be recycled. However, every time it is recycled the fibre lengths decrease and after being recycled six times they become too short for papermaking, so some virgin fibres will be needed to maintain paper strength and quality.
Metal cans
Aluminium and steel cans together comprise three per cent of household waste and both can be recycled indefinitely. Recycling aluminium uses just five per cent of the energy used in the original production and generates only five per cent of the greenhouse gases. Steel has the added advantage that it can be sorted automatically from other waste by magnetic extraction.
Plastic
There are 50 different types of plastic, which account for 50 per cent of household waste, and they have to be sorted manually. Following sorting, the plastic can either be melted down and moulded into new shapes or broken down into its chemical components and used to make other products.
Glass
About 3.6m tonnes of glass is used each year in the UK and it is infinitely recyclable. Reusable glass bottles are designed to be repeatedly returned to the manufactures, cleaned and refilled, however, they must be stronger and heavier to withstand the wear and tear this inflicts on them.
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