To think I shouldn't bother recycling?

[HarryHenderson]

Just putting my milk cartons in the recycling. Then thought "what is the point of me doing this?"

Did anyone watch panorama last night? Apologies if there is another thread, I couldn't find one.

Our country apparently sends most of our recycling to Malaysia. There are mountains of waste there, piled up, being burnt in the street, ending up in water courses.

What's the point in recycling plastics if this is what our government is doing?
Isn't it the lesser of two evils to just dump it in landfill where it will be buried and at least not ending up in the oceans?

Now I'm not an eco warrior by any stretch. But I liked to think I was trying to do my bit..

@hartof

I noticed this too. A little in Disney.

I will continue to do what I can to recycle but it needs to happen on a global scale especially in the USA.

I always thought it was cheaper to buy lose products not packaged fruit but has this now changed?

It’s always worth us doing what we can to reduce - imagine when you die, what your plastic legacy will otherwise be? Yes bigger changes are needed but individuals can male a difference.

Cost is the reason nothing is done - I got a shirty reply from Ryanair that they thought their customers preferred cheap prices over concerns about single use plastic. They’re probably right - the govt needs to enforce some changes now.

My local council in central London doesn't even offer recycling! Everything goes into big blue commercial bins (like skips but with a lid) at the end of the road. It used to upset me and I spent months trying to persuade them to change, then found out most "recycled" waste is just dumped in someone else's country anyway, and realised it doesn't make a difference what we do on an individual level anyway :(

Well that's my point @JonnyPocketRocket why are we bothering? Isn't it better that it ends up in landfill rather than places where it can end up in water sources? Or am I missing something here?

I have started trying to reduce instead, shampoo bars, bamboo toothbrushes, cloth wipes, cloth San pro, cloth nappies. It’s not as expensive as you think (apart from the nappies) and I far prefer the cloth pads to disposable.

mum was really upset about all this when she found out - a few years ago

she has always been a great one for reduce rather than recycle - but the sheer scale of crap being transported around really upset her

I don't know how this can be tackled without a massive move towards being a less consumerist society but that doesn't seem popular.

I hate to be ignorant but what are the arguments against incinerating more?

Can anyone explain why there is so much variation between areas in how waste is dealt with? My county council does incineration of waste, food waste is turned into electricity and fertilizer for farms, and garden waste goes to a large composting facility. 70% of the recycling bin materials are processed in the county. They publish a list of what company deals with what waste from each of the sub council in the county and it looks like some are elsewhere in UK, a few in EU and a few in Asia. The waste going to Asia is mainly card and paper so while not ideal I assume it does breakdown better than plastics.

My county is clearly not perfect but going by previous comments they are better than other areas of the UK. Is that just down to budgets and spending priorities in each council?

It’s really hard to avoid plastic in the UK if you want to eat. I hope the Waitrose scheme is expanded to my local store. I don’t mind paying a bit more to avoid all the rubbish that I then have to store I my flat until the lazy fuckers from the council come to pick it up a whole fortnight later.