Exercise No. 4 "Recycling"

[AussieSim]

You are a journalist and have been told to go out and interview a local person about the recycling of household garbage. What questions do you ask? How do they respond?

Do you recyle in your house?

• My bloody missus insists that we do.

You don't seem too pleased about it. Why is that?

• It's a damned waste of time. You sort it into all different coloured frigin bins and after they collect it they add it all back together.

Really? What makes you think that?

• I heard it on the radio - but everyone knows. It is just some lark for the pollies to give contracts to their buddies and get back-handers.

Are you concerned about the environment?
-Hell no. We'll blow ourselves up before we run out space for a garbage tip.

Thankyou Sir - do you mind if I use your name in the article?

• Hell yes, my missus and kids would be real stroppy. How I ended up with a bunch a greenies in my house I don't know - brainwashed they are!

Do you recyle in your house?
Person 1- No.

Do you recyle in your house?
Person 2- No.

Do you recyle in your house?
Person 3- No.

Do you recyle in your house?
Person 4- No...

Do you recyle in your house?
Person 5- No, the roads are too dangerous for cycling!

It just struck me that I might have chosen a dud topic. Is there a household recycling scheme in the UK? I have to sort my rubbish into 5 different classifications. I have three collection bins at home and the other two I have to drive to a collection point, plus I have to take bottles back to the shop to get my deposit back. We recycle back in Oz to, but only about half so painful.

Most areas have bottle banks, newspaper bins etc, and more and more areas are getting green compost bin rubbish collections together with the normal household rubbish collections. Some areas have a collection facility for glass, paper etc, but we have to take ours to the bottle bank.

Yeah AS some counties in the UK do the collecting bit but you have to do all the sorting yourself obviously. Most of us here do our own recycling or nothing. Where I live they don't even collect the papers anymore although they're meant to be giving us blue bins to put the paper in which will be collected once a month, everything else has to be take to the local tip to be sorted out by you.

Nope, no recycling schemes around where I live. Just a lot of useless bins which people cram any old rubbish into.

I think that is a real shame. Don't you guys have any greenies left over there? It was all the rage in the 80's in Australia and seems to have stuck. Of course here in Germany the greens are part of the coalition government - hence it being a bit too much the other way.

-Do you know what items you can recycle and what you can?t?
Um, no, not really. Tin cans, I think and newspapers. Not glass I know that.
-What do you do with glass?
The bottle bank, yeah, we do that!
-What proportion of your household rubbish would you say gets recycled?
Er, don?t really know, not much. Maybe 10%?
-Do you ever fill up your wheelie bin?
(Laughing) God, no, never!
-Is the fortnightly emptying of your bin about right, too often or not often enough?
Oh, too often definitely! Our normal rubbish bin is overflowing within a week, but there?s hardly anything in the other one. They should just collect the recycling once a month and come weekly for the rubbish.
-Do you think the council?s efforts to promote recycling are a good idea or do you think they should collect all the rubbish together and sort it themselves?
I think recycling?s a good idea, I mean, it?s good for the planet, isn?t it. But I wish they?d collect it all and sort it themselves. I haven?t got the time to sort all the rubbish and I probably get it wrong ? they should definitely do it themselves!

Do you use your recycling bin?
No ? it?s melted

Melted??
Yeah, my husband tried to burn some leaves and the old phone books in it and it?s all melted at the bottom. There?s some holes in it too.

Have you done anything about it? The council could provide you with another one.
No ? it?s embarrassing! They would probably fine me or something. Anyway the kids use it now to make dens in in the garden so I?m not too bothered.

Right. So do you have any other ways of sorting out your rubbish for recycling then?
Oh yes ? the egg-boxes and loo-rolls and old yoghurt pots make brilliant models. My son made a giant dragon the other day. And the cats around here eat all the left-overs.

I notice there are bottle banks and paper banks at the local supermarket here. Is that something that you use or would consider using?
Well, I might, but I always park in the parent and child space so it?s a bit too far to go really. Anyway don?t they all get filled up with dog poo when no-ones looking? And I heard they had them somewhere to put your kids in when you couldn?t cope no more. Ha-ha ? I?ll have to try that!