The Zohan

Do you recycle?

We try pretty hard to be good at this and get the kids to do so as well

We have recycling bins, four f them supplied by our local council
Domestic rubbish that gets land filled
Garden waste
Paper
Plastics.

We use these religiously and also recycle our old clothing and glass as well.
We try to buy stuff that is not stupidly packaged
We try to by local stuff wherever possible.
We are replacing blown bulbs with low energy/saving bulbs as the old ones blow

We now switch off the TV and leccy stuff night, no standby lites for us!
Our neighbours on both sides have families say three/four people in each hose and then never, ever put out anything except their domestic rubbish as one lot, no recycling whatsoever!

On the minus side for us;
We have used pampers type nappies that take three million years to decompose
Run two cars - but to be fair we both work in different places and cannot drop the kids at nursery and get to work without as public transport would be literally impossible.


What steps (if any) do you take?

MattW

We have a paper recycling box, but I must admit I don't put all our paper in it. We also have a seperate green waste collection, althiugh I'm considering a mulching mower to allevaite that.

On the plus
We turn off the TV at night
Use low energy lightbulbs in ceiling roses
Heating is left on constat at 21 degrees which has been quite noticeable in reducing our bills
Veg and stuff goes down the waste disposal unit

On the negative
Lots of GU10 downlighters in the house
Two cars
Computer is left on permanently usually
Both children used Huggies nappies

WRXMATT

I don't worry about any of it unless it saves me some cash, or i have to do it.

Karl 227

We have three bins, one for recyclables, one for non recyclables and one for food waste. We store all of our newspapers/magazines/cardboard etc and have them collected once a month for paper recycling, we take all of our glass bottles and jars to the bottle bank, we do not use stand by on the telly etc anymore

On the downside I drop about 20kg of CO2 per lap on the ring

movi-star

iTrader: (1)

Whilst its all good that we try and do our "green" bit, the bigger picture is it isn't going to make much of a difference to dear old planet Earth, unless India, China, Brazil, Russia and the USA all follow and do the same............which they won't. The amount of pollution those 5 chuck out highlights what, if any, difference our little island can make in being ultra green.

alcazar

iTrader: (2)

We have two bins, one for waste which can't, at the monet, be recycled, and is thus landfilled, and one for green waste like dead leaves, grass clippings and spud peelings.

We will soon have a third bin for plastics.

We have boxes for recycling metals, (cans, foil etc), glass, and waste paper.

I NEVER chuck out old clothes, always giving them to charities or recycling them via clothing banks. Ditto shoes.

On the downside, our family has FOUR cars, we leave the computer on all day, and we HATE low energy lightbulbs.

Alcazar

The Zohan

Or you can try to set an example by doing so. It is in the best interests of these countries because if the so called 'experts' are right then China. India and the US will be under a lot of water!

Abdabz

Everything in our house, bottles, plastics, paper etc all go in the kitchen bin first and then once the bag is full it all goes in the wheelie bin.
I dont have the time, the incentive nor the inclination to start filling a mulitude of bins...
I do take cardboard to the tip but thats only because it doesnt fit in the bin...
My feeling is that it is up to industry to solve the problem of overfilling landfill and I wont be coersed into thinking I'm doing a good thing simply because industry cant be bothered...
I'm so anti recycling that I will stop at nothing to ensure I play no part in it and am eagerly awaiting my local councils next steps towards trying to reduce my waste...
Abdabz, environmental antichrist...

LG John

I breath out a lot of C02 - I should be taxed

lightning101

I think a very small financial incentive that would be deducted from council tax payers that fully recycle would work. It's all very well saying "you should do X or Y" but as we know it just won't happen.

Also why can't we recycle the food packaging (e.g. printed card boxes) that say "recyclable" on the packaging ?

lozgti

I do feel as though I am just doing the council's job for them,however we do seperate glass/paper etc as requested

I did used to worry about global warming and such like.Since the politicians have been involved though my views have changed completely and absolutely.

The Tax side of things/threat of prosecutions/microchips in bins/HIPS to show energy efficient homes all rub me up the wrong way...and the fact that 9 million bins in our street make it look like coronation street

Chrisgr31

We have a green bin for garden waste, usually full to the brim, food waste goes in the digester in the garden, paper and cans go in the recycled box which the council empties fortnightly. Glass and plastic bottles we take to the tip.

Our daughter used washable nappies (downside being the tumble drier to dry them), we have energy saving lightbulbs where possible.

We run two cars, but both need them for work purposes, and we fly to Dubai once a year.

SWRTWannabe

We have separate wheelie bins for general waste, garden waste, and paper / plastics / tins. We always use them, and also put glass in another bin to periodically take to the tip. Because we save the bottles up for a while, I look a total alcoholic when I do finally take them

Other than that, we don't do a lot - we use Pampers (just the baby, not the whole family).

When we used to live in Wokingham, it was better because we had crates instead of wheelie bins. As well as recycling, the crates made handy workbenches

TonyG

Just got recycling bins at home - one for cardboard/paper/plastics/tins and one for garden waste - to go alongside the usual domestic refuse bin. Not really changed things for me as I've been recycling cardboard/paper/plastics/garden waste for years. Council won't take glass, so I'll still end up taking that to the local bottle bank.
Clothes go to charity, all other stuff (wood/metal) goes to the recycling centre behind where I work, so don't even have to make an extra journey.
Lightbulbs have been replaced by low-energy ones as they've blown, the house has loft and cavity wall insulation and double glazing. I don't leave electrical equipment on standby. I don't leave lights burning unnecessarily.
Oh, and I've started using my bike a bit more for shorter journeys.

OllyK

We have 2 recycle bins, 1 for glass and one for cans. Anything combustable is burnt, either on the open fire or on a bonfire.

Brendan Hughes

We've a baby, so I noticed the Grauniad green article on nappies - basically it says disposable and washable come out more or less even, IIRC. So don't worry about it.

Anyone see/read Michael Moore's Stupid White Men where he claims he doesn't recycle as he found all the stuff is just shipped to India as sorting is supposedly cheaper, but then just dumped in landfills? A bit worrying.

Paul - your mention about underwater - suddenly I make the connection why the Dutch are so environmentally friendly Never thought of it that way before Nuts to the moral high ground, it's a principle of survival of the nation!

Leslie

Does that increase when you get a full house

Mrs Leslie does the full recycling bit conscientiously. If it helps with respect to landfills and associated problems then we have no problem with that.

We were both brought up in a time of big shortages and well remember that this was the exact opposite to a throwaway society then. Things were mended rather than replaced which was both cheaper and less wasteful. People were well used to doing things like that for themselves and also doing it to a high standard as much through personal pride as anything.

I do agree that the packaging industry and the firms which employ them have a lot to answer for in the name of profit. I know all about the arguments for protection of food etc. but it is well past time that they were compelled to considerably reduce the excessive amount of packaging that we see today.

Don't often see our sorry band of leaders doing anything much to control big industry though do we? Much easier to hit us with it all instead. Think of all the £1,000 fines they could land us with!

Les

SirFozzalot

We recycle and have got a few low energy bulbs installed.

J4CKO

iTrader: (1)

We do all the recycling, energy efficient bulbs that come on after you have left a room.

We see the neighbours in big 4 by 4's dilligently taking their stuff to the recycling centre, then driving the quarter of a mile to the chippy (well ok, I have been known to do that as well)

LG John

I suspect most of you are wasting your time. I'm not saying that we should be maliciously wasteful but I was at a very interesting training session with one of (if not the) UK's leading sustainability architects.

The guy basically confirmed my theory that most (not all) recycling and micro-renewable energy systems are energy wasteful when you look at it from a life-cycle point of view. Take solar panels on roofs - in terms of manufacture, maintenance and life-expectancy energy costs they just do not deliver a positive return. The same can be said of many small-scale wind turbines. Then there is recycling: if you consider that you need bins for collection, waggons for transportation, sorting centres and facilities to 'recycle' its very often more energy efficient to just bin it. Obviously this ignores the issue of landfill space.

Right now I have "Scottish Planning Policy 6: Renewable Energy" sitting in front of me at my desk. It's still hot from printing its that new (not really, but you get my point). It's all, 'wind power' this, 'biomass' that, 'hydro' over here?! This document is supposed to guide energy planning in scotland for the next 10 years or so and yet there are only a few scant words on, 'oh yeah, encourage people to use less'!

That's what it all comes down to and was the key theme of the sustainblity guys training course the other day: Use Less. Apparantly our houses are the least efficient houses in Europe! They leak and let air in where they shouldn't and are basically a thermal nightmare! With sound ventilation planning, good insulation and builders that can actually build properly we could use a LOT less energy in the first place.

This is something even I can subscribe to. I don't believe global warming is man-made OR man-controllable and I positively hate the terms 'carbon' and 'C02'. Whenever I see them written anywhere I auto-assume 'taxation'. For inspiration in life I always look to nature. Nature is seldom wrong and I can't remember the last time I saw a cow or monkey worry about C02 emissions. However, nature is not wasteful. What one animal leaves behind another will deal with until pretty much all useful energy and matter has been utilized. I therefore believe that this is how mankind should be. More efficient in the first place. So don't recycle more, just use less

Of course, I still keep all my AV equipment on standby. That's because when on standby I need only press one button on the Harmony Remote and the whole lot comes on with the bells and whistles. It's also cause I'm a cvnt

Flatcapdriver

Apart from your point about global warming I largely agree with what you're saying but the point a lot of people miss about 'sustainability' is that it simply makes more sense.

Composting - simple idea and follows your nature knows best principle.
Heat pumps - using nature to heat/cool homes.
Recycling - a no brainer for me and I'm not convinced by the energy efficient arguments laid on by people with vested interests. Certainly, when I was involved with the paper industry many moons ago the company I worked for had significantly lower overheads than competitors due to the recycled content of its paper products.

By the way, a cow or monkey is going to struggle to get past thinking about it's next meal, so analysing it's global impact is going to be a bit of a stretch.

Brendan Hughes

Kenny, I think you miss the point that efficiency comes with time and process improvement (look at the Internal combustion engine FFS ), and if we don't start these things there will be no need to improve them later. Cost-effectiveness of solar has rocketed in the last few years, I understand - it wouldn't if there was no demand for it.

Utterly, utterly agree with you about using less rather than recycling more though - something that is too often lost in the arguments, for me.

Anyone want to come up with the future conspiracy theory that recycling companies will secretly lobby manufacturers to use more packaging, otherwise they'll have no business? A bit like the private jails in the US apparently lobby for harsh law enforcement...

logiclee

We do our best with recycling and energy saving. I wont spend loads of money on saving energy or sit in the cold and dark but I try not to be wastefull.

Suprised no one has mentioned air travel.

One European holiday uses similar emissions to running your family car for a year.

So a holiday in the UK and I'll be able to run a band G gas guzzler without the greens wanting to kill me. Well perhaps not but we all know these stars and celebs drive about in a Prius then fly all over the world.

We ought to be able to offset our carbon taxes.

Cheers
Lee

LG John

I don't doubt that. You'd have to be a complete nutbar to install a system that will cost £1000 for a 10 year life cycle but only save you £850. Obviously there has to be return on investment for the end user or there would a very restricted market (just the true greenies).

The argument that I heard and can subscribe to is overall 'energy' costs (not costs to the end user but to the planet). I'll make up some figures to illustrate my point:

Lets assume we are looking at a wind turbine for our roof that will generate 5000 units of electricity in an average year. At 10p a unit that's a saving of £500. Woot. Now lets assume that the turbine has a life cycle of 10 years with maintenance costs of £100 a year (averaged out). The true expected gain from our turbine is £400 a year. If the capital cost of the turbine is £3000 then our true saving over an average life cycle is £100 a year. Great, so it makes sense for the end user to install it.

However, lets make up some energy figures:

We know we get an effectively free 5000 units a year from the wind. Over the 10 year life cycle therefore we gain a renewable 50,000 units of energy. However, factor in the energy to extract metals for the components, the energy costs of manufacture, energy costs of packaging, shipping, installation, sending a guy round every 3 years in a van to check, maintain and upgrade it and then the energy costs for final disposal. If all that comes to 60,000 units then the total cost to the planet is effectively 10,000 units. In short the thing isn't sustainable at all. If the processes of material production/extraction, assembly, transportation, etc, etc weren't improved then we'd kill the planet by installing one of these in every home.

On the flip side you might spend £3000 on ten years worth of high quality insulation material which has a true 'saving' of 4000 units and £90 a year. To the end user it's less cost effective but if the lifecycle manufacture costs are 30,000 units then the planet is 10,000 units better off

If all this seems too taxing you can have a beer and let your grand kids worry about it

Flatcapdriver

Its a red herring usually thrown about by those with vested interests to improve the position of their own emission levels. Aviation accounts for less than 3% of CO2 emissions.

LG John

How do you know FCD? 3% of what? Man-made or all C02 release into the atmosphere. If its the latter its a massive percentage!! This highlights the problem IMHO. There is far too much mis-information kicking around and we certainly can't trust the government to tell us what is really going on.

This is the beauty of the global warming argument. Once you get general acceptace that man and mans activities are to blame (now been achieved) you can basically write your own rules and own money. It's not like Mrs Miggins in Bogner can turn round and say, 'wait a minute I'm going to check these stats' as we are usually talking about things that are hard to measure on a global scale.

Brendan Hughes

<Yes Minister> Bernard: I'm not sure if red herrings can be thrown about, Minister...</Yes Minister>

pwhittle

Ignoring any debatable global benefits though, you can't deny cutting down on landfill is a good thing. Besides, councils spend more than you'd imagine on landfill dumps, which is set to increase again. Recycling keeps the bill down, which helps keep council tax down. In a few years, it wouldn't surprise me at all if bills could be kept down by £100+ per family by cutting dumped waste. If that's not worth saving, why does anyone care about car tax going up by the same?

Flatcapdriver

Man made emissions. Its been well documented with reports by ICAO and the IPCC. No doubt someone will rubbish these organisations and their findings because they don't fit their argument du jour. The other issue that knockers like to raise is that aircraft emissions occur at higher altitudes which is true but takes no account of the improvements in modern turbine technology vis a vis their emissions, which if continued will make them increasingly less damaging.

Nothing to do with governments which is why the whole taxation of air travel is ridiculous in the extreme as even on a business as usual scenario, aviation will still only account for 5% of CO2 emissions by 2050.

A hell of a lot less than power generation, transport or even domestic contributions.

LG John

That's why I removed landfill from my argument. 'Space' is a whole other issue as you correctly point out. Once metal has been extracted from the ground and turned into a coke can it then can't be left lying around and have the same visual impact as before. Therefore, something has to be done with it and this is where recycling comes in IMHO.