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cancer boy 977 posts |
Aug 29, 2001, 09:54
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>I myself have begun to even to take >litter home with me that i have found >on my travels in our beautiful >countryside... I couldn't agree more, although a lot of it is not recyclable and ends up in the aforementioned landfills, better there than littered around on the ground I suppose. Where I live there is a PGL camp so you can imagine the amount of crap that is strewn around in the woods. People look at me like I'm disturbed for thinking that bluebell woods aren't improved by having 200 Bacardi Breezer bottles in them. It was a real shock to move back to this country after living in Australia in the 90's, where very house has a dedicated recycling bin (for all those pizza boxes and empty tinnies!) to Britain where you're supposed to drive miles with a boot full of stinking refuse for the privilige. I think recycling is only part of the answer though, as it takes so much energy and produces it's own waste, my two obsessions are: Overpackaging - anyone been to a supermarket recently? No doubt food tastes better when it's wrapped in PVC and pumped with nitrogen and water. Not that you have any choice, of course. Re-use rather than recycling - if the teenage tossers over the road could get 5p back on their empty alco-pops they wouldn't be as inclined to fling them into the trees. Unfortunately a lot of bottles aren't suitable for this these days due to the fancy coatings and so on e.g. all the ones with opaque plastic coatings (overpackaging again - agh!). Anyway, keep it up, although it's not much fun being that mythical "someone else who's going to clear it up" especially if you're doing it for free.
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Proserpine 195 posts |
Aug 29, 2001, 09:55
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Yep - follow the Country Code! In fact even here in the big, bad city people think it strange that I pick up any stray cans or bottles on the tube. But I mean, it's no great effort to pick 'em up & dump 'em in the recycling bank outside the station is it? A big pat on the back for us do-gooders!
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Proserpine 195 posts |
Aug 29, 2001, 10:00
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I suppose in the city & it's ugly manmade surroundings, people really don't give a shit about littering anyway. But how people have the gall to leave their waste crap in the fields, woods, meadows or any countryside is beyond me. Show a little respect!
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morfe 2992 posts |
Aug 29, 2001, 17:32
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I don't necessarily subscribe to the city=ugly=don't care argument, although I detest litter to the amusement of a pal who lobs stuff out of his car window with ne'ery a blink! It's a simple equation, if no-one loves their environment, they won't look after it, and the worse it looks, the less they care. I do share your indignation, not one of the fuckers from the conurbation can hope to know how it makes me feel when I struggle out down the lane to breathe some life and love, only to be met with a pile of Mc Fuck wrappers and bottles, tissues and condoms, disposable un-heroes of non-ocracy. grrr, rant abated! (PS Proserpine, BDP thanks you, I'm listening to your tape as I speak, mmmlush)
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Popel Vooje 5373 posts |
Aug 29, 2001, 22:15
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I agree. The increasing accumulation of litter on city streets is a self-fulfilling prophesy, rooted in the classically apathetic "everyone else does it, and the pavements are already chocker anyway, so why should I make the effort" mindset. Unfortunately, since many urban areas are already drab and dirty, this attitude is precisely the opposite of what we need. Surely we should all be trying to make the best of our immediate surroundings, rather than just surrendering to the common ethos that squalor can't be alleviated?
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FourWinds 10943 posts |
Aug 30, 2001, 14:17
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Germany actually sets a great example for litter and watse packaging. Firstly, every house has three or four bins for different types of watse. Metal, glass, biodegradable, other stuff. Also all public litter bins are similarly split. Rubbish can only be left out for collection in marked bags. These bags have to be bought from specific shops and cost nearly £5 each. This encourages people to waste less. Secondly, you can return all packaging to the manufacturer (via the shop it was purchased from) for them to dispose of. This actively encourages the manufacturers to use less packaging. For instance, if you go and buy a six pack of yoghurts in a box you can just give the box back to the shop keeper at the checkout. He can then return it to the manufacturer. They still maintain a deposit system. Bottled water is bought in glass bottles in wooden crates (as is beer etc.) and all have a deposit upon them. Here in Ireland it is even harder than in the UK. Packaging isn't quite the same problem yet (but I fear it is heading that way), but recycling is. My new neighbours look at me as if I'm green and covered in scales when I load the car up with bottles and cans and paper. So, what do you do? shop at local 'village shops'. Use your local butcher, baker and such. They do not use two layer of cling wrap, a plastic tray and a box. All this packaging has come about because of competition on the supermarket shelf. I recommend everyone collect all the over packaging and return it to the supermarket and dump it in the entrance. One big mass organised dump.
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morfe 2992 posts |
Aug 30, 2001, 15:58
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Let's do it! FourWinds that's a fantastic idea, next step is leafletting, mailing, organising choice high profile supermarkets to target. I'm willing to submit designs/ideas if you like. Good luck!
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FourWinds 10943 posts |
Aug 30, 2001, 17:32
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Does any one know anything about some proposed Euro legislation that will set some limits on packaging? I believe it will say something like packaging should be no more than 10 of the product. I have only heard rumours about this and so it may be total bollocks and to be honest does not effect many things. A leg of lamb could still be packed in a plastic tray with loads of cling wrap around it. It will also probably push more products to be bottled in plastic rather than glass.
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FourWinds 10943 posts |
Aug 30, 2001, 17:33
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should read no more than 10 per cent
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TinKahn 4 posts |
Sep 02, 2001, 23:56
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cancer boy, you brought up something I was just griping about - overpackaging. I live in the US of A and think this country is one of the most wasteful of most. Disposable society. The iced tea I enjoy drinking comes in bottles bound by a plastic thing that is not only useless and wasteful, but a real hassle. It goes beyond just food packaging too. Technology has created more rubbish by making things like TVs, VCRs etc. easier to get rid of then have repaired. They also are more likely to crap out in just a few years. Or they're made so that you cannot use them any longer because they're outdated. On the big trash dump days some of our cities have you would be appalled by the things people just throw away. Couches, refridgirators, scooters... I agree that recycling isn't the compete answer. In an early childhood class I took we talked about disposable diapers vs. cloth. Landfill vs. resources used to clean cloth diapers. It came out as a wash in economic and environmental terms. The only thing I do feel is great about recycling currently is paper. At leat that keeps newspaper out of the landfill (which takes ages to decompose) and the pulp can be reused, in hopes of preserving a few more trees. We can learn a lot from so-called "dumb animals" and ancient peoples in how they live(d) w/in their environment w/o disrupting the ecosystems. Just seems to be too much of a bother for toomany "modern" humans. *grumble*
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