Recycling thought

[David Hansen]

On Sat, 09 Feb 2008 23:48:38 +0000 someone who may be Derek Geldard wrote this:-

I suspect it is adequate to wash tins, bottles and plastic for recycling.

Both irrelevant to the discussion of washing things for recycling.

As expected, another distortion. Mary has indicated that a proportion of her hot water comes from a solar panel and if that does not produce enough hot water on a particular day then IIRC the boiler is used to warm the water. There is nothing unusual in using a boiler to warm water.

[David Hansen]

On Sat, 09 Feb 2008 20:41:24 GMT someone who may be "The Medway Handyman" wrote this:-

Eight words are not as convincing an argument as the work of the IPCC.

[Pete Verdon]

I've just discovered that my local beer shop keeps a cask on at the back. I hadn't realised until I saw someone leaving with a milk-bottle full of beer the other night.

Pete

[Mary Fisher]

If we do have carrot peelings (more often than not we eat whole carrots) the hens eat them.

Shhh though - it's illegal ...

Unavoidable vegetable waste goes into the compost bins. The dog up the street has the bones we don't use - after stock has been made from them. Fish skin and bones are made into stock too but I don't put the remains in the compost bins. It irks to throw food away :-(

And 'waste food' is akin to 'left over champagne' ...

:-)

Mary

[Mary Fisher]

I've not met any starving people in Leeds since the war. That doesn't mean there aren't any of course.

In principle I agree but sending what we call waste to the starving is impossible.

What we shouldn't be doing is throwing away perfectly good food, it's an insult to the producer/grower and, in the case of meat, to the animal. It's also a great waste of energy.

Mary

>

[Mary Fisher]

Yes, I heard her on Radio. It might spread. I know many people like us who don't use plastic bags at all, it's annoying when shop assistants automatically put things in bags. Some are irritated when we say we don't want a bag :-(

Great oaks ...

Mary

[Steve Firth]

Not really.

It gives the bright and shiny kiddy feature version of the figures, but only for aluminium cans. Al is one of the easier metals to recycle, and the energetics are favourable since processing aluminium from bauxite takes a great deal of energy - almost all of it from renewables BTW.

However that site takes no account of the energy used in cleaning, collecting, processing and transporting Al cans. That is ignored in the usual sleight of hand as they focus only on the cost of re-forming a collection of cans into an ingot.

And the case you refer to is the most favourable case I can think of for recycling. Recycling other materials, particularly paper and board and food containers other than aluminium is more marginal. Again energy saving from recycling tends to be exaggerated and a significant fraction of the energy used in recycling is ignored as the savings expressed tend to compare the differences in cost in processing raw materials compared to recycled materials within the factory processing the material. Trasnport costs appear to be frequently excluded in the case of recycling and costed in the case of de novo production.

[Mary Fisher]

...

Oh good, that's the most important part isn't it!

Why?

[Pete Verdon]

Doesn't one of the Scandiwegian countries have a ban on some kind of drinks containers? Can't remember if it's plastic bottles or metal cans, but whichever it is, they're not allowed in (IIRC) Sweden.

Pete

[The Medway Handyman]

The figurehead of the 'green jobs' industry. What percentage of the population now earn thier (easy) living from the over hyped 'we are doomed Capt Mannering' industry?

If climate change is man made why did the Thames freese over in 1410? Because they didn't recycle plastic bottles?

[David Hansen]

On Sun, 10 Feb 2008 12:29:20 -0000 someone who may be "Mary Fisher" wrote this:-

Perhaps you should invest in a Green Cone for this

You may be able to get one at a discount if your council is subsidising them.

[Bob Eager]

Our local licensed florist has done that for years. Two litre lemonade bottles are good.

[David Hansen]

On Sun, 10 Feb 2008 12:35:02 -0000 someone who may be "Mary Fisher" wrote this:-

It has already spread to some other places. Others are in the course of conversion, if the volunteers concerned have their way.

Even Mr Prudent spoke about it in the autumn, though he has yet to translate his words into action and his record on the environment is so poor that many doubt whether he actually meant it.

I have heard people say they will not use plastic bags after seeing the clips. While I knew about the plastic in the Pacific I didn't realise it was so bad until I saw the clips and the whole film.

One sometimes has to be quite rude in order to get through their skulls. However, it is possible to train many shop staff to the point where they don't do it automatically.

[S Viemeister]

At the B&Q in Inverness, you don't get a plastic bag unless you specifically request it - and it's likely to be a re-used one.

[Andy Hall]

[Bob Eager]

Actually, what happened was that the beer shop's previous premises became too expensive (the landlords, Canterbury Cathedral, drove out a lot of businesses that way). So he moved into the cool room in the back of his wife's flower shop. The rest is history...

[David Hansen]

On Sun, 10 Feb 2008 09:41:39 -0500 someone who may be S Viemeister wrote this:-

B&Q are using Scotland as a testbed for their plastic bag policies.

[David Hansen]

On Sun, 10 Feb 2008 12:35:02 -0000 someone who may be "Mary Fisher" wrote this:-

I see from

that opposition to the bottled water con is growing nicely too.

[Andy Hall]

Yes, but it is a Guardian article, so hardly meaningful.

It isn't as though people are forced to buy bottled water, even in your part of the country where the tap water often seems to be brown.

[Andy Hall]

I don't particularly care whether they supply plastic bags or stout paper ones like Home Depot does in the U.S.

However, the moment that they stop supplying suitable means to take their products away without them going everywhere, or try to charge for same, will be when they will find a large number of small items left on the checkout to put back on the shelves.