What is so bad about plasterboard?

[Mr Pounder Esquire]

Peter Hucker, the class clown. More and more people are now aware of what a prick you are.

[James Wilkinson]

PKB.

[newshound]

Interesting, thanks. I thought it seemed sensible up to a point.

I suspect that the point about combining it with biodigradable waste (i.e. organic matter) is that then you have all the raw materials for various sorts of bacterial activity. Extra sulphate, even in insoluble form, is fertiliser for the sulphate reducing bacteria which like anaerobic conditions.

But the EA note rather fails to explain exactly why H2S is a *bad thing* when it is generated some way down in a landfill. Perhaps because as it percolates out it will oxidise to sulphite and sulphate ions, potentially leading to acidic run-off to rivers? Or worse, in limestone country, it will recombine to form ..... calcium sulphate, releasing deadly carbon dioxide.

[Tim+]

"Much"? I suspect incineration is the exception rather than the rule given the "popularity" of incinerators

Certainly no incinerators in my neck of the wood. The only one in Scotland appears to be in Lerwick.

Tim

[T i m]

Maybe it's because I live in North London (one of the most heavily populated cities in the world (22nd)), 'much' (if not all) of our household waste goes here (Britain's largest incinerator apparently):

But yes, if you live in the back of beyond, a weekly bonfire will probably keep you covered. ;-)

Cheers, T i m

[James Wilkinson]

I've paid to have all waste collected. I even sort it into different coloured bins for them.

If it's not covered by one of the recycling bins, then yes, I put anything in there.

Indeed.

No need to put that in there. They have a rubble skip at the dump. Takes too long to put that in the green bin.

It's a flat rate no matter how much I use it, just like I don't try to save bandwidth on my internet connection, or try to save water.

When I were a lad, it was your own bin, which was lifted into the dustcart by the non-lazy dustmen, or scaffies in Scotland. Then health and softy declared the minimum wage otherwise useless to society dustmen couldn't lift anything or it might hurt their backs, so they produced wheelybins. In the area I currently live, they were green. I think they were black where I used to live, and I've seen black ones in the council area west of me (really odd ones with a sort of skirt on the top, never worked out what that is for). Now they've added blue for paper/card/plastic, brown for garden waste, a blue box for glass and anything electrical like a laptop or toaster or batteries, and a little grey tub for food waste.

The Environmental Services perhaps, but most people chuck anything into their bins if they can.

If the council want it recycled, they should do so. Not my problem.

The tradesmen who do things legally cost more to hire.

Incinerators are still used? Dundee used to have one, but I thought they got rid of them all as they polluted too much. It's certainly landfill here (which stinks - they put it near all the council houses).

Well the council have never refused to collect any of my bins. Except when I put the wrong colour out by mistake - then I emailed them asking why their dustmen were too lazy to walk up my drive to get the right one. They sent the truck back out the next day.

If it was free to dump it at the proper place, everybody would do so.

[Chris Holford]

In article , Brian-Gaff writes

The gypsum can be recycled to make new plasterboard.

[T i m]

Yes, all 'household waste'.

Yes, all your 'household waste' inc 'recyclable waste', NOT *any waste*.

;-(

Thought you might.

Oh, why not?

That normally also takes larger quantities of glass and ceramics.

So that's one of your determining factors re doing 'the right thing'?

Sure, but there is a difference between not saving and squandering.

Same here.

Yes, the cost of workman downtime and insurance payout's.

Feck (that's a lot of bins).

No, 'many' might but luckily I believe 'most' follow the rules.

They will recycle everything they can to keep your council tax down. There is no such thing as a free lunch.

Apparently not, but legally and morally it *is* your problem. You own the waste, and it's your responsibility to dispose of it using the proper procedures.

Of course, because they aren't passing your costs onto the rest of us.

Yup.

We are fairly close to what I understand is the biggest incinerator in the UK and it seems to go to some effort to clean up it's exhaust:

Not really the point though eh. It was really windy one night and I put one of the small recycling bins in the big green waste bin to stop it blowing down the road. The collection came first thing the next morning (when it was still windy) and whist the are supposed to briefly check the green bin only contains green waste, they didn't. ;-(

Again, nothing to do with them being 'too lazy but you not following the rules. When they went from bags to wheelie bins round here they also extended the rounds on the grounds it should (now) be quicker emptying bins rather than picking up bags. It isn't.

Yup, they will often send out a 'Street Cleansing' truck to mop up anything missed or forgotten stuff. Try that too often though and they may have a word with you (to start with).

It is free to dump *everything* at our local recycling centre (so far) and still we still see rubbish all over the place (and not counting fly tips and the odd crisp packet), including outside the gates when people get the opening hours wrong. [1]

It seems that *some people* think they are above the rules and that nothing they do costs anyone anything extra ...

Cheers, T i m

[1] As I did a while back when I turned up with a car full of junk on one of their new 'Closed all day' days. So, I drove home and took it back the next day. My rubbish, my responsibility and I consider myself lucky that I can still dispose of this stuff for nothing. After all, my local Council didn't ask me to buy it all, why should it pay to get rid of it all (as it currently does for nothing).

Part of the reason of course is some people aren't 'good citizens' and the cost of clearing up fly tipped or abandoned rubbish isn't free either.

[John Rumm]

Can I have a pint of whatever you are drinking?

I know you have a reputation for posting incomprehensible bollocks, but this is pretty far out even for you.

[Chris French]

Ouch.

I realise than LA's are under budgetary pressure and they are all cutting things, putting up charges etc. but that is just asking for people to fly tip or to put it in their bins.

[James Wilkinson]

I'd say the opposite. The last time I saw one of his posts it was bullshit, but this one makes sense.

Don't make me read all that....

[harry]

You're not clever are you?

[harry]

There WAS an issue with poison plasterboard at one point. Dunno what the final outcome was.

[Tim Watts]

It's certainly the way to go if they want fly tipping to increase!

[Brian Gaff]

Well you learn something every day then. Kind of makes you wonder, if its not needed why it is in it? My ceilings are quite old, so probably contain the nasty stuff. All I do know is that its rubbish when a pipe leaks and smells terrible while you dry it out to cut out the hole to put in a new bit leavingyou with a pile of bent and twisted bits of it to get rid of. Brian

[Brian Gaff]

So what do they do with the sulphur content then? What next, chipboard, hardboard etc? Brian

[Andy Burns]

Why is what in it? You mean sulphate? Plasterboard is made from gypsum so by definition it is calcium sulphate ...

[dennis]

Chipboard and hardboard are already recycled into chipboard. They don't do much in landfill either.

[T i m]

They used to separate chipboard at our local centre and flat pack it carefully in one of the large roller skips. At the end it was solid chipboard up to the top and must have weighed a tonne (well, probably 'tonnes'). ;-)

Now they seem to mix all non-green 'wood', inc MDF and treated stuff.

I wonder if there will be a time when we will re-mine these landfill sites to reclaim the valuable stuff?

Obviously the houses they built on top will have already fallen down ... ;-)

Cheers, T i m

[alan_m]

I remember watching one of those TV programs about a year ago about DIY building cheaply using 'seconds' and reclaimed materials.

They got a whole lot of plasterboard seconds direct from the manufacturer. It was said in the program that the manufacturer normally recycled their own rejects.