The Irish are the Biggest Shower of Wasters in the World!

[bluecurlygirl]

Don't get me started on that one. I agree with everything on the previous posts and with the season of goodwill fast approaching, no matter how wonderful my christmas is, I always end up getting very upset and quite angry too at the amount of packaging on all toys. In fact this year I'm seriously considering that any toy I end up buying that I will remove the packaging before leaving the shop and hand it to the shopkeeper. After all I want the toy not the excess. Why should I pay say €20 in the shop and then pay more to get the packaging taken away? Why should I be forced to tolerate the production of this unwanted packaging in the first place anyway? Maybe if we all do this (a bit like sending the junk mail back to sender) the retailers themselves will put pressure on the manufacturers. Let's not wait for new legislation on this because if we're waiting on the Government to do something we'll be waiting in vain. Let's do it ourselves. From here on in everything you buy that comes in a box with lots of plastic and bag ties, take the item out and hand everything else back to the shop. Go on...

[HappyHunter]

It's a load of rubbish as one-third of food binned

UP to a third of all food is thrown in the bin without being eaten, according to a new survey.

A UK study shows that almost 20% of all household waste is made up of food and, if applied to Ireland, it means that 337,000 tonnes of food waste is generated each year.

Half of this food could have been eaten, said Andrew Hetherington, the chief executive of recycling organisation Repak.

On the eve of Repak Recycling Week, Mr Hetherington pointed out that most of this ended up in landfill where it produced methane, a powerful greenhouse gas.

"Retailers are bringing in food out of season because we want it. One-third of food we buy is thrown out, including the packaging. We need to change that attitude," he said.
Read on.....
http://www.independent.ie/national-n...d-1490689.html

Buying only what we need of perishable goods is the best way.

HH

[Covelay]

I wonder if S*******s, the coffee-shop chain, have an Irish connection?
See this.......................

http://uk.news.yahoo.com/blog/editor.../article/3239/

[Chris P]

Thanks HappyHunter and Covelay for posting these stories. Disturbing reading indeed!

More on that wasteful coffee-shop chain here:
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/business/7654691.stm

Regards
Chris P
Admin

[unapam]

When I was young there was no waste. Recycling and repurposing was unheard of ...but was practised by all.

When I grew up and things were easier I watched as the waste generation evolved. Mea culpa...I joined in with gusto! I felt it was such a luxury to not be poor and not to have to make do and mend (it meant poverty to my mind) I loved changing things just because I felt like a new look and shopping became a hobby, and I consumed with the best of them and kept up with the Jones'. I was delighted my children didn't know what want was.

But it all went too far and I was one of the first to listen to and believe the predictions of climate change etc. and I began to feel differently about things.

I found myself looking for a simpler way to live. The difference, this time, is of course - that this time it's my choice. I don't think for one minute that my pathetic efforts will make any difference to this world because I believe it is too late and too much damage has been done already. Yet I can't NOT do it.

I also think that people who don't know how to, or just wont, live in harmony with the world will have to learn...and it wont be their choice..they will have no choice.
Sorry to sound so pessimistic but I am pessimistic about this.

[HappyHunter]

I hear you Unapam and it's not pessimistic, it's reality.

The biggest "climate change" is happening right now in relation to the financial world - people are being forced into changing their attitudes to consuming and "keeping up with the Jones' ". Going back to basics is not a bad thing, this current financial crisis is going to leave a lot of people more appreciative of what they've got. Many will find that they are forced to change because they just won't be able to afford to waste like they had been doing.

k

[bluecurlygirl]

Absolutely. I listen to so many people at work talking about the financial crisis saying "Oh I don't care, this doesn't affect me". However, they're the same people who don't do a lot for the environment either. The "Oh yeah I keep meaning to get round to that" brigade (although I'm guilty of that on occasion too) I don't think you're being pessimistic either Unapam. It's a sad reality we're facing but at least we'll try and be content that we did our bit and through wonderful sites like this spread the word. But yes I do think in one sense the financial crisis could be a blessing in disguise. Because people will have to learn how to cut back on spending they'll have to remember to turn off lights when not in use, don't leave things on standby, make do with less, stop using the car to run down to the corner shop etc.

[Ocker]

There are some mining towns in West Oz where thwere is NO waste. Everything including left over food is recycled. The food is put in worm farms and the new soil is used to grow veggies flowers etc. Cardboard plastic etc is baled, backloaded and shipped to India as deck cargo in small ore ships where every scrap is used.

[erica]

Originally Posted by Ocker

There are some mining towns in West Oz where thwere is NO waste. Everything including left over food is recycled. The food is put in worm farms and the new soil is used to grow veggies flowers etc. Cardboard plastic etc is baled, backloaded and shipped to India as deck cargo in small ore ships where every scrap is used.

Now there's an idea for a new business venture.... a worm farm!! I don't think there are any in this country, but perhaps there are! I have a wormery and get wonderful compost and liquid fertiliser from it. Surely the companies who collect waste could diversify and give customers a bin for waste food, which could then be used in a worm farm. If the Aussies can do it, why can't we?

Like every other area of recycling, I think it has been proven that the only way to encourage people to do it is to charge for the alternative, which is landfill! If it was cheaper to recycle it, then people would do it! There doesn't seem to be the will to get an organised system set up though. We have come a long way in this country, but the pace is painfully slow!

[Jumbles]

I dunno... charging for the alternative could be a good thing, but usually creates it's own problems.
Before that happens there needs to be education. I think this is the biggest problem.

Lets face it, most people see recycling as a pain in the a$$. Other people genuinely don't know how or why they should recycle. So it needs to be seen to be a part of daily life rather than a chore and a booklet on recycling and tips on what and how to recycle should be circulated.
Simple tips like: compost your tea bags and garden waste, when you go for your groceries, bring along your empty bottles to the supermarket recycling banks, buy loose fruit and veg rather than pre-packaged... etc etc...

When the green bins first came out, my father was one of the first to get one. It was very badly done. The council gave out the green "recycle bins" in the estate. Most people just thought, woohoo, an extra bin! And threw all their mixed waste in the green bin too.
Even when the council refused to lift green bins with non recyclables in them people still did it. Then the council issued warnings, people would be fined if they were found to have non recyclables in their green bins. That stopped it. People made it their business to find out what is allowed in the green bins. He now has a brown bin for compostable waste too.

People need to know what is and isn't allowed and need to know it IS their business to recycle. That's why I think fining for mixed waste works better.
Charging more for non recyclabes normally leads to illegal dumping and burning. It's damned hard to avoid non recyclables, I try. I bought very very little that didn't come in glass or tetrapack until my bin took plastics and I now buy some plastic bottles too.

Some areas in the UK fine for putting non recylables in recycle bins. And in some states in America it is illegal to not recycle, so you could be fined if glass bottles were found in your trash for example...

But before all that, education is the key. Kids in school should be the main target.

[HappyHunter]

I think people are going to find they cannot afford to pay charges for all these services, because of rising unemployment and they will go back to basics. Problem might be that back to basics for some might be dumping in scenic areas because they cannot afford the collection charges.

I agree that people need to be educated (or re-educated) about how to do things that are beneficial to them, in the sense that it saves them money that they don't have to spend. Re-educate because there was a time, as has been pointed out many times, that people knew instinctively about these things but they have un-learnt because they have become dependent on others to provide for them in every aspect of their lives.

Reducing waste by composting is beneficial to individual families and communities. With this compost they can enrich the soil in their gardens, their gardens can be used to produce food. If people live in apartments they can create a communal compost and a communal vegetable plot. Even if there is not a communal growing area or place where apartment residents have garden areas where they can grow food, people can grow food on balconies, so a communal composting area would be useful anyway.

With unemployment rates increasing people will have more time on their hands to tend to vegetables.

Barter systems can be put to good use with the food that is grown. Exchanging food for a service or goods will become a norm rather than a rarity.

It's time for tightening the belts rather than spending more money but tightening does not mean having to go without basic necessities which can be grown with our own compost on our own small gardens. It just takes a little work and some creative thinking.

I am proposing that people take back their power by ceasing depending on others to provide their food and services.

As has been suggested on another thread on this forum, we need to bring our own containers to the stores with us, when we buy packed goods remove them, place them in our own containers and leave the packaging with the store for them to dispose of.

How many people know that when you purchase a large item, such as a washing machine, that you can and should return the packaging to the store for them to dispose of it? If it works for large consumer goods then it will work for the smaller, regularly bought goods.

How many people know that cardboard and paper can be composted? How many people reuse envelopes?

There have been some great suggestions about junk mail on another thread, we need to become active, we are accepting junk and being charged to get rid of it but we never asked for this junk, even when we purchase a large item we want the item not the packaging.

Aghh that got me going LOL - getting off my soap box now - I promise :)

Some might be interested in these movies:

http://www.zeitgeistmovie.com/

[bluecurlygirl]

Our council don't provide green bins - that would be Cavan County Council - just to name and shame. My bin collection is a private collection as the only collection the Council does is the yellow bags that you pay €5 or something like that. The private collection isn't great either as it only collects the green bin once every four weeks. One of our neighbours - I kid you not - never leaves a bin out on Mondays (private collection day) or Tuesdays (council collection day) and with seven kids in the house we were all wondering where the waste was going. Then we discovered that he has cut a gateway out of his back garden fence which opens onto a field and he just hurls his rubbish in there. The council were made aware of this and eventually they provided him with a skip - where is the logic? Why not fine his a$$ first and make him recycle secondly and then fill the landfill bags - not a big bloody skip. That was a few months ago. And now guess what has happened - yes that's right - there's another skip outside his door provided for by the Council again. So what did he learn - nothing. In fact he was rewarded for his lack of effort. It just makes you mad really. Yet again back to education. Show people like this what they're doing wrong and how to rightify it. Help them by all means but what they're doing isn't helping anything. Putting a plaster on a festering wound.