Browsing: recycling

The night before our fortnightly recycling day in my household is a stressful and often unpopular task, with all the washing, compacting and sorting involved.  The council provides us with one small black box in which to squeeze our recycled rubbish and if this isn’t frustrating enough they won’t take my cardboard or plastic bags which means I have to get in the car and take it to our local recycling centre; I sometimes feel like giving up on this recycling habit.

Read the rest of Recycling made easy with Ben the Bin »

As a nation we are getting better at recycling, but how do you feel about your waste going half way around the world to China or Hong Kong after you have done your bit? Do you consider this an environmental paradox or simply better than it ending up in landfill here in the UK? Ethical Superstore tracks the seemingly crazy global movement of our trash.

First, we pop out our rubbish for recycling. Over a third of UK waste is now recycled and when you consider it was a shockingly low 14 per cent two years ago, this is a big leap for a previously apathetic nation.

Then, it gets sorted. After collection it is taken to what is known as a Materials Recycling Facility and sorted either by hand or machine before being taken to manufactures who make it into shiny new products.

Most of our recycling stays within the UK. 82% of our glass waste currently stays here – the majority of it to make new glass bottles and jars – and 75% of aluminium is reprocessed here. 100% of our wood and all of our green waste, unsurprisingly perhaps, stays here too*.

But, some of it gets exported. Paper and plastic currently have the biggest demand for overseas export. Only 51 per cent of paper and 36 per cent of plastic was reprocessed in the UK in 2006*.

Read the rest of Where does all the recycling go? »