White Bag Man
One of the regular gripes I get revolves around plastic recycling. Environmentally friendly residents are trying to cut back on the plastic bags they get from supermarkets. Yet the Council currently tells residents to keep their plastic for recycling separately to the rest of the green box by putting it in plastic bags. But we don’t get plastic bags anymore they chorus.
A solution is at hand. The Council is currently distributing white reusable sacks to residents for their plastics (see picture), which should make it even easier and more convenient for residents to recycle. It’s all part of our on going programme of making recycling easier. In the last 2 years we’ve:
- Extended food waste collection across the Borough
- Made pink bags for garden waste free
- Introduced collection of cardboard in the green box
- Introduced the reusable garden waste (pink) bags
- Started a programme of recycling from flats
Ealing has now hit the 30% recycling target and is recycling 45% more waste than it did last year. The Conservatives had an election slogan a couple of years ago – Vote Blue Go Green – In Ealing’s case that has proved to be true.
Tags: pink bags, plastic, recycling, white bags
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12 July 2008 at 11:26 am
All this recycling is allegedly good for reducing landfill, but where does it all get reprocessed, what is the carbon footprint of the process, and are there actually any financial benefits (apart from EU fines) ? I’d hate to think that it’s all just trendy political posturing chasing made-up targets…
12 July 2008 at 6:19 pm
There are savings, partly avoidance of landfill tax and fines. It costs the Council millions of pounds each year to dump rubbish in landfill and these costs are expected to soar in coming years. A national tax on landfill waste is now due to rise by a further £8 per tonne each year until at least 2011. Furthermore, the Government, in response to an EU directive, places tough targets on waste disposal authorities to avoid landfill. If these targets are not met the Government could be hit with fines of up to £500,000 a day, which are then likely to be passed on to the taxpayer.
Most of the reprocessing of our recycling is done in the UK (ie we don’t ship it all out to China). The list below is all in UK except where stated
Cardboard: Reprocessed into similar materials
Engine oil: Reprocessed into low grade fuel oil for generators
Food, drink and aerosol cans/aluminium foil:Reprocessed into similar products
Food waste: Converted into renewable energy and organic fertiliser (See http://iangibb.wordpress.com/2008/07/10/gordons-indegestion/)
Glass: Reprocessed into glass containers
Green waste: Composted
Household and car batteries: Re-processed in
France into new batteries or reused as raw material
i.e. scrap metal
Paper: Reprocessed into paper
Plastics: Reprocessed into various plastic products
Textiles and shoes: Reused in developing world
or shredded to be made into industrial
wiping cloths
Telephone directories: Shredded for animal bedding
12 August 2008 at 8:59 pm
[...] to improve refuse and recycling services. This included the introduction of plastics recycling (now with a reusable white bag) and the provision of reusable sacks for garden waste, which have made it easier for residents to [...]
16 July 2009 at 7:17 pm
Two of our pink garden waste sacks are falling to pieces. Is there any provision for replacement bags? We have found their use invaluable and think it is a brilliant idea
16 July 2009 at 9:05 pm
You can order them online through the Ealing Council website on the following link
http://eforms.ealing.gov.uk/TIBCOpps/tibco/LBEeFormsDesktop/site/My+Desktop/Order+Waste+Container?