Discussion
Why do all the politicians go on about being big on the environment, which usually involves fan powered Britain, instead of the actual doing?
A few ideas I had was to force manufacturers to use materials that are biodegradable in x amount of years, can be burnt or re-used?
Or have a limits on what packaging can be used?
Or to get cigarette butts made out of biodegradable materials?
These are simple things that will have little impact on the manufacturing and have a lot bigger impact on the environment.
What other green ideas do you have that are simple, cost effective and good for the environment? Over the standard gimmicks.
A few ideas I had was to force manufacturers to use materials that are biodegradable in x amount of years, can be burnt or re-used?
Or have a limits on what packaging can be used?
Or to get cigarette butts made out of biodegradable materials?
These are simple things that will have little impact on the manufacturing and have a lot bigger impact on the environment.
What other green ideas do you have that are simple, cost effective and good for the environment? Over the standard gimmicks.
The UK government can impose regulations on packaging design and materials to minimise waste but can only target the packaging producers – most of which do not fall under UK law (them not being in the UK!).
Any legislation therefore needs to cover as wider area as possible and we do have laws governing the EU which are now starting to have an affect but places like the far east remain a problem in this respect.
Any legislation therefore needs to cover as wider area as possible and we do have laws governing the EU which are now starting to have an affect but places like the far east remain a problem in this respect.
elster said:
Why do all the politicians go on about being big on the environment, which usually involves fan powered Britain, instead of the actual doing?
A few ideas I had was to force manufacturers to use materials that are biodegradable in x amount of years, can be burnt or re-used?
Or have a limits on what packaging can be used?
Or to get cigarette butts made out of biodegradable materials?
These are simple things that will have little impact on the manufacturing and have a lot bigger impact on the environment.
What other green ideas do you have that are simple, cost effective and good for the environment? Over the standard gimmicks.
Just about anything used can be burned, or if metallic or glass reclaimed. In fact there are technologies available to extract useful power by burning waste.A few ideas I had was to force manufacturers to use materials that are biodegradable in x amount of years, can be burnt or re-used?
Or have a limits on what packaging can be used?
Or to get cigarette butts made out of biodegradable materials?
These are simple things that will have little impact on the manufacturing and have a lot bigger impact on the environment.
What other green ideas do you have that are simple, cost effective and good for the environment? Over the standard gimmicks.
And AFAICT cig butts are biodegradable given long enough.
Go back to having deposits on drinks bottles.
Make all the plastic bottles, lids, yoghurt pots, butter containers, etc from the same plastic, instead of 15 different types, only a few of which the recycling will collect.
Less packaging FFS. Some supermarkets wrap individual bananas. They come self packed!
Make all the plastic bottles, lids, yoghurt pots, butter containers, etc from the same plastic, instead of 15 different types, only a few of which the recycling will collect.
Less packaging FFS. Some supermarkets wrap individual bananas. They come self packed!
Edited by HOGEPH on Tuesday 27th April 16:07
HOGEPH said:
Go back to having deposits on drinks bottles.
Make all the plastic bottles, lids, yoghurt pots, butter containers, etc from the same plastic, instead of 15 different types, only a few of which the recycling will collect.
Less packaging FFS. Some supermarkets wrap individual bananas. They come self packed!
I had an excellent idea for this, put it to the relevant people to see if they could get it off the ground and such... did a single one of them reply... Nope.Make all the plastic bottles, lids, yoghurt pots, butter containers, etc from the same plastic, instead of 15 different types, only a few of which the recycling will collect.
Less packaging FFS. Some supermarkets wrap individual bananas. They come self packed!
Edited by HOGEPH on Tuesday 27th April 16:07
It is a tried and trusted method of reducing waste and giving back a few pence to the consumer and its done elsewhere, but they were not interested.
elster said:
Why do all the politicians go on about being big on the environment, which usually involves fan powered Britain, instead of the actual doing?
Because they claim that they are "green" as it is the biggest bandwagon to jump on, but have no actual interest in anything environmentally friendly themselves as they don't give a monkey. StevieBee said:
The UK government can impose regulations on packaging design and materials to minimise waste but can only target the packaging producers – most of which do not fall under UK law (them not being in the UK!).
Any legislation therefore needs to cover as wider area as possible and we do have laws governing the EU which are now starting to have an affect but places like the far east remain a problem in this respect.
Not at all true.Any legislation therefore needs to cover as wider area as possible and we do have laws governing the EU which are now starting to have an affect but places like the far east remain a problem in this respect.
The Packaging Waste Regulations apply to everyone who uses packaging from the manufacturer, distributors, those who put their goods in packaging to the end user except for individuals, once turnover hits £2m and they use 50 tonnes of packaging, which is really not a lot.
They apply to wood metal and plastics and cover direct, outer and transit packaging.
The crappy thing about them is that they were, as usual, introduced as a tax raising excercise and the Companies that have been dragged in (for, although most businesses are implicated, most choose to ignore and the EA, who have the task of monitoring, can't be arsed and do a lousy job) to the net are paying thousands for 'Packaging Recovery notes' which are based on the tonnage of each material used for each purpose.
Look up Valpak, one of the organisations milking the system.
elster said:
Why do all the politicians go on about being big on the environment, which usually involves fan powered Britain, instead of the actual doing?
Because there are too many voters who still believe in it. If you don't pander to their concerns you won't get their vote. Once you have the vote and win you can wind in the policies or put them on permanent hold.essexplumber said:
How big is the green vote? How many votes is it worth? It's the torys green slant that is putting me off voting for them. They may secure more votes by dropping it altogether.
The problem there is that it may mean Labour or even Worse, the Car Hating dems might get in.If you vote UKIP, much as I hate to say it, but in these elections it will be a vote wasted.....
Combined Heat and Power from incinerating waste. With the correct filtration and incinerating at a high enough temperature, the emissions are very low and cause no appreciable discomfort for local residents other than increased traffic transporting the waste to the site.
Massively reduced landfill and can be attached to a waste hub so everything from sorting recyclables to incinerating remainder 'general' waste is carried out in the same place.
Use prisoners to sort the waste and you have cheap labour too.
I'm all for reducing council tax by crediting households that recycle items with weight value like bottles and cans.
Massively reduced landfill and can be attached to a waste hub so everything from sorting recyclables to incinerating remainder 'general' waste is carried out in the same place.
Use prisoners to sort the waste and you have cheap labour too.
I'm all for reducing council tax by crediting households that recycle items with weight value like bottles and cans.
There's a long-standing project/battle for an incinerator for London, based around Gravesend. So long-standing, I've lost track of whether it's on or off again, and when it's due.
It's worth noting one of those figures you don't see too often - London actually recycles quite effectively, a greater than many European cities including Paris. And that's despite some boroughs letting the side down badly (and it's very interesting to see which ones). The big weakness is that unlike those other cities, we don't incinerate what can safely be from what's left, and stick it in the ground.
As remedy says, a CHP plant is necessary and inevitable. Follow an Austrian model (amongst Europe's best0:
It's worth noting one of those figures you don't see too often - London actually recycles quite effectively, a greater than many European cities including Paris. And that's despite some boroughs letting the side down badly (and it's very interesting to see which ones). The big weakness is that unlike those other cities, we don't incinerate what can safely be from what's left, and stick it in the ground.
As remedy says, a CHP plant is necessary and inevitable. Follow an Austrian model (amongst Europe's best0:
- Several filterings of rubbish to extract all recyclables
- Leave three piles - burnable, landfill, and unsafe
- Burn for energy (extracting the final value)
- Bonkers levels of filtering & scrubbing on the exhaust & solid waste - way over legal limits - to both reduce risks and calm local fears.
Dupont666 said:
HOGEPH said:
Go back to having deposits on drinks bottles.
Make all the plastic bottles, lids, yoghurt pots, butter containers, etc from the same plastic, instead of 15 different types, only a few of which the recycling will collect.
Less packaging FFS. Some supermarkets wrap individual bananas. They come self packed!
I had an excellent idea for this, put it to the relevant people to see if they could get it off the ground and such... did a single one of them reply... Nope.Make all the plastic bottles, lids, yoghurt pots, butter containers, etc from the same plastic, instead of 15 different types, only a few of which the recycling will collect.
Less packaging FFS. Some supermarkets wrap individual bananas. They come self packed!
Edited by HOGEPH on Tuesday 27th April 16:07
It is a tried and trusted method of reducing waste and giving back a few pence to the consumer and its done elsewhere, but they were not interested.
Having milk bottles again, the barr fizzy pop money on the bottle return.
Having uniform materials that can be reused or recycled with ease.
Simple ideas, that aren't really a green issue. More a common sense one.
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