How many people today grab a takeaway coffee cup from the local cafe to drink on the go? We don’t know, but the number must be enormous.. Most every one of the above have a plastic top that will last 100s of years. Some cafes still use plastic cups that last a similar time. Is 10 minutes of coffee worth 100s of years of trash?
These items can be seen littering our gutters and on our streets all over the place. If they were all cardboard, they would still be littered, but they would, at least, be gone in a short time.
They do not need to be made of plastic.
On the way home from the gym last week, a distance of about 1 km (1/2 mile), I counted the items of plastic litter on the curb as I walked. In that short distance I counted 63 pieces of plastic litter. Plastic drink bottles, bottle tops, candy wrappers, plastic film, polystyrene fragments etc. That seemed to be a lot to me. I guess it is a generational thing. Our parents would have been horrified to see that amount, whereas it seems to go unnoticed by our youth of today. In another 20 years how many pieces will there be on this stretch, -- 200? What will today’s youth think of that new amount then when they are older? Will their children be so readily accepting of a higher amount of litter? Scotland considers cash for bottles/cans scheme to drive recycling
Posted on May 30, 2015 by DrRossH in Plastic Limiting RegulationsScotland considers cash for bottles/cans scheme to drive recycling – Waste Management World.
Richard Lochhead, environment secretary, said: “Countries such as Germany, Sweden and Norway already have such systems in place as do parts of Canada, Australia and the United States. I am keen to explore the opportunities for Scotland from deposit return and will be highlighting these studies with my counterparts in England, Wales and Northern Ireland to invite them to do likewise.”
However, the Packaging Recycling Group Scotland (PRGS) did not welcome the news.
Jane Bickerstaffe, PRGS spokesperson, said: “We do not support the introduction of a Deposit-Refund-System in Scotland and recommend alternative proposals to promote recycling, reduce waste and tackle litter, which we believe will be more effective.”
This would be so good for Scotland. A CDS is such a simple scheme to run and very effective. In Australia in states that do not have a CDS recycling is only 25%. In States that do have it, recycling is over 80%. The packaging organisations do not want it and come up with all sorts of excuses to not do it, but none of these excuses have any merit. If they had really been concerned about the litter their products make they would have made changes years ago. But they have not and it just shows they care nothing for the environment that their products pollute so badly.
In this article they mention a report by the packaging organisation that says 80% of people recycle. That is so deceitful and intentionally misleading. Yes many people recycle while at home but it is the away from home litter that is the big problem. This will not get better until a value to the consumer is put on the container. Hawaii has a scheme too and there are people there going around all the time to pick up littered bottles and retrieve them from trash cans. It is very effective and no cost to the consumer who wants their refund, it creates many jobs, supports many civic organisations and avoids the loss or landfilling of a resource. That is the more real picture.
Discussion · No Comments
There are no responses to "Scotland considers cash for bottles/cans scheme to drive recycling". Comments are closed for this post.Oops! Sorry, comments are closed at this time. Please try again later.