Rubbish!

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Waste, waste and more waste!! Today really had us thinking in the office when a group of us went to island waste on the isle of wight to see what happens to all of our rubbish on the island, and where it ends up?

Feeling pretty sceptical about how things are sifted through on the island we turned up at the Island Waste headquarters. I personally found it hard to believe that all our waste is really sorted through and dealt with accordingly, but was utterly amazed at how it all happened! Above all I was really impressed with how honest and open everyone was with dealing with the problem, and how seriously everyone took their responsibilities on as part of the system. The people there really did want to make a difference. I think that we all have a really idyllic idea of how recycling should be, with each bin having the correct items in, and we wonder why that cannot be the reality? Well I certainly learned a lot today on that front! First of all organic kitchen waste… that one should be an easy problem to tackle. But today we learnt that people thought that they could not recycle organic kitchen waste as they do not buy organic food, and does kitchen waste include dishcloths? We learned that for some people garden waste can include lawn mowers! So even with the best intentions can people really do it? Can you really be sure that each bag of the hundreds of thousands that arrive in lorries are full of waste of strictly one type. I think that the real answer is probably no. That you will never get 100% of people sorting things perfectly, or even 100% of people caring enough. It’s the harsh reality, but it only takes one mistake of a pack of batteries ending up in the compost bin, and tons of compost could be contaminated. It’s a really really hard nut to crack. What blew me away was that even with the older technology at the waste site on the island they are able to sort on many different levels. Pulling out steel is an easy one, pulling out other metals is an interesting one, electrically changing the conveyor belt to make them jump off! Sorting light combustible items, then composting the food matter which comes out first. It’s a massive room full of sorting machines… Incredibly impressive! It makes you think that the future of waste management could well be in the technology at the waste sorting end, so that they can be sure what is entering what part of the system. Glass it would appear is a challenging one, as it’s really hard to sort out, but the others are more feasible. Then you start asking ourselves what should happen to all that waste. Should the paper all be recycled when it can be burned on site for electricity saving the cutting down of a tree? Should the elements of waste all be recycled in Yorkshire, or transported to Lincolnshire on a lorry on the ferry? I started to think that perhaps a good way of dealing with the combustible parts of this waste is to burn it, as they do with part of the waste on the island. With the correct measures of cleaning the chemicals away, and disposing of the 3% fly ash which is the only nasty by product besides the CO2. Is this better than sticking 100% of it in land-fill? There is a new plant being built on the island, which will replace the current plastic and paper pellet burner; this will not only burn the plastic and paper, but heat it first to produce methane which will burn more efficiently to produce even more energy per ton. It may not be completely environmentally friendly to have to dispose of fly ash, but would you rather have 100% of landfill waste in a hill, or burn 97% of it producing energy that would mainly come from fossil fuels and have 3% fly ash waste. It’s not easy… every county or region has a slightly different challenge too… On that subject we visited the islands land fill site - and what a monster it is with millions of tons of waste in the process of being entombed in a huge man-sized valley. But what was impressive to see was the garden waste composting there, a product which is useable, real and viable… I’d love to visit other countries and see just how they deal with their sorting, and at what time in the process is it done. Composting in your own garden is a no brainer as it saves on land fill. Reusing things has to come first - such as plastic bags!, and if we ever manage it, producing packaging which is just a little bit easier to dispose of! Some things are naturally and virtually unavoidable waste products, but when you see just what volume of waste there is from plastic pots that hold a salad for a few hours, or carrier bags used for 12 minutes, or t-shirts that are worn for just a handful of times you begin to see the scale of the problem! There is no question that any fixes we need to have must be for the long haul, and that the best of these require real long-term action and investment. There is no doubt that avoiding land fill is no bad thing, and we can all make a difference to that in our homes… Because we should all keep in mind that producing less waste in the first place also does lighten the burden of waste management, it’s not only a question of improving the technology! But it all requires everyone to work together, and that appears to be one of the big challenges we all face in this huge but essential puzzle…. Island Waste


16 comments have been made

  • Louise
  • 23rd November, 2007

You are absolutely hard core Ellen!! I believe the answer lies in awareness, awareness, awareness! IT IS possible for Even the WORST of culprits to be converted (I used to be one of them)With just the right and frequent messages getting across. It´s in the belief and ´understanding´ that everyone´s own “small contribution” really does count.

  • Laurence
  • 23rd November, 2007

Louise beat me too it , knowledge as well . You mentioned the older technology well people have got to remember most equipment is not built to last any more (PC’s any one games consoles , most electronic equipment ) will have a life of around 3-5 years . Nomraly superseded and abandoned in its market place after year as well ;).

Making everyone work together is the real tasks reminding them that what they do 1) affects more then them selves 2) And they can all make a difference

  • Bill
  • 24th November, 2007

Packaging is the main problem. Supermarkets can play a part here by reducing the amount of packaging, but the problem is that they make more money by packaging their goods for display, and for protecting products, and for increasing speed through checkouts. Imagine how much longer it would take if customers had to choose unpacked vegetables and select individual fruit before putting them in paper bags; imagine how much longer it would take the person at the till to key in the information, rather than swipe a barcode; imagine the increased spillage and the consequential cleaning of premises because of bags breaking and the shedding of bits and pieces when items are transferred from display shelves to bags.

Because we can no longer rely on having a small local shop where packaging is kept to a minimum, the disposal of waste packaging is inevitably a big problem, and as far as I can see, there’s no easy solution. To my way of thinking the Supermarkets are the main source of the majority of our waste and therefore they should be responsible for providing the major share of waste disposal services. I am pleased my nearest Tesco provides recycling facilities for plastic items such as milk cartons, plastic bags, glass, paper, cardboard, second-hand shoes and unwanted clothing that can be used by those in need.

I am convinced Supermarkets could do more to reduce waste, and in so doing they would have the public on their side; after all, the cost levied by the Supermarkets upon customers to offset loss of profits would be minimal. By law, I believe Supermarkets should be forced to contribute a percentage of their income to Local Authorities for the explicit provision of waste disposal facilities that would enable the majority of THEIR rubbish to be recycled.

  • Louise
  • 24th November, 2007

You have just used as an … so I will … ( Mercadona)… my local supermarket …. is just packaging, packaging… I don´t go there any more!! It is Riddic ?? I agree with Laurence all the time ( Hi laurence) but i will leave this for more blog .. I am one for wearing clothes and using things until they die.. another thing but agreeable right now !!! I understand why people in UK understand that garden waste inclue lawn mower.. we accept that common sense prevail… but common sense is not common…….

  • Louise
  • 24th November, 2007

Some people need things explaining more clearly for them. I live ( on the meditteranean) and here on the southern coast… right now we recyle using communal? bins!! Our waste goes into one at the bottom of the street and bottles get smashed together … whatever the colour.`Plastic is seperate, like is paper… I love the idea of when i grew up with money back on the bottles and reusable… really and lets be serious … its´s the only way forward ? Si??

  • Louise
  • 24th November, 2007

Laurence, I just don´t get the whole burning of waste thing??
and transported to yorkshire !! (Am i thick??) Isn´t that loads away from the isle of wight ??? IS it just just me or do ordinarly non planet saving people need things explaining more clearly than that of the local government?? ;Maybe if people s´s personal trigger was pushed such as snow at christmas or wild life animals losing there lively hood ?? x x x

  • Laurence
  • 25th November, 2007

Well from what i know of waste management and movement (and as Ellens actually been to the plants shes probably the best person to confirm this ), yes it is madness , however haulage (or truck firms ) would have been asked to give a bid for removal of waste etc , most likley a national wide search . Yorkshire has a much lower coast of living and economy (as its in the North of England (there is a North South economic divide)). Its also perception . Traditionaly we had land fill’s and what we call “dumps” people drive to this locally refuage places and dump their other waste . No concept or eduction of recycling or assistance from local goverements , except with in the last id say 10 years (. Its really all to do with money im afraid (from what ive read and seen ). We can just all do our parts. Ps.s Thanks for agreeing with me most kind :D Mucho Gracius ;)

  • Louise
  • 27th November, 2007

Hi Laurence, Thanks for replying and shedding light on probably the most badly written message ever posted :-D!!
I´m sure that thigns could be made more simple if tried. Also, to make more clear, although I realise some people will use the excuse of ignorance for laziness.

  • Richard Atkinson
  • 28th November, 2007

The experience of other countries can be enlightening. When working in Germany ten years ago I noticed: 1. That the supermarkets took back glass bottles for a deposit, and 2. There was a lot less packaging on products. For example, here in Australia a tube of toothpaste comes in a cardboard box, that you immediately throw away. In Germany the same toothpaste was displayed in a stand of seperate tubes with no boxes. I believe the reason was that the law says that the retailer has to take responsibility for disposing of waste packaging. This means the retailers put pressure on the manufacturers not to over-package. One reason this worked in Munich was that many more people shop either on foot or bicycle, rather than driving to the supermarket. As they have to carry their groceries home, they’re keen to take off all the excess packaging and give it back to the shop to reduce weight and bulk.

I was also pleased to see that there was a lot less bonding of plastic to cardboard, I think due to EU regulation. This made it a lot easier to sort your recycling. In Australia we still have a ridiculous number of good sold in packaging that there is no way of recycling. This problem seems to have been exacerbated by the increase in goods imported from, especially, China, where there is even less interested in the environment.

I also liked the way you had to pay for plastic bags in German supermarkets. Ten years later this has flowed through to Australia. Although we don’t have to pay, at least they have signs saying that they wont offer a bag if you have three or fewer items, and there are a lot more cloth bags being used.

Incidentally, the small town of Coles Bay on the East Coast of Tasmania is totally plastic bag free. None of the shops provide them. (It’s also close to Wineglass Bay, the most beautiful place in the world, IMHO.)

  • Heather Stewart
  • 29th November, 2007

Having been away from checking in on Ellen for a few months while I spent more time on my own sailing ;), I’ve just caught up on all the blog entries (and Laurence’s and Louise’s comments! ;) and latest happenings. Ellen, congrats on the new sponsor and all your sustainability work as well.

Happy to see such a focus on that here…thank you, Ellen! Admittedly, I too have plenty of ways to improve my own impact and sustainability footprint. However, having been an environmental education teacher and program coordinator in my younger adult career here in CA, I appreciate the focus on self education shared with others…you never know who you may inspire and what influences you may have to effect real change!

Not going to get into deep discussions about it all here, but I did want to just chime in that here California, the city of San Francisco has banned the use of plastic bags throughout the entire city! Pretty ambitious goal…but hey, what a way to set a trend, eh?!

And about the waste and use and lack of any real regulatory oversight in some ways…and too much regulatory oversight in others (that tend to go “overkill” on the packaging mandates for ’safety’ or inventory control purposes sometimes!) I just wish so much of the rest of my country would “get it”…sigh.

  • Louise
  • 2nd December, 2007

I confess to taking this from another website (By someone who writes loads better than me), but it just sums up nicely my overall thoughts and why we should just keep going!”Don´t be tempted to think that the environmental crisis is so hopelessly huge that anything you do is but a drop in the ocean! One tiny drop can send out ripples in ways that we cannot even begin to imagine, growing in strength and speed until there is a tsunami of positive change”
There you go….. everything I´ve been trying to say for months summed up so beautifully.
Also I just read that Tokyo supermarkets are discounting 2 cents at checkouts for customers not taking plastic bags.
There you go, where there is life, there is hope!! :O) x

  • Jonathan
  • 4th December, 2007

It IS fasincating to see how waste is recycled and there are genuine efforts being made to reduce the waste, but - (time for some cynisim), the reality for most local authorities is that they recycle waste to hit government targets for “TONNAGE” of waste recycled. This influences hugely the type of waste that is likley to be collected (and therefore the economics for waste recycling of different products, compare the amount of schemes for (heavy) glass recycling as opposed to (lighter) plastics recycling.

Also always check up with the local authority with what is actually being recycled rather than just “COLLECTED” for recycling. quite often some local authorities will collect certain materials such as plastics even though there is (as yet) no economically viable recycling company nearby that will take them for re-processing.

To balance the cynisim - make sure you buy recycled products where ever possible to help make recycled processing more econiomcailly viable - better still - DONT BUT IT IN THE FIRST PLACE !”! - which lets face it is the problem in the first place - societies over consumption of materials.

Keep up the good work Ellen.

They will give you up to 5 cents in some grocery stores around here (Palo Alto, CA) if you bring your own bags. Good incentive, but I don’t see too many people bringing their own bags (I do).
Also I try to recycle everything possible, my teenage sons argue with me that recycling is more harmful to the environment than just putting all the waste in a landfill. I’ll have to do some research myself so I can argue with them.

  • ziggy
  • 2nd March, 2008

These are all commendable ways of sorting waste but, as you touched on in your final paragraphs, not producing it in the first place would be a splended idea.
I work in a department store and I am incensed at one particular type of completely unecessary waste.
Clothes hangers. I don’t know the policy of all clothes stores but I do know that we get many of our clothes already hung. This means that we have a surplus of hangers. Now, do we save the company some money and the environment some strain by crating them up and sending them back on the lorry to the warehouse? No, we throw them in the skip. These things that could be used time and time again go in the rubbish. I would love to see a law passed that would insist on companies re-using all that is re-usable and heavy fines if they don’t comply.
Our company by itself must dump hundreds of thousands of these hangers every year. It disgusts me.

  • Mike
  • 20th April, 2008

I have to agree with Bill here. Packaging is a large problem. So many products, are displayed, sealed and protected by some form of polymer. As yet, widespread and simplistic technology to re-cycle plastic is not available. On trips to the my local recycle facilities there is not a facility that says “Plastics”. Yet we persist in producing the stuff. But what are the fundamental reasons for our persistence? Well firstly, plastic is cheap to produce, allows the consumer to make easy choices of products, for example, fresh meat and fish in supermarkets. It is possible to visually inspect what we are purchasing and we know the product has been sealed and protected. Production is straightforward and as a result doesn’t inflate the price to the consumer. As consumers we have grown use to purchasing things in “mint” condition. Larger goods are also wrapped in layer after layer of plastic. This helps the supplier and retailer protect them while in transit and storage, i.e. house furniture / computers. So where does the argument lead? We it leads simply to the retailer and consumer relationship being satisfied, we receive what we require in a condition and at a price where we are happy to part with our cash. The baseline here is profit for the retailer and value for customer. The reality is thousands of tonnes of a product, which we cannot recycle easily, are produced. All parties will talk a great fight. Who will queue for longer to purchase goods at a counter rather than grab the product in a plastic packet off the shelf? Everyone seems in a hurry, no time to wait, lets get the shopping done – it’s a lovely day we can go to the seaside to relax. Don’t worry about all those old oil bottles or paint tins we’ll throw them in the bin – they’ll be taken away its all right. Problem was of course the trip to the seaside was ruined – as it was covered in polymer waste and old cans.

  • moosmoos
  • 23rd April, 2008

Strikes me that we are all recycling the wrong stuff. Should we not be recycling the bad stuff like plastic bottles and plastic bags etc blah blah?

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This is the personal Blog of me, Ellen MacArthur. I will be posting regular updates and news on my life and passions…

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