Cardiff recycling swindle!

I read this today- First we have scam 'green'. Now it seems we have the The Great Recycling Swindle!

Recycling industry insiders have told us that Cardiff residents’ waste, which is picked up all in one bag without being separated, ends up far too mixed & contaminated to be recycled effectively. The situation is the same in most UK towns. Much of it is sold on to waste dealers who export it halfway across the world to Indonesia, India & China, burning tonnes of carbon dioxide to dump rubbish on poorer people in the global South. Our waste should be recycled separately by operations in the UK, but because it is collected mixed togetherin one bag, paper mills, plastics, & glass handlers find it impossible to work with. Many UK paper mills have had to close down because councils are too short-sighted to implement proper recycling schemes toprovide them with clean materials.

One insider told us: “Cardiff Council will claim that it sends its paper to the paper mill at Ayelsford inKent to be recycled. But none of the kerbside recycling from Cardiff gets there. By the time it’sbeen picked up & taken to the central depot it’s been contaminated by broken glass & other materials, & it’smostly unusable. I know this because I’ve been speaking to people at the paper mills. I don’t knowexactly where it gets sent, but it stands to reason that if the UK recyclers are refusing it, it’ll besold by middle-men to the big dealers in the Far East.”Another industry expert, who also prefers to remain anonymous, told us that lots of our waste ends up inthe global South where it is picked over by poor labourers in dangerous & unsanitary conditions. “Thereare containers full of mixed materials illegally exported to developing countries where health & safetyis not a consideration & where children sift through what we would call landfill sites.

I’ve heard rumoursthat Cardiff’s so-called recycled waste gets sent to Indonesia, but only a few people know for sure. Theydon’t want to broadcast it”. Cardiff Council only recently opened the expensiverecycling ‘sorting’ facility at Lamby Way. One sourcetold us, “Lamby Way is a complete disaster. All it produces is low-grade contaminated waste that’s next to useless. That place was a total waste of money”. Another told us that big & costly separating plantslike Lamby Way wouldn’t be necessary if the public were asked to do the job in the home, or if collectorsseparated on collection. “Getting individuals separating waste in the home is not difficult – it’scommon practice in other European countries like Germany, & it’s also done in Newport!”

One big difference in the Newport recycling method, apart from separating waste at source, not exporting it & actually recycling it, is it isn’t run by the council, it’s run by a community group!
Waste savers Real recycling!