December 2008 Archives

I am taking a short break from seasonal festivities, in the hope that this message will persuade a few people to change your behaviour.

The top priority for recycling is drinks cans. The energy saved from recycling one drinks can, rather than using new aluminium, will provide three hours electricity for a TV.

When I'm not in a rush, and have a spare bag with me, I pick up cans in the street. Last weekend I was hand delivering cards to local friends and I picked up 24 cans - saving 72 hours of electricity for a TV. I also picked up two, one pint beer glasses.

I hope that you will make every effort to recycle the cans that you use, and even occasionally pick up those left by others in the street.

Now back to seasonal festivities, with a smile.

I have reached my seventh posting on this blog before advising you to Recycle. If this is the first time that you have logged on to this site, please check what I have said before - you will then understand why recycling should not be the first priority for people attempting to reduce the size of our carbon footprints, but almost the last. It comes after we have exercised our choice to Refuse, Reduce, Reuse, Repair, but at the end of each week we will all have some "rubbish" to dispose of. If it can be recycled, it is best, for the future of the planet, to find the most efficient way of recycling it.

There are lots of myths about recycling. I think that potentially the most damaging myth is that "the bottom has dropped out of the recycling market, so don't bother."

The truth is that recycling has never been a commercial business. If it was, it would earn money for local authorities, rather than forming part of the valuable, but costly, refuse service.

The Birmingham City Council website has a useful A - Z of recycling.

Paper and card from Birmingham's blue box collection is processed for re-use within Birmingham (in Nechells), and the tins, cans and bottles from Birmingham's green box collection is currently taken to a "Materials Recovery Facility" in Essex, but not for much longer as a new MRF will soon be opened in Wolverhampton.

Birmingham's recycling website also gives advice on where to send items that can be reused instead of being recycled.

In case you need persuading, or reminding, that the future of life on this planet depends on you (and me) taking action, take a short break sometime soon and watch Leo Murray's 11 minute film "Wake Up, Freak Out - then Get a Grip" .

Enjoy the festive season, recharge your personal energy supplies and your motivation to take action. We can and will make a difference to the future of the planet if we all begin to walk with lighter footprints.

I have touched on Refuse, Reduce, Reuse in previous blogs - it is now time to consider Repair.

To spend time on "small" repairs is seen as a luxury to many people. Sewing an ear back on a teddy bear, or mending a torn jacket, or glueing a heel on a shoe, or putting a decorative patch over a stain on a sofa "takes far too much time". Somehow the time spent on travelling to shops, finding and buying replacements, as well as the time spent earning the money to buy them with, is forgotten.

Our current economic climate may encourage us to spend more time lengthening the life of our possessions, but how many people have the skills needed? This is where the skills and experience of older generations - with more time to spare? - should be passed on to younger people. For those who don't know anyone to ask for a lesson, there are evening classes and also "home learning" opportunities.

Larger repairs are often not carried out for different reasons. We may feel virtuous when we avoid a repair bill for an item (fridge/cooker/dishwasher/whatever) and buy a new, more efficient one - but how long will it take for the increased efficiency to overtake the costs in production for the new model, and the disposal costs for the old one? And "costs" covers not just the money spent on the new item and the reduction in electricity bills, but all the resources used in production and disposal. How would this compare with repair costs?

Repairs and maintenance in the home is where my husband and I score very badly - we both give a higher priority to our voluntary and community activities than to making our house look smarter. However last year our peeling outdoor paint and rotten windows reached the point where they had to be dealt with. We couldn't find anyone willing to repair the windows and were advised that they should be replaced. We received a few frightening quotations for the work as they included two bay windows.

One day, when inviting people to a meeting at our house and describing it as "the house with yellow, peeling paintwork" I was told that Jericho would give us a quote for repairs and decorations. Jericho is a social enterprise, based in Balsall Heath, that offers a range of services, including training, work experience and employment for people who are disadvantaged in the labour market. They had already provided us with a solar panel and a new, efficient boiler (replacing one that was over 30 years old) and we were delighted with the care and skill they used in this further work.

So Refuse, Reduce, Reuse, Repair as much as you can, before you decide to Recycle.

What do you recycle, or even throw away, that could be reused?

The Freecycle organisation has already saved about 1,000 tonnes of manufactured products from ending up in landfill. Read about the Birmingham branch in the latest edition of the Go Green supplement on this website: click on News, then Campaigns, then Go Green, then View the supplement - pages 4/5. Double click on the image to zoom in.

Patrice John, the editor, has collected a wealth of information to help us all to make our footprints lighter. It is worth spending time on reading the whole supplement.

The Northfield Eco Centre, which was featured in the Go Green supplement of 12th August, pages 12/13 (click View archive, after looking at the newest supplement) has a volunteer making cupboards, shelving and the reception desk using timber from bookshelves left by a previous tenant of 53 Church Road. The committee room table was found on Freecycle, and the contractor left offcuts and unused building materials for use by the Eco Centre, all of which would normally have ended in a skip. Crockery for the Centre also came from Freecycle. The Eco Centre will open in 2009.

The main items that are recycled, that we should consider reusing, are paper, jars and bottles. Paper that has a blank side can be used again before recycling; jars and bottles can be reused, not only for preserves and food uses, but also to store items elsewhere in the house. Plastic trays and containers that cannot be recycled (yet) in Birmingham are excellent for use in workshops and the garden.

We need to pause and consider if we can change any of our lifetime habits, choosing just one thing to begin with. We can all play a part in making a difference to the future of the planet.