COMMUNITY RECYCLING CHAMPIONS
I am a bit wary of the emphasis that is put on recycling as a key message for people who want to tackle global warming. It is relatively easy, if you have doorstep collections, to separate your cans and bottles and paper and garden waste and, if you have a car, to take larger items to a recycling centre. This makes some people happy that they have done their bit to help the planet.
New readers will learn, if they turn to my early blog entries last November and December, that recycling is what you should do only
- after you have refused to buy new items when your old items are still serviceable;
- after you have reduced your car journeys by shopping locally;
- after you have reused the box that the sofa arrived in and transformed it into a play tunnel; and
- after you have had your printer repaired rather than replacing it.
If you have done all these things - and more - recycling does help to lighten your carbon footprints. It also helps to clean up your neighbourhood: if enough people picked up cans and bottles from pavements and gutters on their way home from the bus stop, we would all feel happier with cleaner streets.
In March Birmingham City Council achieved all its recycling targets and Jeremy Shields, in charge of Waste Management, is now planning to make further progress. Can you help? He is looking for volunteer resident "Community Recycling Champions" to work in their neighbourhoods, encouraging and supporting other residents to "Recycle for Birmingham".
The Champions would offer commonsense advice and support and stop false rumours with facts about what happens to the recycled items collected in Birmingham. The Council will provide information to pass on by email or by post and, for those who wish to talk to officers face to face, at meetings.
If you would like to know more about this, please ring Jeremy on 0121 303 6190.
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Esther Boyd - Esther Boyd is a qualified architect who is dedicated to making Moseley environmentally friendly. She is secretary of local green group SusMo.
Dear Esther & ellow Lighter Footprinters
If you haven't watched it yet, you must see The Story of Stuff video:
http://www.storyofstuff.com/
The 'Disposal' chapter highlights how household waste is just the tip of the iceberg: for every 1 dustbin of waste we put out, 70 dustbins were needed just to produce the stuff in the first place - a scary thought! The only answer is to stop consuming the stuff in the first place!
I think this is a really useful blog to read as it shows the main tips on how to recycle properly.
As Birmingham is such a big city i do think they definetly need to improve on recycling as much as possible.Encouraging individuals to do this will be a better enviroment to be in.
These tips are definitely useful. We should think about why we are recycling, and not just to make ourselves look good to the rest of the world.
Separating cans from bottle, taking larger and electrical goods to proper places of disposal also helps.
We should be concerned with doing 'our own bit' for the environment. It's important to recycle, as well as doing it to help the society we live in.
Good points, people need to open their eyes to doing more than just putting cans in a box.
However at least it is a start as I know some people who struggle just to do that! Pleased to hear that Brum's meeting its targets though, but would be interested to know what these targets are?
I think this is a good post. Although I try to recycle as much as I can, I always feel like I could do more. Blogs like these which include tips and pointers are very helpful and refresh my memory.
It is good to hear that the post refreshed your memory, about things that make a difference and can be done without too much effort. I hope that you will pass the message on, to slow down the slide to the tipping point - watch http://wakeupfreakout.org/film/tipping.html