In a panel debate organised by Friends of the Earth, Martin Salter MP launched an unprecedented attack on a member of the audience. He claimed that I had written against recycling. Its typical New Labour to invent an initiative that doesn’t work, then attack those who say so. Spin and lies, business as usual for them.
Ironically he was making a point about how politicians words stay in the media that stay to haunt them. Unlike the other parties, I stand by what I say and my letters stay on our website. I wrote my letter after seeing the state of the streets of our town, increased plastic bags of rubbish in the road and in peoples gardens. That letter can be seen at www.readinggreenparty.org.uk/node/39 , it dates from the 15th of October 2006. I've cpied it below.
Dear Sir
Have you seen the state of our streets lately? Bins are overflowing with rubbish around the town as weekly collection has ended. Recycling bins also have rubbish in them, as residents don’t know what can be recycled. The council point to Cherwell where they have adopted the alternate weekly recycling/ normal rubbish collection, but don’t mention Southampton, Sutton, Leeds, Plymouth, Nuneaton and Bedworth, Bury, Kirklees and Bolton. These Councils have gone back to weekly collections after trying the scheme. If the council were to work with the public and allow them to participate in the decision making process we could be heading to a zero waste strategy, instead of a public health catastrophe.
Adrian Windisch
Note for the editor
UK average recycling rate is 18%, the Netherlands is 65%, Austria 59%, Germany 58%. We are only ahead of Greece and Portugal in Europe.
As can be seen, I’ve pointed out that we're one of the worst recyclers in Europe, which despite claims of the wonders of Alternate Weekly Collection is still the case. They also seem to regard residents as fools, repeatedly denying that they have reduced waste collection. Even they must admit that before there were 3 collections in 2 weeks, now we have 2. Fly tiping has increased, plastic bags and bottles that won't degrade for centuries are littering our environment. Rats populations have also increased.
There is a new green waste collection for garden clippings, but very few people have bought the new green bins, at £25 each, so that won’t make much difference. At the same time as RBC introduced the new scheme they gave away tens of thousands of large red wheelie bins, before they had been difficult to procure. With this of course the recycling will increase, irrespective of new schemes.
I've been looking for more recent figures from www.reading.gov.uk/news/pressreleases, but they seem curiously reticent. I got a copy of the report by RBC one year on from the introduction of fortnightly collection by the freedom of information act. It announces the target for 2010 is 40%, and claims we were at 35% in June'07. That would still put close to the worst in Europe, assuming the rest of the country achieved on average the same. So instead of leading the world, the truth is we would be 10th of 15 counties in Europe; if all went to plan. Its a modest improvement, but at a price; loss of credibility, increased smell, as well as health and safety fears. Still rats like it, maybe RBC have a diferent group they are trying to please.
See website below for European recycling rates
www.ippr.org/pressreleases/archive.asp?id=2707
