wrote:
sarah wrote:
Andy Hall wrote:
On 2006-12-03 11:02:36 +0000, (sarah) said:
I'd argue that sorting your own waste has an important psychological
impact.
if you believe so, youre free to do it. If otoh youre quite ill and
this is not on your priorities, you need to be free to not do it. Why
does nanny always think one course of action is best for all?
Nanny may not (I don't know, because I'm not one and I don't know any).
But one course of action may well be best for all. That's why we have
laws.
You may find that after a while there is no more psychological benfit
in sorting, once youre perfectly well aware of the rubbish situation.
There is no reason people ought to spent their whole life in that
learning about their rubbish phase.
Oh, I don't know. Some people never learn. As Usenet demonstrates, time
and time again :-(
It's *YOURS*. You (well, not you personally, John :-) bought the
stuff, and you should have to deal with the results of your purchasing.
.. or pay someone else to do it.
OK. But only if you and those others who want that service pay for it
*personally*. You can hire someone to come in and do it for you; you
could do so tomorrow if you felt like it. The rest of us who prefer not
to waste (ha) our money shouldn't have to pay anything towards provision
of that service. I would work hard to vote out any of my representatives
who suggested such a thing.
Ah, and thats important. Lots of people dont compost because there is
no financial incentive to, and this results in masses of extra rubbish
to dispose of and extra costs for us all. Why then do you not vote out
people supporting this problem?
Who? My un-elected neighbours? How am I to vote them out -- with a lynch
mob?
Alternatively, you have the option
to select products
based on the way that the manufacturer does the packaging. It's far
better not to have the packaging disposal issue in the first place.
Quite. But until legislation forces it on the manufacturers, their
marketing people, combined perhaps with a host of safety regs and
transport requirements, and sheer laziness on the part of some consumers
ensures the problem will persist.
Packaging is a signficant expense, as transport costs money and
packaging takes up transport volume. Manufacturers do not therefore
generally waste money on packaging. Its normally there because there is
a reason it needs to be. The excess packaging myth results from popular
lack of awareness of why its there.
I have never before heard of the 'excess packaging myth'. I'll try to
remember not to note excess packaging when I see it next.
If the local authority wants it to
be separated then they need to organise that.
If waste recycling were merely some whimsical initiative undertaken by
UK local authorities, that would be fair. Unfortunately it's not.
Recycling has been forced on them by EU directives
so not even a democractic decision, or even semi democratic.
Depends on your view of democracy. You voted in your MEP... didn't you?
S/he voted for/against the regulations when the opportunity arose... or
chose not to.
which are in turn a
function of general (you may be excluded if you wish) recognition that
we're running short of sites for bulk waste disposal
a classic untruth. There are areas of coastline begging for a ring wall
of rubble to be laid down in the water and the area filled with
garbage. The resulting land would pay us with its value, not cost us.
and that burying
valuable resources or sending them up in smoke to generate heat and
pollution is a Bad Thing.
What we buy is mostly made from oil and plants. From an energy use
point of view, what difference does it make if we burn oil or burn oil
derived waste?
That's a remarkably... general generalisation. It's the specifics that
cause problems. Some of that oil-derived waste can be remade into useful
stuff not easily made from renewable resources. Burning some of that
oil-derived waste can generate remarkably toxic chemicals so the flue
gases must be cleaned (additional cost/effort). A lot of what's made
from oil and plants contains small or moderate amounts of valuable or
dangerous metals which are wasted/hazardous if simply discarded in
landfill.
I do agree the amount of stuff thrown away is excessive, but once items
are no further use and thrown away, turning them back to energy
sources, avoiding landfill use, does look like a sensible option.
TDP may change this picture.
TDP?
regards
sarah
--
Think of it as evolution in action.