recyling part II

Did you know? By recycling one aluminium can you save enough energy to run a television set for three hours. Steel cans are 100% recyclable, which means they can be recycled over and over again without ever losing quality. Plastic containers are recycled into picnic tables and park benches, carpet fibre, clothing, automotive parts, speed humps, paint brushes, sign posts, new plastic bottles and much, much more. Making recycled paper instead of new paper uses 64 percent less energy and uses 58 percent less water. Only 44 per cent of glass bottles and jars and 40 per cent of the steel food cans used in Australia are currently being recycled. We can do more! Window and mirror glass contains lead and therefore cannot be used in the recycling process. Crockery and ceramics do not melt down which means they form solid lumps in new bottles which can explode as they cool down. Glass manufacturers refuse recycled glass containing ceramics

Recycling and Waste Welcome to the Waste & Recycling Homepage. On this website you will find out information about managing your waste, which includes domestic collections, recycling bring banks, as well as looking at reducing and reusing your waste. Every hour the UK throws away enough rubbish to fill the Albert Hall; most of it ends up in landfill. As the UK continues waging its war on waste, emphasis on the importance of waste management is becoming more apparent. We all play a part in managing our own waste and thankfully the residents of Uttlesford are very proficient waste managers.Between April 2008 and December 2008 you recycled 58% of your waste. Latest Recycling Figures

Nearly two-thirds of people would be prepared to pay a tax on the non-recyclable rubbish they generated, a survey published today found. Around 64% of those questioned said they would prefer a system where they paid less council tax but were charged directly for household rubbish, so that the more waste recycled the less they would pay. More than three-quarters also said they backed compulsory recycling, but opinion was divided on whether to fine those who refused to comply with such a system.

The findings came from face-to-face interviews conducted last month with 1,719 people in England, Scotland and Wales, commissioned by the Local Government Association (LGA). Last month, Sir Michael Lyons, who is conducting an inquiry into the future of council tax, said he was considering an option of charging householders according to the amount of rubbish they produced.

Sir Michael's proposals would follow the model on continental Europe where homeowners pay based on the weight or number of bags of non-recycled waste. In Germany households are charged 18p a kilo, while in Belgium they pay up to 70p for each sack of rubbish.

The proposals come as the LGA published a strategy to tackle waste, including plans to give local authorities the power to cut council tax and charge householders directly for waste management with reduced rates for throwing out less. Figures from the association show that householders in England bin almost four tonnes of waste every second and are throwing out 3% more each year.

The cost to councils is more than Ł2.5bn a year, twice as much as a decade ago, and the figure is expected to increase by Ł564m this year and Ł314m the next. The association has said that more than 40% of the waste disposed of by householders is packaging, much of it produced by supermarkets.

The shadow local government secretary, Caroline Spelman, said: "Changing the tax system so that it delivers better environmental outcomes has to be a good thing, but given the way this government has driven up council tax, people will be suspicious of any new tax-raising measures they propose. "We would also need to be prepared to deal with those who will simply avoid paying a rubbish tax through illegal fly-tipping.

A spokeswoman for the charity Friends of the Earth said it backed the tax "as long as there are measures in place to make it easy for people to recycle and it's fair in terms of family size and incomes". She said concerns about fly-tipping were likely to be unfounded, as similar schemes in other countries had been running successfully for many years without such problems. Figures from the charity show that in some of these countries the amount of rubbish thrown out is now less than 150kg a person a year, compared to the current UK average of 400kg.

The target for local authorities set by the EU landfill directive is for recycling 33% of rubbish by 2015. Last year, households in England recycled almost 23% of their rubbish, but this figure disguises big differences around the country. While those in the east recycled 29% of their waste, homes in the north east recycled just 16%.

Only three percent of people recycle their mobile phones despite the fact that most have old devices lying around at home that they no longer want, according to a global consumer survey released by Nokia today. Three out of every four people added that they don’t even think about recycling their devices and nearly half were unaware that it is even possible to do so.

The findings highlight that despite the fact that people on average have each owned around five phones, very few of these are being recycled once they are no longer used. Only 3% said they had recycled their old phone. Yet very few old devices, 4%, are being thrown into landfill. Instead the majority, 44%, are simply being kept at homes never used. Others are giving their mobiles another life in different ways, one quarter are passing on their old phones to friends or family, and 16% of people are selling their used devices particularly in emerging markets.

Globally, 74% of consumers said they don’t think about recycling their phones, despite the fact that around the same number, 72%, think recycling makes a difference to the environment. This was consistent across many different countries with 88% of people in Indonesia not considering recycling unwanted devices, 84% in India, and 78% of people in Brazil, Sweden, Germany and Finland.

Many people interviewed for the survey, even if they were aware that a device could be recycled, did not know how to go about doing this. Two thirds said they did not know how to recycle an unwanted device and 71% were unaware of where to do this.

The survey is based on interviews with 6,500 people in 13 countries including Finland, Germany, Italy, Russia, Sweden, UK, United Arab Emirates, USA, Nigeria, India, China, Indonesia and Brazil.