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Sunday 15 August 2010

Recycling in London

Thanks for the comment to my recycling post on Friday, but I am afraid whoever posted it is working under a misconception. When I talk about recycling, I really am talking about recycling not energy from waste.

The most important material to be diverted under our proposed new system is food waste. A staggering proportion of our existing food purchases are chucked away and go to landfill. This generates greenhouse gases. By extending the food waste service to 88,000 households, we will collect all this food for composting, either at our existing site in Ruislip or elsewhere.

Again, we are collecting a wider range of plastics, but plastic is actually quite easy to recycle. The barrier has traditionally been that it is very light for its volume. That means the collection truck fills up very quickly, making collection a problem. Moreover, as recycling is normally measured by weight, local authorities have traditionally focused on heavy stuff like paper and glass.

Far from wanting materials that can be recycled, energy from fuel plants are usually quite hostile to them, especially metals which are positively damaging.

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