Topless?

Interesting ad(s - there was a 1/4p and a full page version in the same paper... an odd media buy, though the former did help my scanning:) in the local news.

And, possibly, another feather in the RE:tie pitching cap?

Seems that recycling is pretty flavour of the month, but certain aspects are not, namely caps.

Now reuse is a much more embracing concept than recycling anyway, and of of course here at Junkk Towers we have several thousands of caps we have not added to the waste stream as reuses are being sought.

But in terms of getting the public mindset on board, surely a re-design that actually encourages retention and reuse of things the authorities seek to avoid in the bin/landfill... to be encouraged?

Just sayin'

Know that 'incentive' mantra I keep chanting?

Bottle Bank Arcade

Kudos to thefuntheory.com

Again.











Here are my entries as inspired by this:

www.thefuntheory.com/2009/12/03/reramid-chops
www.thefuntheory.com/2009/12/03/pepcycle
www.thefuntheory.com/2009/12/03/cullet-gullet-mill
www.thefuntheory.com/2009/12/03/madame-la-relotine
www.rolighetsteorin.se/2009/12/03/archies-magic-reounderbutt-augurs-well
(No idea why this last one seems to be a different URL)

Took a loooong while as I had upload issues and the system couldn't cope with my 'suite'* idea, but the organisers were very helpful.

Doubt they'll be in with much of a chance now as the competition closes soon, but at least they are now in.

*One to freak out the health and safety guys, but here goes.

It has always frustrated me that many public recycling facilities involve a dirty great (heavy) steel container that requires a big-engined, high-powered truck to haul away often only a few kilos of 95% fresh air surrounding a veneer of card, glass or metal.

They are also often smelly, and boring. And no one crushes waste bottles, cans, etc because they are already confused by a plethora of do’s and don’ts regarding what’s cool and/or not.

But one thing is clear: we need to get stuff as small in volume as possible to make the most of the logistics’ systems carbon footprint. This also tends to help with recycling anyway.

Then we need to make it so people a) want to do it so they try, and try again, and b) enjoy it so much they do it again and tell their mates. So… pretty much fun, then.

Any other advantages that roll along as a consequence we’ll take as plusses. On balance, win-win-win-win-etc

Hence…

RE:Gymberation RE:Spa Planet Fitness

We need venues. And where better than supermarket foyers or shopping centres, which would confer green kudos to savvy CSR marketers who can sweeten the extra traffic likely to be attracted by offering reward opportunities to those bring in the correct materials? Possibly consumers get to hand in waste in exchange for Junkk bonds to use on… eco purchases.

RE:Gymberation posits a ‘zone’, where by human energy is harnessed in the cause of greater fitness and… reducing recyclate volumes for transport.

All the shredding, smashing and/or flattening is done by one human power on a series of exercise devices that serve to not only dispose of waster materials, but in an entertaining manner.

Some could indeed be prone to misuse or vandalism – so possible solutions are sensors to divert metals or, more practically, human oversight, hence being located near staff, which also supports reward redemption. A few complementary freestanding systems are suggested, specific to particular recyclates.

What was weird is one submission included that had to be dropped (pix above), which had to be dropped:

The Whack a Can Pan – For Cans Or Cartons

INGREDIENTS

Based, almost identically, on either a fairground mallet and bell concept, or the ‘Whack-a-Mole’.

CONCEPT

The can or carton is introduced to be crushed by a wide head mallet, with the flattened result dropped into the receptacle below.

Here's why

How spooky is that? Annoyingly, it's a top 10 idea. He who hesitates - or has a less than compatible browser... is lost.

Baby steps

Little increments.

Individually maybe not so significant, but cumulatively...

Got a call the other day from a lovely chap, who edits the newsletter for the IPO (Intellectual Property Office).

He was interested as much in my journey with RE:tie as much as the product itself.

Enough to stretch to two long chats.

With luck, it will result in some PR, and to some useful folk. Baby steps.

And in the course of this he mentioned some invention (especially 'green' related) resources I was not aware of, which I happily pass on here:

Low Carbon Innovation Centre. Good guys. http://www.ipo.gov.uk/news/newsletters/ipinsight/ipinsight-200903/ipinsight-200903-3.htm

Plus some info on speed patents (which now apply to clean tech in particular): http://www.ipo.gov.uk/news/newsletters/ipinsight/ipinsight-200905/ipinsight-200905-4.htm

And a recycling case study: http://www.ipo.gov.uk/news/newsletters/ipinsight/ipinsight-200901/ipinsight-200901-4.htm

New bins for old

In November, my area swaps recycling systems.

Out goes the RE:box, a two-container system that I helped name, design and market, and in comes the now ubiquitous green wheelie.

I have mixed feelings on this. So, following an invitation in the local paper, I trooped off t'other day 'to get all my questions answered'.

Well, I got a leaflet (Polish and Portuguese also available) and a free pencil, so it was not a complete waste, but sadly the questions I had (about recyclcate quality at the MRF (materials Reclamation Facility), etc) were not on the list. Nor what these 'new products' might be.

Still, I did learn a few things.

By virtue of having a house on the street, I may not be issued with one. I think I will manage by virtue of having off road space, but the issue is me getting it out for collection without blocking the footpath. Even a few minutes if I get up and get it out early might be a hazard.

So that's pretty much our whole road out, then. Strikes me as already a step backwards as the alternative is to lob out black binliners.

I am also 'required' to rinse and clean everything... apparently. No bin liners in the wheelie means that in the two hot weeks of summer between collections... 'I would want to anyway'. Hmnnn. Oddly, we get to retain our bin liners for 'other waste'.

There's also a leaflet on what they will take and what they won't. I could not get much feedback on what steps would be taken in the event of incorrect placement, either by self or 3d parties. Hmnnn 2.

What is good is they will now take plastics, but again we are in label territory. The lady said 'if it's a bottle we'll take it'. Not sure she, or consumers, will be getting their heads round this one any time soon. They also don't want biodegradables. Good luck with that.

We'll see. But even after what I am sure will be an inevitably troubled settling in period, I remain to be convinced that this has been thought through.

And as one who helped deliver them, I wonder what will become of 20,000 heavy duty blue plastic RE:tie containers after just a few years. Landfill?

Tray Bon?

Reuse is my preferred option over recycling, but where there is no alternative the latter beats a hole in the ground.

And there are a few classes of waste that are, for now, defeating the collective Junkketeer imaginations.

So it is good to learn that two of the worst sources of plastic waste look to be on the recycling agenda at long last.

Yogurt pots and food trays collected in new drive to boost recycling

Not sure I like that word 'forced', but heigh ho.

Also, on reading the piece, I wonder whether the reality actually reflects the level of actual activity suggested y that headline.

NEWS/LOCAL - UK - SL area - RE:warding News

After a bit of a downer stretch, I'm happy to track down a positive.

Alerted by a Local Government story in one of my daily gazillion newsletters, I am happy to bring you this via The Royal Borough of Windsor and Maidenhead Council website:

RecycleBank - Rewarding You for Recycling

Taking some key points from the blurb:

Working in partnership with Veolia Environmental Services and RecycleBank, the Council will be the first in the UK to trial Rewards for recycling - an initiative that has already been successful in the United States where it has helped to boost recycling rates significantly.

It works by weighing the amount of recycling materials produced by participating households, using special equipment in the collection lorries. Households are set up with a unique RecycleBank Rewards Account, which means the more you recycle the more Points you accumulate to use in local and national outlets or for donations to charity.

The Council has underlined that the reward scheme is NOT a forerunner to any kind of penalty system. The Royal Borough believes in rewarding residents for recycling, not imposing penalties, and will not introduce 'pay-as-you-throw' or any similar scheme.

As it's a first, and only in that area, I could not access any more details or sign up, but I have asked to be kept informed and will share as and when I am.

But, looking at that last para alone, what's not to like?

enviROI again; this time on Tetrapaks

There are many good blogs in the green field.

One such is My Zero Waste run, appropriately, by a Mrs. Green.

Her interest is, as the blog name suggests, Zero Waste. A laudable aim to be sure, though I tend to wonder if it is a tad idealistic, and hence can compromise the overall very worthy intentions by working to an extreme many consumers might not accept and I doubt business or government could hope to satisfy.

But one area, amongst many, she is very good at is finding folk in places of responsibility, and getting them to talk. Better yet, to answer questions in public forum. And good on them in turn for agreeing.

Hence I was interested that a Tetrapak rep was on board, following a previous peice that elicted answers from a council (Cornwall) that seemed to me pretty technically comprehensive...

Recycling officer, Jenny Walden, from Tetrapak answers your recycling questions

All good stuff. however, some that was shared rather cranked an eyebrow or two (the piece rather smacked of being a carefully-constructed PR piece from a website), more for what was not said than what was, and prompted me to write in hoep of clarification...

I wonder if you could amplify that final Q&A on Transport with a few more facts beyond entirely laudable dedication, belief and passion.

I would like the technical details, and if life cycle analysis (what I equate to the 'enviROI' ) is the best tool to gauge the environmental impact so be it, though in this field I have found that science can be used to blind.

Is there anything objective, substantive and, most importantly, easy for the layperson to understand that you might direct me/us to in this regard?

I am lucky to have a carton recycling skip right nearby (though I am actually keeping all mine to see what reuse options might present first), and have pondered the heavy gauge steel container that requires a large diesel truck to get it and what is a large amount of fresh air to a place that might well compact more effectively, but then sends it all on still further.

Frankly I am just keen to be reassured I am not just getting boxes ticked but actually contributing to a scheme that might be sending even more Co2 skywards (a priority to reduce surely?) due to the lack of local alternatives that may appear less attractive, and only exist through policy failings, but for now are on balance perhaps better on a pure GHG emission basis.

I'd also be interested in how all this applies to the costs and processes involved in posting an empty carton in a Jiffy bag.

ADDENDUM -

I have had a reply, or at least a sort of one, which is already to be commended as too often awkward questions go to the naughty corner.

I am very happy to say that a very thorough, independent, peer reviewed study has been done to show just how justified it is for you to continue to recycle your cartons in the UK, despite all these caveats you have highlighted.
Unfortunately, we are still awaiting the publication of this Life Cycle Study by a government agency for me to point you to this. We have asked the agency for special exemption so that we might show you this particular element of the study, but until we secure their permission, I am limited as to what I can communicate beyond this.

Hmn, so having alluded to all sorts of stuff initially, it is not, as such ready yet. And as you will soon gather, by eyebrow is already acquiver at who this all seeing, all-knowing and hence all to be believed government agency is.

It also sets me again to pondering what or why such 'officers' actually do or are. What is their job function, their mission, and what qualifications are the expected to, or do they have. There are an awful lot, in companies, LAs, quangos and schools, etc.

But many times they seem to be sweet young things who disseminate information from on high and 'respond', as here.

It is hard to imagine that most are in any way involved in strategy, discussing the science or setting policy. And so, too often IMHO, they really are no more than press officers with a green sticker pasted on.

Hence any reply to mine will be interesting...

Thank you for responding. I will await this information being made available with anticipation and interest.
In the meantime, might you be able to point to the others you alluded to?: ‘across numerous studies recycling has been shown to be environmentally preferable.’
Also, might I ask which government agency the latest is/will be with? Not WRAP perchance?
This is a quango whose ever-growing board gets bonusses on meeting targets, and it is my experience ticking a tonnage box does not often meet the same enviROI criteria that I tend to feel are better to hold some initiatives to account for improving my kids’ futures.
So I tend to crank an eyebrow at their objectivity.

As many here will know, I am not so convinced that the consumer side of WRAP at least (the industrial seems much more focused) is worth its salt. Quangos at best seem cursed by being vehicles of fudge and compromise, with lack of accountability at their core. It's the worst of business where explaining ROI is usually lost in jargon, and the same governments who use our money to pay them to do their dirty work use them as a firewall if...when things go wrong. Only they keep the pay and pensions as they were only obeying orders.

If it is WRAP, let us not forget this is the same entity who gave £250k of our money to Heinz to 'see how' they could lightweight their cans and save a honking great cost on raw materials.

TetraPak, by my memory, is not short of a bob or two. Now I accept that private, commercial entities should not be expected to fund ever-evolving government policy, that changes goalposts, without a fight, but one giving the other taxpayers' money to help resolve the CSR shortfalls of the policies and systems of both is hardly the solution I favour either.

I love the smell of box-ticking in the afternoon!

Major UK retailers and brands agreed to introduce on-pack recycling labelling system

Once you read that, best make add at the front 'Some...'

I love the smell of box-ticking in the afternoon!

It will be interesting to see how national brands end up coordinating with local authority variations. Especially as this 'non compulsory' scheme is 'encouraged' hither and thither.

I, for one, look forward to yet more info crammed on my pack side, but do wonder if the missus and kids will be too inspired as they stand, binside, getting to grips with bits that are 'widely recycled', and doubt rather whether they will be scooting off on a case by case basis to 'check local recycling'. Actually our local bods do at least take plastics, at least in the swimming pool carpark skip, and we just heave it all in there, from PEP to HDPE to lord knows what.

Well, at least the bits we don't reuse on Junkk.com or pop in our RE:box weekly kerbside boxes- soon to be ditched in favour of a big green wheelie taking everything in a big black plastic bag two counties across to be turned into recyclate tonnages that most recyclers won't take due to quality compromises, but still 'count' for EU targets - will now be better directed.

I cannot wait for the multi-million campaign to create 'awareness' for all this, driving up rates and helping with the bonuses of all (well, most: the consumer is still out of this loop) involved.

Just hope the planet and our kids' futures will benefit as much as the box tickers.

Ain't green grand?

You want lies with that?

Is there a bug in your bin?

Yet another example of the box-ticking, target-meeting, bonus-generating process over real result culture we are spiraling down through daily. And I am an ardent environmental campaigner (though more in the areas of reuse and repair, which don't seem to 'inspire' some LAs and massively funded/rewarded quangos and their hands-length (when necessary) masters in Whitehall.... 'who cares if it's making things worse, we have an EU limit and will a) get fined if we miss and b) get lots of goodies if we exceed it! Result!

If it is about what we throw away, which may represent a modicum of opportunity, how in the name of anything is a microchip going to help unless it actually reads something like an RFID on every discarded item, and then traces it accurately to how sold it, bought it and then disposed of it.

As noted, all this might do is weigh the thing, regardless of any other aspects. As Al Hamilton suggests, it is ridiculously easy to skew, though by his suggestion, at best the LAs get their bonuses early, or at worst the householder gets slapped with a massive bill. Whichever way, my kids' futures on this planet are not served by trucks lugging more weight to make a flunky look good to his/her legions of equally unproductive bosses.

'Tonnage, tonnage. My kingdom for more tonnage!'

Addendum

There can, of course, be positives..

But in the spirit of enviROI I'd be fascinated to find out more about the realities surrounding such figures, especially the VAST comms budgets used to drive such figures, and how that money could have been used on tangibles (like coordinating a national system, as opposed to the woeful , contradictory, motley collection we have now) rather than 'awareness' leading to compliance on the part of the public doing work to drive the bonuses of the ever-duplicated boards approving these expenditures to get the public working to boost their salaries.

Almost a conflict of interest, IMHO. That said, in a culture where public servants get bonuses for doing their jobs, well or (insert headline on almost any topic from last decade here] I guess anything is possible.

Times - NEW - Knock, knock: it’s the council bin snoops

enviROI anyone?

Stressing this 'a' story about 'a' comment, I share it as it does highlight my preference to being really green as opposed to just ticking boxes.

Which I bang on about enough.

Recycling 'could be adding to global warming'

In passing, I also sense a move towards a related 'eco' issue, namely energy from waste, and wonder if there is some coordination at play.

Whichever way, I simply hope that the enviROI of the 'next big thing' is factored in.

WRAP - WRAP responds to current debate on recycling - 'It is still a better option both financially and environmentally [my highlight] for councils and their council tax payers to recycle rather than send to landfill, even if councils face higher storage charges temporarily.'

Wrap - Recycling continues to be the best option - 'Reports in today’s media suggesting that recycling adds to global warming, rather than tackling it, are misleading and factually incorrect, said WRAP'

Telegraph - Is recycling just an evil ploy?

MRW - Recycling operations could be adding to global warming, says former Biffa director - In posting the ebbs and flows to this story, I am struck by how important 'knowing' is, and yet how little the wiser I still am in all this. Plus the various agendas at play. Some have a vested interest in getting away from recycling, some in slagging it off, and some, conscious of their target-driven bonuses, love collecting the stuff and the heck with whether it makes any sense.

Packaging News - NEW - Waste adviser Peter Jones defends position on recycling - I think I have learned more about the state of our media than the actual issue.

The clue is in the headline

Rubbish answers

Looks like the box ticking and target meeting is going great already.

Shame about the enviROI.

I still think reduction and reuse might be better than mnay of the efforts devoted to recycling.

Wot 'e sed

EcoLogical

Sadly, quite a lot of the time one can discern the siren call of a target, with process rather than result being more important.

Recycling is OK (or not, if you check one of the sister articles here), but I'd still wave a small flag for reuse.

Dreams and realities

Green scheme scrapped as household recycling is sent to landfill

It is introduced with that most dubious of disclaimers...'could', but I wonder why this is not more in the media domain.

I must say, my frustration with the focus on recycling, and all the sexy tonnages and ticked boxes and targets that involves, looks quite vindicated.

Make do and mend

Saw this report on the news this morning: 'Green Grannies' web lessons

Not a great start that what I call reuse was described as recycling, but I persevered.

In fact, so much that, as per host invitation, I wrote in with a suggestion on some tips.

Sadly mine did not make it. As, I imagine, many other did not.

What did make it was 'making soup out of chicken bones' and 'darning your own socks'. Inspiring. Not. Ain't gonna happen with such as this.

Much as there is much to laud in such an initiative, I fear the way Aunty decided to pitch in was hardly the best help Granny might have hoped for.

I will have a rummage and see if more can be made of this (Not much yet on the Oxfam site), for all concerned to benefit rather than filling a box-tick 'green' slot on national broadcasting.

More, and better?

In my idle trawl of funding news today I noticed this:

Website Will Show A Better Way To Recycle

A new website that will make it easier for people to recycle has scooped the top prize in a Government-sponsored competition. The Can I Recycle It portal was judged the overall winner of the Show Us A Better Way contest, which asked members of the public to devise a website that would provide a useful service using some of the non-personal data held by the Government.

This competition was one I noted, but then promptly forget, partly because I'm old, partly because I don't trust the government to credit inventors properly, and hence suspected that any ideas would soon become a very public/bureaucrat domain and not much to do with the creator, and partly because in my experience such things are often judged on agenda rather merit.

Interesting that many have noted another gov/quango site, Recycle Now, seems to have roughly the same thing. Also mentioned is Sort it. Can't have enough of a good thing, I guess. Slight duplication of effort on the public purse, mind.

Fortunately, perhaps due to lack of targets and boxes to tick, reuse again gets missed.

Now, if they had a site for that! Ahead of our time still?

Tyred and emotional

Scrap Values

All the research that's fit to print

WRAP research shows four main barriers to recycling

The study found that the barriers are:

Physical – when containers for collecting recycling are unsuitable; when there is no space for storage, when collections are unreliable; when people have no way of getting to recycling sites

Behavioural – if people are too busy; if they struggle with establishing a routine for sorting out recycling; if they forget to put it out

Lack of knowledge – not knowing which materials can be recycled; not understanding how their local scheme works

Attitudes and perceptions – not believing recycling is good for the environment; not wanting to sort waste; not feeling personally rewarded for recycling

The phrase 'Well, D'uh!' springs to mind, Closely followed by 'Has this not been done before?', and then 'If not why not; if so, why again?" and... "How much this time?"

Let's see who dutifully reports this 'wishful list'...

Where does what we recycle go to?

Of course our local authorities ensure that all recycled rubbish is accounted for and properly and usefully handled, don't they?

Well, not so, according to this from the Telegraph a few days ago.

200 authorities DO know exactly where recycled rubbish ends up.....
but, 135 are unable to confirm where recycled rubbish goes......
and 20 have no idea whatsoever where it goes to!!

I had cause to be briefly back at home when the recycling lorry made it's collection last week, and my eyebrows rose considerably higher as I watched the guys empty our carefully separated paper, glass and metal into, you've guessed it, one single mixed container! On top of this, now it seems that no-one can genuinely account for where it goes too!

Its beginning to make me wonder whether the weekly rubbish sort out is worth the effort.

Addendum (JM) -
Telegraph - Do we waste too much?
Telegraph - The European Union's recycling regulations are a failure

ITV - A Rubbish Service - Missed it, but really there are too many these days. Sounds like more of the same. Worth doing, but the lack of change in the face of such exposes is telling.

Well, they asked... in the Guardian

A pensioner who uses the wrong recycling bin is fined more than a violent thug. Call that justice?

The weak of provenance

It's always worth thinking how really green any green effort you get involved with is.

Especially if you are part of the civil service.

The dirty secret of your NHS

I wonder if a target still got met?