Sham Recycling

netwhizkid

Well I am well p*ssed, I spend about a week sorting through our rubbish and making the maximum effort to recycle as much as possible down to cutting address's of envelopes. Did anyone see the Documentary, DISPATCHES: BRITAIN'S RUBBISH, yesterday evening on More4 from 8.10pm to 9.15pm , Okay most of it was about the sham of rubbish disposal that goes on over there. But most worryingly was the final part which showed a Belfast firm, The workers were like they were supposed to be idiots as part of their job and they were letting nearly everything through the system instead of segregating the Recyclables from the non-Recyclables, Most of the stuff that had came in for Recycling was also dumped in a private Land-fill (The Documentary crew put a reporter working there undercover with a hidden camera).

It is a total sham but to top it off and here's what touched my fighting bone is up to a hundred articulated lorries of rubbish and recyclables from the Republic of Ireland being shipped up there. The NI Law states that the NI Jurisdiction cannot accept waste from another country for land filling, Recycling yes but not landfill. Tonnes and Tonnes of our Rubbish that people are paying big money to Private Operators to Recycle is not being recycled. It is all being dumped in a Private Landfill (which is legally licensed btw) in Northern Ireland. Lorries were arriving over the border from Cork, Wexford, Waterford and Dublin to name but a few places. And to add insult to injury the staff of the Belfast plant were reading documents that had come in for "Confidential Shredding" Those staff were complete morons and instead of sorting the garbage were picking out last weeks newspapers and old porno mags and looking at them. :eek:

This is the More4 Description of the TV programme.

Dispatches goes undercover to investigate the waste industry, including exposing the criminals who make a fortune out of Britain's waste mountain. Reporter Simon Barnes, the undercover journalist who exposed bad practice at the Royal Mail for Dispatches, penetrates deep into the murky world of illegal dumping and exposes the criminals who put two fingers up to the law. "I don't give a f**k about councils, the government, the courts, nothing" boasts one Mercedes-driving waste millionaire, fresh out of jail for illegal dumping. With environmental issues at the top of the agenda, we're all being told to recycle. But what actually happens to the stuff? Simon also goes undercover to work at one of the country's top recycling companies and finds that huge amounts are not recycled at all but end up in landfill. Prod/ Dir: Andrew Smith; Exec Prod: David Henshaw; Prod Co: Hardcash

See here halfway down the page.

I am totally disgusted with this as My household recycles over 50% of our Rubbish. From now on after seeing this everything is going back into the black bag. What the point in wasting your time separating it when it will only be dumped anyway. I am so mad over this and am going to write the hardest ever written letter ever to my Local Government TD. Anyone here who ever reads some of my posts will see that I am completely anti-privatisation and this is yet another prime example of how privatisation is a complete farce and only is there to line peoples pockets and to hell with the common good. I don't want to politicise this but the buck must stop some where.

Anyway did anybody else see the Documentary and if so what are your opinions on it. I have checked the Sky Epg and it is not scheduled to be re-shown anytime in the next week. If I find it will be shown again I will post up the date, time & TV station it will be on. It might be shown on C4 for those with Cable or BBC FTV Cards. But i can't find any listings on the C4 or More4 websites for anytime soon.

I think I'll drop Trevor Sargent a Letter and see how he reacts seeming the Greens are about the only one who actually give a toss about the environment.

:mad: :mad: :mad: :mad: :mad: :mad:

Chucky

Hey,


I did not see the program but I am equally disgusted by this news. I have not heard anything about recycling for a very long time in the Republic and was beginning to wonder where all of our recyclable waste goes to. Indeed, the only news on recycling that I heard of was about some plant closing and others not getting permission to be built.


Now that I know I am disgusted but in truth I figured that it was going to be this bad.

mike65

I already posted on this programme from its first broadcast on C4 last week, I want to know where those Republic of Ireland trucks came from in detail. Only the general areas were mentioned - Cork, Tipp, Waterford and Wexford I think all got named.

Mike.

bonkey

netwhizkid wrote:

What the point in wasting your time separating it when it will only be dumped anyway.

Well, there's two ways of looknig at this...

1) You wait until the infrastructure is in place and working properly before encouraging people to use said infrastructure

2) You start making the changes needed so that when the infrastructure starts working properly, it has something to do.

Each option makes sense in different scenarios. For me, recycling falls into the latter. Its not like a bridge where its not safe to get people to use it before its ready. Its more like the way many shops started showing prices in Euro before the currency was available.

Now, don't get me wrong...it is utterly unacceotable that a recycling facility anywhere are breaking the law in the manner described, but to be fair, its hardly like it was a known practice that hte Irish government were consciously buying into.

As for stuff seperated for recycling that is not yet recycled....I'd rather see that happen than have a recycling plant open and then close in short order because it wasn't being utilised enough to stay in business while waiting for the public to play catchup.

I am so mad over this and am going to write the hardest ever written letter ever to my Local Government TD.

I'm sure they're already quaking in their boots.

this is yet another prime example of how privatisation is a complete farce and only is there to line peoples pockets and to hell with the common good.

I fail to see the connection. You're saying that this is only happening because the recycling facility wasn't run by the government?

You seem to have some idealistic view that all government-run bodies are immune from malpractice, laziness, inefficiency, taking the easy way out, lining people's pockets, kick-backs, skims, scams, and the rest. I don't believe reality anywhere in the world coincides with this.

I don't want to politicise this but the buck must stop some where.

There is evidence the law is being broken, so those responsible for enforcing the law should do their jobs. Given that the courts and the police are not privatized n all should mean - judging by your logic - that there is no fear of this not happening.

While its relatively simple to point teh finger at the industry and (rightly) complain about the breaking fo the law that is apparently going on, one must also consider the worth of implementing legislation without ensuring it is being adhered to, which is clearly also the case here.

what are your opinions on it

My opinion is that when enough people want a greener lifestyle, they'll get one. Until then, we'll see unenforced legislation, people skimming and scamming, and people like yourselves complaining that because there are problems with the system, they're damned if they're going to do their part any more.

I think I'll drop Trevor Sargent a Letter and see how he reacts seeming the Greens are about the only one who actually give a toss about the environment.

Make sure n tell him you're giving up recycling and giong back to the black bag....I'm sure showing that you don't give a damn about the envuironment either will get him on your side......or are you suggesting that nothing in Ireland is actually recycled based on this program?

jc

netwhizkid

Sorry mike65 I didn't see your thread as it is on the bottom of the forum. Perhaps your thread and mine should merge? Anyway I agree with everything said here. Bonkey I agree with you completely how the Private Refuse Companies should be regulated. I think they should be scrutinised and checked monthly. Although my ideal solution is forced Nationalisation of them with minimal compensation, but that’s just me. I am completely behind Recycling and opposed to Landfill and Incineration.

However why waste time, effort and money sorting waste and paying to have it taken away or in my case driving to my waste transfer station to dispose of it there when there are no guarantees that it is being recycled. We need stricter regulation and massive-fines for these companies who flaunt them, add to that Jail Time for those Mercedes driving environmental wreckers and I fell that the waste would be Recycled then. There needs to be a major investigation done into this and prosecutions brought. Like we cannot export our waste and its associated problems to another country (It hurt me to say that) like what sort of a example does it set for Dr. Paisley & Co?? Not a mind the local environmental ramifications up there.

If you want our threads to merge mike65, I will have no problems with it!

bonkey

netwhizkid wrote:

I am completely behind Recycling and opposed to Landfill and Incineration.

So what do you do with teh stuff that can't be recycled?

However why waste time, effort and money sorting waste and paying to have it taken away or in my case driving to my waste transfer station to dispose of it there when there are no guarantees that it is being recycled.

Why waste time, effort and money building a waste-recycling plant only to have it come online before the infrastructure is in place to supply it with the necessary "raw material" to recycle?

Its Catch22. No matter which way you look at it, there's time money and effort wasted. Your objection seems to be that its your time, money and effort rather than private industry's. Indeed, given that you want the thing privatised, it would seem your objection is that its your time, money and effort that's wasted, rather than your taxes which would pay for the recycling plant.

There needs to be a major investigation done into this and prosecutions brought.

I always wince when I see someone suggesting both the investigation and a/the required outcome.

jc

samb

bonkey wrote:

I always wince when I see someone suggesting both the investigation and a/the required outcome.

jc

That's unfair. If you carry out investigations and enforcement acivities of course you will catch and prosecute more people. I am in agreement with him on this. The EPA needs to be expanded to regulate more industrial acitivities (recent Prime Time on quarries springs to mind, these are not under the IPPC license system for some strange reason).