Why do I bother to recycle?

Our man in Havana

We have a business, so we have 2 large bins a green bin for general waste and a blue bin for recycling and paper. So every week we dutiful sort our recycling, wash out bottles and fold cardboard and place into the recycling bin.
Just lately it has come to my attention, that on recycle day which is every other week which was last Monday. The bin lorry arrives and proceeds to empty BOTH our bins. The bin lorry does not have separate sections for recycling and general waste.

Is this legal, ethical and who should I complain to?

Has anyone else noticed similar carry-on?

brianthebard

Almost 90% of our recycling gets exported to China or sent to landfills anyways so in the long run it doesn't make a difference what bin its put in. and yeah I've seen that happen, although the bin company in Sligo does two different collections for recycling and refuse.

forbairt

I've seen the same happening in galway with citybin ... now I don't know if it gets processed further down the line or not ...

On Recycle day .. only recycables get collected

On Bin day ... they'll take whatever is out green bags / black bags

Archeron

brianthebard wrote: »

Almost 90% of our recycling gets exported to China or sent to landfills anyways so in the long run it doesn't make a difference what bin its put in. and yeah I've seen that happen, although the bin company in Sligo does two different collections for recycling and refuse.

Honest question, is there back up for that statement? I know of one company who used to do that, and they were done for it and exposed in the national media. From my own experience, 90% of material that goes into recycle bins IS recycled.

Ayla

brianthebard wrote: »

Almost 90% of our recycling gets exported to China or sent to landfills anyways

Interesting - do you have sources or evidence to back up your statement?

ChuckProphet

Ayla wrote: »

Interesting - do you have sources or evidence to back up your statement?

i defo heard a news story about a month ago that said this and that they were official DoE figures. seems a bit crazy

brianthebard

Ayla wrote: »

Interesting - do you have sources or evidence to back up your statement?

There was an Independant (eng not Irish) article about it a few months ago and John Gormley had to make a statement about it a while back as well.

Our man in Havana

I had a very interesting chat with my bin company rep this morning. Apparently the bin men are not supposed to be doing this. The real kicker was they were charging me double as well.

Archeron

ChuckProphet wrote: »

i defo heard a news story about a month ago that said this and that they were official DoE figures. seems a bit crazy

There was a thread about that article, but I cant see it here anymore. Perhaps a mod can still access it? Its definitely worth reading, as I 100% believe that the article in question totally misused its language in order to make a story when there was none.

I said in the other thread that its so annoying to see people losing faith in doing the right thing because of a poorly worded article. Its still depressing to see its made an indent in peoples memories.

silverharp

Bond-007 wrote: »

We have a business, so we have 2 large bins a green bin for general waste and a blue bin for recycling and paper. So every week we dutiful sort our recycling, wash out bottles and fold cardboard and place into the recycling bin.
Just lately it has come to my attention, that on recycle day which is every other week which was last Monday. The bin lorry arrives and proceeds to empty BOTH our bins. The bin lorry does not have separate sections for recycling and general waste.

Is this legal, ethical and who should I complain to?

Has anyone else noticed similar carry-on?

Video it if you can and stick it up on you tube - "use the net Luke"

Macha

ChuckProphet wrote: »

i defo heard a news story about a month ago that said this and that they were official DoE figures. seems a bit crazy

This is true an undergraduate DIT student did his dissertation on it a few years ago. He followed the trail of recycled waste to landfills in other countries - so depressing..

Somnus

Jesus thats terrible... about the exporting.

Our green bins are collected on a seperate day. I'm fairly sure the ones in my job over the summer were too

loyatemu

our waste collection company supposedly have a truck with 2 seperate compartments - one for waste and one for recycling. I haven't seen it though as I'm generally out at work when they call...

dudara

I live in a building with 9 apartments in total. There is a poster in the hallway describing what is to go into the green bin, and there is also a sticker on the bin lid. And still you will find stuff in the green bin that shouldn't be there, ie glass, plastic other than plastic bottles.

At this stage I am so annoyed that I take it out of the bin and dump it in the hallway.

Plus yesterday I took our regular wheelie bin out for collection. It felt very heavy so I looked in. It was full of glass bottles and an old electric kettle and stereo. What a disgrace!