Tetra Pack Recycling At Last
2007 December 24
We’ve just had a slew of paperwork through the door on behalf of the local authority which
tells us that we can finally put tetra pack cartons in the recycle bin provided we kick seven bells out of the cartoons prior to doing so. Tetra pack’s are used for fruit juices and long life milk and have previously not been on the recycle list due to the wax coating. We do actually buy long life milk (no it doesn’t taste awful these days) a habit we kept after our time in Australia so it’s going to feel a lot less wasteful to be able to not be putting the cartons in with the general waste bin.
More info on Tetra Pack recycling (UK)
Recycling has certainly complicated life. We used to have a rubbish bin that we emptied periodically in the dustbin. Now we have two bins, one for “normal rubbish” and one for recycling. Our block has three dustbins for 4 households and only 2 recycling boxes. Nowadays, I think recycling waste considerably exceeds “normal rubbish” (at least in volume) so that there is a heap around the recycling boxes by collection day.
The British often have good ideas but they spoil them by going off half-cocked. Recycling is an example of this. My guess is that a goodly portion of recyclable waste probably ends up as land-fill simply because local authorities do not have the resources to deal with it.
It’s all very reminiscent of the collection of metal during WWII where even people’s gates, railings and pots and pans were taken, but most of this scrap was never used because it was unsuitable.
Hello SilverTiger-Yes we have three bins now, two large ones for garden waste and recyclable items (mostly food packaging) and a smaller general waste bin which currently is still collected weekly.Us Brits are not great when it comes to organisation (short-termism we’re great at) as it all gets bogged down in bureaucracy, petty politics, personalities and money (local authorities are underfunded and have their hands tied by central gov) whilst an increasingly belligerent public looks on angrily but recycling policies are probably more about fitting the target culture and authorities trying not to get fined by the eu (by fair means or foul)for not meeting recycling targets which would hit council tax bills if incurred.Happy days.