Oxford Recycling

Stephen Tall on the political infighting about Oxford’s recycling scheme:

With only one-third of the
city so far covered by the new scheme, Oxford’s recycling rate has
already increased from 19% this time last year to 27%. In most cities,
this would be a cause for celebration, and an occasion to thank the
Council staff and local residents who have helped achieve such a result.

Perhaps it would in most cities but in a rational one it would be a cause for lamentation. As recycling uses more resoures than landfill any increase in it simply goes further in pissing off Gaia and boiling Bangladesh.

Perhaps someone could start a reality based Liberal Party, one that only adopts policies which actually work towards the declared goal?

5 responses

  1. that is the point about recycling…you are saving the dump from filling up….and it costs fossil fuel…

  2. “Perhaps someone could start a reality based Liberal Party, one that only adopts policies which actually work towards the declared goal?”
    I think you are describing a party called UKIP.

  3. Thanks, Tim. Presumably at some point economies of scale ensure recycling will use fewer resources as landfill sites becomes more scarce?
    Tim adds: What? Did you run a Web 1.0 company? Lose money on every sale and make it up with quantity?
    We’ve got nearly 250,000 km2 of land in the country. 0.1 % of that gives us 250 km2. Wnay t0o do the calculation of how many centuries it will take us to “use up” that much landfill space?

  4. Maybe instead of throwing money at recycling schemes, the funds could be spent on packaging innovation (i.e minimal, biodegradable packaging) and stopping companies wrapping vegetables in six layers of plastic.
    That way we wouldn’t have such a major waste problem to deal with anyway!

  5. Tim, there is a Liberal party, formed from the malcontents from the Liberal-SDP merger. It has some local council representation.
    It is also euro-sceptic.
    http://www.liberal.org.uk/
    However, they’re nuts on just about everything else. They would renationalise transport and public utilities and are anti-nuclear.
    Frankly, they have more in common with Michael Foot in most things.

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