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For more waste info - also see resources Waste and resources - we use resources and we generate waste - lots of it. The waste hierarchy - reduce, reuse, recycle, recover (energy or materials), safe disposal. At the moment the vast majority of our household waste in this country is landfilled, for Herefordshire that means it gets put in holes in the ground in Worcestershire.... Did you know?
Understanding waste laws and targets is not easy! There are lots of targets and it takes a while to pick your way through everything - it's laid out in the Herefordshire Council waste strategy (waste strategy). The landfill directive requires that the Council reduces the amount of waste sent to landfill - this is expressed in terms of the degradeable waste landfilled compared to 1995 - by 2010 down to 75% of 1995 amounts, by 2013 50% and by 2020 down to 35%. That's a huge reduction and a serious challenge when waste volumes, if anything, are increasing not decreasing. For each tonne above the limit there is a fine - £200 per tonne (that's about four times the landfill cost - as of 2004). For 2007-8 the Herefordshire waste strategy indicates the aim that 42% of municipal waste should be recovered leaving 58% to landfill. In the West Midlands recovery in 2005/6 was over 50%. FACTOID: Did you know? The Netherlands, Germany, Sweden, Denmark and even Belgium landfill under 25% of their municipal waste So how is Herefordshire doing? Hard to say - have not yet found definitive data but it would appear that we are behind on recycling and ahead on landfilling....Of couse Herefordshire by its nature presents some serious challenges - highly rural and distributed populations are harder (read more expensive) to collect waste from and this adds both to the cost and the environmental impacts of separate waste collections. What can you do? Have a look at the products you buy each week and see if you can cut back on the amount of waste that you produce - are there choices that have less or no packaging? If the average is 500 kg per person per year of municipal waste that would be 30 kg a week for my household - that's a lot of stuff to buy and throw away - I am too lazy to a) buy it and carry it to the car, b) to carry it to the bin each week....(some would say that my solution is to collect stuff in the house - not really a long-term solution - more of a carbon sink...) Any chance of composting the waste and using it on the garden? Lots of advice on this out there and it's good for the garden too! Reuse- remember everything that Blue Peter used to make... (though they always involved sticky backed plastic and I don't see a lot of that in my bin) - maybe as mundane as using the plastic bags more than once, they can make good bin liners (or ideal vessels with which to pick up after the dog...), use the yoghurt pots to keep things in or for that next painting job, etc etc - and have a look at Freecycle (see below) Recycle - that probably means taking your glass, paper and more and more often plastics and cans to a recylcing collection point - of which there are quite a few now - try not to make a special trip - all the energy that you might save on the recycling can be blown by a special trip to take the waste.... Put some pressure on the council and the government to do something more useful and imaginative with the waste that we produce! Food for thought - if we each produce an average of 500 kg of waste and the fine for not dealing with it properly is £200 - that's £100 each ...(of course that's not going to happen but it gives you an idea of the money involved) - interesting to see what it actually costs - let me know if you can find a figure for waste collection/disposal costs for Herefordshire Useful information: More and more communities are getting separate kerbside collections for recyclable materials - makes it much easier - bear in mind that putting the wrong things in can make the loads harder to recycle or less valuable so take care to put in what they ask for (Apparently 70% of the population of Herefrordshire now has kerbside collection - it's been slow in getting out to some of us and some are still waiting). Herefordshire Council Waste Pages - hereford waste Herefordshire's Mission Impossible - phone 01905 766883. Apparently there's a Compost Adviser on this number. (I've never met a compost adviser and have to wonder....). Compost bins can be ordered from www.recyclenow.com/compost or by phone 0845 077 0757 for a princely £8 a bin. Freecycle Is a network of people who wish to reuse unwanted things. Just sign up and list items you no longer want. Other members can see your listing and then collect the items from you. The idea being to give away stuff that you no longer need. The local group is Hereford Freecycle. Let us know how it works if you join. Recycling Point For those that didn't know there's a recycling point at Poston Mill Click here to return to top of this page.
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