Judging by social media everyone is upset with plastic – especially single use plastic. The new cry is let’s have compostable plastic. But is this a dead end street? Concerned individuals are starting to make their voices heard and are resisting using plastic wherever possible. More consumers are refusing to accept plastic bags at the
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Early man, like the animals with whom he lived, wasted nothing. Everything was recycled. Recycling is no longer a natural activity of humans. The situation has been made worse in the present linear economy. We are conditioned to consume resources and dispose of the waste generated. Can we go back to our ancestors ways? Recycling
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“Benjamin Franklin said there were only two things certain in life: death and taxes. But I’d like to add a third certainty: trash. And while some in this room might want to discuss reducing taxes, I want to talk about reducing trash.” – Ruth Ann Minner This quotation got me thinking – are death, taxes
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The H1 figures are due out shortly. Even if the economy is not in recession we are teetering on the brink. Recycling can help a business survive the tough times. Waste is all about volumes – the more we produce, the more waste we generate. During normal or good times we tend to consume more
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‘Recycle at source’ is one of the mantras of recycling. But what does it mean and does it serve a purpose? It is a little bit like unscrambling an egg – once it is broken it is almost impossible to fix. Recycling is a volume driven business based on low margins – especially since China
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Very often when organizations decide to start a recycling program the first thing they do is buy new recycling containers. Which is all good-and-well – but, if they don’t change their culture first they are wasting their money. The container – be it a wheelie bin, office bin or specialized recycling bin – is necessary
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Organic waste is set to be the next big waste stream to be attacked. In its drive to clean up the environment the South African government has targeted organic waste. In addition to agricultural and garden waste this includes abattoir waste, sewerage waste and food waste amongst others. Organic waste is bad because it decomposes
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A lot of us think that fresh vegetables come in little Styrofoam trays and packets from the supermarket, with neatly embossed recycling icons. What we don’t see is how they are produced and there are some things the producers don’t want us to see. Take commercial farming; at most stages of growing a crop the
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We seem to be winning some battles but have we already lost the war? If one believes the pilot of a mini submarine the plastic waste is now lying on the bottom of the ocean. Apart from the environmental damage this is causing, the danger is that nano-plastic particles are now in the food chain.
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Most recycling materials are simple and some are just plain difficult. Cardboard, paper, plastic, tin and glass are easy to recycle – just put them in a bag and away they go. Other materials including ewaste, tyres and laminated products are more complicated. That is why they tend to hang around in ever growing piles.
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