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Hi, I'm new to this forum and I have a question about recycling.
I was just wondering how many people actually recycle and what materials they recycle?

lilsmiley wrote:Hi, I'm new to this forum and I have a question about recycling.
I was just wondering how many people actually recycle and what materials they recycle?

Does anybody still not recycle?

I recycle whatever my council will take away - glass, cans, tins, cardboard and some plastic and I compost organic waste.

UndercoverElephant wrote:Does anybody still not recycle?

That's the easy bit. The next challenge is to stop them consuming in the first place!

UndercoverElephant wrote:

lilsmiley wrote:Hi, I'm new to this forum and I have a question about recycling.
I was just wondering how many people actually recycle and what materials they recycle?

Does anybody still not recycle?

I recycle whatever my council will take away - glass, cans, tins, cardboard and some plastic and I compost organic waste.

Same here and about half our paper waste goes on the fire; certainly all my office stuff and all envelopes go there. We don't get a daily paper so there's not that much paper anyway. A lot of cardboard goes onto the garden as mulch.

Are all the students using us as their study group or something?

What happened to getting a clipboard and asking people on the streets, all part of that student experience I would think.

lilsmiley wrote:Hi, I'm new to this forum and I have a question about recycling.
I was just wondering how many people actually recycle and what materials they recycle?

No, I don't bother. I figure the worse it gets, the sooner we have to take action. I pick up 3 free newspapers a day and drop them on the train. Double plastic bags in the supermarket. Get jamjars on Freecycle and throw them in the rubbish.

Kind of like to do my bit, you know?

Here's a more serious approach http://www.psfk.com/2009/10/reusing-pla ... frica.html

UndercoverElephant wrote:

lilsmiley wrote:Hi, I'm new to this forum and I have a question about recycling.
I was just wondering how many people actually recycle and what materials they recycle?

Does anybody still not recycle?

I recycle whatever my council will take away - glass, cans, tins, cardboard and some plastic and I compost organic waste.

I think the majority of people do recycle however there are bound to be a few people out there how still don't recycle.
I am the same i recycle whatever the council takes away plus all the waste food in a compost bin etc.

biffvernon wrote:Here's a more serious approach http://www.psfk.com/2009/10/reusing-pla ... frica.html

Thanks for the link! That site looks really interesting.

Recycling is way down the food chain.

We hardly ever buy anything but when we do the packing gets used again for storing things or for packing stuff to send to people. Food's rarely left over but we have chickens and dogs who are forever hopeful.

I trim the veg in the garden and threw leaves and dodgy veg over the fence to the pigs. We burn paper and old cartons and wooden fruit cages and our rubbish bin contains only plastic and aluminium. Batteries, light bulbs and old (and new) completely useless rubbish is taken to the dump.

We have a dumping area where friends and neighbours bring anything they've got (old baths, wood, tiles, bottles, windows, stone..) and we use the stuff for building our house or for the garden.



Bottles for building and for insulation



Windows for greenhouses, cold frames and veranda







Beautiful old bits of wood for around door and window frames



Stone for facing and corners



An old door for the veranda



A new road made from all the rubble



Old water cylinders are used for contraptions like barbecues, old tools are fixed or used for decorating the garden.

Even old boots (Far too beautiful to throw away !) are given a space for their retirement in the hen house. Birds sometimes nest in them.



Both of us are far too mean to throw anything away and when you're building and gardening you can always think of an alternative use for stuff.

Boots and shoes! We leave them in obscure places around the garden. They get lived in...

I'm currently making some moveable fencing (sections that we can step over and hook up to form enclosures to corral the geese and ducks) out of the salvageable bits of pallets; the rest is burnt.

They say there's a problem with burning pallets because some wood is treated. This I can believe but hey, at work they used to go to landfill, so which is worse, burning for heat in an enclosed wood stove, using around the garden then burning, or landfill?

Hardworkinghippy: verrrrry impressive! I'd like to live more like that.
Jon

hardworkinghippy wrote:We hardly ever buy anything but when we do the packing gets used again for storing things or for packing stuff to send to people. Food's rarely left over but we have chickens and dogs who are forever hopeful.

I trim the veg in the garden and threw leaves and dodgy veg over the fence to the pigs. We burn paper and old cartons and wooden fruit cages and our rubbish bin contains only plastic and aluminium. Batteries, light bulbs and old (and new) completely useless rubbish is taken to the dump.

We have a dumping area where friends and neighbours bring anything they've got (old baths, wood, tiles, bottles, windows, stone..) and we use the stuff for building our house or for the garden.



Bottles for building and for insulation



Windows for greenhouses, cold frames and veranda







Beautiful old bits of wood for around door and window frames



Stone for facing and corners



An old door for the veranda



A new road made from all the rubble



Old water cylinders are used for contraptions like barbecues, old tools are fixed or used for decorating the garden.

Even old boots (Far too beautiful to throw away !) are given a space for their retirement in the hen house. Birds sometimes nest in them.



Both of us are far too mean to throw anything away and when you're building and gardening you can always think of an alternative use for stuff.

That is some impressive stuff you have going on there! More people should take a leaf out of your book! Im sure that if more people did then the environment may start to improve or have a brighter side to it!

Thanks.

Most people don't have the room to do all this sort of stuff, I realise we're lucky but it would be interesting to know why people aren't allowed to take things out of public dumps.

Couldn't we organise some sort of recovery centre and then people would realise that others value the stuff that they throw away and then they wouldn't waste so much ?