This morning.
The plinth, Leinster House, Dublin 2.
Sinn Féin spokesperson on Communications, Climate Action and the Environment, David Cullinane TD launches a discussion document looking at the “possibilities and practicalities of bringing domestic waste collection back into the control of local authorities”.
Finally.
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Good luck to him, I know his heart is in the right place, but come on Shinners, is this for real?
https://www.sinnfein.ie/files/2019/A_Just_Transition_Public_Waste_Management.pdf
A 2-page statement. At the very least, there should have been some indepth analysis of the sector, the costs of revoking licences to private sector suppliers, that type of thing (it’s probably in the billions).
Instead, the most tangible para in the entire thing is
“Beauparc Utilities Ltd, operators of Panda Waste and Greenstar enjoyed a 49%
jump in pre-tax profits in 2017. This resulted in a profit of €18.4m. Meanwhile the
average cost per householder has increased by 11%, to €228 since 2012. Private
companies have also disregarded the waiver system that was in place, forcing
vulnerable households and those on low income to pay the full charge for waste
collection. “
Bringing it back to the councils, just when the costs to providers and customers are sky rocketing because they can’t get rid of the waste and recyclables anymore.
Fascinating listening on recycling
https://www.npr.org/2019/07/12/741283641/episode-926-so-should-we-recycle
I know that a lot of the problems for recyclers is that if someone puts in contaminated waster (for example, food packaging that has not been cleaned) they have to send a whole load to landfill. People do note properly separate or clean their recycling waste.
But I still have a problem I cannot find an answer to. What do I do with waste that is tricky? For example, I have some scrub washes with microbeads (a remnant from a former girlfriend). Microbeads are bad,and should not be put into the waste, but plastics should not be put into landfill. How do I dispose of these safely? Even the best recycling advice websites I have seen merely spout the standard ‘separate and clean’
Also, what about packaging that says ‘widely recyclable’ but does not indicate what type it is? And do I have to take the bottle caps off my water and soda bottles (bottle is PET, cap usually HDPE) and if so, also the little security tamper ring? Do I need to remove caps from glass bottles? What about dangerous chemicals in recyclable containers (e.g. engine oil, weedkiller, drain unblocker)?
I have heard advice that if it is a hard plastic you should recycle it, but advice on the outliers would be helpful!
Now that’s some sweet whataboutery right there!
Not so. It is actually a genuine question, not an attempt to show recycling as idiotic, which would be whataboutery. I truly do note know what do do with some items I have, some of which could be dangerous if merely put in my recycling bin
What do I do with my used jonnies?
Move over to edible ’99
Or
Snip it
This website is quite good – https://www.mywaste.ie/page-what-to-do-with/
According to them, re lids:
What?
This can be plastic or a metal [Tins & Cans] – Bottle tops / caps, lids from jars
Where?
This should be placed in the household recycling bin.
The site doesn’t have anything to say on johnnies, but I’d imagine (if they’re used) they have organic material in them, so cannot go in recycling. I’m sure they can’t be composted, so they’d have to go in regular landfill!
Sadly, johnnies compose very little of my ‘waste’ these days, but thank you for the link :)
I think a problem with any service provided by a council is that a minority of “entitled” people feel they can ignore paying the bills but would protest withdrawal of service due to unpaid bill. When the provider is private, they either pay up or no bin collection.
Totes agree.
3-4 profit driven bin lorries hammering across the same speed ramps up and down the same street while holding up traffic is the most cost effective AND environmentally way of collecting waste.