Wednesday, April 28, 2010

Victoria's Green Matters - 29th April

Deal With IT's Secretary Victoria Nicholls writes a regular column in the East Kent Mercury: 
Have you taken the time to complete the questionnaire on recycling in the 25th March edition of the Mercury? If not, it is really important that you do respond so that council taxpayer opinions can be taken into account.

It seems a very sensible idea that Dover District, Shepway and Kent County councils are pooling their resources as far as kerbside-recycling collections are concerned. Hopefully, this means that they will be able to negotiate a much wider ranging contract for our recycling than previously.

We all feel very frustrated with the limited range of things that we can recycle when compared with neighbouring areas where everything seems to be collected.   It is difficult to understand about all the different types of plastic that are used everywhere today and why some can be recycled but not others. It is also very difficult to avoid buying goods wrapped in plastic or sold in a plastic tray.  We should, of course, be discouraging all retailers from using unnecessary packaging by refusing to buy over-packaged goods but this is easier said than done.

Trying to make sure that you buy locally produced food as often as possible is very important but there seems to be a trade off between that and choosing food that is package free. If you are very determined and brave you can leave any unnecessary packing behind in the supermarket, as long as you have paid for your goods!

We have to realise that there must be a market for all the material that is recycled. It is no good collecting the material if there is no business or factory that can put it to use. This is where government subsidies can help businesses to get started, using recycled materials and producing goods that the customer needs.

Please complete the questionnaire – you can do this on-line at www.dover.gov.uk and maybe we can work towards higher levels of recycling and less waste.

 

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