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February 16, 2006
Scotland recycles 25 percent
According to the Friends of the Earth, Scotland now recycles 25% of its waste - better than it was, but not very impressive by international standards.
In East Lothian we achieved 30% in the third quarter of 2005. Here in Haddington, tins, glass and paper can be recycled via Tesco supermarket dumps in the centre of the town. However, as far as I know, there is no way to recycle plastics or (hazardous) batteries. (Edinburgh is similar, except I’ve never seen paper dumps there.)
When we lived in the Stirling District area (38% recycling rate), the council had a blue box collection scheme. This was good though in practice they rejected a lot of plastic that didn’t suit them. I don’t know whether there are any public composting schemes in Scotland for people who don’t have gardens.
By comparison, San Francisco committed itself to a ‘zero waste’ policy in 2002 and has now achieved a recycling rate of 67%, on course for 75% by 2010. They have a three container system dividing the rubbish into a green bin (food and garden waste which is composted), a black bin (general rubbish), and a blue bin (plastic, glass, and paper which are separated and processed by machine).
www.foe-scotland.org.uk/press/pr20060203.html
news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/programmes/documentary_archive/4499218.stm
Posted by Simon Holledge at February 16, 2006 07:30 PM
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Comments
He's back! It's the same one!
Simon, we have been missing you and your own brand of recycled nonsense. I don't recall hearing about heavy snowfalls and cut off communities in the Lothians, but nothing much has happened since you were away, apart from Wales and Northern Ireland being granted full independence. We tried to contact Scotland as part of the deal, but no-one was home.
Posted by: Vicus Scurra at February 17, 2006 07:13 AM