Recycling Madness

We've received yet another letter from the council about Asda's latest plans - namely a new public seating area [end of Cromford Road] and a recycling area.

Now, I'm all for recycling - we do our bit religiously, this is why I'm able to tell people when the recycling bins on Cromford Road have been set fire to. These bins are not a million miles away from Asda's newly proposed recycling site near their petrol station.

While I commend Asda [along with most supermarkets] for taking an initiative in recycling, I do take umbrage at their assumption that we don't recycle already - both at home and in the aforementioned slightly singed and melted bins.

Asda say in their latest proposal ... and I quote: "Adding the recycling area to the site will aid Langley Mill to become more environmentally friendly". If these smart arse planners were to nip down to our unenvironmentally friendly Langley Mill, they may have noticed our top of the range, colour coded recycling bins already in situ.

But, yes I get it, most people who recycle on a large scale do it on their supermarket trip - unlike us who have all on remembering our shopping bags. I often stand shuffling my feet at the checkout in Morrisons, asking apologetically for wafer thin carrier bags ... because my super strong, arm-wrenching, industrial sized shopping bags are sat in the middle of the kitchen floor, where I'd put them moments before leaving the house [yes I probably did trip over them on my way out - it's an age thing].

Of course, receiving this latest letter from the council about Asda's planned recycling area, made me think about the tin-pot recycling system we put up with now.

Our council DEMANDS that we recycle our household rubbish [washed they don't want mucky recycling], using the crappy yellow and orange tubs [complete with drainage holes in the bottoms]. For some reason they don't want to collect our plastic ... which is odd because most households seem to have more plastic than other recycling. I can only assume that because it's light but often bulky, it would be cutting into profits - so we go on burying it in landfill sites where it lasts - well a lot longer than we do.

And before Asda think they're getting off scot free in this little moan, think again - if they and the other supermarkets insisted that less crap was used in packaging - I'm sure they're in a position to do this - there wouldn't be so much rubbish [recyclable or not] in the first place, and then they needn't be so smug when applying for planning permission to have a recycling area to 'aid us peasants to be more environmentally friendly'. Yes, I do admit that sentence got right up my nose.

My parents, sisters and niece [three different councils] each have two full sized bins with a couple of exciting new innovations installed on them as standard ... lids and wheels. They aren't expected to sort through their recycling [although doing so doesn't bother me], it is collected on a fortnightly basis after being wheeled to the required place - they don't have to struggle with blue bags of sopping wet paper [complete with several generations of slugs and snails], orange bags of cardboard that have mysteriously quadrupled in weight [because of the same rain that wet the paper], or squelch back into the house with cat food scented jeans and socks, because when you've carried the recycling bin to the street - you find there's always one tin that's tipped up to dribble fishy water down your leg.

Well, not me obviously - but I've heard the grumpy old man muttering about it ...

March 2011 Update:

Someone's nicked our recycling bins on Cromford Road - and Asda hasn't started recycling yet. Not very good is it council? We're overflowing with plastic here. Bring them Back!