Presentation of Govt Simple recycling scheme – which means households in England need to separate their waste into five bins – has sparked online debate, with many Brits expressing confusion and frustration about the changes.
According to the government website, the new rules aim to boost recycling and reduce the amount of waste that ends up in landfills or is incinerated, which all sounds like a good thing – right? However, some people are not so convinced.
A Home construction and renovation voting revealed that only 10% of voters believed the easy recycling scheme was “a step in the right direction”, with 80% finding it “confusing” and the remaining 10% still undecided.
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Praneel Sidhu, from Hertfordshire, is one of many who feel negative about the changes. They claim councils “keep trying to do the bare minimum while council tax rises and service quality goes down”.
He explains that it’s not that he doesn’t care about the environment, but that he feels his actions will have “zero impact” unless governments and energy companies take action on the bigger picture.
Praneel adds: “I’m just going to do what’s convenient for me and put all my waste in one bin. I’ve also heard from friends who work in recycling plants that all recycling ends up in the same place anyway.”
He is not alone in this belief – a survey by David Wilson Holmes It found that one in six UK householders do not actively recycle (that’s over 4.5 million households), while England as a whole only recycles 43.4% of the waste it generates.
It’s not just residents who have a negative opinion of the new rules. Web Editor of Homebuilding and Renovating, Amy WillisExplains that even his local waste collectors are apprehensive about how the changes will work.
“One thing they don’t like about the new rule changes is the possibility of leaving fines on homeowners’ bins or refusing to collect notes if they get it wrong. They worry about dealing with angry homeowners if that happens,” she says.
After “years of confusion over what goes in which bin”, the government says the new rules will help make bin collection more streamlined and consistent. However, environmental activist and co-founder Plastic planetSian Sutherland, not sure if this is the answer to the plastic crisis.
“Simplifying recycling will make the system easier to navigate, and may improve capture rates at the margin, but it doesn’t change the fundamental equation. Plastics production is expected to nearly triple by 2060, reaching about one billion tons a year under current trends.
“In that context, improving how we handle increasing amounts of waste, not reducing it, while it continues to enter our environment and our bodies, seems fundamentally out of touch with the scale of the problem.”
Her main concern is that policy focuses on managing waste rather than addressing the root problem – that it exists in the very first place.
Tara Button, Founder buy me one timeagree “Recycling has become a kind of moral comfort blanket. It allows us to continue to shop the way we’ve been trained, because we can tell ourselves that the green bin will sort it later. That doesn’t happen very often. Most of what we put out for recycling is quietly incinerated, landfilled or sent overseas, and manufacturers can know they’re throwing out green huarachelo products.”
An alternative solution?
So, if recycling is probably not the solution, what is? Tara Button says, “The waste hierarchy has quietly been flipped on its head. Reduce, reuse, recycle should be in that order for a reason – recycling is the last resort, not the first.
“Real progress looks like fewer, better things: a frying pan you’ll use in forty years, a kettle you can open and repair, a coat that can be re-waxed instead of a can. The greenest product is almost always the one you already own, and then, it’s the one you’ll still be using in a decade.”
Do you think the Simpler Recycling Scheme is flawed or believe it is up to government and manufacturers to bring about real change, Assistant Editor of Homebuilding and Renovating, Sarah HarleySays we all have a part to play.
A government spokesman says, “We are making more than £78 billion available to councils in England this year, including funding for councils to collect weekly food waste.
“Our simple recycling reforms will end the postcode lottery of bin collection and help keep our streets cleaner, while empowering local authorities to continue to deliver services in the way that works best for their communities.”
If you’re confused about the new recycling rules, we’ve got plenty of content to help you navigate these changes, including What you can and can’t put in your garden recycling bin And Why some councils haven’t made the changes yet.
