Society needs to change; not just the individual.
There is a skip at my workplace full of very useful wood. Our site does not really have the space to store the wood hence the need for the skip. I have assumed anyway that the wood would be passed on for recycling. It appears this is largely not the case. And this with all the problems we have with virgin forest being cut down all over the world. In the UK there is an organisation looking into this; http://www.globaltrees.org/proj.asp?id=4 . They have a report out about the recycling of waste wood. What it shows is that an individual may want to recycle some wood but, that at the moment they will have a very hard time doing this because recycling operations are few and those that exist are too centralised. Often an individual can't do something until society catches up, until the systems are in place.
posted by Matt Burge @ 10:12 pm
4 comments
4 Comments:
It's yet another aspect of the "Reduce, Reuse, Recycle" mantra. There are a few initiatives on the go in the UK:
http://www.wasteonline.org.uk/resources/InformationSheets/Wood.htm
has a lot of helpful tips on sourcing recycled wood for your own projects, and on destinations for your unwanted timber.
http://www.wastechange.net/
is particularly interesting as it shows wanted/offered lists for a wide range of materials,including wood, on a B2B basis and in huge quantities from as far away as Nigeria and the Middle East.
Thanks Pete. Wastechange does look interesting although on a bigger scale. I wonder how they publicise their exchange.
Dispatches on TV last night had a very good programme on the state of the waste business in the UK. OK, it was only one undercover operative involved but he exposed enough to show the landfill tax is only increasing roadside dumping and the involvement of criminals.
As for recycling, a lot of it was going through an operative in NI only to end up in landfill.
We need action at both ends of the scale. For commercial quantities, a B2B exchange like Wastechange. For individuals, an operation like Freecycle is ideal, being small-scale and local.
Yes, I joined Freecycle but haven't been able to make use of it for some reason. Having to join Yahoo groups is somewhat confusing.
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