A couple of weeks ago in the Inish Times, the editorial raised the point about recycling, or the lack of it in the County. Especially if the Christmas tree recycling scheme is anything to go by. This got my little brain ticking over as to why recycling isn’t catching on very quickly in Inishowen. After a bit of thought I thought the best thing to do would be to go out and about to ask a member of the public, so I headed down town.
At a local bar I met Joe (real name withheld due to marital reasons) who kindly agreed to give me a few minutes of his time.
Q. Hello Joe, nice of you to talk to me. My first question is, do you recycle any of your household waste?
A. Yea, course I do, one flush and it’s gone! (Laughs) But seriously now, I was thinking about getting one of those plastic bin things from the council to put me kitchen waste in. The council doesn’t deliver them so I didn’t bother me head. I don’t know if we have much kitchen waste anyway, it’s the wife that does the cooking so you’ll have to ask her.
Q. Do you ever use the bottle banks that the council provide?
A. No, I don’t bother with them either, there’s enough sand in the world to make glass forever. They ought to put a deposit on the bottles- that will give young kids something to do taking them back to the shops. I did it when I was a wa’in and it kept me in fags.
Q. What about the idea of recycling Christmas trees, why aren’t more people doing it?
A. What’s the point? They rot down in the back garden anyway. It just uses energy to get them to these drop off points and you get nothing for them. There’s that company makin’ money out of turning them into garden mulch as well, I’m not doing their job for them! I’ve heard some councils in England will give you the shredded stuff back for nothing…I might do it then.
Q. What about other household waste. The manufacturers of electrical equipment are being made to safely dispose of obsolete appliances such as fridges. Do you think that is a good idea and will you use this service?
A. Yea, that’s a great idea! Any company, or council for that matter that is prepared to collect old electrical stuff and get rid of it for you can’t be a bad thing. The council should get a massive lorry and collect all the stuff from people’s houses, and while they’re at it they can clean up all the old junk that’s littering the countryside and roadsides. Yea.. In Japan there’s this island that they put all their electrical goods on so people don’t have to look at it…
Q. You seem to expect the council to do all this for you. Have you ever thought of not being so dependent on others and take responsibility for your own recycling?
A. It’s what I pay me taxes for innit!
Q. So you work then?
A. Well, no, not exactly. But I do buy stuff that I pay a lot of tax on, such as me fags.
And do you know how much tax you pay on a pint these days; I don’t know where all the money goes to. Not on the roads I can tell you.
Q. O.K. O.K. what are your views on the prospects of large incinerators being built to accommodate all the waste being produced?
A. Oh yes, I’ve heard about them. They sound like a great idea. The council could get rid of all the rubbish easily. There would be no need for landfill sites either, which would be a good thing.
Q. Don’t you think that the use of incinerators is just substituting one potentially harmful method of rubbish disposal for another?
A. Huh?
Q. Well apart from toxic fumes there is also the issue of once the fire is lit it will need to be constantly fed. This might mean that the company running the incinerator will probably have to import rubbish from other countries to keep it burning
A. Aah yes, but it wouldn’t be built around here though would it? They could build it over in Cork or somewhere out of the way.
Q. The pollutants could be carried great distances in the air so it probably wouldn’t matter where they were built. What about the ideas that all of us can drastically reduce our waste in the house by buying products without packaging; this would reduce the need for landfill or incinerators.
A. Hey, don’t blame me, blame these companies that make the packaging and cheap plastic rubbish on the market that breaks as soon as you use it!
Q. I’m not blaming anyone, I’m just saying…
At a local bar I met Joe (real name withheld due to marital reasons) who kindly agreed to give me a few minutes of his time.
Q. Hello Joe, nice of you to talk to me. My first question is, do you recycle any of your household waste?
A. Yea, course I do, one flush and it’s gone! (Laughs) But seriously now, I was thinking about getting one of those plastic bin things from the council to put me kitchen waste in. The council doesn’t deliver them so I didn’t bother me head. I don’t know if we have much kitchen waste anyway, it’s the wife that does the cooking so you’ll have to ask her.
Q. Do you ever use the bottle banks that the council provide?
A. No, I don’t bother with them either, there’s enough sand in the world to make glass forever. They ought to put a deposit on the bottles- that will give young kids something to do taking them back to the shops. I did it when I was a wa’in and it kept me in fags.
Q. What about the idea of recycling Christmas trees, why aren’t more people doing it?
A. What’s the point? They rot down in the back garden anyway. It just uses energy to get them to these drop off points and you get nothing for them. There’s that company makin’ money out of turning them into garden mulch as well, I’m not doing their job for them! I’ve heard some councils in England will give you the shredded stuff back for nothing…I might do it then.
Q. What about other household waste. The manufacturers of electrical equipment are being made to safely dispose of obsolete appliances such as fridges. Do you think that is a good idea and will you use this service?
A. Yea, that’s a great idea! Any company, or council for that matter that is prepared to collect old electrical stuff and get rid of it for you can’t be a bad thing. The council should get a massive lorry and collect all the stuff from people’s houses, and while they’re at it they can clean up all the old junk that’s littering the countryside and roadsides. Yea.. In Japan there’s this island that they put all their electrical goods on so people don’t have to look at it…
Q. You seem to expect the council to do all this for you. Have you ever thought of not being so dependent on others and take responsibility for your own recycling?
A. It’s what I pay me taxes for innit!
Q. So you work then?
A. Well, no, not exactly. But I do buy stuff that I pay a lot of tax on, such as me fags.
And do you know how much tax you pay on a pint these days; I don’t know where all the money goes to. Not on the roads I can tell you.
Q. O.K. O.K. what are your views on the prospects of large incinerators being built to accommodate all the waste being produced?
A. Oh yes, I’ve heard about them. They sound like a great idea. The council could get rid of all the rubbish easily. There would be no need for landfill sites either, which would be a good thing.
Q. Don’t you think that the use of incinerators is just substituting one potentially harmful method of rubbish disposal for another?
A. Huh?
Q. Well apart from toxic fumes there is also the issue of once the fire is lit it will need to be constantly fed. This might mean that the company running the incinerator will probably have to import rubbish from other countries to keep it burning
A. Aah yes, but it wouldn’t be built around here though would it? They could build it over in Cork or somewhere out of the way.
Q. The pollutants could be carried great distances in the air so it probably wouldn’t matter where they were built. What about the ideas that all of us can drastically reduce our waste in the house by buying products without packaging; this would reduce the need for landfill or incinerators.
A. Hey, don’t blame me, blame these companies that make the packaging and cheap plastic rubbish on the market that breaks as soon as you use it!
Q. I’m not blaming anyone, I’m just saying…
A. Look, I haven’t time for all this, I’ll tell you what, get me another pint on your way out will you. Oh yes and a packet of those dry roasted peanuts as well……….
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