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28th January 2021
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leader 9th Sept continued
These trips also give me the chance to discover what others throw away and although I wasn’t around to see the sailing boat, 8ft polystyrene snowman, caravan, diving gear, grand piano or coffin which were apparently dropped off recently, I do see sofas, beds, tables, unwanted kitchens and other items of good furniture, thrown into the ‘general rubbish’ skips, the contents of which are destined for landfill. I also see banks of kitchen appliances such as fridges, freezers, cookers and microwaves and wonder whether these really are irreparable or whether the previous owners have simply decided to upgrade but haven’t bothered to try and find a new home for their old goods.
Surrey County Council says that our council taxes have to cover £600,000 in landfill costs each month (that’s £7,200,000 per annum) which would be better spent elsewhere.
If we take Surrey’s landfill costs as being average and multiply the figure by the number of local councils throughout the UK, that’s an awful lot of our money being needlessly wasted, isn’t it?
More MUST be done to ensure that we as consumers do everything we can to reduce the volume of unwanted goods that ends up in landfill. One person’s rubbish will be another’s treasure and there are many ways (charity shops, garage sales, Gumtree, e-bay etc.) to marry the two up. Perhaps we need to be forced to take advantage of these or perhaps other more comprehensive schemes should be set up.
Either way, something needs to be done quickly as we’re running out of landfill space and our government doesn’t exactly have a lot of money to splash around, so what it does have, really shouldn’t be wasted.
I know that generally when a new appliance is delivered, the old one is taken away, but I don’t know what happens to that appliance afterwards. Are these items refurbished or passed on to charity shops, or are they simply made safe and dumped?
If you’re able to enlighten me, I’d be grateful, or if you have any ideas regarding useful, untapped ways to recycle these goods, I’d love to hear about them.
9th September 2011