OK, a lot of EU big-wigs want to save the planet, as well as all us humans who live on it.
So they introduce an infuriating law that says that bottle tops on all plastic bottles of 3 liters or less must have the tops connected to the bottle.
This is so annoying. I haven't yet met anyone who thinks it a good idea. We all just tear the tops off and use the bottles as we always did before.
In our household it is Lady M who is in charge of recycling, and she is very insistent that we do our bit. What the council then does with our glass, plastic, or paper, is anyone's guess. We have no control over what happens once it leaves the recycling bins.
Will it save any Dolphins, or our children from having their brains filled with micro plastics? I have no idea. What I do know is that 'Nanny State' politics really gets on people's nerves.
I know there'll be one or two Snowflake-Dungaree-Wearing-Eco-Woke-Do-Gooders who will defend the policy, but, reassuringly, everyone I've discussed the matter with thinks it's a load of bloody nonsense. And it doesn't stop people simply discarding their plastic bottles on the ground once finished.
One really has to wonder what Brexit was all about when we still follow every new EU ruling!
Having said all that, I'm actually very anti litter/waste/beach rubbish/etc. I just wish that the young people who eat their lunches in our nearby graveyard were the same; Filthy Pigs. Better to EDUCATE THEM, rather than annoying the rest of us!
We have the misfortune to live around 3/4mile from a McDonalds, a Costa and a Greggs. From the waves of detritus spilling out onto pavements and verges, their customers are totally ignorant of the purpose of the many litter bins so thoughtfully provided by the council.
ReplyDeleteOne might have imagined that 'young people' would be more aware of litter than anyone else. In fact they are probably the dirtiest generation ever. What went wrong?
DeleteThe people who litter know it is wrong; they just don't care. Public media, schools, etc., preach no littering, but people just don't give a damn, and that attitude defies adjustment.
DeleteI could have written that myself! Those darn bottle tops are such a nuisance. Have they made a difference? Where does all our recycling end up?? I ask myself everytime I empty our recycle bag. Especially here I'm very suspicious it just ends up with the rest of the rubbish.
ReplyDeleteAnd our road sides are full of plastic water bottles and coffee containers. How can you just throw them away like that.
Our youngsters do have environmental lessons at school. Is it sinking in?
When I was young no-one mentioned 'litter', but at the same time it was regarded as a deadly sin to simply drop litter everywhere. Fast Food outlets should have BIG SIGNS telling their customers not to drop litter. And maybe provide bins all over towns.
DeleteWe have done a few litter pickups along our 'beach' around Portchester castle, the amount of 'lunch' type items was huge, it really annoys me as well, just take it to a bin. As for the attached tops, a bloody nuisance to anyone who always puts the lid back on the empty bottle.
ReplyDeleteSadly it's 99% young people who leave all the litter. You'd think they would be more aware.
DeleteLike Grandma Magnon, I'm also scrupulous about recycling. However, like you, I wonder what really happens to all our plastics etc.. Where does it end up and why isn't there full transparency about the process?
ReplyDeleteI have witnessed the rubbish collecting folk putting everything into the same lorry. It makes a mockery of the whole system.
DeleteWe are supposed to seperate those annoying tops from the bottle and deposit them into a different bin. Most annoying are the people who drop their plastic bags full of kitchen waste in the vague proximity of the bins. People drive up, with the bags attached to a wing mirror, just casually drop the bag onto the ground, without getting out of the car, and drive off!
ReplyDeleteThat is dreadful. In France the 'great minds' have introduced a card system for dustbins. We pay for general collection, then we pay again for using the bins. It doesn't take a genius to foresee what would happen. And no-one seemed to consider tourists/holidaymakers who don't have a card! Their rubbish ends up in the hedges!
DeleteWe are constantly stopping along our walks to pick up other people's discarded rubbish and put it into the nearest bin.
ReplyDeleteI do the same. I keep a bag in my back pocket; it soon gets filled!
DeleteThe trouble is the mantra “I am very careful about recycling” isn’t good enough. We need to remember the three R’s - Reduce, Reuse and only then if all else fails Recycle. Try not to buy plastic.
ReplyDeleteThe thethered caps, they don’t bother me at all.
The problem is that so many things come in plastic containers, and there is no alternative. More important is what happens to the plastic once it's finished with. I've seen (on TV) bricks and roof tiles made from re-cycled plastics, but I've never seen them on sale. There are all sorts of things that could be made. It needs more thought!
DeleteI agree it is difficult but there are some choices that can be made.
DeleteStrangely the numerous plastic bottles I see on pathways and the road kerbs do not have their tops attached - Mine do though and I spill the contents - flis x
ReplyDeleteI'm afraid to say that I just tear them off. If they remain intact it makes the bottles much more difficult to use!
DeleteReally don’t understand how it makes them more difficult to use.
DeleteUS still has the original bottle cap with none attached to the bottle.
ReplyDeleteWhere does all the recycle go? That's the mystery. Historically lots of trash went aboard a tanker and shipped off to China. That ended many years ago. Everything is sorted locally but nothing is recycled locally, it all goes someplace else. Rumor, is it goes to an incinerator. All our sorting is likely for nothing.
I do know that a lot of UK recycling material used to be sold to China and India. What they did with it I don't know, but I'm sure we're buying it back again in some form or other.
DeleteSeveral local councils in the Perth area have admitted that they simply don't have the infrastructure to deal with all the recycled rubbish, so it just has to go to landfill.
ReplyDeleteOK for archeologists of the future, but surely they could find something better to do with it. They're burying good money!
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