the environment, waste and us…

So, our Prime Minister has set out her 25 year environmental plan… in which she highlighted waste reduction as one of its cornerstones. All very laudable, but a) it’s all about vague aspirations and voluntary measures (no legislation) and b) won’t we have to act much more quickly in order to prevent environmental catastrophe?

I could comment at length on this but I think it’s far better you read this Editorial in today’s Observer.

Instead, I’ve recently been reflecting on society’s changing attitudes towards waste management, pollution and the environment and here are just three observations:

PERSONAL:
1.    Lots of us feel increasingly strongly about the amount of waste we create in our daily domestic lives and want to reduce this level to a minimum. I’m pretty committed towards this, but realise that I could do much, much more than I currently do (and have several friends who do very much more than me).
2.    Some of us are basically just too lazy to think carefully about what we buy, how it’s packaged and how we dispose of the waste products.
3.    In nutshell, many of us are just plain irresponsible and selfish (let’s leave it to someone else).
4.    On a slightly separate note, what I find utterly shocking is the amount of litter/rubbish that people simply drop as they walk around town or throw out of their car windows. I simply don’t understand the mentality of such people.

DOMESTIC:

1.    Recycling has become second-nature for all of us. That’s clearly a good thing, but many people (and it appears that there are an awful lot of them!) simply couldn’t care and abuse the system and its rules.
2.    I regularly hear about people complaining that their main plastic refuse bins aren’t emptied ever week (ours are emptied fortnightly). I keep seeing large bins filled to overflowing and with extra plastic bags stacked alongside them.
3.    Once again, this is a reflection of people’s lazy and selfish attitudes towards waste. In my view, it’s incredibly easy to reduce waste volumes to a minimum by careful (and simple) recycling (I find it sad that much of the waste in OUR bin comes from unrecyclable plastic wrapping – it might not take up much space, but it’s not good for the environment). 
4.    Clearly, for some properties in our cities (eg. terraced houses with no front gardens), it’s often difficult to accommodate large plastic bins neatly/conveniently on street frontages but, by and large, people DO take care and deal with this in a responsible way.
5.    The main problem, it seems, arises with flats, apartments and bedsits (especially when existing houses have been sub-divided. Usually, there’s insufficient space for the multitude of resulting bins (and all their recycling counterparts). No one seems to care or be prepared to take any responsibility (landlords?) and so, frequently, you’re left with numerous bins being scattered in small front gardens or, all too frequently, on the pavement outside the properties (see photograph!).

BUSINESS:

1.    There used to be a time when all businesses had a responsibility for dealing with their refuse within the confines of their own premises. Not any more it seems.
2.    Walk round any city these days and you’ll find numerous instances of massive bins set out on pavements or at kerbsides… these bins ‘live’ there permanently. The rubbish inside them is duly collected (or not!) by private contractors.
3.    These large collection bins are regularly left full to overflowing and with rubbish left strewn over the pavement. This is particularly the case, it seems, for cafés, bars and restaurants… and frequently (because it would be very bad for their respective businesses for customers to see rubbish outside their own premises!), these bins end up being pushed next to someone else’s premises (see photograph!).
4.    Again on a slightly separate note (but one involving commercial business attitudes towards the environment), I recently caught an extract of Gregg Wallace’s television programme “Inside The Factory” (I think it was called). In the clip, goods were being stacked on to pallets ready for dispatch but, before leaving the factory, they were being wrapped by metres and metres of plastic film (they just kept winding it round and round each pallet) – presumably to avoid the inconvenience of the goods ‘working loose’? It was shameful example of ‘we don’t really care’ business practice. It doesn’t have to be like this, for goodness sake!

No doubt you could come up with loads of other examples from your experiences.

In each of the above instances, it seems to be a case of laziness or lack of responsibility or an utter disregard for common decency and appropriate behaviour or business practice. In days gone by, many of these issues would no doubt have been taken up (and resolved) by an environmental protection officer (or whoever)… but, of course, in these days of austerity – where funds are scarce and jobs have been cut – no one, effectively, is there to enforce things.
A very sad reflection on society - on our priorities, on our lack of pride and on our selfishness... or perhaps it's just me?