Weather
Green group questions recycling policy (From The Northern Echo)
Send us your pictures, video, news and views by texting NORTHERN ECHO to 80360 or email us
Covering Hurworth, Middleton St George, Croft, Sadberge, Bishopton, High Coniscliffe, Piercebridge, Heighington and Neasham and other surrounding villages
LATEST DARLINGTON NEWS
Green group questions recycling policy
9:50am Sunday 14th September 2008
DARLINGTONS new household waste collection system has come under attack from an environmental group, who claim the process could do more harm than good.
From April 2009, refuse from households in the borough will be sorted at a plant near Newton Aycliffe.
As part of the new contract, glass, cardboard and paper will be collected separately and recycled, while tins and plastic will be sorted from the rest of the waste by the processor.
What remains will be minced, compacted and placed into landfill.
It is hoped the new system will increase the amount of household waste recycled and composted in Darlington from 26 per cent to 50 per cent.
But Kendra Ullyart from the towns Friends of the Earth group said concerns remained over the eco-credentials of the process.
She added: "Its not really compost that this process produces, they are calling it that because it sounds green, it is actually toxic mince.
"But our main concern is that it stops people thinking about the need to look after the environment.
"Where is the incentive to cut back on the amount of packaging we buy when people know it goes through this process?
"It takes the emphasis of reuse, reduce recycle away from the individual and therefore negates responsibility for their actions.
She added: "People have a responsibility to recycle what they can.
"Some households do everything they can, and some do absolutely nothing.
"The councils new system makes it easy for people to do nothing."
But councillor Nick Wallis, Darlington Borough Council's cabinet member for sustainable environment and climate change, defended the process.
He said: "Our new waste collection contract, starting next April, will increase the percentage of waste recycled and composted to above 50 per cent which will make us one of the top performing councils in the North-East.
"I simply can't see where the Friends of the Earth are coming from.
"What I am particularly pleased about is that we have listened to residents' aspirations for recycling in Darlington and the new contract will allow us to collect cardboard, glass and paper as part of the kerbside recycling scheme."
More Darlington stories
- Art exhibition
- Forging links with serving soldiers
- Appeal for curiosities for exhibition
- Cycling campaigner to host talk
- Row over Ashleigh on Google 'spy site'
- Museum to stage exhibition of Lewis Carroll
- Sex offender found hiding in wardrobe
- £200,000 of illegal tobacco goods uncovered in raids
- Views proposed on school speed restriction zone
- Warning to Darlington litter louts
Your Say YourNorth-East
miketually, Darlington says...
11:05am Mon 15 Sep 08
Would you like some of the 'compost' for your garden? Didn't think so.
The stuff which is produced by the 'composting' is nothing like compost. It's simply landfill made lighter so we pay less landfill tax.
Under the new systenm, people will chuck more and more our, assuming someone else will clear up their mess for them.
The phrase "reduce, reuse, recycle" is in that order for a reason - recycling should be the last resort. The new system is simply repackaged tax-dodging landfill by another name.
Your sayYour North-East
Add your comment
Register for a FREE The Northern Echo account and you can have your say on today's news and sport by adding comments on articles we publish. The best comments may even get published in the paper.
Please register now or sign in below to continue.
Local Advertisers
Local Information
Enter your postcode, town or place name
billy2, darlington says...
10:02am Mon 15 Sep 08