Proposed new recycling scheme isles-wide

[Suffererof1crankymofo]

The waste is being shipped up here and the cost for disposal more than covers the cost of the haulage, by a considerable amount.

 

They have already done a trial run of the waste up here and processed it.

Who is "They"?

[brecken]

Doesn’t seem so long ago it was reported the Lerwick Incinerator was nearing the end of its useful life and required considerable investment and the council were trying to offload it to SHEP? Has it undergone some recent refurbishment and investment to make it reliable and capable of processing all this imported waste?
Fair old Stench from their waste plant and storage facility at present can we expect more of this with additional storage times for the new stream of raw waste material and again when processing the older smellier raw material?
Remembering of course the new non-recyclable raw material doesn’t contain the current non-smell waste make-up and mainly consists of the older smelly material, coupled with local collection times proposed to be doubled to 2 weeks and no saying how old the imported waste will be! Could be some interesting aromas about the town especially during the warmer months, maybe the council should look to start an insect farm alongside this plant to process the swarms of flies that will accompany the waste material! There would certainly be enough feedstock for them to feed off and there’s a good market for quality protein!
It’s one thing running a small trial but very different I’m afraid when it comes to scaling to a viable operation!

[Suffererof1crankymofo]

There is not enough places in the UK to process the non recyclable waste , that's why they ship it to Europe for disposal.

 

Do you not think Europe already has their own non-recyclable waste to deal with without the UKs ?

 

And there is a huge amount of waste available in fact too much for the processors to cope with, that's why they can and will ship it here and pay for it too be processed which covers the haulage and handling costs.  Forget contracts, because your making assumptions with a lack of knowledge on the subject.

Do you not think other local authorities might be planning on having their own recyclable plants/incinerators too?

 

Do you not think that once out of the EU, there are other recyclable plants/incinerators elsewhere in the world organisations can use?

 

Do you not think that dependent upon the terms of our exit from the EU, that waste might still be shipped to Europe and that even if Shetland's package were deemed to be cheaper, that those in Europe wouldn't drop their prices to make them more attractive?

 

Competition, yanno, global markets.

 

And when we leave the EU and if there are changes in the law, there is no guarantee that in even five years' time the equivalent to the EU Directive will even exist, meaning we might still be able to use our existing methods.

Edited November 8, 2017 by Suffererof1crankymofo

[Suffererof1crankymofo]

http://ukwin.org.uk/map/

http://www.independent.co.uk/environment/green-living/uk-incinerator-plans-theyre-just-rubbish-8527830.html

[Guest Mr.Brown]

Is this whole thing not kind of defeating the point of recycling: looking after the environment. I don't just mean for us in Shetland but for the whole UK. If various areas are going to have to play an elaborate game of pass the parcel with the waste that we all produce surely this has to add to the carbon footprint. I mean it's not like we're transporting it by canal or horse & cart! I realise some areas may not have so far to transport their waste but that is unlikely to apply to all or even most. If this is genuinely about environmental care then a more overall view needs to be considered I believe. I also think that there is genuine reason to be concerned about how leaving the EU might have an impact.

[Frances144]

Do the freight boats (I can only hope they don't put the waste on the Gin Palace) have enough space for this.  Since the Streamline Freight boat has gone, is there space on the existing freight boats for the incoming waste?

 

How will it get here?

[brecken]

Do the freight boats (I can only hope they don't put the waste on the Gin Palace) have enough space for this.  Since the Streamline Freight boat has gone, is there space on the existing freight boats for the incoming waste?

 

How will it get here?

With current operations in Shetland struggling with the current Northlink run freight service which is constantly leaving trailers both sides at present and has done so for some time now even before Streamline pulled out, Vessels very quick to tie up if any indication of wind, I can’t see this waste stream being suitable for transporting on the passenger vessels, so in answer to your question No!

[Frances144]

And that is what thought too. Thank you

[Urabug]

OK, so most of use agree that recycling is a good thing,so this begs the question what would be a sensible cost efficient method of collecting household waste and processing all the various items which would suit everyone ?

 

Do'es anyone know.!

 

I certainly do not want those bins but do not really have any other ideas other than plastic bags.

[brecken]

OK, so most of use agree that recycling is a good thing,so this begs the question what would be a sensible cost efficient method of collecting household waste and processing all the various items which would suit everyone ?

 

Do'es anyone know.!

 

I certainly do not want those bins but do not really have any other ideas other than plastic bags.

I think we must remember we did successfully recycle in Lerwick and Scalloway up until a couple of years ago, we had the specialised vehicles and coloured bags, bins etc. and it worked, it was the council not the people of Shetland who made the decision to mothball these collections and reduce the recycling rates in Shetland to a U.K low in order to feed their incinerator!

It very much looks like the same faces that made that wrong decision railroading this one is it any wonder people of Shetland are sceptical!

Why was there no proper public consultation?

[Urabug]

Yes brecken I think it was fine the way it was before all this unnecessary changes.

 

Cannot see that this can really save a lot of money but then again I know nothing about it.

[Rasmie]

I would have thought that the environmental impact of shipping waste any distance for recycling would far outweigh any possible saving. It would be more important to cut waste at source by using less plastic packing and by using compost bins for waste food.

[Guest Mr.Brown]

^ I would agree Rasmie, as the auld saying goes, "prevention is better than cure". I am going to try to be more choosy & get back to basics a bit with the groceries to try to limit the amount of packaging. Not as easy as you would maybe think though, especially for me who is a heater upper rather than a cook! I can boil a tattie though!

[Ghostrider]

I would have thought that the environmental impact of shipping waste any distance for recycling would far outweigh any possible saving. It would be more important to cut waste at source by using less plastic packing and by using compost bins for waste food.

 

Exactly!

 

The first point is what I've been banging on about right through this thread, but put a whole lot more succinctly - a point which has been wholly ignored by the proponent(s) of this latest hare-brained SIC scheme.

 

The second is what I've believe from Day 1 of any 'recycling' rhetoric, which now stretches back decades - If any Government was sincere in their attempts to 'save the environment', common sense dictates that you address the source of a problem first to minimse its impact, something that isn't and has never happened.

 

Unfortunately, with Tesco, who is 'plastic wrap everything possible in the damn stuff' central, being the dominant provider of groceries and household consumables in the isles, it lumbers us with a problem that is more massive than it otherwise coud have been, and certainly one hell of a lot greater than it need be.

 

Cheese cut wi a wire in the back shop and wrapped in greaseproof paper, a newly baked loaf in a brown paper bag, pound of sassermaet or mince wrapped in a piece of greaseproof, fish supper in a greaseproof paper bag, wrapped in another sheet of greaseproof, inside a couple of layers of redundant newspaper. Nobody died from it, and the whole damn lot was organic/biodegradable

 

Now its polythene vacuum packs, polythene bags, polysterene trays and wrapped in polythene cling film, polystyrene boxes.....No wonder the planet is suffocating in plastic, and many folk are wondering if they're slowly killing themselves on the chemicals leeching out in to their food everytime they eat.

[Ghostrider]

OK, so most of use agree that recycling is a good thing,so this begs the question what would be a sensible cost efficient method of collecting household waste and processing all the various items which would suit everyone?

 

I don't think that question can be answered properly without a whole lot of research. Over the years the SIC has spread around so many half truths and misinformation - frankly, they've been so full of bull, that nothing they've stated about what things costs, what is practical, and what isn't, can be relied upon.

 

As things are right now, we know our rubbish isn't being 'wasted' - its being turned in to captured heat which is then supplied to heat buildings and paid for. Saving burning the equivalent heat generating amount of diesel at Gremista/coal from Hays/peats oot o' da hill/whatever. That much we can know for certain, and it might be possible to work out a reasonable guesstimate of 'value' without too much interference from the SIC and their fairy stories and horror tales.

 

Any other option involves shipping out and/or shipping in materials....cheap, either in terms or monetary cost or the planet's resources that isn't. Whether anything we currently burn in the incinerator has 'value', whether in moneteray or environment terms, adequate to justify sending it off isle for re-use, I have very serious doubts, but without reasonably accurate data, who's to say.

 

Plastics are uber cheap to produce from raw material, hence we have everything contained within them, wrapped within  them, labelled with them, and produced from them we possibly can, and its difficult to see how something so cheaply produced could be produced as cheaply and with no more use of non-renewable resources/produce noxious emissions by transporting used same and similar products god knows how many miles and liquifying them to make other same and similar products. Likewise, recycled paper is a limited market due to its perceived lower quality, and higher cost, hence its 'raw material' state is low value, and the process of cleaning and re-pulping to mill 'new' paper difficult to see as being any less resource using/environment damaging than the initial pulping and milling process from timber.

 

Verifiable, believable data would be very useful though, as who knows.