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Good start, but more to be done
7:45am Monday 28th April 2008
The people of Oxfordshire deserve huge praise for their recycling efforts.
Government figures show that we are sending almost a quarter less waste to landfill than a decade ago.
What's more, we are one of the best performing counties in the country, beating all our neighbours.
Of course, as Friends of the Earth rightly points out, we could be doing better, but it is a promising start.
What we must now do is to build on the progress we have made - but we can't do it all by ourselves.
Retailers and manufacturers could help us by reducing the packaging on their goods.
Many are obsessed with wrapping everything in cellophane, plastic and cardboard.
This may be required with perishable food, but on many products, it is wasteful and unnecessary.
Some stores which insist on excessive packaging have found it dumped at their tills by angry customers.
That may be a bit over the top, but we all need to send a message to firms that we don't need everything wrapped.
Shops could also help immensely to cut waste if they stopped the ridiculous practice of issuing free plastic bags.
Your Say YourOxford
Roger, Oxford says...
5:02pm Mon 28 Apr 08
When Green people buy unwrapped vegetables at the Farmers' Market, they are not helping the LibDem figures at all. Jean Fooks needs those recycled plastic trays to boost her statistics.
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Simon, Oxford says...
4:44pm Mon 28 Apr 08
The vast majority of people actively recycling. However our councils do not do all that is needed to ensure that it is simple to do.
Oxford City has the most complex set of guidelines of any council I have investigated. The rules are badly written and impossible to follow perfectly. On top of the complexity is the way the recyclable materials is collected - I pay close attention whenever I see this happening and not once have I seen the operatives check thoroughly to ensure compliance. This means that many loads are contaminated. Point this out to the council and they deny any problem - yet they cannot provide evidence to support their claims of a less than 1% contamination rate.
The people of Oxfordshire should be congratulated for doing their best under trying circumstances. Shame the same could not be said of the councils.