Great Day today. Some delivery this morning and then entire family round to lunch - Brother from Manchester and youngest brother and wife from Lidd. Spectacular day, threatened all sorts of rain but came to nothing. Exhausted at end of it but good to get family together more than once during a year.
Long day tomorrow sorting out the appalling Council grass cutting contract with council officers as well as trying to do something about the recycling centre at Raeburn Avenue This issue has become even more ridiculous and has almost nothing to do with recycling anymore as the degree of private dumping of fridges etc has reached ludicrous proportions. Real quandry though - we all support recycling but.... there must be a better way of doing it. Perhaps if the door to door recycling was better we would not need these static sites?
4 comments:
Yes Kevin, if the door-to-door recycling service were more comprehensive then there would be less need for static recycling centres. However not so long ago Kingston Conservatives were calling for the collection of paper to be stopped saying that it was a waste of money and the money spent on recycling would be better spent on schools. When the current door-to-door recycling contract was set up the Conservative cabinet accepted that SITA need not collect glass and later accepted that it should not collect cardboard either. Sadly it leaves the borough with a 2nd rate recycling service.
Any party that called for the stopping of paper recycling would be mad, even if it were my own party! However I would point out that it was the last minority Conservative administartion that set up the pilot door to door glass recycling scheme that was very succesful. It has now been almost two and a half years since the Lib Dems took control and it will not be till October that they roll it out across the Borough. Also in that time recylcing rates in the Borough have gone down whilst in Richmond and Sutton they have gone up! Trouble is complaining about history does not improve services for residents and it is they who are losing out at the moment!
Why are you saying this anonymously? Would it not be better to declare who you are so we can have a proper debate?
Complaining about history? No I wasn't complaining about history. Rather I was pointing out that it was a Conservative administration that set up a dud recycling service that doesn't include glass or cardboard recycling. Oh but is does collect clothes, in an attempt to take clothing we'd normally donate to charity. Who was responsible? That Conservative administration. Which councillors appeared in the news holding Monopoly money and wanted to axe paper recycling? Conservative ones. You paint a picture of being concerned about the environment and recycling. I hope that you're genuine in that. I remain concerned that others in your party don't understand the reasons for recycling or are able of administering a good recycling service. Perhaps it's because they just don't have the inclination? If we don't learn lessons from the past what are we?
I enjoy anonymity as much as you enjoy publicity. It needn't stop us having a proper debate.
I agree on the cardboard issue with you. Never understood it but at the time all the parties on the Council agreed. It was a hung administration and had the Lib Dems voted against it then the contract would have had to be renegotiated again.
As for the newspapers and monopoloy money I am at a loss because I have no recollection of this happening in my time on the Council and that is since 1998, which I would have thought is enough in the political past for most people.
The days blog you refer to actually discusses the static recyclng centres. The most succesful 'problem' is that people do recycle clothes, as well as take them to the charity shop 50yds across the road.
I am genuine about my concern for recycling. I am very concerned that the Council have taken four years (both parties) to get a waste strategy. I am very concerned that this waste strategy is currently saying that the Council will make no major investment in recycling for another four years. I also believe that if we are to get serious about the tax payers money we pour into landfill then we are going to have to grasp the nettle and look at options e.g. a vertical composting unit for each neighbourhood? Variable charging for household waste dependent on the amount of waste put out for collection (and thus the amount of recycling taking place)? Other Conservative authorities have done this (Blaby) and the most succesful recycling authority in the country is Conservative run! But frankly the politics is not the problem, balancing the need against the cost is!
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