In my area we have a blue box for paper. That is the extent of their recycling initiatives. The nearest bottle banks etc are quite a way away especially if you do not drive. We have black bags still for our rubbish instead of wheelie bins and no incentives/facilities to separate out plastic/metal etc.. So even if this programme educates the "man in the street" we need better recycling initiatives from local councils to collect different types of rubbish and to get rid of the black bin bags.

I agree with you. I have to say that after seeing what was done in other countries (France, Canada, even the US), I was extremely surprised that there was no more recycling possibilities in the UK. How comes one cannot recycle if one lives a building of more than one floor? How difficult is it to have an additional wheelie bin for recycling?

I agree - definitely local councils need a kick to get them to do more. They're afraid of the backlash about 'what do we pay council tax for', that's the problem. Unfortunately, there are quite a few people in society who do not give a stuff about enviro issues. These people will only respond to the 'stick' approach, e.g. payment for the amount of rubbish, or fines etc. Thanks Channel 4 - it was a great programme. A fresh approach to help more people to wake up.

10 years ago we went to Philadelphia to visit some friends who had moved there for a few years. I was surprised to find that they had to separate out all of their paper, cardboard, metal and plastic from the rest of their rubbish. Not only that but on the flight out the cabin crew were separating the waste into different bags, but on the way back to the UK everything was going into the same bag.

Last year we went to Vicenza in Italy. They don't have bin collections as such. Instead they have recycling points all over the place where people have to take and separate the various types of waste and those bins are then emptied by the bin men.

We are so far behind so many other countries with our recycling that it is embarassing.

My local authority don't recycle. Everything goes into the wheelie bins and then to the local tip. It would be counter-productive, so they say, to recycle because of the mileage involved to send it all to the nearest recycling plant which is miles away. I can see their point with certain items, but they could at least have a collection service for compostables and compost it locally then sell the compost back to the general public.

i agree that local councils should be doing more yet there should be further encouragement from the government.

any know why we can't recycle many plastics? a little research shows that its not because its not possible, its because there is no secondary market to sell the recycled material onto.

How ludicrous is that? why do they government not approach businesses with incentives to change the typoe of plastic, or approach businesses to open up a new secondary market?

Yet again its an idea that shows the gutless nature of the government who don't want to attack big business.

There are plenty of composting machines too that recycle ALL kitchen waste not just the fruit and vegetable waste that most do. Currently 1 restaurant in the entire UK has one of these!! what are the government doing? apparantly nothing.

without bringing big business on board our recycling exploits barely touches the sides of what we really could do as a country

I understood the government is rewarding local authorities if they recycle, or it might be in some parts of south wales.
On top of recycling papers/bottles/cans, we also get a garden collections,(grass and cuttings)and a they provide us with two small compost bins, one for indoors and one outside.
(This is the same LA that fined a man £200 for putting a sheet of paper in with other recycling stuff )

I think the councils need to be a bit more 'joined up' in their recycling outlooks.
My local council, Tendring, don't collect glass (you can recycle at bottle banks) but do collect most plastics, all paper and tins. Leicester (where my wife is staying at present) recycle glass, tins, only non-food plastics (No matter how well you clean them) and newspapers & magazines (but not envelopes)

JUST RANG LIVERPOOL COUNCIL [Graham]
FOR A LIST OF ALL THE THINGS U CAN RECYCLE
PH=Liverpool Direct = 2333~001

###
What you CAN ✔ PUT IN a BLUE bin / PURPLE BOX
###
GENERAL RULE
~REMOVE ALL PLASTIC / CELLOTAPE
HARD COVERS/spines off boxes +CATALOGUES
+ALL plastic windows from envelopes
and Recycle ALL BOTTLES of any kind which are made from plastic
DO NOT CRUSH CANS
Rinse TINS/Jars
###
you CAN RECYCLE
ALL GLASS AND PLASTIC BOTTLES AND JARS ( NOT their METAL LIDS]

ABSOLUTELY =ANY FOOD TINS +LIDS
Including =ALL PET FOOD TINS + LIDS

ANY====PLASTIC BOTTLES + caps
CAT MILK Bottles +caps
ALL Washing up liquid bottles/ Bleach /cleaning bottles+their lids + spray Nozzles
ALL Shampoo / conditioner ~Bath + COSMETICS bottles+ Their PLASTIC caps

ALL DRINK CANS + RING PULLS

ALL PAPER~ [ NOT SHREDDED paper]
ALL soft backed PHONE BOOK directories
ALL Newspapers AND Magazines
ALL Wrapping paper Xmas / Birthday ( remove all sellotape)

ALL CATALOGUES
~BUT RIP OFF ALL OUTER HARD COVERS /+ stiff BACKS
ALL ENVELOPES [ remove plastic windows ]

ALL CARDBOARD
food n cereal boxes (PLZ FLATTEN)[ NO PIZZA BOXES ]
Corrugated cardboard
Cardboard egg cartons
ANY =SIZED = BROWN + WHITE BOXES + Cartons=[ plz Flatten ]
ALL CARDBOARD~PACKING BOXES [ from any purchase]
[remove Cellophane + plastic]
Loo + kitchen roll Liners
CIGGY PACKS ~REMOVE ALL CELLOPHANE / TIN FOIL
SOFT BACKED BOOKS [ remove hard covers ]

####
What you =CANNOT=/put in your PURPLE BOX /blue bin
####

NONE OF THESE THINGS

Textiles~Fabrics (Please USE local recycling bank)

Take-Away or PIZZA BOXES [ as contaminated by food ]
plastic cutlery
food or liquids
Metal objects
Windowed envelopes
TETRA Packs (milk / juice CARTONS As =waxed )
Plastic CLING Film
bubble wrap
Hard Backed catalogues [BUT CAN IF YOU REMOVE ALL OUTER COVERS]
Polystyrene [ USE THIS in plant pots 4 drainage ]
Plastic bags
Yoghurt pots
Foil yoghurt pot lid
tin foil trays' foil
Mirrors
plastic wrappings~ie hand/ baby wipes
light bulbs
veg~supermarket containers
JIFFY PADDED POSTAL BAGS
NO AEROSOLS
=======================

hope this INFO helps
contact your local Councils
to check as ~ some areas have slight variationson what they accept in the PURPLE BOX
or equivalent wheely bin

We have two been for rubbish, a green one for garden rubbish,etc and a little green box for bottles and newspapers. Now they say their going to bring out weighing your rubbish, the more you have then you pay tax on top, is this true? If so, how the hell are we going to know whos rubbish is whos? There are three owners in this house, they cant put an extra bin out there because there is no room for it.