Dealing with Recyclables

Administration

My litter picking has broken into two distinct phases.

Washing Station

There is the Picking, the actual out in the world, humping through bushes, fighting the thorns and dead animals to get this stuff out of nature and away to downstream processing. As I pick, I sort the recyclables. Not every recyclable is kept. I have learnt that some are just not worth the effort to clean. Indeed, some have a disgusting mollusc type slime that stinks. Those I will leave behind.

Half Full

I take the recyclables home and clean them before taking them to their recycling points. This activity I have come to call Administration. Administration covers the washing, storing and transport of the recyclables. Washing is well tedious, but I decided to do it, so no real complaints.

When I get home the recyclables are sorted again into plastic, metal and glass and given a prewash with the hose to knock the worst of the muck off. Our picking currently is removing historic rubbish, so some of this junk has been on/in the ground for years. The hose is good for getting rid of the slimy molluscs, snot on the grass!!

Full

The recyclables are stored outside, and we are getting some planters with trellis to hide them from view. My intention is to wash them outside when the weather improves. Even seemingly clean cans are dirty.

Once cleaned the recyclables are stored in the garage in separate bins waiting on a trip to the recycling point. Metals and hard plastic go to the Bilsthorpe Tip. Soft plastic goes to Tesco and glass goes to one of three places. Either R.O.B Recycling, NSDC kerbside collection or Bilsthorpe tip depending on the schedule of the first two.

Home

When the bins are full it is off to the Tip we go. I would rather walk there to save on my carbon footprint, but you are not allowed to walk onto the site. There is a great satisfaction as the bins empty clattering into the much larger hoppers.

And then you get to reflect. My seemingly large bin is dwarfed by the receiving hopper and all those cans and all that plastic look like a postage stamp lying there. And yet those hoppers fill up. 

Tip

I realise that my efforts and those of the Litter Picking Cadre are small in comparison to the mountain of waste out there, but we are making a difference.

And I realise just how much waste that we produce as a society. I read somewhere🔁🔁🔁 long time ago that to maintain a 0.2% increase in GDP we must double our consumption every five years. Somewhere something will have to give.

Postage Stamp

Keep Litter Out Of Nature