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Waste

With this issue our view, as you can imagine, is pretty simplistic.
We believe that all material which can be recycled should be diverted from the waste stream and be recycled by the industry responsible for its production in the first place.
Any materials which cannot be recycled should be banned until such time as industry produces the technology enabling them to be recycled.
With all compostables /putrescibles these simply require composting where possible and the only materials which should currently go to landfill sites are those which can neither be recycled nor composted.
If we follow these guidelines we will be well on the way to achieving a zero waste target.

Tell US what YOU think!

These are OUR views -
please give us your views and tell us what you think and whether you agree or disagree.
Email us HERE


MONTHLY collections of
HOUSEHOLD WASTE?

Monthly collections of household waste are an idea being considered by the Government - even though a reduction to a fortnightly service has caused uproar across the country.
The thinking behind this is that if people are recycling more, which figures suggest they are, there will be less waste going into wheelie bins and they will not need emptying so frequently.
While figures from local authorities state recycling rates are going up - as they are diverting more materials and getting credited for this - much of it still then ends up in landfill, as it is of a poor quality.
While there is talk of monthly collection we haven't heard anything about a reduction to our council tax.
We have always believed in the use of carrots and sticks, but all we see all the time is the stick.
You should get people to recycle by giving them incentives, as we do at KCR.


kids corner

If adults or children are worried about GM foods, or the credit crunch and the increasing price of fruit and vegetables, why not have a go at growing your own?
Growing Vegetables for Fun by Emma Cooper teaches children all they need to know about growing their own organic vegetables and comes with a packet of seeds to get them started.
It is on sale at Tesco stores and is full of gardening activities, jokes, trivia and challenges.
It also has information on chemicals and pesticides in food, food miles and how to have a healthy diet.
It is priced at £9.99

More Genetically Modified Food

For a long time the Government has been holding the production of GM food at bay, but now, with rising food prices, it seems this is looking like a possible solution to increase food production.
Mark Wyatt, of KCR, said: "It is an intensive way of producing food, but the quality and the lack of risk is not yet proven. It is not natural. I do not agree with it, as we should be living with nature, not messing around with it."

COMPETITION

The Guardian is running a competition for those who have ideas on how to improve the environment or encourage green living in their community.
The newspaper has £400,000 to share between individuals and groups who come up with inspiring projects.
To find out more visit guardian.co.uk/greenliving.


COMPOST!

It appears that the Leader of Shepway District Council has abandoned plans to recycle/compost our kitchen waste – a problem common to us all and one that needs tackling.
What a shame! It is simply a case of there being a way but no will.
It can’t be put off forever!!

GO GREEN - AND SAVE MONEY!
  • Install low energy light bulbs.
  • Invest in an energy monitor to see where you are wasting electricity.
  • Buy rechargeable batteries.
  • Use real nappies, not disposables.
  • Make your own compost, from fruit and veg peelings and grass clippings.
  • Cut down on your food waste, make a dish from leftovers the following day and freeze food.
  • Install a water meter.
  • Walk or cycle and leave the car at home.
  • Re-use carrier bags - some shops now charge for them.

Kent Community Recycling Newsletter

Click HERE for a printable version. page 1 of 2. For page 2 click HERE

Issue 124 July 2008

HELLO READERS
Welcome to our July newsletter. This month our main topics are waste, energy and transport.
We would love to hear your views on these subjects - and what you think of our ideas.
Please do get in touch - we would love to hear from you.

More on Energy, Transport and Waste

Energy, transport and waste are serious issues which are not being addressed responsibly by our politicians.
We have mentioned items regarding energy, transport and waste in other parts of this newsletter, but we now wish to state our view on these issues.
The world must move away from oil dependency as soon as possible and ensure a handful of nations can never again hold the rest of the world to ransom.

ENERGY

We believe that there should be no dependence on other countries for energy supplies and to this end when North Sea gas runs out we see the end of mains domestic gas in this country. We should not import gas via countries which are politically volatile.
We do not agree with the Government who are advocating that vast numbers of wind farms need to be sited all over our beautiful countryside. We believe there is a role for wind farms but they should be sited off shore and they could be used to generate energy from wave current and tidal power at the same time as wind power.
Our main source of future energy must come from a new wave of nuclear power stations. The second major source of energy should come from the water which surrounds us. It is not difficult to extract hydrogen from water. We have had the technology for nearly one hundred years and are not likely to drain the North Sea and the Atlantic! Nuclear and hydrogen are both clean fuels and we now have a third clean fuel source, thanks to advanced technology, which is from coal, which we have in abundance. The next source of future energy should come from harnessing wave tidal and current power in conjunction with offshore wind farms.
With these four being the main generators of our energy needs in the next 10 years or so we can then also benefit from projects such as the Severn River Barrage, use of solar power and the use of geo-thermal power.
We believe these sources provide environmentally sustainable solutions to our future energy needs. As well as keeping the generation of energy to ourselves we would also suggest that all companies involved in the production of our energy be renationalised and brought back into public ownership.
Apart from this making economic sense it also provides a good safety factor.

Transport

The immediate solution is to put the majority of commercial traffic onto the rail where it was until 30 years ago and as transport uses some 70% of our energy this would provide a substantial solution to the problem.
We believed when the Channel Tunnel was built that the lorries would stay on the trains, off loading at London Olympia, Manchester and Glasgow. Goods would then transfer to white vans for local delivery.
We have already mentioned how we see the future for public transport with personalised computerised overhead bubble cars, while with the other main area of transport, air travel, we believe expansion should be halted immediately.
The reason for this is the surge in oil prices and there being little likelihood of these prices returning to reasonable levels.
To this end the day of budget airlines must be numbered. So if we go ahead and expand our airports we could look pretty stupid when they become virtual ghost towns in a few years time.

Fuel Strikes

With the recent tanker driver strikes we have seen fuel shortages, with people panic buying petrol and diesel and some filling stations running out.
Until we have a good and reliable system of public transport people will continue to be reliant on their cars.
We have said many times that we would like to see an interlinked rural and urban public transport system. The idea is that people would travel via a system similar to cable cars. Passengers would travel in computerised capsules to their destinations. It might seem futuristic, but it may well be the way ahead!
Here at KCR, we would like to see vehicles running on hydrogen, rather than petrol and diesel, especially when we live on an island which is surrounded by water! The Government seems to be unwilling to look at this because of the amount of duty they would lose, but the technology is there; it was used by London taxis in the First World War.
We need to get away from our dependency on oil, otherwise we are going to be in trouble.
Biofuels are being grown, but this is land which should be given to food and this is one of the factors causing the surge in food prices.
We need to ask, also, why Americans pay less than half of what we pay for a litre of fuel. They pay £2 per gallon, and we pay £6 per gallon

Excess Packaging

This is a subject we have commented on many times, but is back in the news locally as Shepway Friends of the Earth have recently held a protest about over packaging at the Asda supermarket in Folkestone.
Mark Wyatt, of KCR, said: "Much food is over-packaged. Supermarkets try to blame the manufacturers but much of what they sell is own brand, so they do have a lot of control over this."
There is a worrying trend towards supermarkets using Tetra-Paks at the moment, rather than steel food tins, for a range of goods. This is because supermarkets can get more square packets on a shelf, than circular tins. However, steel tins can be recycled and the Tetra-Paks cannot, as they are made of a combination of plastic, aluminium and cardboard.
Mark said: "People need to realise they pay for packaging. According to experts each household spends about £8 a week on packaging, or around £400 a year. Packaging has changed over the last few decades into a massive marketing machine rather than something which allows goods to be transported in a useable condition. But until supermarkets see a slow-down in their tills they will not do anything about this." A recent article in the Daily Mail revealed how much packaging there is on a range of everyday items at various supermarkets. They found three peppers came with 3g of packaging, a 400g tub of strawberries included 27g of packaging, 500g of minced beef had 28g of packaging and 250g of fresh salmon had 43g of packaging.

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