Recycling 'could be adding to global warming'

[bijou]

Recycling could be adding to global warming rather than reducing it, a key government adviser on waste management has said.Peter Jones suggested that an "urgent" review of Labour's policy on recycling was needed to make sure the collection, transportation and processing of recyclable material was not causing a net increase in greenhouse gases.

Mr Jones, a former director of the waste firm Biffa and now an adviser to environment ministers and the London Mayor, Boris Johnson, also dismissed kerbside recycling collections in many areas as "stupid" because they mixed together different materials, rendering them useless for recycling.

He suggested that much of the country's waste should simply be burnt to generate electricity.

"It might be that the global warming impact of putting material through an incinerator five miles down the road is actually less than recycling it 3,000 miles away," he said.

"We've got to urgently get a grip on how this material is flowing through the system; whether we're actually adding to or reducing the overall impact in terms of global warming potential in this process."

Mr Jones's outspoken comments come amid increasing controversy over household recycling.

Last month, The Daily Telegraph disclosed that councils in England and Wales were dumping more than 200,000 tons of recyclable waste every year – up to 10 per cent of all the glass, paper, plastic and other materials separated out by householders. Thousands of tons of recyclables are shipped to China because of insufficient capacity and demand in Britain. ...

link

Ill thought out 'green' policies? Surely not. 

[Chris_]

link

Ill thought out 'green' policies? Surely not. 

Teh Goricle is never wrong.  And "don't call me Shirely".   

[Baruch Menachem]

We have every other week "diversity" meetings on various topics.  Next week is going to be global warming.  I have seen the poor schmuck who has to give the talk.  he is doing a power point on it, and whenever he is sutmped for words, I give him mine.  He does not find me helpful.

[MrsSmith]

Recycling causes global warming

Making gas out of corn causes global starvation

Making electricity out of wind causes birds to die

Making electricity out of solar panels causes global warming

Face it, folks...we're all just gonna have to die to make them happy.   

[Redstatecka]

Maybe someday, someone involved will do actual life-cycle/cradle-to-grave analyses of things that are supposed to be solutions.

Long time ago, had a grad school professor who did such an analysis on the just then-known environmental cost/benefits of making photovoltaic cells.

He suggested that the total cost, including environmental insult from raw materials extraction to transport to transformation to production to distribution to final distribution -- and everything I've omittied along the way in that journey -- for all the things involved in making the cells and then getting them to market outweighed the benefit.

That was a long time ago.

But if we're going to look at every conceivable way that GHGs find their way into the atmosphere, then we've got to look at all contributions. Honestly.

And that includes Algore jetting around the world. And 600 or so private jets coming into DC for the inauguration, though, I'm guessing they all purchased carbon credits to make themselves carbon-neutral for their appearances.

[Thor]

We need to go back to using tin cans and glass instead of plastics. Plastics have been a problem ever since it became popular. At least those two items will eventually return to mother nature or be reused. How many folks recall taking soda bottles back to the store to get the deposit refund ??

[JohnnyReb]

We need to go back to using tin cans and glass instead of plastics. Plastics have been a problem ever since it became popular. At least those two items will eventually return to mother nature or be reused. How many folks recall taking soda bottles back to the store to get the deposit refund ??

True...true....but do you also remember the occasional lawsuit when someone claimed to have found "something" objectionable in there bottle.....less likely to have that with "new" plastic bottles.

[thundley4]

Recycling causes global warming

Making gas out of corn causes global starvation

Making electricity out of wind causes birds to die

Making electricity out of solar panels causes global warming

Face it, folks...we're all just gonna have to die to make them happy.   

Don't forget that hydroelectric dams kills fish and disturbs the rivers natural flow.

[Eupher]

I read somewhere that hugging trees strips the bark from them, causing irreparable harm.

[thundley4]

I read somewhere that hugging trees strips the bark from them, causing irreparable harm.

Large old trees crowd out and kill the younger saplings. Won't someone think of the children and allow for the removal of the old trees?

[Chris_]

Large old trees crowd out and kill the younger saplings. Won't someone think of the children and allow for the removal of the old trees?

If we raise taxes high enough on trees, the problem will go away like magic!   

[thundley4]

Then there are the compact fluorescent bulbs that they are pushing us to use.  Less electricity used means less greenhouse gases.  Of course the flip side is that it means more mercury freed to the environment when those CFBs are tossed in the trash.

[Chris_]

Then there are the compact fluorescent bulbs that they are pushing us to use.  Less electricity used means less greenhouse gases.  Of course the flip side is that it means more mercury freed to the environment when those CFBs are tossed in the trash.

If we raise taxes high enough on trash, the problem will go away like magic!   

[Baruch Menachem]

Those compact florcencets are supposed to last forever, but they seem to die faster than the regular kind.

Of course, what is coming on line now is the LED's.   I dont know what they do to the environment.  They don't seem that complicated, and they burn way less electricity.  I am looking forward to using those instead.