Denmark: No Environmental Benefits in Collecting Disposable Plastic

A report by Denmark's environmental protection agency (EPA) concludes that there are no environmental benefits in collecting disposable plastic bottles and other plastic containers, and that the costs of recycling them are unacceptably high. The findings appear to confirm the results of similar studies in other European countries.

The German environment agency reported earlier this month that small lightweight packaging items might as well be incinerated as recycled on environmental grounds (ED 02/07/02). This spring Austria's environment agency released similar findings (ED 09/03/02).

According to the Danish EPA, even a "pared-down" collection system involving delivery to recycling centres and export for recycling - which would be cheaper than recycling in Denmark - would cost about DKr300 (?40) per tonne more than simply incinerating the material for use as energy.

The EPA is concerned that the higher recycling targets recently proposed by the European Commission in proposed changes to the EU packaging waste directive could force Denmark to pursue the recycling option "even if environmentally this is not a good idea".

The current minimum recycling level for all packaging materials under the 1994 packaging directive is 15%, but last December the Commission proposed raising this to 20% for plastic packaging from 2006. The other EU institutions are currently scrutinising the Commission's proposals. In a common position reached in June, EU governments agreed to raise the recycling .

Danish EPA spokesman Helge Andreasen told Jyllands-Posten newspaper yesterday that one absurd consequence of enforcing the new targets at all costs could be that soft drinks, most of which are currently produced in returnable bottles, would in future be sold in disposable bottles instead.

Water recycling scheme to get $1m revamp

A Fraser Coast Council effluent recycling project has received almost $1 million from the Queensland Government for an upgrade.

The funding will provide a new pump, pipes and trickle irrigation network for the Pulgul Farm recycling scheme, which was commissioned in 1990.

Local Government Minister Desley Boyle says the funding will expand one of Australia's most innovative water recycling projects.

"The farm is reducing discharge into the bay and providing precious water for crop irrigation," she said.

"In fact, the initiative is actually saving council around $500,000 a year.

"How it works is the treated water is piped from the plant to the farm and then put through the woodland system where nature gets to do its job and digest the nutrients."

Recycling: Are You Doing Everything You Can?

It may come as a surprise to you, but there is a really good chance that the town or city you live in offer a service you may not have heard of; an energy audit. Cities and towns all over the country have started doing this, where an auditor comes to your home and goes through your living space and helps you to see where you could make changes that will not only help you conserve energy but will help you save money! Help Save the Environment in Easy Steps: resources, tips, secretsWhat a bonus it is to save money by doing the right thing.

There are so many changes you can make in your home to impact the way we recycle and in the end, will help you keep some of the money in your pocket.

Having recycling bins set up so that you can properly sort the items that are recycled is a great first step. That activity alone can cut down greatly on the items that end up in the landfills rather than where they can be recycled.

Keeping your televisions, DVDs, stereos and computers plugged in to a power strip or surge protector rather than directly into the wall and then turning off the power strip will cut back greatly on power "leaks" that can cost you money on your utility bill. Being aware to turn these items off, is the first step, and then having them plugged into the power strip will just further the action for saving money and energy.

Don't leave a light on when you walk out of a room and no one else is in there. And have you changed your light bulbs from the traditional ones to the compact flourescent kind? Did you know that the newer lights use 75% less energy to run and they will out live a traditional light bulb by up to 10 years? Help Save the Environment in Easy Steps: resources, tips, secretsMake the changes that need to be made in your home.

Don't run the dishwasher or the washing machine unless they are full. It's a waste of energy and water to run a cycle through the dishwasher when it's only half full. Don't turn it on until you have a full load to wash and then just wash them all at once.

Use microfiber cloths for cleaning all kinds of surfaces like furniture, counters and sinks. The bonus is that these items can be tossed into the washer and are perfectly able to be reused again and again. Think of the savings in paper towels alone! Talk about a win-win; if we use fewer paper towles, then that means fewer trees need to be cut to make them in the first place. How can we go wrong with thinking like that?

Take shorter showers and see if you can pick up a shower head that is a water-conserving item, already in place, that will save you money and you'll never even notice the difference during your shower.

There is so much you can do in the efforts to recycle, just be sure you're doing your part.

Easy Ways to Recycle

When you think of recycling do you sigh and think that you just don't have the time or energy to do it? Do you see visions of hundreds of thousands of empty plastic bottles in some far-away factory getting ready to be melted down? Do you think that recycling is something that has to be hard; otherwise if it's not hard, then it doesn't count? I'm embarrassed to say that at one time, these were the thoughts that ran through my head and they justified my reasons for not recycling. Help Save the Environment in Easy Steps: resources, tips, secretsI'm here to tell you that I was mistaken; recycling isn't something difficult, or something you have to go out of your way to participate in and when it's easy, well, it's just easy; and it still counts toward recycling.

Here are some of the easy ways I have found to recycle:

I have a terrible habit of leaving lights on when I leave a room. I seem to be someone who, when doing any kind of work, whether it's writing or stripping wallpaper, I need a lot of light around to do it. The first two ways I found to conserve energy and count myself in as a "recycler" was to turn off lights as I left a room. Sounds easy, right? Well, that's because it is easy. The only thing I had to do was remind myself that I was no longer going to waste energy by leaving lights on in a room that no one was occupying.

Mind you, I've had 43 years of doing things the way I'd been doing them and the change didn't happen overnight, but it did happen. There hasn't been a doorway I've walked through in the past 6 months or so that I haven't given a quick
inventory before passing through the threshold and thinking, "Did I leave any lights on?" The great thing is, the times that I have left a light on, I'm given the final opportunity to stop and turn around and turn off the lights before leaving the room for good. Is this a difficult change? Like I said, it didn't happen as soon as I thought about my part in the effort to recycle, but it is something I have allowed myself to consider on a daily basis.



The other way I have found to easily adhere to this recycling thing is that I changed my lightbulbs. Yup, that simple act of replacing a burned-out bulb with one of the new, energy saving kind has really been a big help. The newer bulbs use up to 75% less energy when lighting a room and they will last up to ten times longer, too. How can you beat that? And there wasn't any effort on my part; all I did was replace the bulb with the new and improved bulb and have made quite the impact on my electric bill.

The good news is this; there are easy ways to stay on track with recycling, and you don't have to look very far to find them.