Tuesday, August 14, 2007

Encouraging statistics re: recycling and energy

Today's Independent reports that 80 per cent of people feel they have a duty to recycle their waste, and 81 per cent have at least one energy-efficient light bulb in their home (see here). In fact, it appears the public is ahead of the government, who have been caught talking about trying to massage the EU's ambitious targets for renewable energy instead of trying to meet them.

One final piece of encouraging news from the report: "Meanwhile, the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs yesterday launched a consultation on putting recycling bins in public places including beaches and car parks. The document says: 'The UK has one of the lowest recycling rates in western Europe. The citizen only has limited opportunity to recycle when out and about.'"

This would be an excellent idea. When we were in Edinburgh, we were unable to find any kind of recycling bins anywhere. I am ashamed to say we had to bin all of the plastic bottles we purchased - a far cry from Paris where I made a superhuman effort to crush them all and bring them back with us for recycling here. Hopefully in the future I'll find it easier to recycle waste away from the home.

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