Recycling Past And Present

[Maggie/915]

When recycling glass bottles, I cannot help thinking it was better in the old days.

Breaking the glass seems wrong!

Taking the bottles back to the shop and even getting money back seems a better way.

I wonder what the cost of melting and reforming amounts too!

Leek show members knew all about fertiliser, some came from very close to home.

Then there was the 'Midnight Mechanic' who took away the ash and 'netty' waste, the farmer used this as fertiliser on the fields.

My Father remembered getting pocket money digging this into the fields.

3d a furrow, I believe.

Nobody would do that anymore , no matter how 'hard up' they were!

[Vic Patterson]

Hi Maggie, Just wondering what the reference to breaking glass is? Sounds like there isn't a recycling program in your area and glass bottles are just collected and broken to be recycled!

What about plastic milk bottles, beer can, beer bottles, pop cans, drinking boxes etc are they not recycled? What about paper, cardboard, fluorescent tubes, battery's, appliances and tin cans etc are they recycled or just dumped?

[Vic Patterson]

Making clippie mats or proggy mats was a good recycling program! Old clothing cut into strips, stretching the hessian and family sitting gossiping or just listening to the records or radio!

[Maggie/915]

The bottles you put into a large container and quite often hear the glass break

Other items are recycled but there have been a few large fires at recycling centres

You begin wondering who is saving the planet and by what means.

The other year we were encouraged to scrap our cars for a monetary enticement and buy new

Whilst stimulating the economy , I am not sure it was a save the planet option.

Similarly our throw away society, items in the past were bought to last.

I remember buying an Armstrong Amp in the 70 s and we expected it to last together with the PL12d.

I hate the new inferior quality items we buy.

No one can easily go for quality,

Phones computers are just examples of items often out of date before we can enjoy them.

Buying new seems an obsession and a necessity.

Our Metro Centre is testament to that obsession !

Car Parks full

[Maggie/915]

Clippie and proggie mats are making an appearance again.

Our daughter has just bought one from John Lewis' that's Bainbridges to anyone living in exile.

There is a lady called Eileen Brown in Ashington who does amazingly colourful proggie mats .

I have memories of sitting in Algood Terrace listening to the gossip while everyone helped with the mat .

No tele but people lived in harmony.

Ok they fell out occasionally but they enjoyed life with very little money.

[Vic Patterson]

Aye, Simple times with simple pleasures! Beatle drives, Whist drives even house decorating was a family event, wallpapering, edging the rolls, battering then hanging it etc, edging the rolls was as bad as holding the hanks of wool when mom wound it it balls!

 

I can see the throw away mentality when it comes to technology, but even then it could cascade down to less fortunate, less fortunate! who is that, we used to surplus work computers to schools and other institutions etc but not any longer, they NEED the latest and best!

 

"Retire your Ride†was a good program here, I got $3,000 for a car I was going to haul to the graveyard!

 

You never see recycled furniture! you can't, it's made in such away you can't maintain or fix, try and find real furniture with a real wood frame with joints, nuts and bolts and screws, there nearly all staples into box wood (which does have a place in todays society)

 

Precious metals and other things should be recycled from electronics, but not by sending to third world counties and killing them off!

 

Some towns here have one Sunday a month when you haul useful stuff to the curb and people cruise around and you take anything you can use, then you put back anything not taken! cheap recycling!

[Maggie/915]

There were Beatle Drives each week at Bedlington Station YM CA if my memory serves me well. Somewhere near the library.

We still have some solid furniture but the cost recovering is quite off putting.

[Canny lass]

Recycling! They've got it off to a fine art here and it's compulsory. We  recycle so much stuff here that the bin man comes only once a month and the wheelie bin (of the small variety) is never full. Those who package their Products  are obliged to take care of the used packaging, so many companies have gone together and started a recycling Company who are responsible for the Collection Points. Furniture stores, like Ikea, provide package reclamation on site if you want to get rid of the packaging Before you leave the store. The list of recyclable materials is growing all the time but at the minute we have, both at home and at the Collection Points, separate containers for:

 

paper, glossy

paper, newsprint

cardboard, (carton) thin

cardboard and corrugated cardboard

glass, uncoloured

glass, coloured

plastic packages, hard

plastic packages, soft

polystyrene

cartons

batteries and lightbulbs

dangerous waste (paint, cleaning fluids, oil etc)

metal, containers tins etc.

metal, non-containers (kitchen ware etc)

textiles

electrical goods

compostible material - but only if you don't have compost yourself. If you don't,  then you must have a Collection every second week. If you have your own compost you can have Collection once a month, as I do.

 

All that can be washed must be clean and dry and you take it to the Collection Point yourself. These are often placed adjacent to the car park at super markets or on the outskirts of villages. Furniture stores,  such as Ikea

Fridges, freezers and washig Machines are collected on request

For larger items there are 3 Days a year when the wagon is stationary in the nearest village for 4 hours

There's a second-hand shop (or 2) in almost every Town.

[keith lockey]

I've been reading all this recycling stuff with interest especially this bit from Vic...

 

Some towns here have one Sunday a month when you haul useful stuff to the curb and people cruise around and you take anything you can use, then you put back anything not taken! cheap recycling!

 

Without getting of topic, has anybody considered a swap-shop on this Forum? For example books - I'm after Resurrection by W. A. Harbinson - has anybody got it and maybe I have a book I can swap it with. Just a thought!

[Alan Edgar (Eggy1948)]

Recycling! They've got it off to a fine art here and it's compulsory. We  recycle so much stuff here that the bin man comes only once a month and the wheelie bin (of the small variety) is never full. Those who package their Products  are obliged to take care of the used packaging, so many companies have gone together and started a recycling Company who are responsible for the Collection Points. Furniture stores, like Ikea, provide package reclamation on site if you want to get rid of the packaging Before you leave the store. The list of recyclable materials is growing all the time but at the minute we have, both at home and at the Collection Points, separate containers for:

 

paper, glossy

paper, newsprint

cardboard, (carton) thin

cardboard and corrugated cardboard

glass, uncoloured

glass, coloured

plastic packages, hard

plastic packages, soft

polystyrene

cartons

batteries and lightbulbs

dangerous waste (paint, cleaning fluids, oil etc)

metal, containers tins etc.

metal, non-containers (kitchen ware etc)

textiles

electrical goods

compostible material - but only if you don't have compost yourself. If you don't,  then you must have a Collection every second week. If you have your own compost you can have Collection once a month, as I do.

 

All that can be washed must be clean and dry and you take it to the Collection Point yourself. These are often placed adjacent to the car park at super markets or on the outskirts of villages. Furniture stores,  such as Ikea

Fridges, freezers and washig Machines are collected on request

For larger items there are 3 Days a year when the wagon is stationary in the nearest village for 4 hours

There's a second-hand shop (or 2) in almost every Town.

I think our problem is we do not push /promote recycling as much as the rest of the world. Our tip at Seghill had half a dozen skips for different types of bulk waste so what didn't go in our Green, Blue or Brown bins could be taken to the tip and thrown into the appropriate skip. When they closed the Seghill site there was a sign at the gates saying the site was closed for tipping but no info on the new site. When we eventually found out what site was available to us, Bebside, and took and old carpet and underlay we were amazed at the facility and how they were separating the waste. May not be as efficient as the rest of the world but definitely impressive for what we have had in the past! And every time we have been the guys working there were always helping anyone that needed help.

A cut down version of the info on the web site:-

A list of what can be recycled and disposed of safely at Northumberland Household Waste Recovery Centres.

Facilities at Northumberland Household Waste Recovery Centres

http://www.northumberland.gov.uk/default.aspx?page=12513

Collected at all 12 centres

Automotive = Tyres - Car batteries - Used engine oil

Garden waste for composting in Northumberland County

Electrical - for all electrical items except mobile phones and inkjet cartridges

 

Small electrical items - Large electrical items

Fridges - Light bulbs and fluorescent tubes logo - Batteries - Phone chargers/other chargers

 

Mobile phones and inkjet cartridges are only collected at 5 of 12 centres

These are: Kirkley Thorn, Prudhoe, Hexham, Allendale and Haltwhistle

Gas bottles        

Glass bottles and jars

Green, Brown and Blue- collected mixed

Mixed glass bottles and jars

Clear bottles and jars are collected in their own separate containers

Clear glass bottle and jars

Other glass, for example, window glass or heat treated glass (eg Pyrex) are not accepted for recycling in the bottle banks as they are made from different materials to bottle glass. These items melt at different temperatures to standard glass bottles, causing problems with the recycling process if mixed. Glass- other Broken crockery and kitchen glass items Sheet glass- broken windows/mirrors etc collected at all 12 centres in the rubble skips

 

Sheet glass- most types collected in the rubble skips. Certain glass types such as car windscreens can not be placed in the rubble skips as they contain a plastic covering.

Metals

Cans - Aerosol cans - Large tins

Scrap metal collection points

There are can banks and scrap metal collection points at all 12 Household Waste Recovery Centres

Can collection points - Cans must be empty and clean - Aerosols must be empty

Biscuit and sweet tins are also collected in the can banks

 

Certain metal items such as copper items may be collected separately for recycling. Please check with the site attendant on duty at your local centre when you visit.

 

Metal electrical items are collected at the electrical collection points and not with the scrap metal.

 

Aluminium foil: This is not collected in the household kerbside recycling scheme. However, if it is completely clean it may be accepted in the metal skips at some of the Household Waste Recovery Centres. Please check with the site attendant on duty at your local centre when you visit.

 

Paint Paint cans - Dry, empty metal paint cans can be placed into the scrap metal containers

 

Paper    All clean paper, but not shredded paper – Cardboard (Please flatten boxes and remove all polystyrene and other plastic wrappings from the cardboard before recycling.

 

 

Plastic bottles All types of plastic bottles, including shampoo bottles, plastic milk bottles and empty cleaning bottles.

 

Please rinse and remove lids where possible Please do not place other plastic items such as plastic trays and pots into these containers.

 

Hard plastics e.g plastic garden furniture and plastic toys (non-electrical)

 

Due to the current economic climate the markets for hard plastics are not very reliable at present. For this reason, these items may not always be recycled. Work is ongoing to establish more sustainable markets.

 

Tetra Paks/ Cardboard cartons - Cartons

 

These are collected separately to cardboard as they contain a mixture of materials and are therefore recycled in a different way.

Textiles – Clothes - Shoes

 

Please check with the site attendant on duty at your local centre when you visit.

 

Collected at 11 of 12 centres

Books, music CD's, DVD's and computer games collected together in the same bank

Books  - Music CD's and DVD's - Bric-a-brac

Collected at 8 of 12 centres

Carpet

Separate collection points at all 12 centres

DIY materials – Plasterboard – Rubble - Wood

Chipboard- Please ask advice from the site attendant on arrival at your local centre

 

Asbestos must not be taken to any of the Household Waste recovery Centres

[Alan Edgar (Eggy1948)]

There were Beatle Drives each week at Bedlington Station YM CA if my memory serves me well. Somewhere near the library.

We still have some solid furniture but the cost recovering is quite off putting.

Maggie - there's a new topic for you to start - Bedlington YMCA - now Cherry Tree Court

 

Before I was allowed out on my own, at night, I was dragged to The Beetle Drive held in the YMCA. Me mam's aunt, Elsie Humble, used to help run it.

The garages on the right of the picture used to get used for various activities - eg. weight lifting and car maintenance.

[Vic Patterson]

So what your saying Eggy is recycling is available but not very well publicized and not made easy!

[Alan Edgar (Eggy1948)]

 

So what your saying Eggy is recycling is available but not very well publicized and not made easy!

 

Sorry Vic - should have said - Easy but not publicized - We were not aware, we just knew that Seghill was closing but had no information publicizing the Bebside site we n ow had to use. Once we had visited, with waste, we were impressed with the setup. Equally impressed with the way the workers informed and assisted their customers. It was easy to use.

And, just remembered - they even had a collection point for charities. So if you had any household item , toy etc. that could be reused then it could be left at this point for the charities to inspect and take what ever they wanted. Even the workers were identifying goods that could be added to the charity point. 

[Canny lass]

Sounds like a good start! It started here about 20 years ago with newspapers and glass jars/bottles and there was loads of information delivered, often, to all households, They've been adding to the list ever since. There was already a system for dealing with aluminium cans, which I forget to mention earlier. They all have a deposit and the empties are fed into a macine at the supermarket, when you do your weekly shopping. You get a receipt for the deposits which you use to pay for your groceries at any store. All PET bottles have a deposit as well as do glass bottles for soft drinks. These are also fed into the machine to get your Money back.

 

We also have sorting for recycling at the tip and you can go there whenever you like with whatever you like. It's Always manned if you need help but the problem is they are usually very remote. Otherwise, Collection Points are numerous and usually adjoined to places that people visit often, so we're not polluting with extra car journeys.

 

There are large centres that take care of composting and anybody can go there with a trailer and collect potting compost. The quality is excellent!

 

On a less positive note, this system has caused untold problems for some elderly people and Home - helps are run off their feet taking care of household waste when they could be doing other things.