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Recycling centre visit request

I have made an official request to visit any of London's recycling centres for an in-depth look at how they really work. Questions like a) who sorts out the 'mixed bags' full of various types of recyclables and b) how are they actually recycled? 

 Most people I speak to are cynical that anything happens to the mixed recycling bags and I myself don't understand how our typical mixed recycling bag, which will usually contain up to 6 types of plastic, aluminum, glass and various types of paper (including little bitty pieces) can be efficiently sorted unless there is a huge team rifling through it all on conveyor belts. 

I want to know - is it all a London borough con? Where is the evidence of how it is all actually recycled? I can never find any reports on it, apart from % of waste that is sent to recycling sites, not how much is actually recycled or how it is recycled. 

One of our friends accidentally put his recycling bag out a day early on his street in Notting Hill (in the Kensington & Chelsea) borough. He was then issued with an £80 fine ($160) after they searched through the bag to get his name for improper disposal because he got the wrong day. In New York City they fine buildings that have placed recyclables in the garbage area which makes sense - being punished for NOT recycling, not punished FOR recycling.
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Anonymous said…
This issue has really hit the news in the past week. Back when I asked for a tour, I was passed to the recycling company where I found a very primitive presentation on how the whole sorting thing works and no hope for a tour as I had just found out I was preggers and didn;t want to trek out there.

The news pieces I have seen touch on the amount of inefficiency the mixed bag recycling creates. And they have been doing man on the street interviews, with most people saying they think their recycling efforts are moot. And apparently some councils have recylcing turning up in landfill in India, which I think is actually criminal. As in, whoever is responsibe should be prosecuted by the UK authorities and the Indian authorities.

I for one am totally happy top sort my recyclables before they are picked up.
11:35 am
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