Blog: American recycling is better than Shropshire's

Blog: Rubbish in the bin or trash in the cart? Either way it appears Shropshire has it tough, writes county expat Mark Ellis from his home in Arizona.

For the past six years I have worked for a large waste management company whichcollects rubbish from homes and businesses and owns many transfer stations, recycling facilities and landfills.

It is not the biggest waste company in the US, but let's just say it is the best.

I bring this up because I have read in the Shropshire Star about the rubbish police photographing bins, incinerator arguments, and most recently Shropshire Council's decision to end cardboard collection with garden waste.

Living in Scottsdale I recognise that I am spoiled in many ways but I had never really considered the mundane task of putting out my rubbish as being one of them.

I have two large wheelie bins, a pink one for recycling and a black one for all other non-hazardous household and garden waste, both of which are emptied once a week.

There are a few things that can't go in the recycling bin, but generally any domestic rubbish that can be recycled is thrown in, from newspaper to cardboard, glass to plastic, aluminium and metal cans, the list goes on……

What doesn't go in the pink bin goes in the black one. Simple.

Many local councils in the UK don't appear to be getting the message that if you want people to recycle you have to make it straightforward, not a chore.

If I had to separate my recyclables into half a dozen different bins, boxes and bags I am pretty sure my black bin would be much fuller every week.

It's not that the average Joe doesn't want to recycle, re-use, and re-purpose to avoid filling our landfills, it's that there is a limit to the amount of time and effort that he is willing to donate to the cause.

The company I work for invests millions of dollars a year to improve our ability to extract recyclable materials from the waste stream and they do it for a couple of reasons.

First, as a company we have to be as environmentally responsible as possible and be seen to encourage and enable our customers to act in a similarly green manner.

Then, there is a massive amount of money to be made from selling reclaimed materials such as aluminium, cardboard, paper, and building materials.

As a company we sell the materials collected from our customers to mills both here in the US and in other countries, mainly China.

We don't keep all the proceeds from selling the materials. Our commercial customers get rebates based on the amount of recycled materials we collect from their locations and sell.

And we are starting programs where residential customers get recycling credits that can be exchanged for goodies.

I have never seen any discussion around the concept of single-stream recycling in the Shropshire Star. This is the simple approach we have here in Scottsdale - throw everything into one bin and let machinery separate it into the different types of materials at a recycling centre.

This is in stark contrast to the pre-sorted approach found in most parts of Shropshire.

My parents in Lower Frankton and mother-in-law in Cockshutt have shared stories of their rubbish not being removed because there was something in the wrong bin, or they inadvertently put out the wrong coloured box, or incorrectly shaped bag, on the wrong day, or didn't put anything out when they should've so it couldn't be collected.

It's crazy. How much time is wasted, and at what cost, by residents and refuse workers? Probably enough to fund a couple of automated single-stream recycling centres every year if it were eliminated.

One bin for recycling, another for non-hazardous household rubbish - it's really not that difficult. Call your local council and ask why they can't or won't do it.

Then ask them what they do with all the money they make from selling the recycled materials and maybe suggest they use some of it to make your life a little easier.