Do you recycle? I do and have taught my children to follow suit.
There are several good reasons to recycle glass, paper, tins, cardboard, plastic and food waste.
First, we reduce the volume of rubbish buried in the ground and left to cause problems for future generations.
Second, it is profligate not to reuse materials that can be recycled at an acceptable cost.
Third, to combat global warming and fourth, to avoid higher council tax bills.
Councils have to pay to send rubbish to landfill, and the charges increased from £32 to £40 a ton in April.
It is cheaper for them to recycle than to send all our rubbish to landfill, not least because recyclable materials can be sold.
Market rates vary but councils can get £50 a ton for newspaper and £450 a ton for aluminium cans.
The main problems arise from people who don’t know how to use the recycling system and those who choose to misuse it.
Putting rubbish in the wrong bins and recycling contaminated materials like paper covered in oil are two of the main issues.
Regular reminders and updates need to be issued by councils. I also believe that stories in the national media about “recycling mountains” hidden elsewhere in the country are exaggerated at best.
Philip Welch
Monday, June 29, 2009
Wednesday, June 24, 2009
Morlands fiasco
Today I offer the English language two new versions of a tired old word.
“Morland” is now both a verb and a noun – the verb, “to morland”, means to delay or procrastinate indefinitely, while the noun “morland” has come to mean a waste of public money by unaccountable organisations.
These additions to our already rich vocabulary are inspired by the fiasco of the unelected South West Regional Development Agency (SWRDA) spending eight years and £19 million of taxpayers’ money on the Morlands site, in Glastonbury, without creating any permanent jobs there.
The brownfield site now known as Morlands used to be occupied by two rival tanneries.
Clark Son and Morland Ltd shut down in 1982, and the small Baily’s tannery closed in 1992. Since then, this prime site has been left sadly unused.
In its eight years of control, SWRDA’s few achievements have included building a reputation for inefficiency and arrogance. A small example is how they did not tell the local newspaper that they were pulling out of Morlands despite the fact that we ask them every week for progress reports on the empty site.
Now the baton is being passed to a reluctant and cash-strapped Mendip District Council. They were involved in previous failures to redevelop the site. Lets hope they do better this time.
One thing is certain – Mid Somerset News & Media will keep badgering whoever is in charge about the disgrace that is Morlands.
Philip Welch
“Morland” is now both a verb and a noun – the verb, “to morland”, means to delay or procrastinate indefinitely, while the noun “morland” has come to mean a waste of public money by unaccountable organisations.
These additions to our already rich vocabulary are inspired by the fiasco of the unelected South West Regional Development Agency (SWRDA) spending eight years and £19 million of taxpayers’ money on the Morlands site, in Glastonbury, without creating any permanent jobs there.
The brownfield site now known as Morlands used to be occupied by two rival tanneries.
Clark Son and Morland Ltd shut down in 1982, and the small Baily’s tannery closed in 1992. Since then, this prime site has been left sadly unused.
In its eight years of control, SWRDA’s few achievements have included building a reputation for inefficiency and arrogance. A small example is how they did not tell the local newspaper that they were pulling out of Morlands despite the fact that we ask them every week for progress reports on the empty site.
Now the baton is being passed to a reluctant and cash-strapped Mendip District Council. They were involved in previous failures to redevelop the site. Lets hope they do better this time.
One thing is certain – Mid Somerset News & Media will keep badgering whoever is in charge about the disgrace that is Morlands.
Philip Welch
Friday, June 5, 2009
Weeks of fun with British Gas
Don’t you love huge companies who offer inefficient service to their customers?
In February I entered into a HomeCare agreement with British Gas to maintain the boiler at my home in Wells.
March 12: Their engineer does the first service and says the vent in the kitchen does not meet current regulations because the metal grill on the garden side can be closed. I can’t open the grill because of its several coats of paint, and am quoted a steep £323, but I accept after the engineer gives me a safety warning.
April 15: A second British Gas engineer arrives to replace the vent. He says the charge should, in fact, be only £192, and the plastic vent costs £40.
April 28: The invoice has arrived and I ring British Gas to repeat what the second engineer said about the overcharging. They promise to check it out.
May 1: No-one has phoned, so I ring again. I try three times and hear “All our agents are busy” before being cut off.
May 6: I phone again and am told “Your query is being investigated and a stop has been put on the invoice”.
May 20: I receive a red letter threatening me with a debt recovery team because the invoice has not been paid.
May 21: I phone and speak to someone who says not to worry about the red letter, that the invoice should have been for £163 and that a new invoice will be arranged.
June 1: The replacement invoice has not arrived. I am thinking of replacing my gas cooker with an electric one.
June 2: Replacement invoice arrives and an envelope for my cheque. No apology is enclosed and the envelope needs a stamp.
Philip Welch
In February I entered into a HomeCare agreement with British Gas to maintain the boiler at my home in Wells.
March 12: Their engineer does the first service and says the vent in the kitchen does not meet current regulations because the metal grill on the garden side can be closed. I can’t open the grill because of its several coats of paint, and am quoted a steep £323, but I accept after the engineer gives me a safety warning.
April 15: A second British Gas engineer arrives to replace the vent. He says the charge should, in fact, be only £192, and the plastic vent costs £40.
April 28: The invoice has arrived and I ring British Gas to repeat what the second engineer said about the overcharging. They promise to check it out.
May 1: No-one has phoned, so I ring again. I try three times and hear “All our agents are busy” before being cut off.
May 6: I phone again and am told “Your query is being investigated and a stop has been put on the invoice”.
May 20: I receive a red letter threatening me with a debt recovery team because the invoice has not been paid.
May 21: I phone and speak to someone who says not to worry about the red letter, that the invoice should have been for £163 and that a new invoice will be arranged.
June 1: The replacement invoice has not arrived. I am thinking of replacing my gas cooker with an electric one.
June 2: Replacement invoice arrives and an envelope for my cheque. No apology is enclosed and the envelope needs a stamp.
Philip Welch
Subscribe to:
Comments (Atom)