Re-re-cycling

Apropos Katherine's comment on my Re-Cycling piece...

I found it hard to believe that someone really managed to separate all the stuff in my green bin, into useful re-usable material. I still want to see the MRF myself (mainly just because I like big machines). But I'm convinced enough by the eye-witness reports from Robin Cross, Darren Johnson and others who did go and see it.

You should be able to read these yourself shortly - look out for the "Matters referred by the Sustainable Development Select Committee – A Scrutiny Review of Lewisham’s Dry Recycling Policy and Municipal Waste Management Strategy" report (I've seen a draft) that should be on the Council website for the Mayor & Cabinet meeting on 6th September.

The brief agreed by the Sustainable Development Select Committee was: "...to carry out a review into recycling, as a result of concerns raised by a number of residents in the borough. Residents in the borough have voiced some concerns about what was happening to the materials that they put forward for recycling. Many residents are of the belief that waste was simply being incinerated or exported to other countries and there was also confusion voiced over whether recyclables need to be separated or not.", and one of the conclusions: "The Committee's visit to the Greenwich/ Cleanaway MRF was particularly re-assuring and informative in helping to see what exactly happens to materials that residents put forward for recycling."

Basically, Lewisham is doing the right things (but not on a large enough scale yet), but we need to explain to people better what they are.