Mini rant re recycling

I was in Germany last month. The normal footpath litter bins are split into 3 sections. One for paper stuff, one for plastic, bottles, and one for other. A great idea and seemed to work well as far as I could see.

gotta agree with UMOP, took my '96 micra in for service, couple of gliches, no power steering, was told there's years left in her. built like a tank.

I have noticed that following a brief spell of reducing packaging a few years ago, the volume of packaging on most supermarket produce has gone up considerably in the last two or three years.

I shop in Tescos & Dunnes on occasion and it is safe to say that 90% of the fruit in Dunnes comes pre-packed and maybe 75% of the stuff in Tescos. Supervalue seem to be a good bit better.

Mrs zag shops in the Dublin Food Co-op normally and I think about 0% of the stuff sold there is pre-packed, so I don't feel unduly guilty when I occasionally need to get something in Dunnes.

Those companies making yoghurt drinks must be laughing all the way to the bank. A few years ago they were selling them in 250 & 500ml containers and making some money. Then some marketing genius said "Let's put them in smaller bottles, charge more, stick on a buzz-word, have some fancy ads and away we go . . ." now they are making loads of money, and people are somehow convinced that this stuff must be good for them because it comes pre-packed in a small bottle, which comes packed in a multi-pack, which comes packed in a bigger multi-pack. They even get more exercise because of the more frequent trips to the shops to stock up and the trips to the recycling centre to off-load the millions of little empties.

z

sign said:

Which tablets are those?

I really think those yogurt drinks marketed as healthy are way tooo sweet to be as healthy as they should be.

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Hi Sign

the tablets I have have the brand name Quest. The tablet is called Acidophilus Plus...2 billion lactic bateria. Non dairy souce of L.acidophilus, Lcasei casei and L.casei rhamnous. The bottle says they're digestive aids. My chemist advised me to take them for sommat and I mentioned that I was already drinking yogurt drinks and she said the tablets were better.

Since tablets cost far less per month than yogurt drinks and the world did cope beautifully without pricey yogurt drinks for many years, I decided to give tablets a bash. I don't take them everyday but they are in the fridge taking up less room and less money.

Someone mentioned Germany and the bins divided in three. Do people remember they did this near the Molly Malone statue in Dublin and naturally the Irish couldn't work out which rubbish went where and just treated them like a normal bin. Attitudes need to be changed too.

Zag, I agree completely. Yogurt companies are making a small fortune...if you poor the liquid into a glass and see how much you're getting for the money you pay, you have to wonder are you right in the head, never mind the digestive system

Anyway, they are gone from our household, hopefully ne're to darken our recycle bin agin!

Where is that fruit place Mrs Zag shops in? Is it in north Dublin?

mica - the place I am talking about is here - [broken link removed]

They open on Saturdays in St Andrews Resource Centre on Pearse Street (near the IDA Centre, near the Canal basin), but in a few weeks time they are moving to new premises in Newmarket, nearish St Patricks Cathederal.

I've just looked at their website and I don't see a map shown for the new location.

The co-op has been running for a long time now, with a variety of producers bringing their stuff to the market on Saturdays as well as the co-op itself selling dry bulk goods. I think the plan is for the market to open all week or at least for several days a week when they open.

It's worth dropping in to Pearse Street on a Saturday morning to get a feel for the place.

z

Cheers zag, I'll give them a shot! close to my train anyway!

Yes, those tablets are brilliant. I am on Augmentin and my chemist suggested I take them to counter the bad bacteria effects. They taste so nice I’ve been crunching away.

There’s one of those multifunctional litter bins in Cabra and one on Henry St., by the way.

By the way, the powers that be have removed our bins in work and now each desk has a recycling tray and at the end of the day everyone goes to a series of bins located at strategic points in the office and empties their tray in bins for different re-cycling. Took a while to get used to, but we’re doing well now.

Cork used have a fair few all in one bins to take plastic/paper/cardboard - used be in Douglas, Ballincollig, Carrigiline and many other areas. They are now all gone. They used be full about 2 hours after drop off, used be left there for days with **** dumped everywhere and they were a joke. The council got rid of them all because they said they offered home collection (which you pay for) instead. I think the basic problem is too many people were recycling too much and this actually costs money. It now costs €2 per car to bring any recycling material - glass,drink cans, paper, cardboard or plastic - to the city dump in Cork. Its €25 to even bring a bag of grass cuttings over there. Have made this point many times before - if waste is such a national issue then everyone should get the same service nationally at the same price - makes no sense to have neighbouring councils charging vastly different prices.

Hi micamaca ,

Thanks for the info . If I ever get the urge to buy one of those drinks again , Ill pinch myself and walk into a chemist instead !



I think there should be more bottle banks around the city. If possible they should build more of them than is necessary and wait till they fill up.

legend99 said:

Have made this point many times before - if waste is such a national issue then everyone should get the same service nationally at the same price - makes no sense to have neighbouring councils charging vastly different prices.

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Why? If costs of landfill space, and labour, and recycling facilities vary right across the country, why should there be one average price?

RainyDay said:

Why? If costs of landfill space, and labour, and recycling facilities vary right across the country, why should there be one average price?

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Because its a national issue - and is fundamentally linked to government services and taxes and pricing should be set centrally. Do you think people should pay different road tax or PAYE based on the actual cost of services in their county?

legend99 said:

Because its a national issue - and is fundamentally linked to government services and taxes and pricing should be set centrally. Do you think people should pay different road tax or PAYE based on the actual cost of services in their county?

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Your post doesn't really explain why you say this is a national issue. The service is provided by your local authority, and each authority is independent. What is the benefit to the consumer of having a national price?