Alan's Everyday Life Blog: 2019

Wednesday 2 October 2019

Scotland: My Lochearnhead Mug

To you, this porcelain mug with a simple logo is most likely quite boring. But allow me to explain its most appreciated aspects. An excellent handle. Easily contains any good hot drink or cold for that matter. And the key to a few memories.

Lochearnhead in Scotland is the place you'll find a disused railway station that was bought by Hertfordshire Scouts to be a centre for scouting activities. As a teenager I well remember camping at this base camp, rising early and making the short walk up the mountain to wash in a fresh stream. Being at the western end of Loch Earn presented my first opportunity to try dinghy sailing. At least half a dozen boats were used. As I recall, the one I was in was the only dinghy that didn't get to the eastern end fast enough to leave sufficient time to get back, so we were unceremoniously taken back via the camp's mini-bus.

Then there was the time about 30 of us left the station for a three-day hike. After setting tents up for the first night, and depositing our kit and sleeping bags, the leaders took 26 of us off for an evening walk leaving four others to cook up an evening meal.

After about an hour the fog descended and our group became engulfed, barely able to see more than 12 feet in front of us. Despite their best endeavours, maps and compasses, the elite declared we were lost. One of them decided to head for a road, found the said road, then came back to us, and we followed them to this road.

Starving, and with relentless cold drizzle coming down, we trooped along this road. Eventually, a vehicle came along, our plight was explained, and action was taken to get word back to the station to send out transport to get us all back. I was very cold and hungry and it was probably about 9pm, some 4 hours after we left our pitched tents and equipment and very dark by the time we got back.

Our food was somewhere up in the mountains, and the skeleton crew at the station did their best to rustle up a meal of sorts. My tin mug was up in the hills and recognising that we all needed something to drink out of, these Lochearnhead mugs were issued. The soup I had from that mug that night was most welcome, and that's why I appreciate this particular mug.

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Thursday 11 July 2019

Environment: I asked my local council 'where does plastic waste go'? #WarOnPlastic #DrasticOnPlastic

I was disturbed by plastic waste being shown desecrating the countryside in a foreign land. The waste had been shown to have come from the UK, processed by factories in foreign countries, and yet the waste from those factories was just being wilfully dumped in that country's own land next to streams that would eventually lead that waste to the oceans. All this is because China is no longer taking our waste.

Now, Malaysia has become the new dumping ground for illegal rubbish processing plants. Between July 2018 and April 2019 150 illegal plant processing centres were closed down in Malaysia.

Just because we put stuff in the green recycling bin, we shouldn't accept that it is recycled. In reality, we need to put trackers into the waste and see where they end up.

Nevertheless, in a Freedom of Information request, I asked Central Bedfordshire Council some pertinent questions, as they had previously assured me that waste from our bins was being dealt with correctly. The answer still needs poking, and further prodding of CBC councillors will be needed if we can get a really true response to the problem of really understanding where our Central Bedfordshire recycled waste goes to.

Freedom of Information request responses was recieved 11 July 2019.

Q1. Has Central Bedfordshire Council ever conducted its own independent investigation of the total route taken by recycled waste from a residents bin in Central Bedfordshire through to it's final resting place as landfill or with a remanufacturer?

A1. No

Q2. If no to Q1, will the authority please consider such an undertaking?

A2. This is not a valid question under FOI as it is asking for opinion.

Q3. What guarantees can the authority give to its residents, beyond any reasonable doubt, that waste collected as recycled, does not actually end up in foreign countries potentially being of harm to the rivers and land in foreign countries?

A3. It is the responsibility of our contractor to sell the material on to other brokers or reprocessors. They work with Environment Agency-accredited and licensed processing facilities when any material is sent for export. They have a robust system of traceability with regard to its supply chain and as part of contract management we check that the contractor carries out due diligence regarding where recycling is sent.

We have sought assurances from contractors that they have auditing methods in place and ensure that UK legislation is adhered to. The contractor has addressed the issue with all national clients and reaffirmed that they are working within the confines of the law. It is illegal to export any material that is then dumped in landfill; it is only permitted to export material that can be recycled at a licensed facility. If there is any non-recyclable material that is rejected from the recycling facilities abroad, it is sent to approved processors for incineration or disposal.