The Waste & Resource Use Campaign Page
The Problem with Waste
Our consumer orientated society uses up a lot of the world's natural resources. Using fossil fuels in production causes climate change. Companies put profit before good practice. A lot of "waste" that could be re-used or recycled is incinerated or dumped, this is bad for the environment and our health.
Incinerators need a minimum amount of rubbish to operate. Their high demand for waste is detrimental to recycling and waste reduction plans. Smoke, gases and ash from incinerators contain dioxins that can cause cancer.
Is All This Waste Really Necessary?
Not only do we buy things that we really don't need, a lot of the things we buy are over-packaged. How many people bother to take a bag to a shop to avoid being given a new one every time?
Our consumer orientated society uses up a lot of the world's natural resources. Using fossil fuels in production causes climate change. Companies put profit before good practice. A lot of "waste" that could be re-used or recycled is incinerated or dumped, this is bad for the environment and our health.
Incinerators need a minimum amount of rubbish to operate. Their high demand for waste is detrimental to recycling and waste reduction plans. Smoke, gases and ash from incinerators contain dioxins that can cause cancer.
Burying the waste is not the solution. Harmful toxins could find their way into our groundwater: with the increasing problem of floods and coastal erosion landfill is becoming more of a liability. In addition to this a large amount of waste is being dumped into our oceans which is impacting on marine ecosystems.
Action to Stop the Government Funding Incinerators
The Government is offering £2 billion of taxpayer funding to subsidise new waste plants, including many incinerators. Send an email to the Secretary of State for the Environment, Hilary Benn, and his counterparts in the Conservative and Liberal Democrat parties asking for a moritorium on public funding for incineration, a tax on incineration of waste and for Britain to match best European recycling rates. This is a quick and easy action, the email has been pre-written and is on the main FoE website.
Is All This Waste Really Necessary?
Not only do we buy things that we really don't need, a lot of the things we buy are over-packaged. How many people bother to take a bag to a shop to avoid being given a new one every time?
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On January 20th several members of our group took part in a packaging protest at Tesco's, Warwick Way SW1. We bought items that we felt were over-packaged, such as two corn cobs on a polystyrene tray swathed in plastic. After paying for the goods we left the unnecessary packaging at the tills. We explained to the cashier that we didn't need the packaging. It was surprising just how much packaging there was. Afterwards we presented the store manageress with a letter explaining our actions. |