Community What I didn’t realise is that I could be my own hero and wear normal clothes. I realised that this ‘hero’ status could be achieved by helping the environment. For example, damage to the environment from carbon emissions can be reduced by limiting the amount of times you use a car on a weekly basis. Although, sometimes it can be easier to ‘go green’ by starting off with smaller changes, such as separating waste materials when recycling household rubbish. According to Barnet council, more than 30% of the rubbish in household bins is food waste. As part of the new
How plastic bottles are recycled. Source: IQS Directory
recycling programme, Barnet have given residents a brown container for
Furthermore, many plastics are not
types of rubbish helps to make
food leftovers. By placing your food
biodegradable, which means they do
the environment a cleaner place.
waste into the new brown container,
not decompose on their own. This is
disposal costs and the environmental
another negative for the environment.
impact of food leftovers are reduced.
Recycling allows people to get involved and feel like they are making a difference.
A friend of mine inquired, ‘what happens
Most importantly, it can enable anyone
Barnet has a target of recycling
to my plastic after it is collected?’ The
to add ‘planet-saver’ to their list of
50% of household waste by 2020.
answer is that it is taken to JayPlas in
life accomplishments! In addition, it
This objective can be met through
Leicestershire where the plastic bottles
saves vast amounts of energy and
the collection of household plastic
are sorted into the different polymer types.
money; as evidenced in 2011 when
packaging including yogurt pots,
They are then granulated and turned into
Londoners saved £30 million by recycling.
margarine tubs and food trays.
new plastic products such as pipes. So the
d rs save e n o d ‘Lon lion by l i m 0 £3 ng’ recycli
next time you throw an Evian bottle in
So, the next time you have the urge to
the bin, consider reusing or recycling it.
invest in a cape and tights in order to adopt a ‘hero-like’ persona, try becoming
As a result of the new Barnet scheme,
environmentally friendly instead. It will
there is now a weekly ‘bin day’ where
allow you to achieve the same result
the refuse, recycling and food disposal
without having to look a little strange!
bins are all collected. This has increased recycling in homes. A Barnet resident
Remember, there is no ‘I’ in team; we
Recycling plastic is important because
told me that ‘being able to help the
must all work together to help reduce
it is derived from oil, which is extracted
environment is now so much easier as it
our carbon footprint. So forget about
from fossil fuels. It is estimated that
is no longer difficult to remember which
Superman, Spiderman and all the other
plastic production uses 8% of the
day of the week each bin is collected’.
heroes; it’s time to make way for the
world’s oil production. Oil is a finite
‘Green Team’! Are you willing to join?
resource in high demand, so recycling
Individuals now have the opportunity
plastics helps to protect a valuable
to reduce their environmental impact
For more information on recycling
commodity, which could be used for
from waste disposal. Taking action
visit: www.recycleforlondon.com
more important services such as heating.
to refrain from mixing different 12