They’re
blue, plastic and sit outside our house waiting to be filled. What
am I talking about? Your blue bin of course! But do you use yours?
If not, Cube journalist, Shola Gordon, tells you just why you should!
| Onyx
Sheffield are the daddies of recycling as they recycle 4,474 tonnes
of our rubbish a year, that’s 522 double-decker buses for
people like me who are useless at measurements. We all use energy,
especially us young people, but we’re basically committing
suicide the way we are going. Leaving your TV on stand by, falling
asleep with the light on, these kind of habits waste energy. But what has energy got to do with recycling I hear you ask? On behalf of Onyx Sheffield, Veolia Environmental Services gave me the low-down on recycling, energy and doing the right thing. As Manager Lea Hawkes and Communications Manager, Theresa Morrison, told me, recycling is not just a load of old rubbish… |
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How
do you recycle the stuff we put in the blue wheelie bins?
The paper and card is taken to our Materials Recovery Facility for
sorting and is then sent to paper mills to make into recycled paper.
Can you tell me the about the Energy Recovery process and how it
works?
Waste is taken to the Energy Recovery Facility where it’s emptied
into a bunker. It is then taken to incineration units to be burnt
at temperatures in excess of 850 degrees centigrade. Energy is recovered
from this process in the form of steam to produce electricity and
heat. This energy is used to heat many of Sheffield's premier buildings
including the Town Hall, the theatres, the City Hall, Ponds Forge,
the University and the Winter Gardens.
What
are the benefits of energy recovery?
The benefits of energy recovery are:
* The volume of waste is significantly reduced (70%) and therefore
much less goes to landfill
* Some of the gas formation from landfill is avoided
* Renewable energy is generated from waste - avoiding unnecessary
use of fossil fuels
Who benefits from the recycling and why is it important to recycle
in Sheffield?
The environment benefits from recycling as it saves natural resources
and reduces greenhouse gases by reducing the production of products
using virgin materials. By recycling kitchen and garden waste into
compost you avoid the production of methane gas which is produced
when garden waste is sent to landfill; in addition composting supplies
your garden with a valuable source of nutrients for plants and vegetables
at no cost.
What
can young people do to be less wasteful?
* Buy products with less packaging
* Use a sandwich box instead of cling film and foil
* Cook from fresh and reduce the use of convenience foods
* Use a reusable shopping bag instead of carrier bags
* Refuse carrier bags in shops when you already have one.
* Follow the 3 Rs - Reduce waste, Reuse items, Recycle as much
as possible.
Some
shocking waste facts:
• Sheffield currently uses 240,000 tonnes of rubbish each year but
only a 17.5% of it is recycled (shame on us!)
• Every year the average dustbin contains enough unrealised energy
for 500 baths, 3500 showers or 5,000 hours of television.
• The energy saved from recycling just ONE glass bottle will power:
A light bulb for almost an hour, a computer for 25 minutes, a telly
for 20 minutes or a washing machine for 10 minutes!
•
20% of your Mam’s shopping (That works out at around £424
a year) goes in a bin…ain’t any of you heard of people
starving?)
So listen here yeah, us lot are basically smacking self destruct. This is the only world we got so we got to treat it like it your grandma’s best china, you get me? We throw away eight times our body weight a year and guess what? - most of it can be recycled, re-used or converted to energy for Sheffield city centre!! So get recycling!
For ‘wheelly’ good info visit www.onyxsheffield.co.uk and for more about energy from waste visit www.greenenergy.co.uk/flash/emap/index.htm
By Shola Gordon
email cubeweb to let us know what you think at cubeweb@ssclc.net