It’s the one week of the year where retailers, brands, waste management companies, trade associations, governments and the media come together to achieve one goal: to galvanise the public into recycling more of the right things, more often.
Maybe it’s just the way it was presented in the Business Wales Newsletter, but this really irritated me.
Many communities, including my own, have worked really, really hard to be plastic free (or almost – we still can’t convince the local shop to stop selling those little sand moulds that end up lost in the sand, and bodyboards that only last a week, grrr) so this feels like it’s just taking the piss. Most people in my village recycle almost obsessively. The Welfare Committee does loads of litter-picking, strimming and gardening-type work in the local environment. We gather the abandoned beach gear (who leaves two new 4/3 Rip Curl and Billabong wetsuits behind?!). We also run a bottle-bank which kicks back a small amount of money for our funds. We think about this shit all the time.
But no! You are naughty, naughty, lazy public that should recycle more! We the businesses that make all this crap that you find it almost impossible to avoid buying (so hard to find dog food in tins instead of those awful pouches) will insist that you are more responsible!
How about legislation to just BAN THEM from making this stuff in the first place?? We don’t need it! We don’t want it! Don’t push this onto us! Or force councils to recycle it at extra cost they just can’t manage!
Retailers, brands and governments need to do a lot better, not just pass it on.
