Recycling: why you can't just throw anything in the collection bin
For many years the recycling collected from households in the UK and other Western countries has been exported. This strategy has enabled these countries to carry on without much thought about how consumers purchase goods and dispose of all the unwanted packaging and containers.
As long as there are regular collections for recycling paper, metals and plastics, little consideration is given to where this waste goes and what happens to it.
But this now has to change.
Several years ago, China woke up to the environmental consequences of having the world’s recycling dumped on it to sort, process and use in manufacturing new goods. Tougher Chinese regulations came into place in 2018, aimed at improving the quality of the recycling it imported.
This should have been a wake-up call to the Western world to change the way that recycling was collected and processed in order to improve the quality. But nothing changed, apart from the destination of the low-quality recycling – instead of exporting to China, the recycling was exported to several Eastern European countries and an assortment of other Asian countries, including Malaysia and the Philippines.
A dispute lasting several years over low-quality recycling that was exported by Canada to the Philippines recently saw the waste repatriated, and other countries are also set to follow this example. This solves nothing, though – this recycling has to go somewhere...
Loughborough University is equipped with a live in-house broadcast unit via the Globelynx network. To arrange an interview with one of our experts please contact the press office on 01509 223491. Bookings can be made online via www.globelynx.com
Loughborough is one of the country’s leading universities, with an international reputation for research that matters, excellence in teaching, strong links with industry, and unrivalled achievement in sport and its underpinning academic disciplines.
It has been awarded five stars in the independent QS Stars university rating scheme, named the best university in the world for sports-related subjects in the 2019 QS World University Rankings, University of the Year by The Times and Sunday Times University Guide 2019 and top in the country for its student experience in the 2018 THE Student Experience Survey.
Loughborough is in the top 10 of every national league table, being ranked 4th in the Guardian University League Table 2020, 5th in the Times and Sunday Times Good University Guide 2019 and 8th in The UK Complete University Guide 2020.
Loughborough is consistently ranked in the top twenty of UK universities in the Times Higher Education’s ‘table of tables’ and is in the top 10 in England for research intensity. In recognition of its contribution to the sector, Loughborough has been awarded seven Queen's Anniversary Prizes.
The Loughborough University London campus is based on the Queen Elizabeth Olympic Park and offers postgraduate and executive-level education, as well as research and enterprise opportunities. It is home to influential thought leaders, pioneering researchers and creative innovators who provide students with the highest quality of teaching and the very latest in modern thinking.
For many years the recycling collected from households in the UK and other Western countries has been exported. This strategy has enabled these countries to carry on without much thought about how consumers purchase goods and dispose of all the unwanted packaging and containers.
As long as there are regular collections for recycling paper, metals and plastics, little consideration is given to where this waste goes and what happens to it.
But this now has to change.
Several years ago, China woke up to the environmental consequences of having the world’s recycling dumped on it to sort, process and use in manufacturing new goods. Tougher Chinese regulations came into place in 2018, aimed at improving the quality of the recycling it imported.
This should have been a wake-up call to the Western world to change the way that recycling was collected and processed in order to improve the quality. But nothing changed, apart from the destination of the low-quality recycling – instead of exporting to China, the recycling was exported to several Eastern European countries and an assortment of other Asian countries, including Malaysia and the Philippines.
A dispute lasting several years over low-quality recycling that was exported by Canada to the Philippines recently saw the waste repatriated, and other countries are also set to follow this example. This solves nothing, though – this recycling has to go somewhere...
Loughborough University is equipped with a live in-house broadcast unit via the Globelynx network. To arrange an interview with one of our experts please contact the press office on 01509 223491. Bookings can be made online via www.globelynx.com
Loughborough is one of the country’s leading universities, with an international reputation for research that matters, excellence in teaching, strong links with industry, and unrivalled achievement in sport and its underpinning academic disciplines.
It has been awarded five stars in the independent QS Stars university rating scheme, named the best university in the world for sports-related subjects in the 2019 QS World University Rankings, University of the Year by The Times and Sunday Times University Guide 2019 and top in the country for its student experience in the 2018 THE Student Experience Survey.
Loughborough is in the top 10 of every national league table, being ranked 4th in the Guardian University League Table 2020, 5th in the Times and Sunday Times Good University Guide 2019 and 8th in The UK Complete University Guide 2020.
Loughborough is consistently ranked in the top twenty of UK universities in the Times Higher Education’s ‘table of tables’ and is in the top 10 in England for research intensity. In recognition of its contribution to the sector, Loughborough has been awarded seven Queen's Anniversary Prizes.
The Loughborough University London campus is based on the Queen Elizabeth Olympic Park and offers postgraduate and executive-level education, as well as research and enterprise opportunities. It is home to influential thought leaders, pioneering researchers and creative innovators who provide students with the highest quality of teaching and the very latest in modern thinking.
