One holiday flight wipes out 20 years of recycling
JETTING off on an annual summer holiday is so bad for global warming that it wipes out the benefits of 20 years of recycling, a new study has shown.
Although householders are encouraged to save and sort their rubbish, research from the University of Lund, Sweden, and the University of British Columbia, Canada, has shown that it has far less impact when compared with cutting down on flights, ditching the car or switching to a vegetarian diet.
In its green strategy, the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs (Defra), claims recycling is vital for lowering greenhouse emissions, and councils have brought in an array of complex rules and bins for collecting and separating refuse. The UK has also signed up to EU targets to recycle at least 50 per cent of household waste by 2020.
But the study, published in Environmental Research Letters, argues that governments and schools must do more to communicate the most effective ways to reduce our carbon footprint rather than concentrating on practices that have little impact.
The research was published as a Government minister admitted that recycling rules were confusing and frustrating householders.
In a debate in the House of Lords, Lord Gardiner, an environment minister, agreed that recycling rules that require different
colour-coded bins are too complicated and need to be simplified.
The new research suggests that the public should be advised to avoid air travel, live car-free, eat a plant-based diet and have smaller families.
“Those of us who want to step forward on climate need to know how our actions can have the greatest possible impact,” said lead author Seth Wynes, a doctoral student of the University of British Columbia.
“This research is about helping people make more informed choices. Living car-free saves about 2.4 tonnes of carbon dioxide per year, while eating a plant-based diet saves 0.8 tonnes.
“These actions… have much greater potential to reduce emissions than commonly promoted strategies like comprehensive recycling which is four times less effective than a plant-based diet or changing household light bulbs, which is eight times less effective.”
The research analysed 39 peer reviewed papers, carbon calculators and government reports to calculate the potential for individual lifestyle choices to reduce greenhouse gas emissions.
They also looked at school textbook and government advice from across Europe, Canada, the US and Australia and found that most policies focused on strategies which had the least impact.
Having multiple children was found to have the largest impact, with each child creating nearly 60 tonnes of CO2 each year. Avoiding a one-way transatlantic flight could save around 1.6 tonnes of CO2 emissions, while a round-trip to Australia would prevent four tonnes – 20 times the saving made by a year’s recycling, which is around 200kg a year.
Drying washing outdoors, rather than using a tumble drier, saves just 200kg a year, while energy saving light bulbs prevent just 100kg of CO2 entering the environment annually.
Study co-author Kimberly Nicholas, of Lund University said: “We recognise these are deeply personal choices. But we can’t ignore the climate effect our lifestyle actually has.”