A burning question about our recycling
EVER WONDERED WHAT HAPPENS TO ALL THAT RUBBISH YOU CAREFULLY SEPARATE AT HOME?
SHOCKING news for those of us who painstakingly separate our rubbish – a lot of it isn’t even being recycled.
So despite battling the constant ‘which bin?’ problem, and remaining baffled by more than 50 different recycling symbols on products, is it even doing any good?
In this Dispatches film, environmental journalist and campaigner Lucy Seigle investigates the rise of waste incineration in the UK, examining how millions of tonnes of waste that we leave out for recycling actually ends up being burned.
She says: “I’ve watched the phenomenal rise in waste incineration across the UK. Up until the mid-90s we sent 90% of our waste to landfill.
“It was a cheap and easy way to dispose of our rubbish. But its impact on the environment was catastrophic.”
The solution was to burn it. But burning waste creates more carbon emissions than you think and could be holding back our recycling rates.
Burning is the cheapest and easiest solution at the moment, but exclusive research in this film reveals that incineration is on course to become the UK’s dirtiest form of energy production.
There are currently 48 incinerators in the UK, with another 18 on the way.
The programme also looks at how councils are locked into expensive multi-million pound contracts with incinerator operators, forcing them to burn waste for decades to come. “So they’re trapped?” asks Lucy.
Meanwhile, a spotlight on other countries reveals how the UK is falling behind.
Says Lucy: “There are major concerns.”