Cautionary tale

SERVICES for recycling are increasing in the Yellow Pages of the telephone directory as the nation realises that, with a growing population, we can no longer be a “throwaway” society. Landfill areas for rubbish burial are becoming scarce and there are not inexhaustible resources to make what is eventually thrown away as rubbish. The list of what can be recycled grows – scrap metal, concrete, batteries, paper, oil, mobile phones, plastic, glass, car bodies and more, more, more.

What is recycled is made into something again useful. Farmers’ old spray drums are made into bins residents use to dispose of their rubbish for council collection. Paper and cardboard become ‘new’ paper or cartons. Glass can be melted down for reuse. A new industry of collecting what is to be recycled grows.

I thoroughly approve of recycling and now throw away only what little cannot be recycled. But now we have ‘recycled’ politicians of which I do not approve. Can a leopard change its spots? If a politician has already failed in the position, can he/she really change to become someone useful? I hope voters will have long enough memories to remember the failures, the unwise decisions, the spin, the wasted taxpayers’ money, the failure to listen to the voters who put that person into that position of ‘serving the people’.

IRIS I. BRYCE, Bryce Rd, Felton