Is it just me, or have they no clue ?

Question

Am i the only one that thinks printing 3/4 of a million leaflets to thank people for "recycling" defeats the object a little

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/england/west_midlands/7560392.stm

The article was about a mistake in the printing, but no-one seems to see the irony in wasting resources to thank people for saving resources

Answer 1

I agree. The preferable way should be email. This is the 21st century. Perhaps for those who don't have email, postcards can be sent.

Answer 2

Most of what these groups do is a 'thoughtless' effort at show.

Answer 3

I say its not a waste. In psychology "Positive Reinforcement" describes the positive response someone gets after they've done something good. It only needs to come a couple of times at the beginning. After that, people go into automatic mode, doing what they were rewarded for even if they don't get a reward.

I say it may have more benefits eventually. This recycling thing is still alien to a lot of folks.

Answer 4

If people weren't so uneducated in the first place this wouldn't be a problem. Al gore can fly back and forth across the country 10 x a day if it means a few more willl listen to him - in my opinion , at least he's not sittin back doing nothing like most!

Answer 5

It ranks right up there, with the U.S. Government spending $44 million dollars to mail out flyers to everyone, telling them their tax incentive refund check was in the mail.  Why not just mail the check in the first place, and save the tax payers $44 million dollars, AND all that wasted paper?  ~sigh~

~Garnet

Permaculture homesteading/farming over 20 years

Answer 6

HA ha yes indeed. Jumping on the recycling band wagon makes them feel better about wasting resources. It's like all the live earth concerts where they later had to dispose of tonnes of garbage.

Answer 7

Does the leaflet say to recycle it after reading?

It would have been interesting to send the leaflet to half the households and then to compare recycling rates between the two halves. Perhaps the leaflets increase recycling enough to cover their environmental cost.

Answer 8

If they don't get the irony when Al Gore and his Hollywood minions fly around the world in their Jets spewing tons of gas and emissions  or purchase 10,000 square foot homes that cost millions of kilowatt hours to electrify, and then tell you and me we need to save the earth, why would they get the irony with 3/4 million leaflets.