Is it not about time we banned the production of waste rather than trying to dispose of it?

Question

If the government is serious about preventing waste going to landfill why does it permit unsolicited mail to be delivered to people’s homes?

There has been much talk recently of householders being charged for the amount of waste they generate but no talk of reducing the amount of unsolicited waste being delivered to them. While fully supportting the principal of recycling I fail to understand why householders should pay a levy to allow them to dispose of materials they did not want in the first place. Would it not be better to tax the producers of waste rather than those receiving it?

Business is the source of most household waste with excessive packaging and advertising literature leading the way. A few days ago I received a copy of "Yellow Pages" which was not wanted and not removed from it's plastic bag before I deposited it in the dustbin; what a waste!

When will businesses be forced to stop producing these vast quantities of unwanted rubbish?

Answer 1

the companies should be taxed for making waste but they would only increase the cost of their products to make up for it.and charging people for the amount of waste will only  cause people to dump rubbish .

Answer 2

You can do one thing on some of the unwanted mail like creditcard advertisements. Sent it back, there is also a 800 number you can call to get off the mailinglist. How about all the exessive packaging like cereal, why is it not stopped to make it look big and half of it is air?? Another thing, why not reduce some of the waste by bringing your own shoppingbags to walmart, it always was done in Europa.

Answer 3

Yes.  I've been holding my waste in for three days now.

Answer 4

I agree!

items are packaged too much, unwanted mail put through your door, charity bags delivered to your home that they never collect.

I recycle as much as I can, paper, plastics, glass, cans, clothes, furniture.

I personnally take things to recycling centres, once a month when I do my shopping.

I do all the hard work, yet still pay the same amount of council tax.

Our government wants to tackle this, they expect people to recycle, yet we have no motivation.

I once wrote to our council and asked, instead of taxing us (taking our money again), why not reward us (knock an amount off our council tax bills), for recycling.

The answer I got was, this is not viable for those who do not have transport.

I guess we are in a pretty bad state of affairs really.

I worry about rubbish alot and try to minimism the amount we as a famliy generate.

Less packaging and more recycling.

Surely it would be in the interests of companies to use less packaging, and more cost effective!

Answer 5

For any of the junk mail that has a postage paid return envelope, fill it with pennies and drop it in a mailbox.

Answer 6

why dont you just recycle.

Answer 7

I totally agree!  There's some details on the link below that'll help you cancel your junk mail...although I'm not sure how to get rid of the blummin' Yellow Pages!

I also agree that retailers need to take more responsibility and I've had similar experiences when working for shops.  The thing that I don't understand (and forgive me if I'm missing something here) is that there always seems to be a lot more pressure on banks to 'go green' than there is on the high street clothing stores.  I know banks have more say in what they invest their money in, but surely retailers have a say in the production and transport of their goods.  I'd love to be able to shop at a green, high street clothing provider (yes, a charity shop before anyone says it, but I would also like the choice of styles and sizes a new goods store provides) but at the moment I have to buy all my clothes off the net from ethical retailers.

Answer 8

Government mandated anything will not go over well with most Americans.   Show companies better ways to produce things without the waste and they might eventually switch.    We can cut junk mail out by writing to companies or having our post office block it.   If stuff is over-packaged at your market, take it apart and leave the extra packaging there; dump single wrapped items into your shopping bag to be later put into a glass jar at home while leaving the box and inner plastic lining at the store.

Answer 9

yes

Answer 10

If you are so concerned about this issue you want the nanny government to do something about it, why did  you just glibly throw the yellow pages in the trash?  Did you even TRY to ask around to see if anyone else wanted it?  If nothing else, you could have used them as toilet paper.  Wanting the government to come stormtrooping in to solve something that you arent willing to do anything about smacks of Hypocracy.

Another thing, I am curious as to just how you propose the banning of all waste?  Do you think all private enterprise must cease?  Do you REALLY think the government isnt even MORE wasteful than private companies?  Or are you talking about personal waste.  Maybe you think everybody (except you, of course) needs to go around with corks in all their personal orifices?  I believe further research and some basic thought is needed here.

Answer 11

I totally agree!! I think it is highly unfair that councils want to introduce a scheme whereby you have to pay (by weight) to dispose of rubbish!! They need to tackle the companies that use unneccesary packaging before trying to charge us!!

Also another thing, I don't think the govenrment are serious about reducing waste to help the planet: I think for them it is just another excuse to get money out of people. My reason for this belief is because take for example, if they were serious why not introduce schemes whereby bottles and cans are sent back to the very companies who these bottles and cans belong to and whereby they can clean and disinfect them and thus re-use them. This method would be much better for the environment since energy is still required for the present method of recycling whereby  glass and metal is broken down to remake new bottles and cans!!

Answer 12

OK every time you go to the store STOP do not buy  anything that way you will not have a waste problem at your house. ever thing you use leaves waste. And charging for the amount of waste per house what a money maker for the Government . And don't start on new taxes you pay them in the end ,its passed on to the public as a cost of doing business.

Answer 13

i like this debate.let me tell you something about where i work.i often see the big retail stores overstocking their warehouses with needless goods three times a day.i can name them but maybe in trouble.and these stores are well-known to us.recently attended a meeting with all these store managers regarding waste.and they said that all the packaging the customers can take home when they buy their goods.my point is -the problems start with the retail regarding the amount of rubbish that is being bought by us everyday.my tip for you lot is when you buy something next timeis.please can you take off all this plastic as  i dont need it.

Answer 14

Yes...

"but did you know that you should not put shredded paper in the recycle bin!"

Answer 15

i totally agree with you

Answer 16

I agree with what you wrote, but I am also really bothered by the multi-pack stuff, where companies seal in plastic several single items, which are already over-packaged, this should cost more,  not less.

Answer 17

What a good question, and I totally agree that something should be done to stop this un-wanted mail etc. There is a number which you can phone, and be taken off the mailing list, but how many people do this? What ever we do, we will still get this rubbish through our letter boxes.

If we all sent this mail back to the `sender` then they may think of stopping this nuisance.

Answer 18

well if you're going to pay a disposal fee then give them something to dispose.  Maybe that's why some people don't recycle.  

Actually we're all trying to have them make fewer laws not more, and we don't want to be policed like that, or live so uptight because they might.  You can of course contact the marketing associations and request that they don't send you junk mail, or you could stop signing up for stuff on the net to be delivered to you (email, postal or ups).  If everyone had a pc then people wouldn't be bothered with mailings, but from what I hear 50% of Americans still don't have a computer.  

Wow, you deposited youryellow pages into the dustbin.  What's a dustbin?  Shouldn't it have been put into the recycler.  And, hey, you're so good at this, that you're welcome to now remove the 14 thick yellow pages books from our entryway that have been there 6 weeks now (if you want).  I had a question on here a few months back about the waste of yellow pages (there are 4 different companies here that produce those, and the books they send out are nearly the same). Well if you complain to those companies along with me and the pictures I send them maybe we could make some headway.