THE INCREDIBLE JOURNEY OF YOUR RECYCLED RUBBISH

From the green wheelie bins of Chapel Allerton Leeds, to the distant shores of Jakarta, Indonesia, just where is your recycling going?

Britain has one of the worst records in Europe for recycling its refuse, reusing just 10% of its waste.

Recycling scheme

England and Wales creates over 150 million tons of waste a year. It is a issue that needs to be seriously addressed.

It's a problem that Leeds City Council is proudly attempting to tackle with the introduction of its recycling scheme.

Under the scheme, households are provided with a second bin for recyclable materials.

The morally conscious of Leeds have been carefully separating their rubbish to protect and preserve the environment, something we are all encouraged to do.

Waste not want not

Plastics and paper are the well known staples of recycling, but it may come as a shock to learn that items such as mobile phones and even computers can be successfully recycled.

Western waste

With a successful recycling scheme in place the people of Leeds can feel satisfied that they are doing their bit to protect the planet….can’t they?

Indonisia is notorious for importing Western waste

Sadly no. Any benefits the recycling of household waste may have to the environment are being outweighed by the fact that Leeds' waste is being shipped halfway around the world to be disposed of. To the far flung shores of Jakarta, Indonesia to be precise.

The waste is shipped from Leeds City Council’s collection depot to one of two disposal companies in South Yorkshire.

There it is packed and then shipped to Indonesia, a country notorious for importing Western waste.

This practice of exporting goes against all accepted guidelines on recycling, which recommends processing as close to the source of waste as possible.

Exporting problems

Green organisations in Indonesia are angry that a developed Western city is exporting its problems.

"I think it’s unethical for a community to export their waste to another community when we have enough of the problem already." Emmie Hafield, Environmental activist

And it’s not only the people of Indonesia who are outraged by the refuse disposal. Lucy Wheeler of Chapel Allerton was an enthusiastic user of the scheme.

"I thought we were meant to think locally and act globally… the whole essence of recycling is that things should be kept as locally as possible when they’re reused. Burning fossil fuels to move them round the world doesn’t make any sense." Lucy Wheeler, recycling enthusiast

Waste as a commodity

The practice however, has its supporters. John Barton, waste expert of Leeds University believes that waste should be considered as just another raw material and traded as such.

"It’s about time we stopped thinking of waste as rubbish and started seeing it as a resourc... it has the same status as any other raw material." John Barton, Leeds University

Leeds City Council have defended the Indonesian connection, claiming it is simply a temporary measure, although the waste has been shipped east for two years now.

"The market is global. We’re sending the waste or the resource to where the market is. Currently the market tends to be abroad." Steve Smith, Leeds City Council Waste Manager

So is it a case of passing the buck to make a quick buck? Or are Leeds City Council acting with the best of intentions? It remains to be seen.

Meanwhile the people of Chapel Allerton continue to painstakingly separate their paper and plastic, in the hope that their efforts will be of some benefit to the environment - however small that benefit turns out to be.