Reduce, reuse, recycle

I don't get recycling. Not the need for it. That's obvious. If something is a finite resource, it makes sense to get as much use as possible out of it before throwing it away. That's why most of my wardrobe was clearly purchased in the eighties.

No, my problem is not in theory but in practice. I have an item, say a crisp packet, and I think “I'm a good citizen. I will make sure I recycle this.” Then I'm confronted with six bins. Is it plastic? It looks plastic-y but I have a memory that tells me that crisp packets are coated with a thin layer of metal foil nowadays, so maybe it should go in with the tins. Then again, it's also coated with a thin layer of crisps, and that doesn't mean it should go in food recycling. Perhaps I should consult the packaging. There are rules, after all. I scour the back of the crisp packet, until I find a tiny picture. It is of a man throwing a crisp packet into a bin. The type of bin is unspecified.

It turns out that there are 17 different symbols officially used on packaging that relate to recycling. That's a lot of ways to answer a simple yes/no question. Is it any wonder the majority of us struggle to know what to do with used toothbrushes, or whether juice cartons count as cardboard or plastic. The symbol I had found on the packet, in fact, has nothing to do with recycling, and simply means “throw this rubbish in the bin and not into the street you ignorant pig.” While advice had been provided, I didn't feel it gave me any more direction than the most basic veneer of civilisation.

Even when items are clearly marked, the issue of what to do about food debris is confusing. Yoghurt pots are marked as being recyclable plastic, so I dutifully wash them out, place them in on the draining board to dry, then transfer them to the recycling areas in the utility room, before finally putting them in the plastics sack, ready to be picked up by the council. I'll admit, this sometimes seems like a little bit too much effort. I'm assuming they don't separate them out at the other end, so my dutifully washed plastic will immediately get lumped in with all of the unwashed masses and re-contaminated. Unless they have a yoghurt pot monitor pulling out the rogue items and noting which of us goody two shoes have put the effort in, it all seems a bit of a waste of time.

Furthermore, have you ever tried washing out a coke can? It's got a tiny little hole at the top, so all you can do is fill it up, swill it around, and attempt to pour it out again. No matter how many attempts you make, you are not cleaning out the unwanted cola, you are simply making it homeopathic. This, I'm reliably assured, can only make the contamination stronger.

Still, we keep on struggling onwards. Recycling is vital. A geologist once told me that, while climate change is real and important, it is nowhere near as important as the rapid depletion of our natural resources. It's just easier to explain the impact of Brighton being turned into a new Atlantis, then to tell people why it's such a big issue that we're slowly running out of talcum powder. So I'll keep on washing yoghurt pots, separating my cardboard from my plastic, and leaving out six separate bins for the council each week. I just hope, for the sake of the planet, it's not all going back into one big bin at the other end.