the GreenHouse Project

Guild Care	What's the problem?
Charity Superstore and Furniture Warehouse

British households produce over 25 million tonnes of rubbish every year. That is enough to fill the Royal Albert Hall every hour! Even more rubbish is generated in the production of our goods, so UK industry adds another 400 million tonnes per year. We have a lot of “hidden rubbish” to account for overseas, as the production of raw materials we use often is highly wasteful. According to Friends of the Earth, the amount of waste generated in producing everyday products is 1.5 kg for a toothbrush, 75 kg for a mobile phone and 1,500 kg for a computer.

Problem number 1 - What to do with all the rubbish?

Bury it?

The most common way of disposing of rubbish in Britain is to bury it at landfill sites. Landfill sites are not only ugly and unpleasant, they also produce poisonous liquids and dangerous gasses. The rotting rubbish also releases methane into the air, contributing to global warming.

Some people still think landfill sites are a good way of disposing of rubbish (as long as the sites are nowhere near their homes of course). But we are running out of suitable space for landfills. In ten years time landfill will no longer be an option in West Sussex. What do we do then?

Burn it?

Another way of dealing with rubbish is to burn it in incinerators. The problem is that burning does not destroy the rubbish, it just changes form into gas and ash. These waste products contain many hazardous chemicals, including dioxins that are a cause of cancer. The chemicals spread and in the long run we end up eating, drinking and inhaling the most dangerous parts of our rubbish.

The incineration industry claims that burning waste is a form of recycling as the process can generate energy. But when you burn material you then have to produce more, and this uses up more energy than you get from the incineration.

There is debate about the dangers of both landfill sites and incineration. Some people think the problems can be solved by technical solutions. But that leads us to problem number two :

Problem number 2 – What a waste!

Rubbish is waste. It is a waste of resources, energy, time and money to produce things only to then throw them away. We live on a small planet with limited resources. We, in the rich part of the world, are today using more than our fair share of these resources, depriving people in the third world and future generations. Using less resources does not mean you have to lower your standard of living. Drinks from a reusable container taste just as good and recycled paper works just as well.

Want to know what you can do? Click here for the solutions page.

Want more hard-core facts? Click here for the links page.