Recycling
contributes to global warming?
Recent reports in the Daily Mail and Daily
Telegraph have claimed that recycling could be adding to the problem of global
warming, following a BBC interview with Peter Jones, who is an adviser to Defra
and sits on the London Waste and Recycling Board.
Mr Jones actually said that overall we
are reducing our carbon footprint by diverting material from landfill, but this
doesn’t make for a catchy headline!
He urged a review of the financial
costs and benefits of recycling, to address householders’ concerns that it is
pointless to sort out rubbish because it doesn’t get recycled. He would like to
see consideration given to diverse methods of dealing with waste, including
more energy generation from organic material through anaerobic digestion.
WRAP (the Waste and Resources Action
Programme) Chief Executive Liz Goodwin called the newspaper reports misleading.
She feared suggestions that recycling adds to global warming could threaten the
progress made through recycling schemes in the UK.
She said: “Independent research carried
out by internationally recognised experts has shown across the board that
recycling is the best environmental option.
“In the last year, the UK recycled 8.6
million tonnes paper, saving the equivalent of 11 million tonnes of CO2
emissions…. For every tonne of plastic recycled back into plastic goods, one tonne
of virgin plastic does not have to be manufactured. Recycling 1 tonne of
plastic saves 2 tonnes of CO2 equivalent emissions in comparison to
incineration with energy recovery.
She added that media commentary
suggesting that shipping our waste for recycling to China was worse for the
environment than employing energy from waste incineration here in the UK was
also unfounded. Research had shown that exporting paper for recycling in China
provided approximately five times the savings in carbon emissions compared to
sending it to waste for energy treatment facilities in the UK.
In most circumstances, recycling paper, card,
glass, plastics and metals is preferable to any other waste management option.
However, when recycling is not an option, WRAP considers that recovery of
energy from waste can contribute to a balanced energy policy.
This is borne out by a recent report from
National Grid – The potential for Renewable Gas in the UK - which
suggests that biogas derived from sewage, food waste and unwanted wood could
heat half Britain’s homes.
Source:
Environmental Data Interactive Exchange ( www.edie.net )
and see also
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/earth/earthnews/4365681/Recycling-could-be-adding-to-global-warming.html