shopping the supermarkets

[Alison]

Re the recycling thing, it's law the the councils have to provided door stop collection for 2 (yes, just two!!!) products in the next couple of years. Not exactly a high target. Round here we've got a normal full size wheely bin every week (we hardly use it and apparently they're going every 2 weeks later this year), a full size green bin for garden rubbish (no soil or kitchen waste, but put some stale compost in there last time and hid it under some hedge clippings so fingers crossed they take it this Friday!) which gets picked up every two weeks between March and November and finally a half size blue bin for paper (but not card, yellow pages or envelopes). Everything else has to be taken to waste centers which we try to tie in with shopping trips. We can take cardboard, glass and plastic bottles fairly easily but can't find anywhere locally for any other types of plastic and have yet to find a yoghurt pot that can be recycled despite the claims on the packaging - use some for seedling but don't need that many!!!!!!!

Make a maximum trip into supermarkets once per month and that's just for loo roll and various household goods. Pretty much no eating products bought there as I now have a good network of local shops / suppliers - took a bit of work but turns out I'm quite well serviced round here.

[johnty greentoes]

Re the recycling thing, it's law the the councils have to provided door stop collection for 2 (yes, just two!!!) products in the next couple of years.

...and that is how "Local" government works, i.e. it is actually run from Whitehall - here is a target and woebetide you if...

So we are led to believe that the centre is devolving more power to local level - I am afraid it is all spin. The centre can't be seen to be "controlling/paternalistic" etc so it plays a game of semantics. "We are giving power to local people" blah blah blah. In fact what they are doing is giving local people the opportunity to adopt targets given by them! It is all a big con. There is only 1 level of government, central, run from the office of 10 Downing Street.

Now I wouldn't be totally against such a model if it was upfront about itself, but it isn't. On recycling for example I think the centre should say... this is what WE are going to do via Local Authorities and here is the £ to do it. In stead they say we would like Local Authoritoes to achieve x amount of y by z, and you can bid for money to do it in some kind of glorified National Lottery.

Absolute smoke and mirrors politics.

Transparency - b*****ks!