Waste disposal - especially in a big city - has become not only big business but high tech.
Housewives have discovered, to a lesser degree I'll admit - it is no longer a matter of just putting all the garbage in a bin.
For some time now they not only usually have three bins and have to put the right thing in the right bin.
The councils take the moral high ground on this imposed free labour (pre-sorting the waste into the right bin or penalties will ensue) with how vital it all is to the environment.
Well, there is sense in recycling (of course) and in reducing unnecessary waste - doesn't give anyone the right to demand free labour however - where is the pay back, reduction in rates? No, they keep going up - well that's the beef.
There are upsides though.
There are a number of steps to effective waste management - for sure recycling is a key one - but it isn't all.
There is reduction to - probably the first step - like the Kenco packaging - a whopping 97% less material (by weight) - if only all packing could achieve that level of reduction.
In South Africa they offer many goods - like washing powder, cleaning fluid and even corn flakes at a lower price if you come in with your own container - what an obvious discount and saving - if only it would catch on and save all the effort of even recycling by collecting the containers, transport, clean and re-mould them - doesn't that seem much more sensible? Then you just melt them down when they are getting worn out and leaking - after 50 to a hundred uses for many a plastic bottle! Your blue bin doesn't look so efficient after that! Confidential waste disposal always has the extra concern of ensuring it is fully destroyed.
There are high security shredders that do a serious job of cutting paper into tiny jagged strips - cheap shredders look good - but it is amazing what you can do with a scanner and a PC these days! Recycling is, usually much more efficient in electricity and transport - though as in the example above don't get so fixed on the current plans that you miss much bigger opportunities.
There is the health aspect too - using the same milk bottle over and over again without good sterilization may not be a good idea.
In all the trend is certainly in the right direction - but there is always room for original thought in any field of human endeavor and we too often get fixed into fixed ways or looking at a new tax or curve in the dream.