If Deirdre Alden doesn't become a Conservative councilor she's developing a role for herself as a recycling evangelist. Her blog is becoming an essential resource for anyone wondering what they can or cannot recycle and why.
The above photo was posted on her blog last month from a stall she'd been involved with running at Harborne Farmers Market and in this post she goes into more detail.
"Birmingham's green multi-material boxes are for empty food tins, glass bottles and jars, and plastic bottles. These can be see through bottles such as those used for pop, water and washing up liquid, or opaque and coloured bottles such as those used for milk, bleach and fabric conditioner. The Council currently doesn't have the facilities to deal with margarine tubs, yoghurt pots, sandwich boxes, fruit punnets or other food containers - regardless of whether they have a recycling symbol on them or not.
The plastic bottles from the multi-material boxes are made into other plastic bottles, garden furniture and fleeces. The glass is mixed with tarmac to make road surfaces. Glass from bottle banks is turned into new glass bottles.
Items such as yoghurt pots should be put into the black bags. Unlike most Councils, Birmingham landfills very little of its waste (currently less than 20%). The rest goes to the incinerator at Tysley where the heat generated is used to light the streets around the plant and the ash is used to fill holes in the roads."
7 Comments:
I think she's already a councilor , but wants to be an MP (prospective parliamentary candidate?).
I'm conflicted over her blog, I think it's great that she does it, fantastic attempt at communication with her constituents (is that the right word, councilors have a ward rather than a constituency don't they?), but I find it dull. I think it's a list of what she's done and visited doesn't inspire me in the way that a politician can by talking about the future and what can be done. I don't find enough opinion there to be very interested.
Maybe that's a fault of politicians blogs rather than this one in particular, the terror that seems to grip most when it comes to actually saying anything that might commit them to a position - which is no doubt driven by the parties.
I know I don't have to read it, but in a way I think it's important to - in the same way I read a feed of everything my local MP says in parliament, most of the time with no great interest.
I think the internet, blogs, whatever are still wide open for some politician on a local level to connect in a way that hasn't been done yet. Hmmm, that's an idea...
A problem I have with Deirdre Alden's 'blog' is it does not allow comments or debate. It seems to me to be about controlling the message rather than engaging her constituents
Yeah, her blog isn't perfect by any stretch but it's worth a skim. The recycling stuff interests me though as it's probably not her primary reason for starting the blog but it's the most useful thing on there.
I suspect she saw that episode of The Thick Of It ("Rise of the Nutters" I think) and decided against comments...
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Whilst it's great that there are some in Birmingham that are interested in recycling, I have to say that the Council themselves are pretty adept in the Shooting Themselves in the Foot department when it comes to this themselves.
They really don't do to well - it's all very well saying that a huge proportion of the waste is burnt for energy but that's not very green. In Moseley we still don't have glass or plastic pick-ups anyways.
I really don't like her blog. It just seems to recount the number of things she's doing other than in Edgbaston and she also seems to not want to engage in debate. (Is she a bit scared of it?)
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