Nicholas Craig column

Mar 16 2007 By Nicholas Craig, The Journal

I may not be as green as the average party political leader, but I want to do my bit, especially as there appears to be a 90% probability that climate change will be traced back to fallible humans like me in the next weighty report.

I recycle fastidiously, rinsing and separating, remembering which colour is which for the growing line of bins, and telling myself, yet again, to find out exactly what is meant by the `wrong' sort of plastic.

Yet my painstaking cleansing of baked bean and soup cans leaves me no wiser as to where they all end up. Apparently some of our recycled waste is more than likely to be found in Asia. Half our plastic bottles are said to be carted off to China in carbon-crunching `trash miles' journeys.

Only a few huge waste companies control the long paper, glass and plastic trail.

The Green Party is keen to carry out an environmental audit about the entire strategy of exporting waste.

It would be reassuring to know that our environmentally efficient efforts are recycled more locally than the far east.

The routine of recycling is undoubtedly here to stay. English households beat the government target this year, recycling 27% of their waste.

Meanwhile, Scottish government has thought up a cannily attractive incentive. Scots will be given rebates of £100 on their council tax bills if they reduce energy consumption and recycle waste.

It all depends, however, on Labour being voted back into power after May's election - once the politicians have their reward, the recyclers will get theirs.

Recycling is a far better option than landfill or living next to an incinerator, even if it is still imperfect. It is also a practical way in which all of us who are genuinely concerned about environmental matters can feel positively involved. If we also use less energy and buy goods with recycling or reuse in mind, targets will be hit more quickly.

Given how inefficient some wind farms are proving to be and how even organic food can cause environmental damage, recycling allows us to make gestures that can be seen to have a real effect on our environment.

It is, however, up to governments across the globe to put together agreements that could eventually clamp back the charge of climate change. There's no time to waste.

Nicholas Craig is a partner at Watson Burton law firm.