Council may hinder green efforts · Issue 862, by Sophie Cole

Sophie Cole, continues to praise the Union’s ‘Go Green’ campaign but suggests its lasting impact may be jeopardised by Cardiff City Council

So, here we are, a week on from the Students’ Union’s ‘Go Green’ campaign, those who got involved should still be basking in the ‘I took one for the planet’ lime-light; initiatives which were thrust into our student domain included a Cathays wide litter pick, increased recycling bins within University buildings, give-aways of ‘Go Green’ bags of goodness and the elusive bundles of green recycling bin-bags.

And for all of these ‘raising awareness’ tactics one should still be, firmly, on two feet, applauding the efforts of the Union. For the truth is, sustainable living is something we students should be concerned with on a daily basis; however, this is not the reality of the situation.

Nonetheless, with the active involvement of the Union on this issue and, most importantly, the tinge of green which has permeated into its waste disposal facilities, one can definitely acknowledge the possibly power these changes can have…one hopes that we will allow similar adjustments to infiltrate into our daily living.

Of course, this article is not an entirely tuneful song of the University’s green efforts, there is certainly more that needs to be done, you will not find a recycling bin in every lecture or study room, nor will you come across separate waste disposal bins in your halls’ kitchen. Furthermore, your main library will still print out one piece of paper with every book that every student takes out.

Nevertheless, in essence, the University does aim to epitomise its sole purpose. It strives to educate, all, staff and students, on contemporary issues, and, for that, one cannot condemn their failings, only praise their elements of success.

However, the vigorously shaking of such campaigns to ‘wake up and smell the fair-trade coffee’ is redundant without the backing of official authorities. Undoubtedly, no one could claim that Cardiff City Council are not striving for an ethic of sustainable living; after all their declaration states of a “committed to looking after our environment for future generations”.

Yet, it is difficult for this to resonate when none of their waste and recycling intiatives are applied to the prodominantly student areas of Cardiff. The 2001 census showed that 11% of the Cardiff population were students. With ever ambitious targets for recycling and composting and the continually evolving European Union Legislation that drive for more sustainable waste management practices, the Council cannot afford to, ultimately, eliminate a tenth of its resources, and potentially risk jeopardising its goals for green living.

Although for many, this notion may have seemed to have been plucked from thin air, yet, I ask you…do you know when your green recycling bin bags are collected, and how often? Do you know what can be put in them and, subsequentially, recycled?...Have you ever tried to request more, with no avail?…More importantly; do you even have green bags within your household?!

The truth of the matter is, that there are huge restrictions as to what can be put within these magical green accessories. For instance, shredded paper and thick cardboard should be kept out. Furthermore, broken glass should not be put in there, of course, this, I assume, is a safety reason.

However, as a member of a female student house, who all consume wine and the sneaky shot of sambuca, spread jam, honey and peanut butter on our toast (sometimes on one slice), I do not deny, we are partial to a pot of Lloyd Grossman’s irresistible pasta sauce. Irrespective of our food habits we do produce a lot of glass, and often, a majority of this, somehow, gets broken. What are we supposed to do, just cease to recycle?! Do not get me wrong, I understand that some of you may be thinking, ‘just go to the glass banks’, and yes you are right, we have cars, so this is possible. However, why should this journey have to be done when some members of Cardiff have this privilege.

Additionally, Cardiff Council’s website informs that, “all people will get the same service, with a weekly collection of general waste and a collection of recyclables and compostable waste”, any of you who are half as aware as me will know that, firstly, recycling waste is only collected fornightly, and second of all, will be asking what constitutes compostable waste and with what means do we put this aside from the normal waste.

When these queries were put to Cardiff Council, or C2C, as they liked to be referred, it was instructed that household members had to ask for the facilities to recycle biodegrable waste. Sadly, this is not the attitude one would expect from an authority who claims that the “environment plays a key part in our daily lives and we work hard to strike a balance between development strike a balance between development and quality of life in the capital”.

This article does not suggest that the stencil of a dictatorship scheme should be applied to the tribulations of waste disposal, it simply considers that these facilities should be supplied to all and states that it should not be assumed that certain social groups will not be interested or committed to recycling and sorting their waste. This attitudes alone predetermines the perspectives that the ‘Go Green’ campaigned tried so hard to amend.