It came to mind last Saturday - it had been shouting at me for months but only became crystal clear as I was talking to someone about energy use, renewable energy and the like. The "climate" word wasn't mentioned, but the moment of clarity went something like this:

"We try to do our best, we recycle what we can."

And that's it?

What happened to all the other stuff, the real big hitters, the things that can potentially make a huge difference to the future of our planet if the majority of us decide to do them?

"We recycle what we can."

That really is it.

And why should I be surprised? Maybe I should be pleased about the recycling, but I'm not; I'm really disappointed. Not because people recycle, but because for almost everyone I talk to - and I guess my friends and acquaintances are more environmentally sensitive than average - that's where the buck stops. Did I put them on the spot? Not really - the comments are invariably volunteered during conversations. Are they doing lots more? Well, let's see.


An extremely reputable UK Government survey for 2001 (DEFRA - Public Attitudes) found that in the UK, 52% of people took an active part in paper recycling (the highest percentage for any material). As an aside, the figure for the influential 25-44 age range was only 45% - the highest being for aged 65+.

In the same survey, an impressive 40% of people said they had cut down on their use of either electricity or natural gas. The reason? 80% of those people did it to save money. Only 15% did so to protect the environment. Aggregated, this means that only 6% of people in the UK have reduced their use of natural gas or electricity in order to protect the environment.

And here is another. 40% of people had deliberately used public transport, cycled or walked instead of using the car. Now that is frankly appalling in itself considering that means 60% of people use the car at every possible opportunity. The reason for reducing car use? 59% to get more exercise, compared to 17% (both answers could be given by one person) to protect the environment. Again, only about 6% of people in the UK have reduced their car use in order to protect the environment.


The title of this piece has a second "Something" in it. Remember the mantra was always meant to be "Reduce, Reuse and Recycle - in that order". After reducing what you use, you consider how you can reuse it, so it doesn't have to be recycled. In terms of something like office paper, we can reuse it as animal bedding, scrap for notes, packaging, wrapping paper, mulch (yes, I have done all of these). In terms of energy it becomes more critical.

Reduce : Use less energy in the first place

Reuse : Use the same source over and over again - renewables, combined heat and power and so on

Recycle : There is no recycle - energy is energy

Now, don't get me wrong, I think recycling is a great thing - it reduces ground and potentially air pollution and reduces the amount of raw materials required for products; although, be honest, when was the last time that you consciously bought a product made from recycled materials?


In our version of a civilised, free society, people will almost always take the least cost, least effort option. So what's the problem if people only want to recycle?

No problem, no problem at all. But if you do care whether the world gets better or not then you will already be doing far more.



And please visit  http://www.reduce3.com : recycling is NOT the only option.