Sunday 3 December 2017

Déchetterie

The déchetterie is where you take stuff to be recycled or disposed of, that is for whatever reason, not suitable for the smaller local bins provided.   For example, you take used engine oil there, half-empty paint tins and garden waste.  We have been going there a fair bit recently with garden waste.  Normally I shred and compost all the waste from my garden, but recently we have been cleaning an area that contains a lot of wild clematis.

Clematis is vile stuff; toxic and with a sap that, if you shred the plant, ends up in a fine spray and does nasty things to your eyes and lungs.  So we take it to the dump from where it is shredded along with other garden waste in industrial quantities by huge machines, then composted and distributed (sold?) to local farmers.

Our déchetterie has had a revamp recently.  It's much bigger than it used to be, with a big tarmac on-ramp, plenty of large containers for the rubbish, each one for dumping a different type of material.  There is a container for card, one for plastic, one for metals, and so on.   Much of it gets recycled.

Generally I'm in favour of recyling efforts, although I do wonder how efficient they are.  Does the Earth-saving value obtained from recycling my bins of plastic, glass and metal compensate for the use of diesel to drive there?  How about if you take into account the energy needed to build the place?  Would the planet be better off if I just let the clematis dry out then burn it?  I have no real idea.




5 comments:

helen devries said...

When they upgraded the dechetteries in our area the gyppos moved in to take anything worth flogging.

Mark In Mayenne said...

Hi Helen, there's 3 or 4 full-time employees at the site, could make for an interesting fight

helen devries said...

Only one at ours...a real jobsworth. Bullying pensioners into taking apart an old folding chair to get the right thing in the right skip while the gyppos took what they pleased undisturbed. We had a great argument about sump oil as to pour it away you had to climb on a couple of concrete blocks to reach the tub...talk about unsafe, the structure would wobble in a breeze! Solution? The gyppos emptied it for me.

James Higham said...

So we take it to the dump from where it is shredded

And let them have the lung issues. :)

Mark In Mayenne said...

Too right, James, they claim to be the professionals, so let them at it!

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