Camden New Journal - letters - Recycling colours are not green

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Camden New Journal - LETTERS TO THE EDITOR
Published: May 2007

Recycling colours are not green

• THE recent statements from our Lib Dem /Conservative council on their commitment to the environment seem rather hollow following their decision to scrap door-to-door recycling in parts of Camden.
Door-to-door recycling has been cut because it apparently costs too much, yet at the same time in leafy Hampstead, residents are having a twice-weekly doorstep collection. A tale of two boroughs? It would seem that way as the majority of the cuts have been in council properties south of the Euston Road.
When Labour ran the council they had the sense to introduce the door-to-door recycling scheme to enable residents in council and mansion blocks to recycle. It was a popular scheme and an absurd thing to cut.
The Lib Dems have made considerable noise about their appointment of the first ‘Eco Tsar’ for the borough. While it is a good idea, you have to question whether this role is not just for publicity purposes.
Councillor Alexis Rowell has said absolutely nothing about this cut and has indicated his full support for the budget which scrapped this service.
I question his serious commitment to the environment if he is unwilling to stick his neck out and speak up for recycling, rather than sitting back and voting with his peers. His role is meaningless unless he puts the environment before politics.
I am also disappointed with the replacement of the green recycling bags. The new white bags do not illustrate the type of goods we can and cannot take to the recycling bins. The communal bins we have in King’s Cross are now over flowing with goods. Thankfully our councillors have taken this up and the bins have now been emptied.
The Lib Dems should stop hiding behind rhetoric and put the environment at the heart of their decision-making.
If the green bag scheme was too costly they should have done more to encourage recycling rather than cutting the scheme.
They have shown their true colours in this decision – and the colours are far from green.
DAVID IRVING
Sandwich Street, WC1

Send your letters to: The Letters Editor, Camden New Journal, 40 Camden Road, London, NW1 9DR or email to letters@camdennewjournal.co.uk. The deadline for letters is midday Tuesday. The editor regrets that anonymous letters cannot be published, although names and addresses can be withheld. Please include a full name, postal address and telephone number. Letters may be edited for reasons of space.

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