Recycling the news

Many people ask where the news comes from, and a majority of it is through media releases, sent out by businesses, charities and organisations – such as our local District Council who yesterday sent me an email about Green Week.

A media release, some cynical people may say, is a piece of propaganda. A story written from one side only – and to others it is an advertisement selling an organisations ideas. But for me it is the starting point for a story.

You have the first piece of information and you use your judgement to see if there is a need to get a quote from an opposing view point to turn the media release into a balanced news story.

There wasn’t much to say about the Green Week email from Eden Council. They say how they are aiming to reduce the districts CO2 emissions et cetra. But we must remember that it isn’t the council doing all the recycling, it is we the householders.

I hate Wednesday evenings because I have to put out the recycling for the curb side collection. They won’t take cardboard or plastic so that piles up until there’s enough to fill the card and is transported to the town recycling centre, which is usually full, so it comes back home again for a another few weeks.

I think we should use the earth’s resources wisely, and I don’t like wastes. But why should senior citizens, like my neighbour who is in her 80s have to push and kick a green box full of heavy newspaper, cans and bottles to the curb side. I have difficulty carrying the box.


If health and safety say it is too much for a strong, healthy cleaning engineer, or bin man as they use to be called, to carry the box to the collection vehicle, how is it okay for my neighbour and everyone else.

I remember as a child watching the bin men coming to take the metal dustbin from outside our house on their backs and throwing the rubbish into the bin cart before coming back up the path and replacing the bin where it lived. My parents paid less council tax then and got a better service. Why can’t the bin and recycling collectors do that today?

My neighbour paid a hefty price for the recycling, a broken leg when her garden waste wheelie bin pulled her over on the steep driveway. How many more people have pulled their backs, slipped a disk or fallen carrying these badly designed recycling bins?

So while the Council celebrates the great work it is doing to make the world a greener place, they should remember it is us that’s doing all the hard work.

The news story about Green Week in Eden is now available on www.edenvalleymessenger.com