Green courses launched at two Bath and north east Somerset colleges

“Moexxx - I completely agree. Reuse is beter than recycling, where possible. As for vast mineral wealth being used in consumer electronics, this is one consequence - http://tinyurl.com/7lnkoor

Wont be hypocritical though. I too use a smartphone. I used my previous non-smart phone for 5 years. Still have it as its camera is excellent. I'm hoping my current one will last just as long. A 4-year old laptop is still in constant use.”

“Everyone's talking as if the money paid in landfill tax just goes to landfill. It doesn't. The thing about tax is, it inevitably gets re-invested in the economy. Tax money gets recycled. Tax is just a good way of encouraging the free-market to do the right thing.

The right thing in this case is to reduce the amount of waste going to landfill, for all sorts of reasons: such as the recovery of the rare minerals used in modern products. Mining itself is expensive and damaging, so it makes very little sense (even economically) to mine rare elements like indium and tantalum for electronics products that last only a year or two and then just dump it back in the ground (but in purified toxic forms).

Let's face it; Britain just isn't big enough for everyone to live a safe distance from a toxic waste dump. Landfill tax makes it viable for new businesses to extract and sell-on the valuable stuff. This is a good thing. Everybody wins.

Jezer is right though - re-use is better than recycling, but recycling is still better than dumping. It's not all about carbon.”

“Well, capndave, I am sure we are all flattered by your compliments. We do try to talk sense, but it is not always possible, given the outbursts of certain posters, who shall remain nameless.”

“There's three posters on this site that really get up my nose. jezer, Dave_Weston and aura_flamma.

You just gush copious amounts of common sense and logic. You must stop all of this nonsense before I get used to it and attempt to convey such rational sentiments to the halls of B&NES power.”

“Any fool can chuck bottles into a box to be collected by a gas guzzling lorry. How about using cars a bit less? Oh no, that would require some inconvenience. When I was a lad in the 1950's we had proper recycling. You took bottles back to the shop for a refund. These were used again rather than being melted down in a power consuming factory.”

“It's always made me wonder why Oldland Common, with its scraps of land, polluted streams, delightful smells from the nearby abattoir and odd mixture of housing wasn't used as a landfill site. Most of its residents could be moved elsewhere. ....”

“I don't have a problem with any of that CapnDave - its just the smoke and mirrors talk about "saving" landfill tax which annoys me - especially when it also starts to distort from promoting really green ideas. Last week we had the council promoting the idea of residents driving out to Keynsham dump to take WEE items in order to win prizes - this clearly makes sense in saving landfill tax terms, but the real green message would have been to extend the prizes in Bath to counter the tip being closed and urge people to hold onto such items and bring them in for a prize when they can do so without using unnecessary carbon based fuel!”

“Perhaps we need to divert minds to not having stupid onerous taxes on landfill and other crucial services at a time when we are desperately trying to stimulate growth in the economy? More ridiculous ideological nonsense that is leaving British businesses with both hands tied behind their backs whilst desperately trying to keep their heads above water.”

“And the year 2020 when nothing will be allowed to go to Landfill?

when in fact it simply diverts taxation to other means of generation............

Perhaps it is crucial we divert minds to other means of generation, and I don't just mean electrical energy. Employment generation comes to mind.

Should we not be using that wonderful creative knowledge base we know exists in these isles and develop realistic re-usage of the rubbish we humans create by the mountain loads. Alternative energy sources, products to use and sell, cleaning up our abused countryside, providing literally thousands of proper jobs from the high tech. levels right through the skills to manual labour.

It ain't just about taxation Dave. I actually cannot think of another source material that presents such an opportunity for innovation, profit making and job creation across the educational spectrum. One in which we as a nation have a head start. Can you?”

“More accurately - cost of landfill per tonne = £28 per tonne plus £64 per tonne landfill tax compared to reprocessing at £55 per tonne. Landfill tax goes into central government coffers and is used for general programmes - so saving landfill tax means tax having to be generated elsewhere or cuts being made. In reality switching from landfill to reprocessing costs the country in financial terms £27 per tonne rather than the illusion of saving £37 caused by the distortion of landfill tax. We need to be careful here because as landfill tax rates rise more and more marginal schemes will appear to be financially sensible.

I happen to think that we should still avoid landfilling where we can - within some limits of financial sense. But I think we should make the case for that on proper moral grounds rather than the very dubious argument that it saves landfill tax, when in fact it simply diverts taxation to other means of generation.”