I welcome the news that Aberdeenshire Council are adopting an innovative approach to increasing recycling efforts through reverse vending machines at bus stations. Passengers gain points for every can and bottle they recycle. As the Park and Ride location they are using attracts 100,000+ users a year this could help reduce a significant number of bottles and cans from landfill. It is much easier to take your can and bottle on a trip you are making anyway than having to go out of your way to the recycling centre.

For every 50 green points (1 item = 1 point) that a passenger accumulates they receive a 20p bus travel voucher, and 100 points earns them a 50p travel discount. It maybe does not sound a lot but to be honest the amount you receive is not the determining factor, it is still a small incentive.  It is more about increasing accessibility.

Hopefully it will prove successful with “new recyclers” appearing and consequently the system is rolled out in other areas.

I must applaud the Scottish education system and a school on the Western Isles for embracing the land in their curriculum by developing a new course in crofting (yes you heard correct!! crofting!!). 

At last a class that allows pupils to really understand what is going on around them and will hopefully result in them making more ’sustainable choices’ as they grow up.  Hopefully it will also embed a passion for locally sourced food, and an understanding of the need to support local indigenous food producers.  The fact that it is taught on the croft rather than the classroom is of significant importance - the pupils can actually truely relate to it, rather than tyring to relate what they are reading/hearing in a classroom setting.

I hope as a result of this pupils understanding of the land and the natural environment around them will be significantly enhanced.

BBC - New Course in Crofting

As I was driving to work this morning I heard a brief discussion on the radio on Fife council plans to look at reducing carbon emissions through changes to street light operation at night, and I have to say it is not before time that this issue was looked at. 

It really does annoy me at how many unnecessary street lights we have in the UK, and it really does my head in to see them coming on when it is still light, every council should be looking at this!!  As I understand it the Fife council were looking to pilot various options including dimming, switching off late night, and using more energy efficient lights.  The latter should be implemented everywhere anyway.

I am in the fortunate position were safety at night is not a major problem but I do undestand that there may be concerns on this front.  Therefore can we not have some sort of compromise and look at each light on an individual basis - are all lights in quiet residential areas necessary?  Can we turn them all off between midnight and 5am?  Or can we turn half off?  Again can those in other perhaps more ‘unsafe’ areas be dimmed late at night?  Do they really need to be as bright as present?

I would be willing to forgo unnecessary polluting bright street lights in order to benefit our environment.  Are you?