{"id":1455,"date":"2012-03-12T08:45:05","date_gmt":"2012-03-12T08:45:05","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/blogs.bath.ac.uk\/edswahs\/?p=1455"},"modified":"2012-03-12T08:45:05","modified_gmt":"2012-03-12T08:45:05","slug":"albert-bartlet-aluminium-cans-and-recycling-myths","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/blogs.bath.ac.uk\/edswahs\/2012\/03\/12\/albert-bartlet-aluminium-cans-and-recycling-myths\/","title":{"rendered":"Albert Bartlet, aluminium cans, and recycling myths"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>I've been re-watching the redoubtable <strong><em>Albert Bartlet<\/em><\/strong> on <a href=\"http:\/\/www.youtube.com\/watch?v=F-QA2rkpBSY\">You Tube<\/a>. \u00a0AB says that it's really important that everyone understand the exponential function \u2013 and, of course, it is. \u00a0But, given that a vast range of people seem to struggle with simple percentages, this looks a hopeless prospect, and we'll all likely keep thinking everything's ok when it isn't.<\/p>\n<p>I was reminded of this when browsing the gushing data from the USA Aluminum (<em>sic<\/em>) industry which tells us that \"nearly 56 billion aluminum cans were recycled in 2010\". \u00a0This is a used can recycling rate of 58.1% \u2013 the highest in 11 years, it seems. \u00a0Impressive, or what?<\/p>\n<p>Well, bearing AB in mind, it's distinctly \"<em>what<\/em>\". \u00a0At this rate of \u00a0recycling, 89% of the metal used in can production ends up in landfill after only 4 <em>make-collect-remake<\/em> cycles.<\/p>\n<p>In the UK, meanwhile, according to <a href=\"http:\/\/www.alupro.org.uk\">Alupro<\/a>, a PR outfit, ...<\/p>\n<blockquote><p><em>Aluminium is\u00a0the metal that goes on and on ... .<\/em><\/p><\/blockquote>\n<p>... and<\/p>\n<blockquote><p><em>All aluminium packaging can be recycled, endlessly, saving natural resources and energy<\/em><\/p><\/blockquote>\n<p><em>However,<\/em> \"<em>can be<\/em>\" isn't quite the same as \"<em>is<\/em>\", especially as the latest recycling rate for aluminium cans in the UK is even lower than in the USA at 54% (<a href=\"http:\/\/www.letsrecycle.com\/news\/latest-news\/metals\/uk-aluminium-can-recycling-rate-picks-up-pace\">2009<\/a>) \u2013 a recycling\u00a0rate that means ~92% of the metal used ends up in landfill after 4 cycles. \u00a0What a triumph.<\/p>\n<p>Thus, aided by ignorance and credulity, youngsters are peddled myths, and people and\u00a0understanding kept firmly apart.<\/p>\n<p>Meanwhile, in Finland, the recycling rates is 95%. \u00a0How, we might ask, is this possible? \u00a0 Well, they are Fins, with something of a reputation for being model citizens, but might it also have something to do with the sort of compulsory can deposit schemes that our government has set its face against?<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>I've been re-watching the redoubtable Albert Bartlet on You Tube. \u00a0AB says that it's really important that everyone understand the exponential function \u2013 and, of course, it is. \u00a0But, given that a vast range of people seem to struggle with...<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":237,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false},"categories":[2,4],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-1455","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-comment","category-news-and-updates"],"acf":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack-related-posts":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.bath.ac.uk\/edswahs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1455","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.bath.ac.uk\/edswahs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.bath.ac.uk\/edswahs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.bath.ac.uk\/edswahs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/237"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.bath.ac.uk\/edswahs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1455"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.bath.ac.uk\/edswahs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1455\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.bath.ac.uk\/edswahs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1455"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.bath.ac.uk\/edswahs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1455"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.bath.ac.uk\/edswahs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1455"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}