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Money not the only bottom line
MARK Eaton was right to draw attention (June 12) to the confluence of oil depletion, population growth, food security and climate change, and the inevitable effects on Horsham.
I would not want to dilute the good work of Transition Horsham in generating solutions on a personal, citizens' action level, but good intentions and the combined effect of a lot of small changes by a lot of people are not enough and the scale of the issues demand that we need really big changes on international, government and corporate levels.
Local Infrastructure is important, for example the County Waste End Disposal contract in its current form proposes that compostable material, the output from the Anaerobic Digestate plant be burnt; it also fails to sort out and recycle the high chemical value in many plastics, though it does seem that mixed plastics will now be land filled, which is at least one form of storage akin to putting oil back in the ground.
More aggressive recovery of material before it all gets mixed together would be possible despite the county's best efforts so far.
There is much to be said for what WSCC and Biffa have achieved, but I for one would like to see them go further, accept the bigger picture outlined by Mr Eaton, plan accordingly, and get involved in a strategy to build up resilience in the local primary economies by fully recovering all the value in our unused material instead of trying to beat the laws of nature and simply burn it.
This would involve stepping out beyond their traditional boundaries and getting involved with local farmers and industry to complete the recycling loop.
It would also involve learning how to account on environmental and social matters, as well as the Financial; the fabled "Triple Bottom Line".
Cost is a real issue, and there are huge savings to be had in the economy by cutting out unnecessary travel, consumption and waste. The same monetary savings may also translate into benefits in health and welfare.
But to really address the issues raised by Mr Eaton, we have to learn to see money as just one little piece of the jigsaw, and not the dominant factor.
Alan Sloan
Forest Road,
Colgate
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Weather for Horsham
Thursday 09 February 2012
Today
Cloudy
Temperature: -1 C to 3 C
Wind Speed: 6 mph
Wind direction: North east
Tomorrow
Sunny spells
Temperature: -7 C to 2 C
Wind Speed: 9 mph
Wind direction: East
