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As a recycling officer for a council, I take offence when people automatically blame the council about things that aren't recycled. The truth is, most councils will recycle what is economically viable to recycle, it makes sense. Plastic bottles (HTPE and PET), glass, paper, card and aluminium all have good markets, so they are easy to recycle. Tetra-pak is cheap to make, but expensive to recycle, and as the onus in this country is for the end user to pay for disposal costs and not the manufacturer, it is very difficult and expensive to recycle. This of course doesn't stop Tetra-pak from getting everybody to write and complain to their council.
Ultimately, the manufacturer should be made to cover disposal costs. This would make manufacturers look at the quantity and quality of packaging they use, would reduce costs to councils; but would drive up shelf prices, so those choosing the un-environmentally freindly products would pay for the privelage, and would bring us in line with Europe.
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