Eric Pickles should sort like an Egyptian

Like many people I've been glued to news coming out of Egypt about the remarkable display of people power against an unpopular authoritarian regime. Unlike most people I spend my waking hours campaigning on issues of waste, recycling and resource use. I hope you'll forgive me then if I make what might seem a surprising link between what's going on in Egypt and what you'll see or hear about recycling on UK news, especially if Mr Pickles is talking.

In the absence of public services one of the spectacular developments in Cairo has been how people have taken to looking after themselves, from sharing food and water to clearing up rubbish and sweeping away the water gathered in little ponds across the square. But get this - even in the midst of a revolution, they're sorting their waste for recycling. If you don't believe me, listen to this report  from 22 minutes in. It's great!

Sharif Abdel Kouddous of Democracy Now tells us: "What's even more amazing is not only are they gathering the trash, but they are actually separating plastic, doing recycling here in Tahrir. It really is quite an astounding scene and a symbol of the new Egypt that people hope for."

Cut to the UK, and if you listened to Local Government Secretary Eric Pickles talk about recycling you'd think he was fighting an authoritarian regime - he called attempts to reduce the amount of rubbish that gets binned "the iron fist of the municipal state". He talks about the right of the English to have their rubbish collected weekly - despite all the evidence that 80% of people are happy with their existing rubbish collections, with many people  annoyed that so much of it still gets burnt or dumped in landfill (to say nothing about how much extra that costs cash strapped councils in disposal fees]

So where do freedom and rubbish really intersect?

In Egypt people are taking pride in doing the right thing. Watch the video - again and again they talk about the pride they feel in looking after their country. For the Egyptians there is some connection between fighting for freedom and looking after their country and their world. What a great example of the kind of civic pride that Mr Pickles claims to encourage.

This might also have something to do with Cairo's recycling history: not so long ago the 'Zabbaleen' community used to sort much of the city's waste, recycling an astonishing 80% according to some figures. Then government decided to enforce a privatised system that saw 20% recycled and the rest sent to landfill.  

A Government stopping people from recycling. Sound familiar? Should do, because that's what Pickles' endless rants about weekly collections and the 'right' to throw away as much as you want translates to.

So which is the greater freedom? To be able to throw away all you like, or the freedom to recycle more and know that you're contributing to a cleaner and more sustainable society? Come to think of it, what's the greater freedom - throwing away all you like, or not having to throw away so much in the first place because Government has pulled its finger out and worked with businesses and retailers to cut back on needless waste in the first place?

When it comes down to it, resources aren't limitless and neither is our capacity to dispose of them.  Committing the UK to a wasteful future in which councils have to landfill and incinerate at exorbitant costs seems to be a strange kind of freedom to be fighting for.  And it's not even what people and councils want.

Here at Friends of the Earth we'd like to see the Government working to free us from waste.  No-one likes unnecessary packaging, products that are built to break and the feeling that the rubbish we create is harming the planet.  Getting waste right would help tackle climate change, save councils money and create thousands of new jobs.  It's time for the Government sort out the rubbish, and sort like an Egyptian.  (sorry!)