Our unwanted stuff – could it create employment in Nairn?

Before Christmas one of our regular readers pointed us in the direction of an article in the Guardian newspaper: “On the 12th day of Christmas ... your gift will just be junk.” A piece by green mannie George Monibot*  He rounds on the commercialism of Christmas, here’s a short extract:

“People in eastern Congo are massacred to facilitate smartphone upgrades of ever diminishing marginal utility. Forests are felled to make "personalised heart-shaped wooden cheese board sets". Rivers are poisoned to manufacture talking fish. This is pathological consumption: a world-consuming epidemic of collective madness, rendered so normal by advertising and by the media that we scarcely notice what has happened to us.”  Full article here.

Ok then, talking about our “collective madness” is a bit heavy over the holidays but if you agree with that article to any degree then what can you do about it? What can we do in our own lives and our communities to bring about some change that will hopefully go some way to reversing all the mess, we as a species, are still making of this planet?

It’s true that quite a few Christmas presents will find their way almost immediately to a cupboard somewhere, a shed, or a charity shop and, of course, landfill. At the last River Community Council meeting before Christmas, the potential for a recycling centre such as Moray Wasterbusters in Forres was discussed. There has been talk of this before but nothing tangible has emerged from the talk so far (see previous Gurnarticle in 2011).

The River folkies are determined to see a public meeting on the subject however and to see if the project can get enough supporters to go ahead.

Simon Noble outlined how there were organisations based out with Nairn that collected recyclable/resalable items but how something along the lines of the Moray Wastebusters could be initiated in Nairn. He told the meeting:

“What any group that gets together would be doing would be actually looking at what is the competition, what are the obstacles, not just how we do it."

Leslie Boulton was a bit worried that River CC might be overstretching themselves and he voiced his concerns:” All these are very worthy things, I’m not criticising any of them but I’m looking at the practicalities of it.”

Stephanie Whittaker outlined how she saw River CC facilitating the set-up of such a group rather than taking forward a project themselves.

Liz had earlier said: “I think it would be good if we had a committee to do the recycling project.”

As part of a presentation Simon Noble had referred to Moray Wastebusters and also a group called Can Moffat, both groups illustrate how employment can be created locally by recycling organisations. 

Can we do it here? The Moffat Group website is very interesting and worth a browse. Watch for details of a public meeting early next year – maybe you might want to get involved if there is enough interest to form such a venture in Nairn? 

*George is a curious greenie, he has had a road to Damascus type conversion and now supports nuclear power. He talked about his support for this type of energy at Findhorn in April of 2011. Gurn article about all that here.