1) The Scottish Assembly is proposing to charge refundable
deposits on drinks containers. They say it will encourage people to return them,
rather than littering the streets or adding to the mountain of waste going into
landfill. The Swedes are already doing this, apparently, and the Swedes are
always at the forefront of innovative environmental solutions, so they’re worth
following.
Only there’s nothing innovative about it. Up until about
thirty years ago when the throwaway culture was getting into full swing, it was
standard practice in Britain
to charge refundable deposits on things like soft drinks, beer and milk bottles.
It had been that way for decades, but then it was scrapped as old fashioned and
unnecessary. Some of us complained about it at the time because we could see
where it would lead.
2) The Director General of the BBC says he’s going to sweep
away the mountain of bureaucracy in the Corporation, with especial regard to
the ‘meeting culture’ which he says wastes vast amounts of time and stifles
creativity. Good, only that isn’t anything new either.
When I was working for an inner city charity ten years ago,
there was a local umbrella body, funded by the government, which was there to
offer support and advice. But there was a problem. It was difficult to actually
talk to anybody because approximately 8 out of 10 phone calls brought the same
reply: ‘She’s in a meeting.’ I complained about that at the time, too, on the
grounds that it seriously impaired the functionality of the organisation.
So my question is this: When it’s plainly obvious that a
system has gone down the wrong road, why does it take between ten and thirty
years for those in charge to put it right again?
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