First News: Is Recycling a Load of Rubbish?

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IS RECYCLING A LOAD OF RUBBISH?

Prime Minister Boris Johnson has told First News and young JPIMedia newspaper readers that recycling plastic doesn’t work.

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Speaking to the children at a Downing Street press conference just before COP26, the prime minister said: “Recycling doesn’t begin to address the problem. It doesn’t work. You can only recycle plastic a couple of times, really… We’ve all got to cut down on our use of plastic – I think that’s the only answer… If people think we can recycle our way out of the problem, I think we’ll be making a huge mistake. We need to reduce.”

A row of recycling bins in different colors at a recycling station. (photo:iStock)A row of recycling bins in different colors at a recycling station. (photo:iStock)
A row of recycling bins in different colors at a recycling station. (photo:iStock)

So, do the experts agree with him?

“I don’t disagree with everything he said,” says Professor Dr Stefan Krause from the University of Birmingham. He’s part of the Birmingham Plastics Network, a team of more than 40 experts looking at how we can make the future of plastics sustainable. “He’s correct that recycling isn’t a solution alone but, like every complex problem, there are no simple solutions. To say that recycling doesn’t matter is very dangerous because it definitely has to be part of a mix of solutions.”

For an in-depth report on whether recycling is a load of rubbish, see this week’s First News. Then you can make up your own mind.

YOUR NEWS

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CHESS CHAMPION

By Freddy Gordon

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I was very happy to take part in the 26th Delancey UK Schools’ Chess Challenge tournament and play ‘over the board’ again.

During lockdown, I’d been playing chess online, and this was one of the first chances for me to meet a lot of players from online and become friends in person.

Freddy with his trophy for winning the under-12 categoryFreddy with his trophy for winning the under-12 category
Freddy with his trophy for winning the under-12 category

The location was Blenheim Palace, which is the birthplace of Winston Churchill, and very fancy. There was lots of space to play football in the breaks between games.

These breaks were fun and long enough to chill out, which was important, especially because we played six games on Saturday and five on Sunday. I like that we played round robin, so I had a chance to play against everyone in my age group. When I entered I didn’t think that I would win, but I was really happy to play well against some very tough opponents.