Do you recycle your rubbish? It probably isn't worth the trouble...

Millions of tons of rubbish carefully sorted into recycling bins by householders may never actually be recycled, town hall chiefs admitted.

Many of the council bosses who impose compulsory recycling regimes on their residents have no idea what happens to the refuse after the dustcarts have collected it.

They simply hand it over to contractors who never reveal where it goes and how it is disposed of.

The admission by leaders of the Local Government Association, the umbrella body for councils, confirmed longstanding suspicions of critics, and brought protests from campaigners and pressure groups who have opposed the spread of fortnightly rubbish collections in the name of enforcing recycling and saving the environment. More...

See also:

• Naples: Why the Mafia loves garbage...
• What happens to the waste you recycle?
• The Recycling Myth: a look at the Swedish model..
• The Story of Stuff ( that everyone must see)