Now is the time of year when I go out and collect leaves with the intention of recycling them as leaf-mould for the garden and the allotment. It seems that a new innovation has been thought up!
Some of my leaves come from the gutter so I am only a bit behind on this one! A waste collecting- processing-recyling company is collecting roadside sweepings (in fact doing the sweeping) but instead of putting it into composting "bins" (like me), they have a huge processing plant.
The bits and pieces of machinery in the plant extracts the heavy metals, etc and sells them on for industrial etc usage. Brilliant - in that it seems the extraction rates are more prolific than mining natural ores for someof the finings.
Maybe the recycling industry should try mining the old landfill sites for metals and other "treasure"...?
