Recycling Centre.

This image is the first of the series, (Re)cycle.

Here you can see the stages upon which the cardboard boxes are brought in. The variety in colour gives a distinct marker indicating their source. These ones will be turned back in to pulp, ready to be re-used for another Dove soap or Comfort fabric softener wholesale box (can you spot these in the sprawl of brands?).

In the UK in 2013, we read 16 million newspapers daily (courtesy of a classic educational video produced by a young-looking Vernon Kay). No matter how you spin it, that is a lot of raw materials, a lot of labour, a lot of energy in production and ultimately, a lot of paper. On top of that, the UK also maintains a desire for a good old magazine (who doesn't like a copy of Outdoor Photography or B+W?!). In addition, it seems we love a bit of cardboard to wrap around our precious cornflakes.

Of all of this paper though, it is a sore fact that 60% finds its way into a landfill site. That's 9.6 million newspapers daily, to the dump.

Society has tried to do something about it. On a global scale, countries have signed up to agreements with regard to carbon emissions and national governments have given instruction to local authorities to meet recycling standards nationwide, before a certain 2020 deadline. But is it working?

Being an architectural and industrial photographer primarily, I was very keen to be able to make some stills of a recycling plant and read into the industry a little further.

At the back of industrial estates you will find recycling centres. They are dotted all over the urban landscape: hoovering up what they can in used paper + cardboard, shredding it and sending it off to a paper factory that will turn it in to pulp, de-ink it and reconstitute the same old paper into a new, readable form. Obviously this also takes a whole lot of energy, but far less than the growing of new trees and transporting them for our daily read. In that sense, these centres are positive places.

Although recycling is obviously trying to make a difference to this landfill and subsequent pollution problem, the sad fact about it remains - a lot of the paper you are about to see in this project was not read. The papers and their supplements failed to sell and therefore did not make circulation. It is certainly not the recyclers that are at fault here. It's questionable if anyone should even be to 'blame' for such a lot of wasted paper. It just seems ridiculous that with the amount of technology at our disposal and electronic ways to read our news, that we still have this much waste, especially with products which were not even used in the first place.

Next time I read a paper, I will have a better think about which bin to place it in.

Tags:   cardboard centre industrial long exposure newspaper night photography recycling urban www.richardfraserphotography.co.uk

© All Rights Reserved

Recycling Centre

This image is part of the series, (Re)cycle.

Magazines and their supplements lie on the floor, many of which have not been read (you can look carefully and see stacks of papers). The title you can see most of, purely by chance, was 'AMAZON' that day. Much of the recycling debate was started by the destruction of precious and unique forests like this.

In the UK in 2013, we read 16 million newspapers daily (courtesy of a classic educational video produced by a young-looking Vernon Kay). No matter how you spin it, that is a lot of raw materials, a lot of labour, a lot of energy in production and ultimately, a lot of paper. On top of that, the UK also maintains a desire for a good old magazine (who doesn't like a copy of Outdoor Photography or B+W?!). In addition, it seems we love a bit of cardboard to wrap around our precious cornflakes.

Of all of this paper though, it is a sore fact that 60% finds its way into a landfill site. That's 9.6 million newspapers daily, to the dump.

Society has tried to do something about it. On a global scale, countries have signed up to agreements with regard to carbon emissions and national governments have given instruction to local authorities to meet recycling standards nationwide, before a certain 2020 deadline. But is it working?

Being an architectural and industrial photographer primarily, I was very keen to be able to make some stills of a recycling plant and read (excuse the awful pun) into the industry a little further.

At the back of industrial estates you will find recycling centres. They are dotted all over the urban landscape: hovering up what they can in used paper + cardboard, shredding it and sending it off to a paper factory that will turn it in to pulp, de-ink it and reconstitute the same old paper into a new, readable form. Obviously this also takes a whole lot of energy, but far less than the growing of new trees and transporting them for our daily read. In that sense, these centres are positive places.

Although recycling is obviously trying to make a difference to this landfill and subsequent pollution problem, the sad fact about it remains - a lot of the paper you are about to see in this project was not read. The papers and their supplements failed to sell and therefore did not make circulation. It is certainly not the recyclers that are at fault here. It's questionable if anyone should even be to 'blame' for such a lot of wasted paper. It just seems ridiculous that with the amount of technology and ways to read our news, that we still have this much waste, especially with products which were not even used in the first place.

Next time I read a paper, I will have a better think about which bin to place it in.

Tags:   cardboard centre industrial long exposure newspaper night photography recycling urban www.richardfraserphotography.co.uk

© All Rights Reserved

Recycling Centre

This image is part of the series, (Re)cycle.

In the UK in 2013, we read 16 million newspapers daily (courtesy of a classic educational video produced by a young-looking Vernon Kay). No matter how you spin it, that is a lot of raw materials, a lot of labour, a lot of energy in production and ultimately, a lot of paper. On top of that, the UK also maintains a desire for a good old magazine (who doesn’t like a copy of Outdoor Photography or B+W?!). In addition, it seems we love a bit of cardboard to wrap around our precious cornflakes.

Of all of this paper though, it is a sore fact that 60% finds its way into a landfill site. That’s 9.6 million newspapers daily, to the dump.

Society has tried to do something about it. On a global scale, countries have signed up to agreements with regard to carbon emissions and national governments have given instruction to local authorities to meet recycling standards nationwide, before a certain 2020 deadline. But is it working?

Being an architectural and industrial photographer primarily, I was very keen to be able to make some stills of a recycling plant and read (excuse the awful pun) into the industry a little further.

At the back of industrial estates you will find recycling centres. They are dotted all over the urban landscape: hovering up what they can in used paper + cardboard, shredding it and sending it off to a paper factory that will turn it in to pulp, de-ink it and reconstitute the same old paper into a new, readable form. Obviously this also takes a whole lot of energy, but far less than the growing of new trees and transporting them for our daily read. In that sense, these centres are positive places.

Although recycling is obviously trying to make a difference to this landfill and subsequent pollution problem, the sad fact about it remains - a lot of the paper you are about to see in this project was not read. The papers and their supplements failed to sell and therefore did not make circulation. It is certainly not the recyclers that are at fault here. It’s questionable if anyone should even be to ‘blame’ for such a lot of wasted paper. It just seems ridiculous that with the amount of technology and ways to read our news, that we still have this much waste, especially with products which were not even used in the first place.

Next time I read a paper, I will have a better think about which bin to place it in.

Tags:   cardboard centre industrial long exposure newspaper night photography recycling urban www.richardfraserphotography.co.uk

© All Rights Reserved

Recycling Centre

Well... shredded paper is the closest we might get to a white Christmas this year with temperatures rising.

This image is part of the series, (Re)cycle.

In the UK in 2013, we read 16 million newspapers daily (courtesy of a classic educational video produced by a young-looking Vernon Kay). No matter how you spin it, that is a lot of raw materials, a lot of labour, a lot of energy in production and ultimately, a lot of paper. On top of that, the UK also maintains a desire for a good old magazine (who doesn’t like a copy of Outdoor Photography or B+W?!). In addition, it seems we love a bit of cardboard to wrap around our precious cornflakes.

Of all of this paper though, it is a sore fact that 60% finds its way into a landfill site. That’s 9.6 million newspapers daily, to the dump.

Society has tried to do something about it. On a global scale, countries have signed up to agreements with regard to carbon emissions and national governments have given instruction to local authorities to meet recycling standards nationwide, before a certain 2020 deadline. But is it working?

Being an architectural and industrial photographer primarily, I was very keen to be able to make some stills of a recycling plant and read (excuse the awful pun) into the industry a little further.

At the back of industrial estates you will find recycling centres. They are dotted all over the urban landscape: hovering up what they can in used paper + cardboard, shredding it and sending it off to a paper factory that will turn it in to pulp, de-ink it and reconstitute the same old paper into a new, readable form. Obviously this also takes a whole lot of energy, but far less than the growing of new trees and transporting them for our daily read. In that sense, these centres are positive places.

Although recycling is obviously trying to make a difference to this landfill and subsequent pollution problem, the sad fact about it remains - a lot of the paper you are about to see in this project was not read. The papers and their supplements failed to sell and therefore did not make circulation. It is certainly not the recyclers that are at fault here. It’s questionable if anyone should even be to ‘blame’ for such a lot of wasted paper. It just seems ridiculous that with the amount of technology and ways to read our news, that we still have this much waste, especially with products which were not even used in the first place.

Next time I read a paper, I will have a better think about which bin to place it in.

MERRY CHRISTMAS EVERYONE!

Tags:   cardboard centre industrial long exposure newspaper night photography recycling urban www.richardfraserphotography.co.uk

© All Rights Reserved

The story always lies in what's behind.

This image is part of the series, (Re)cycle.

In the UK in 2013, we read 16 million newspapers daily (courtesy of a classic educational video produced by a young-looking Vernon Kay). No matter how you spin it, that is a lot of raw materials, a lot of labour, a lot of energy in production and ultimately, a lot of paper. On top of that, the UK also maintains a desire for a good old magazine (who doesn’t like a copy of Outdoor Photography or B+W?!). In addition, it seems we love a bit of cardboard to wrap around our precious cornflakes.

Of all of this paper though, it is a sore fact that 60% finds its way into a landfill site. That’s 9.6 million newspapers daily, to the dump.

Society has tried to do something about it. On a global scale, countries have signed up to agreements with regard to carbon emissions and national governments have given instruction to local authorities to meet recycling standards nationwide, before a certain 2020 deadline. But is it working?

Being an architectural and industrial photographer primarily, I was very keen to be able to make some stills of a recycling plant and read (excuse the awful pun) into the industry a little further.

At the back of industrial estates you will find recycling centres. They are dotted all over the urban landscape: hovering up what they can in used paper + cardboard, shredding it and sending it off to a paper factory that will turn it in to pulp, de-ink it and reconstitute the same old paper into a new, readable form. Obviously this also takes a whole lot of energy, but far less than the growing of new trees and transporting them for our daily read. In that sense, these centres are positive places.

Although recycling is obviously trying to make a difference to this landfill and subsequent pollution problem, the sad fact about it remains - a lot of the paper you are about to see in this project was not read. The papers and their supplements failed to sell and therefore did not make circulation. It is certainly not the recyclers that are at fault here. It’s questionable if anyone should even be to ‘blame’ for such a lot of wasted paper. It just seems ridiculous that with the amount of technology and ways to read our news, that we still have this much waste, especially with products which were not even used in the first place.

Next time I read a paper, I will have a better think about which bin to place it in.

Tags:   cardboard centre industrial long exposure newspaper night photography recycling urban www.richardfraserphotography.co.uk

© All Rights Reserved