Between leaving my office and getting on the bus, I am offered a free newspaper about ten times. There are distributors of The London Paper and the London Lite on the crossroads outside the office, more at the end of the street, two of them inside the station, more on the far side of the station, and two by my bus stop, harrassing the passengers disembarking. As I wade through the proffered copies, and then shovel the discarded ones off the bus seats so I can sit down, I often wonder just how many of them get thrown away every day.
Well, according to the tube, it tidies up nine and a half tonnes of free papers every day just from its three busiest lines. Factor in the other nine tube lines, and you’ve got something nearer to 30 tonnes of waste paper.
The tube is not the only one picking up the litter. Westminster council picks up four tonnes every day off the streets, and installed over 100 extra recycling bins last year after the launch of the evening freebies. In the centre of town, the free papers account for 25% of all litter. Because they are put in bins with other rubbish, this paper cannot be recycled.
Over a million free papers are given away in London every day, with the Metro in the morning, and the aforementioned London Paper and London Lite in the evenings. The journalism is abysmal in all three. I used to read them occasionally, until I realised that I usually read less than 5% of the content before throwing away the rest of the adverts, celebrity gossip, and listings. Actual news is not the priority, and the papers are primarily a vehicle for advertising.
What can be done about the sheer waste of the free papers?
Firstly, the distribution companies can be held responsible for clearing up the rubbish. Westminster council asked the companies to provide recycling bins and they refused. After being threatened with the revoking of their distribution rights, they have now provided a pilot scheme of 32 bins – a start perhaps, but woefully inadequate in the face of the deluge of papers.
The councils play a part here too, as they grant the permission for the distributors to be on the street in the first place. If they were prepared to withhold permission, as Westminster have done, they may be able to secure more definite attempts to provide recycling facilities.
Further, the whole idea could be reformed. If permission was refused for actual distributors, that would help. The evening papers particularly are aggressively thrust at commuters, meaning plenty of people must end up with them who didn’t want them. The morning Metro is at least in racks for those who want one to pick up a copy. If London wanted to go further, the councils could insist that free papers would not be permitted. A charge, even a nominal fee of 10 pence, would cut down on the numbers. Unfortunately the entire business is predicated on large distribution figures and advertising revenue on the back of them. Any attempt to cut down like that would bring squeals from News International and Associated Newspapers, but it could be done. Westminster, the City, and Kensington and Chelsea councils have all been in talks with the distributors to try and deal with the problem.
Most importantly though, is the individual readers – just don’t take them. If you must read one, read someone else’s. If I wished to read one, there is always a discarded copy on my bus, or more likely, ten discarded copies to choose from.
Better yet though, just take a book.
The Earthbound Report 