Scrapping our values - or valuing our scrap?

Following on from yesterday's blog posting about the Allington incinerator and the rising price of recycled materials, I see from today's Times that abandoned cars are becoming a thing of the past. Rather than having to pay £50 for a scrap yard to take your car, many will give you £200, or even up to £1000 for your vehicle as the value of copper, aluminium and steel continues to rocket.

My colleague Paul Bettison, Chairman of the Environment Board at the Local Government Association says that five years ago local authorities were having to tow away up to eight hundred abandoned vehicles a day. Now, because of rocketing value of metals and other recyclable components, people know the value of their old wreck and councils collect less than 225.

Keep your fingers crossed for a sudden rise in the value of bin bags full of old newspapers and garden waste, bald car tyres and divans. Maybe then people would stop dumping them in our hedgerows and country lanes?