Take that as a no then?

Have you ever wondered what happens to the newspapers that are left on the train?  I have, so I figured I'd ask.

Step 1 was to email London Midland to ask the question.  The answer I got referred me to a news article on the LM website from September of last year about the provision of a recycling bin at Birmingham station for passengers to put their papers into (Recycling is on the increase at London Midland).

I emailed London Midland again, this time being a bit more direct.  I asked if the newspapers and plastic bottles collected when trains are cleaned at Euston is recycled or goes to landfill.  The answer I got was that litter and waste is collected in clean sacks at London Euston, and the process is managed by Network Rail.

So the next step was to contact Network Rail to ask them what they do with the newspapers and other recyclable materials that are collected from the London Midland trains at Euston. 

Email sent two weeks ago (31-July).  No response received so far, but given that their Managing waste website page has a link to a station by station graph which quotes a figure of just 4.6% for recycling station waste at Euston in 2009/10, we can probably assume that if they do reply then the answer is going to be along the lines of "we are currently unable to recycle the waste which is collected from London Midland trains". 

What's the betting that Network Rail invite me, and other passengers to take our newspapers off the train to put in a recycling bin elsewhere?   I walk from Euston to my workplace and the first one I pass is more than 15 minutes away...


We should have waste and recycling bins on the platforms at London Euston and other stations.   Bins are back on the streets, so why can't we have them now at our stations too?