Not Feeling So Good About US Recycling Anymore

[7_Sorrows]

I live in a large metropolitan city in the southwest. Our local news did a story on how people recycle improperly. They dispose of items that are not recycable in the recycle bins so when they get to the dump all these people have to stand there and remove items off the belt.

I recently moved into a condominium complex. We don’t recycle here. Do you know how many apartment and condominium complexes there are in this city? So there is still a lot of junk going to the regular trash dump. It makes you wonder if we are really making any progress.

 

[Annie]

Best of all–more food coops needed! When I was a young wife/mother living in North Carolina, we belonged to a food co-op where everything was sold out of big burlap bags

This is such a good idea! I remember food coops, and they have disappeared.

Also, I remember taking the trash out in paper bags from the grocery store. Plastic trash bags do not allow for decomposion of whatever mlght decompose.

 

[13pollitos]

We still have paper bags at military commissaries. The bags are stronger, larger, and great to be used for art projects! We make wrapping paper for gifts out of them as well. I wish stores would get rid of plastic bags. The majority of stores have bags so thin that you need to double or triple bag items so they don’t rip. That doesn’t help reduce plastics at all. I do admit they make great bathroom trash bags though.

 

[Peeps]

The majority of stores have bags so thin that you need to double or triple bag items so they don’t rip. That doesn’t help reduce plastics at all. I do admit they make great bathroom trash bags though.

You’re right on both points!

 

[Xystus]

It doesn’t need to be used again for the same thing.

Many plastics can not be used again for the same thing after recycling. They are “downcycled” because the process reduces the quality of the plastic.

Dump it all together and melt everything down

Not all plastics are created equal. Some plastics will not mix well with others (think along the lines of oil and water) and the resultant mix will have boundary layers of different types of plastics which will reduce its strength.

 

[JanetF]

Extract the impurities

That’s the part that costs so much money. We are all supposed to rinse our recyclables before we put them out to the curb, but how many people do this. My husband has to be reminded repeatedly about rinsing things.

 

[robertmidwest]

Glass bottles instead of plastic are much heavier. The fuel costs in transporting goes up. The chance for injury goes up when stocking the shelves.

Condensing units on more efficient AC units (the outside part) use larger amounts of copper. When the govt mandated the use of higher efficiency units it’s part of what pushed the price of copper through the roof. If AC units become to expensive the poor elderly who really need them, can’t afford them.

The point being everything has a a cost. There is no Utopia. Yes we should use or resources responsibly. We can’t ignore the laws of economics and point fingers at everyone else.

 

[JanetF]

I remember taking the trash out in paper bags from the grocery store.

YES!

When I forget to take my own bags and am asked, I prefer paper, if nothing else for corralling all the junk mail that goes in my recycling bin. Wal-Mart doesn’t offer paper in St. Louis and other than Aldi (where I use my own bags), that’s where I shop.

 

[Annie]

There are other stores?

 

[13pollitos]

When I forget to take my own bags and am asked, I prefer paper, if nothing else for corralling all the junk mail that goes in my recycling bin. Wal-Mart doesn’t offer paper in St. Louis and other than Aldi (where I use my own bags), that’s where I shop.

We tend to bring our own bags too. Walmart bags are horrible. They rip and that makes them useless for bathroom trash bags. Once in a while I will ask for plastic so that I can get some “trash bags” but only from stores where they are thicker. Usually what doesn’t fit in my own bags I get paper for. Unfortunately not many stores offer paper anymore. At least not in this area. The commissary is the only place I’ve found them in years.

I wish they would go back to paper in more places. They are great for so many things. I’ve used them in place of paper towels, to drain grease from fried foods, as drawing paper, wrapping paper, to line bird cages, hold mail, packing for trips, and much more.

There are other stores?

Not here anyway. We have the commissary if you qualify, Walmart and Price Cutters. If you are searching for something that they don’t carry, the closest other option is 40 mins away. Funny enough, that store is another Walmart…

 

[Crocus]

Our local recycling only takes Types 1 and 2, anyway.

Ours takes 1 and 5.
Types 2, 3, 4 are accepted as hard plastic recycled together with the Type 5. I have only once come across a Type 6, which I put into regular garbage.

 

[Holly3278]

Wow. I had no idea it was possible to get crude oil from plastic! I always figured that once the oil is turned into plastic, there was no going back. Thanks for the link!

 

[HerCrazierHalf]

Seems like the bottom line is that we will have to frustrate certain processes to improve recycling. I’d say a return to paper or metal packaging where practical (glass breaks to easily) would help if loss prevention wasn’t a major driver of packaging.

 

[Joe_5859]

Honestly, this sort of reinforces my growing sense that our emphasis on recycling leads to more consumerism. If we feel like our garbage will turn into something useful once we throw it away, we assuage our consciences about consuming more and more. Ultimately, we need to consume less.

Someone needs to invent and mass produce home recycling machines that are paired together with 3D printers. We can take our own plastic, grind it up, melt it down into those thin tubes that 3D printers use, and then turn it into something else with our 3D printers. I feel like there’s a billion dollar industry in there somewhere.

 

[pnewton]

The point being everything has a a cost. There is no Utopia.

That is why the real economic costs to the environment should be added on to the cost of all products that contribute to pollution. Then the market can find equilibrium between industry and environmentalism. For example, the cost of recycling could be added into plastics, with a deposit enough to encourage return. The cost of carbon offset could be added into gas and diesel, allowing people to determine if they want to pay to drive that giant Canyonaro or two-ton truck when they can’t pass the environmental cost on to the next generation.

I was surprised in Canada last week where to see they charge for bags. Heck, I carried my stuff out in my hands for the first time. It is a great idea.

 

[robertmidwest]

That is why the real economic costs to the environment should be added on to the cost of all products that contribute to pollution. Then the market can find equilibrium between industry and environmentalism.

Along that line… some states charge the deposit on cans and bottles (Or at least they did). People had a motivation to pick up cans and bottles.

 

[Trader]

Tossing them into the trash would be a big improvement for some people. I used to bring a plastic bag with me when I walk just over a mile to my bank branch. I picked up the cans and bottles on the way. Sometimes I wished I had brought two bags. We do have laws against littering, but mostly they are a joke unless you dump a barrel or two right in front of the cops.

On the bright side, many of the containers I pick up have 10 cent Michigan deposits on them. I fill my entire car with them and take a road trip. I made about $1,000 per year on those containers.

 

[Joe_5859]

I made about $1,000 per year on those containers.

That’s a lot of cans and bottles!

 

[gam197]

Then when people try to use regular water bottles instead of plastic disposables they write news articles like this

Based on the 12 water bottles we tested, we found that reusable drinking containers may be crawling with an alarming number of viable bacteria cells: more than 300,000 colony-forming units per square centimeter

To put it bluntly, drinking from the average refillable bottle can be many times worse than licking your dog’s toy.

Using stainless steel cups seem to help.

https://www.treadmillreviews.net/water-bottle-germs-revealed/

 

[gam197]

There seems to be 2 other issues

1. reduce our use of plastic
2. cost of recycling — by moving recycling plants closer to US. If it costs $800 for recycle pellets and only $900 for new ones, this has to be looked at.