24 replies to this topic

[Shortpoet-GTD]

I was watching a program that showed a recycling center in the UK.
One center they showcased had huge bins for recycling almost everything you can
think of; wood, furniture, metal, glass, appliances.
The people drove up in their cars/trucks and dropped the stuff off. Busy place too,
which was really wonderful to see.

In comparison, the USA doesn't recycle much; just the typical stuff-paper, plastic,
aluminum cans, metal scrap yards.
In the UK, they recycle almost everything.
Why can't we?

We should have recycling businesses like theirs in every city in America.
The total tonnage of waste is staggering, and we could make a huge dent in that.
This link is just an example-businesses can register to be on the recycling list from
across the country in the UK.
List

And did you know that recycle week is June 18-24th? You do now.
More tips here.

And this site is kind of like Free cycle-get rid of your stuff or pick up someone elses stuff.
Here.

When you Google UK recycle, there are several "clearing house" sites listed.
When you Google USA recycle, you don't find any.

[Phil]

You should check again, I googled USA recycle and came up with tons of listings.  Don't just assume that because it isn't in the news that it isn't happening.  Everyone I know uses what they have until it is beyond repair.  When we buy a new stove we find someone less fortunate to give the old one to.  I've lived in IN, ILL, CA, and WA and it's been the same all over.

I've never lived in a city though, do you?  Are cities the problem?  Since most are served by Waste Management or other large concerns, I wouldn't think so.  Planet Green also showed a number of cities that recycle heavily.  Even land filll methane is a form of recycling.

Finally GB is about the size of one state here.  By that measure alone our waste should be 50x worse.

Say it with me "Craig's List" Also, E-Bay, etc.  Also, various electronics recycling programs.  The USA has plenty of channels to move used or obsolete items around.

[Shortpoet-GTD]

True. We can give away, sell, exchange old items.
But many, many cities, towns-whatever do not have substantial recycling programs set up.
I used to live in Ft. Smith, Arkansas (a fairly small town) and they had curb side pickup for bottles, newspapers,
cans, and plastics.
Here in Amarillo (a much larger city), we've got squat. We can recycle metal at the metal recyclers, and
they have recycle bins at a few grocers and wal-mart for paper, plastic and cans but no bottles.
And not curbside.

And I did Google.
I didn't see any "clearing house" websites for the USA, where people or individuals can easily search in their local
area as to where to bring the items.
There are several listed when you Google that for the UK.

And the thing that confounds me is-the cities would be SAVING money if they had recycling centers.

They can sell the bulk aluminum, glass, wood-etc. and that helps reduce the costs.
Too many places still think it's 1952 and they just bury it.

A few here and there are at least capturing the methane, but not enough. Mexico has a good program for that too.
Us? Not so much.

File it under- "Hello? Is anyone home?"

[Phil]

I guess I'm an optimist, I prefer to think of the glass as half full.    Sounds like a business opportunity for you though!  Do you have an entrepreneurial spirit?

Perhaps I've always lived in "enlightened" areas.

I do think we get better year after year, though, in most all area's; more solar, more wind, more recycling, more high mileage/low emission cars on the road, less gas used, lower carbon footprint, etc.

[Shortpoet-GTD]

Phil, on 02 May 2012 - 03:11 PM, said:

I guess I'm an optimist, I prefer to think of the glass as half full.    Sounds like a business opportunity for you though!  Do you have an entrepreneurial spirit?

Perhaps I've always lived in "enlightened" areas.

I do think we get better year after year, though, in most all area's; more solar, more wind, more recycling, more high mileage/low emission cars on the road, less gas used, lower carbon footprint, etc.

If I was younger and richer, you bet!
I've often thought about it.
And not even to make a boatload of bucks, but just to help keep more out of the landfill.
Maybe it just makes too much sense and people just don't get it. (I know, there goes my pessimism again.)

[Phil]

I hear ya!  I was going to start a solar business before the collapse but now I'm also getting too long in the tooth.  Hell, I'm having a hard time finishing my house and that's with the wife on my back!

[mariaandrea]

It just depends on where you live. I can recycle or give away just about anything here. But this is Seattle. When I lived in Savannah, GA there wasn't any home recycling program and most of the people I knew thought it was a waste of time and money to set one up. Seriously. But that was also a decade ago, so things have probably changed somewhat. A lot of cash-strapped smaller cities probably don't even have the funds for starting up a program or people who know how to think that way. There's a lot of opportunity for private enterprises away from the biggest cities. Although, it would be helpful to live within a reasonable distance of a big city because that's probably where you'd end up taking what you collect.

[Phil]

I think things have improved.  Private companies have been able to make a profit from recycling so if Savannah hasn't gotten started it's a missed opportunity on some companies part.

I'm outside of Port Angeles myself.  Us rural's go to the dump every few weeks and they have recycling as well as garbage handling.  They also collect yard waste there, then compost it and sell that as a profit center.  They're also harvesting methane from their old covered landfill.  Pretty good all in all.

[mariaandrea]

Phil, on 04 May 2012 - 03:25 PM, said:

I think things have improved.  Private companies have been able to make a profit from recycling so if Savannah hasn't gotten started it's a missed opportunity on some companies part.

I'm outside of Port Angeles myself.  Us rural's go to the dump every few weeks and they have recycling as well as garbage handling.  They also collect yard waste there, then compost it and sell that as a profit center.  They're also harvesting methane from their old covered landfill.  Pretty good all in all.

Ah, I love it up in your neck of the woods. I grew up on Vashon Island with vivid memories of how ecstatic my mother was when I got my license at 16 because she wouldn't have to take the garbage to the dump every week. That became my job.

One great thing about recycling in Seattle - they collect food waste and food waste paper and cardboard, like pizza boxes and fast food bags, and turn it into compost. We just put it all in the yard waste bins.

[Phil]

If you went once a week and I'm going once every 6-8 weeks, by definition things are improving!    Actually we throw out most of our vegetable and bread scraps for the critters, chipmonks, ground squirrels, racoons, etc.  What we mostly have is meat wrappings and bones headed to the dump.  It's $10/truck load so we fill up a few cans before we go.

There's a cougar that hunts on my property and black bears wander through on occasion. There's also bobcats around but I haven't heard of one in the immediate area. Of course there are a ton of coyotes and some beautiful foxes as well.  Elk and deer are all over, deer to the point of being pests.  Then there are numerous species of owl, falcons, crows, and bald eagles.   My favorites are the chipmonks though, they are so cute!

[zararina]

Nice to know that their recycling center or area is a busy place since it means lots of people there really put effort to go there and let their things be recycled. Although there are some places here were they tried to repair old appliances and even old furniture, it is still far compared to the recycling effort done in the UK.

[Sandra Piddock]

Good to know the UK is leading the field in something, and I think I know why. Us Brits do as we're told - it's an inbuilt character trait. So if somebody says 'There's a recycling plant - take everything there to see what can be done with it,' we go along with it. We're also quite entrepreneurial, so when there's a chance to make some money, we're up for it.

And because we lived through rationing during the war, we're pretty good at making do, and stretching our resources. I know most of us weren't even born during the war years, but our parents were, and like I said, we do as we're told, so if we're told not to waste anything, we don't/

[Phil]

Interesting thought, my parents lived through the depression and WW2 so they knew the value for using everything to the fullest.  As a consequence my wife has her grandmothers rolling pin easily over 100 years old, we have other utensils over 40 years old and when we redecorate we give furniture to couples just starting out.  I built my last two houses and planned so thoroughly I didn't need a dumpster for either one, nothing wasted.

In contrast I watch "house hunters" and many young couples see an "outdated" kitchen and want to rip it out and put in all new flooring, cabinets, and appliances.  To each his own I guess.

[MyDigitalpoint]

I believe that it's just matter of time to see more and more recycling centers as people gain awareness... and money.

In my city they have been popping up like measles this year. People seems to be devoted to recycle and recycles seems to be devote to resell what they collect and processing factories buy by the ton.

Recycling is becoming a fast-growing business here.

[steph84]

I am sure that the UK has a much better recycling program than we do here in the U.S. I mean, our health programs are horrendous so it isn't a surprise that they are doing it better when it comes to recycling.

[Phil]

In our town there is a recycling store that sells reclaimed items, everything from doors to bath tubs.  Great place to get a deal or the occasional item.

[FamilyTreeClimber]

California does not have as good a program as the UK, but it's working towards that goal.  

The waste company that picks up our garbage gives us three bins.  One for garbage, one for recycling (paper, plastic, metal, glass), one for green waste.

In the last couple of years, we went from only being able to recycle plastic containers with certain numbers on them to being able to put all plastic containers in the recycle bin.  Also, we can include plastic shopping bags.

About three years ago, we began food scrap recycling.  This waste goes in the green waste (garden clippings) can.  You can put cardboard food containers and newspaper in this bin as well.  This is turned into compost and goes to farms.

A month ago, we began battery recycling.  There is no special bin for this so far.  All we need to do is put the batteries in a bag on top of our recycle can.

I am not sure how this compares to other states or other counties since each area has different regulations and different companies picking up waste.  For us us, recycling has become a regular way of life.  It's gotten much easier over the years, too.  I think that is important.  The easier it is for people the more likely they will be to use the right bins.

I hope that they continue to expand the program in my area.  There are so many things getting tossed into the garbage can that really don't need to be there.

[Shortpoet-GTD]

Phil, on 07 May 2012 - 11:47 AM, said:

In our town there is a recycling store that sells reclaimed items, everything from doors to bath tubs.  Great place to get a deal or the occasional item.

We have a Habitat for Humanity store here too.

[Phil]

This is in addition to habitat for humanity, we have both.

[Shortpoet-GTD]

Another reason why the title of this thread is true.

"A major breakthrough in the challenge of recycling mixed plastics - a long-standing issue for consumers -
has been made with the opening of a new national recycling plant.

The £15m facility in north Lincolnshire - a joint venture recycling operation between Coca-Cola Enterprises and ECO Plastics -
was opened on Thursday by environment minister Lord Taylor, and will be one of the first to use advanced technology
to integrate the processing of both plastic bottles and polymers.

It will enable an additional 15,000 tonnes of rigid plastic packaging such as tubs, pots and trays to be recycled every year."

Source

We need these plants in America too!