52 replies to this topic

[tri-n-b-helpful]

There’s some great information here for sure! I recycle everything that is accepted down here. The local council ran an analysis of just how much kerbside recycling costs the council versus how much they make out of it. Even with our ten cents per drink container & scrap metal prices, the kerbside recycling program is enormously expensive & every council here runs up huge debts just to keep the service running. Collection as well as sorting are some of the most expensive aspects. I’m very much in favor of recycling, but it all depends on just how it is done. I take a load of scrap metal into the recycling center nearly every month. It takes me quite some time to sort & strip everything down to its base metal. This however, pays quite well if you do this yourself & saves a lot of systemic costs. I used to make about $8.50/kg on top grade copper here. Brass pays about half of that & just about everything else pays half of that again. I think there should be a massive overhaul of how recycling is done & people should work together with industry to find ways to make sure recycling is making more money than it is costing as well as having less environmental impact than it is currently.

[Shortpoet-GTD]

"Today, we (Kraft) have 36 facilities in 13 countries that send zero waste to landfills, and we've reduced our manufacturing
waste by 50 percent since 2005.
In 2007, the company launched a program with the global recycling company Sonoco Recycling, using its Sonoco Sustainability Solutions service offering to substantially reduce waste in plants.
The ultimate objective: send zero waste to landfills.
36 Kraft Foods facilities have achieved zero-waste-to-landfill status, including 24 plants in Europe and 12 facilities
in North America."
http://phx.corporate...icle&ID=1655729
(Their sustainability report-which includes their German made "Philadelphia cream cheese." )
http://www.kraftfood...s_factsheet.pdf

[Mike_Hollis]

Hi Tom,

Friends of the Earth actually wrote up a great white paper that rebutted the argument against paper recycling, which could be worth a read to hopefully get you back on the pro-paper recycling side.

Apologies for the lack of a link, but I'm new to the forums and can't post active links quite yet; if you google "Friends of the Earth: Briefing: Paper Recycling: Exposing the Myths", it's the first result that comes up.

Basically, the research they found suggests that recycling paper waste will always have less environmental impact than landfilling paper waste.

There is less certainty about the benefit of recycling paper waste versus incinerating paper waste for energy (since that energy creation might offset demand from coal or oil-fired power plants), though a thorough EPA study from the late 90s concluded that recycling wins out again (though it would be great to see more research on the topic).

[Sandra Piddock]

I prefer to buy 'green' products when I can. I don't actually recycle my household garbage, although we do have recycling bins. The reason I don't is because whatever is taken in the general rubbish skips here - I live in Spain - is then sorted at the recycling plant. I figure if I sort it first, I'm depriving someone of a job. I suppose we have the best of both worlds here regarding recycling.

[brihooter]

That is nice of you Sandra.  Not a lot of people think like that!

[Shortpoet-GTD]

DANVERS — "The town's strict new mandatory recycling rules have more than doubled the amount of paper, bottles, cans and glass that haulers collected curbside during the first two weeks of the program when compared with the same period last year, officials said.
In the first two weeks of the new recycling and trash rules, which started Jan. 23, the town's trash hauler collected
126 tons of trash, Town Manager Wayne Marquis told selectmen Tuesday night.
The town collected 62 tons of recycling during the same period last year.
The town saves $70 for every ton of trash not thrown into the waste stream, Marquis said."
http://www.salemnews...g-officials-say

[Shortpoet-GTD]

"Lawmakers (in Vermont) are considering a bill that would make recycling of everything from paper to banana peels
mandatory within the next few years.
The arguments for mandatory recycling are strong: one of two landfills in the state is nearly full."
http://www.burlingto...dyssey=nav|head

I'm all for recycling, and I think state governments should make it easier but forcing folks-mandating it?
Not so much.

[brihooter]

I think even if it was mandatory people will still not do it.  All those rebels out there.  I'm glad something like this is being passed though.

[rbaker_59]

JBMedia, on 11 October 2011 - 08:29 AM, said:

I would have to completely agree with your statement. I work at a grocery store and we do bail boxes and recycle them. Which I don't think is a bad thing by any means. However, planting more trees in the end would help out the most with that particular problem. A lot of companies that use an excess of cardboard these days do actually re-plant trees. Scotties tissues is one of them. For every tree they cut down and use, they plant 3 more. Which is an amazing thing in my opinion, seeing how most corporate structures only care about money.

It is really interesting and rewarding to see some companies incorporate more recylable ideas into their structures.  For instance, Coca Cola and Pantene have incorporated more plant based materials into the bottles they use.  By doing so, it cuts down on the energy used to make them and waste in the end products.  Recyclebank.com has some interesting teaching on these and works with ecofriendly companies, such as Kashi, Coca Cola, and Pantene.

[Shortpoet-GTD]

Tons of helpful links here:
http://earth911.com/recycling/

[rbaker_59]

I see it more as the idea of getting into the habit of eliminating waste.  I spent too much time around my grandma growing up, who was actually raised during the great depression.  It was the idea of waste to her.  If anything could be reused in anyway, you just don't throw it away.  Reusing or recycling things and eliminating waste cuts costs in the long run.  I can't really say that about recycling plants because of the enormous amount of energy they use, but at home reusing throwaway products makes sense.

[hunysukle]

Recycling is not bad; that is ridiculous. The oceans and lakes are filling up with trash like plastic bottles, cans and other items that could have been recycled. Animals suffer everyday because they get tangled up in our trash. I guess that's how you want your future generations to experience this planet.

[Shortpoet-GTD]

hunysukle, on 27 March 2012 - 05:51 PM, said:

Recycling is not bad; that is ridiculous. The oceans and lakes are filling up with trash like plastic bottles, cans and other items that could have been recycled. Animals suffer everyday because they get tangled up in our trash. I guess that's how you want your future generations to experience this planet.

Agreed. But even on green sites like ours, we'll get clueless folks chiming in. (Or denying issues outright.)

[Shortpoet-GTD]

Tom Servo, on 09 October 2011 - 01:38 PM, said:

I tend to believe it does more harm than good. In theory it's better, but in practice it's worse. Penn and Teller made a pretty convincing episode on why recycling is overrated.

Perhaps penn/teller don't care about how many birds, turtles, fish and other creatures they are harming with
their junk, but us greenies do care.
We try our level best to reduce, reuse and recycle for a cleaner environment.

http://www.oceancons...ta-release.html
"The new numbers show a snapshot of what ocean trash is found along ocean and waterways throughout the country
and world.
The tallies were collected during the 2011 International Coastal Cleanup—the largest annual volunteer effort for the ocean.
Graphics, photos, video and state-specific information available here.

“Our volunteers picked up enough food packaging for a person to get takeout for breakfast, lunch and dinner every day for the next 858 years,” said Vikki Spruill, president and CEO of Ocean Conservancy. “Ocean trash is human-generated, preventable and one of the biggest threats to our ocean and waterways.”

The 2011 International Coastal Cleanup, by the numbers:
Total:

• Nearly 600,000 people (598,076) picked up more than 9 million pounds of trash (9,184,427) along more than 20,000 miles of coastlines (20,775).
  
• Over the past 26 years, more than 9 million (9,361,453) volunteers have removed 153 million (153,790,918) pounds of trash from more than 300,000 (312,290) miles of coastline and waterways in 153 countries and locations.

Volunteers found:

• Enough clothing (266,997 items) to outfit every expected audience member of the London 2012 Summer Olympics Opening Ceremony.
  
• Enough food packaging (940,277 pieces) to get takeout for breakfast, lunch and dinner every day for the next 858 years.
  
• Enough light bulbs (24,384 bulbs) to replace every light on the Eiffel Tower.
  
• Enough beverage cans and glass beverage containers that, if recycled, would net $45,489.15.
  
• Enough balloons (93,913) to provide one to every person expected to attend the 2012 NCAA Men’s Basketball National Championship.
  
• Enough cups, plates, forks, knives and spoons (707,171) to host a barbeque for every student enrolled at Ohio State University, University of Louisville, University of Kentucky and University of Kansas, to celebrate their teams’ appearance in the 2012 NCAA Men’s Basketball Final Four.

In the past 26 years of cleanups, volunteers found:

• Fifty-five million cigarettes butts, which if stacked vertically, would be as tall as 3,613 Empire State Buildings.
  
• Enough glass and plastic bottles to provide every resident of New York City, Los Angeles, Chicago, Houston and Philadelphia a cold beverage on a hot summer day.
  
• Enough appliances (125,156) to fill 37,434 single-axle dump trucks.
  
• More than 870 thousand (870,935) diapers—enough to put one on every child born in the UK last year.
  
• Enough cups, plates, forks, knives and spoons to host a picnic for 2.15 million people."

http://ecowatch.org/...-and-waterways/

[dconklin]

Shortpoet, those numbers are quite shocking! It is a shame :(

I have been recycling for many years, I can't remember how long exactly but I know it has been at least 13 years.  I believe it has been longer then that but I really can't remember.

Unfortunately there are still many people who do not recycle.  There is no reason in my town we have trucks that pick it up once a week right in front of your house.  But there are still many people who can't be bothered.

[Shortpoet-GTD]

dconklin, on 30 March 2012 - 02:55 PM, said:

Shortpoet, those numbers are quite shocking! It is a shame :(

I have been recycling for many years, I can't remember how long exactly but I know it has been at least 13 years.  I believe it has been longer then that but I really can't remember.

Unfortunately there are still many people who do not recycle.  There is no reason in my town we have trucks that pick it up once a week right in front of your house.  But there are still many people who can't be bothered.

Agreed.
But even if people don't recycle anything-ever, it would be nice if those people would at least put
their trash in the dumpsters.
How many times have you seen trash next to it, in front of it? People are so &^%^ing lazy they can't be
bothered to pick up the trash they just dropped.
And a vast majority of that ends up in in waterways=oceans. ARGH!

[katdolores]

Shortpoet, I am with you on this. I think recycling is good. The problem is with proper knowledge on the correct ways to execute recycling. Let's say that recycling really has bad effects, which one among RECYCLING and NOT RECYCLING has worse effects? I would still go with recycling because I have seen the changes it has done to our community.

[Shortpoet-GTD]

I think of it this way.
Recycling plastics means I am not giving money to foreign governments that wish us harm.
(Oil/gas is a world traded commodity, so even oil drilled here goes into the world "pot", and the US doesn't
produce enough to keep up with our demand.)

Not all packaging producers utilize sustainable forest standards, so by recycling paper and cardboard,
I'm reducing the number of trees being felled=less CO-2, more oxygen.

Recycling aluminum means less metal ores pulled out from Mother Earth and the damage that mining causes.

[Shortpoet-GTD]

"Currently, there are 250 recycling businesses across Mississippi.
Nine of them are manufacturing facilities. There are an estimated 7,000 jobs associated with recycling.
And Poncho James, president of the Mississippi Recycling Coalition and vice president of a recycling center in Sumrall,
is in the middle of it.
"The dollar signs are amazing," James said. "I think my company ... we were doing $15, $16 million dollars a year.
We're just a small part of this."
http://www.sunherald...ironmental.html

[Shortpoet-GTD]

Aluminum cans (if you drink beer or soda) beat out plastic and glass for recycling.
And with reduced weight in recent years, it means less fuel is used in transport.

Infographic-comparisons
Via Sustainablog-
http://sustainablog....er-infographic/