Recycling is in trouble — and it might be your fault

[AeonPax]

Wouldn't that be polluting your air with toxic cancer causing chemicals in the plastics

`
Perhaps but on overcast nights up where I live, I've occasionally burnt a tire or two. My bad.

[Dr. Who]

I read this article yesterday, and found it very discouraging. We make great efforts to recycle in my household, and our local recycling operation has actually widened the range of things it takes in recent years. (They only used to take in plastics numbered 1, 2 or 4, and now they take all numbered plastics. They also accept phone books now - what few actually get printed these days - and they now have separate barrels for most types of yard waste.) I've been trying to find out where we can take fabric items - torn or badly stained clothing, etc. - for recycling in our area.

There are textile recyclers that collect fabric items - perhaps check the yellow pages for textile recycling.

[Dr. Who]

As usual the leftness talks a good game. The problem is, they don't practice what they preach. Like most anything, once the leftness gets involved. Its bound to be failure and a major $#@! up.




American recycling is stalling, and the big blue bin is one reason why.....

Once a profitable business for cities and private employers alike, recycling in recent years has become a money-sucking enterprise. The District, Baltimore and many counties in between are contributing millions annually to prop up one of the nation’s busiest facilities here in Elkridge, Md. — but it is still losing money. In fact, almost every facility like it in the country is running in the red. And Waste Management and other recyclers say that more than 2,000 municipalities are paying to dispose of their recyclables instead of the other way around.


In short, the business of American recycling has stalled. And industry leaders warn that the situation is worse than it appears.


Environmentalists and other die-hard conservation advocates question if the industry is overstating a cyclical slump.


Still, the numbers speak for themselves: a three-year trend of shrinking profits and rising costs for U.S. municipalities — and little evidence that they are a blip.


Trying to encourage conservation, progressive lawmakers and environmentalists have made matters worse. By pushing to increase recycling rates with bigger and bigger bins — while demanding almost no sorting by consumers — the recycling stream has become increasingly polluted and less valuable, imperiling the economics of the whole system......snip~


https://www.washingtonpost.com/local...=.a73537674736

Perhaps the better solution is to put a halt to the excessive overpackaging. Then people would have fewer recyclables to recycle. Much of the packaging out there is geared to store display and serves no other useful purpose. Why do cosmetics and so many hardware items have to be surrounded with cardboard and plastic so they can hang these items on a hook in the store? Why do we need a styrofoam tray under our meat - why not just shrink wrap it and be done with it? Why do toys come with about six times the volume of packaging relative to the toy being purchased? Why do cereals have to come in giant boxes that are half-full? Instead of bottled water, why not have a water station at grocery stores where people can fill their own containers with a meter on the dispenser, like at the gas station? Water bottles are some of the worst offenders in the recycling stream. Why do they even still sell styrofoam plates and cups?

[Tahuyaman]

when are you on?

Did anyone ask for your stupid input?

[Standing Wolf]

There are textile recyclers that collect fabric items - perhaps check the yellow pages for textile recycling.

It just occurred to me that few Americans under the age of about thirty would even know that "the yellow pages" is.

Someone - I have no idea who - still leaves a small Scottsdale phone book on our porch every year. If I get to it first, I'll put it in a certain kitchen cabinet - and never touch it again, of course, till it is replaced - but the wife, being of a somewhat more practical bent about such things, if she sees it first will immediately toss it in the recycling.

[Dr. Who]

It just occurred to me that few Americans under the age of about thirty would even know that "the yellow pages" is.

Someone - I have no idea who - still leaves a small Scottsdale phone book on our porch every year. If I get to it first, I'll put it in a certain kitchen cabinet - and never touch it again, of course, till it is replaced - but the wife, being of a somewhat more practical bent about such things, if she sees it first will immediately toss it in the recycling.

LOL. The yellow pages is now online, but it's still called the yellow pages. https://www.yellowpages.com/search?s...ottsdale%2C AZ
Here's a link to an online service to help you find recycling centers etc. http://earth911.com/recycling-guide/...g-accessories/