Are you a SERIOUS recycler?

[bp fick]

There's another aspect of re-cycling and that re-using building materials.

When I disassemble something, I pull nails, I clean up lumber, I hate pitching anything. That is also something done in this area. Everything gets re-used or re-made into something. Old fixtures don't get pitched. Folks aren't afraid to use them in their cabins.

Half my barn is re-cycled lumber. With the high prices of lumber, it just flat makes sense.

 

[forgeblast]

We switched over to rechargable batterys for all the aa/aaa.

 

[charlz]

There's another aspect of re-cycling and that re-using building materials.

When I disassemble something, I pull nails, I clean up lumber, I hate pitching anything. That is also something done in this area. Everything gets re-used or re-made into something. Old fixtures don't get pitched. Folks aren't afraid to use them in their cabins.

Half my barn is re-cycled lumber. With the high prices of lumber, it just flat makes sense.

I recycle any usable lumber to and weird sized pallets etc get broken up for the shop stove.

I also forgot about the oil, I can set up to 2 gallons out with recycling and they will take it so I do that all the time for my used oil.

 

[Tig]

We recycle plastic, styrofoam, Tin cans, cardboard/paper through a curbside municipal program. Metals either are sold to the scapper or given to local gentleman who supplements his income by sorting and selling metal to recyclers.
Electronics and tires can be brought to various places to be processed via a provincial program. Paint, fluorescent bulbs, chemicals are brought to municipal "hazardous waste" depots.
Last I checked we have to pay to recycle oil. $ .10/ litter.
Organic material is composted and I'm considering a digester for food scraps.
All in all, garbage is less than a bag every couple weeks. We pay by the bag for garbage pickup.
On a side note, Ottawa has a practical way to encourage people to sort garbage. They pick up organics (waste food, lint tissue etc) weekly. Dry garbage is bi weekly.

 

[ncnurseryman]

we recycle all of our can, glass, styrofoam, cardboard, etc. We have bi-weekly pickup service which is nice. I take all of our used oil to the center myself since that is not picked up. I keep all of our aluminum cans (I don't know why), I haven't taken them in to the scraper yet cause I don't think I have near enough to make it worth the gas, but one day.

 

[300UGUY]

I agree Dan. The rural, transfer stations are far cheaper to operate, which is why we will never approve "curb" side pickup of anything here. Don't even have curbs anyhow, but.....

Our township has offered to get rid of our re-cycling. It just, sort of breaks even. That's fine. We don't approve squat in this conservative, back woods township, but re-cycling is widely popular and we support it with a 1/2 mil or something. It's the nature of conservative, country people to "waste not", I think. Just a theory, with no research, but somehow, re-cycling works on the community spirit here. We have active scrap yards too.

Re-cycling isn't just for the uppity areas.

We don't have any transfer stations. And there is no recycling on a county basis. I think Howell and Brighton have programs, but in the townships there really isn't anything. There used to be a couple of garbage dumps in Livingston county, but they got closed up years ago, and all the garbage is trucked out of the county. In Washtenaw county, they have rural stations with different compartments for different types. That looks pretty convienent. We feed the chickens food scraps, and compost anything that rots. My wife takes some plastic stuff and other matierals to Wall Mart, that is best that we can do.
I've never seen a millage vote for recycling, 1/2 mill would cause a riot here.

We have a couple of scrap yards, but we have some "uppity" areas!!!

 

[bp fick]

300UGUY, I don't know for sure what the millage is, it may only a flat $10 or something on our assessment, I don't know for sure. But I do know it was on the ballet and sure enough, it passed. It's a strange combination of motivations perhaps. Folks will NOT support "curb" side garbage pickup, but do support the re-cycling.

We also have a township day where volunteers clean the cemetery too! On township day, lots of folks assemble for "special and toxic drop off day" at the transfer station. Last year, a local high school cheerleader was the greeter!! It's a hoot! What can I say?

 

[300UGUY]

300UGUY, I don't know for sure what the millage is, it may only a flat $10 or something on our assessment, I don't know for sure. But I do know it was on the ballet and sure enough, it passed. It's a strange combination of motivations perhaps. Folks will NOT support "curb" side garbage pickup, but do support the re-cycling.

We also have a township day where volunteers clean the cemetery too! On township day, lots of folks assemble for "special and toxic drop off day" at the transfer station. Last year, a local high school cheerleader was the greeter!! It's a hoot! What can I say?

We have a large item drop off, and they will take small quantities of paint once a year, at our township hall. But recycling is an idea that has a lot of detractors around here. A lot of my neighbors believe that the EPA, DNR, in fact all government, is evil. I recently talked to a local official, and he referred to them as "Al Gore jobs". You may be different, but a lot of conservatives reject recycling as a farce, a liberal thing. Getting a millage passed here for anything is tough. There is no community college for example. A fractional millage for a pool at the local HS got shot down 3 to one. No swim team here. There are a lot of grumpy old folks everywhere, but sometimes it seems that Livingston county has more than it's share.

 

[JDgreen227]

If Livingston County has a lot of grumpy old folks maybe I better move there as I will fit right in....

 

[Soundguy]

We switched over to rechargable batterys for all the aa/aaa.

for all our tv remotes and such in the house ( must be 5-6 if you count the dvr's and whatnot ).. we use aa rechargeables for them.. hf has then for 4.99 for a 4 pack now and then... good price.

just charge up and use.. set usually lasts a month.. we have a couple backup sets and just keep a set charged and swap out the bats when needed.

havn't bought a aa bat for one of them things in a couple years.

our camera uses rechargeables too.. just about anything we have in the aa/a that uses bats is rechargeable.. all aour flashlights are led with built in rechargeables..e tc..

soundguy