Do you recycle?

[Chuck52]

Dave,

Feel free to jump in. I guess I was asking if recycling, which I see as a form of environmentlism, was also supported by those who see themselves as conservatives. Looks like we can agree that it is a "good thing" (sorry Martha) without worrying about associations. I think it was Fishman who said folks in the liberal camp were more likely to recycle....I don't know. Civic recycling programs, with all their possible problems, do seem more likely to be associated with more liberal communities, and perhaps conservatives would object to them as yet another example of government meddling?

Chuck

 

[PhilNH5]

I thought there would be more cost-benefit analysis in this discussion. I have heard arguments that recycling uses more energy (sorting, hauling) than it saves. 'Course I have heard all the pro-recycling stuuf too!

In Cecil County MD where I used to live you had 2 options at the dump. 1) Recycle and you can use the dump for free or 2) don't recycle and pay a small tipping fee. Citizens overwhelmingly chose option 1.

At first this lead to Pete's observation. The stuff went in the dump anyway. Now Aluminum was able to be sold at a profit and the farmers used up most of the newspaper as bedding. It was free for the asking. But plastics were the troublesome ones. while I lived there they were not able to sell it but they were able to get it hauled away for less than the general trash rate. So whoever hauled it must have had a market somewhere. I know Proctor and Gambles Baltimore area plant made a big deal out of using recycled plastics.

You can help generate the market for recycled goods. Look for products made of recycled materials. Most of them are labeled. For instance in my supermarket you can purchase toilet tissue that has all virgin material or stuff made from 80% post-consumer recycled paper. and anything in between.

Phil (self admitted tree-hugger)

PS to further reduce your trash give composting a try!

 

[Chuck52]

Phil,

I do compost! My compost heap had much healthier plants than my garden this year.

Chuck

 

[cj7]

One of the tuff things about reusing and building other thing out of "useless itmes" is plain old time.

I think we all need to make an effort to recycle and reuse the best we can. It is sort of a double sword since much of our income comes from producing products!

Our way of life sure is different from times of long ago and that of other countries.

 

[Anonymous Poster]

<font color=blue> ... and perhaps conservatives would object to them as yet another example of government meddling? </font color=blue>

You're just itchin to make this a political discussion, aren't you? Why?

All types of conservation (oooohhhh getting to0 close to the "C" word ....) are completely reasonable. Radical environmentalism based on junk science .... that's another story.

When I see Gorby in the Green Party that raises a red flag for me. Does it keep me from recycling, or do I carelessly pour motor oil on the ground, or dump toxic chemicals into a river -- untreated -- No. That is stupidity and there is plenty of that on "either side of the aisle". Do I believe man is causing global warming? Do I even believe there is global warming? Or is it just part of a natural cycle ... don't know ... just keeping my eyes and ears open on that one.

It isn't about politics it is about doing the right thing. I don't believe we need to catapolt this country back into the stone ages because of a couple of Stud Fish in a creek somewhere but I do believe we need to be responsible.

The book "Everything I need to know I learned in Kindergarten" says something about picking up after yourself. Somehow that has become an issue for Senators and Representatives and I really wished they'd get back to the task at hand - protecting our borders (and not positioning for the immigrant vote).

Kent

 

[Wingnut]

There have been many efforts made to reuse plastics .... but there always is a problem. Items to be recycled (effectively) must be sorted AND scrupulously cleansed. McDonalds went back to paper from plastic because the recycling efforts were in vain .... the people who put stuff in the recycle bins (in many cases) put in contaminated (ie full of food and crud) stuff which contaminated the whole bin. This makes it, then, cost prohibitive to reuse that waste. So it ends up in landfill anyway. (Which brings us to an interesting sidenote: what's the biggest component of landfills in this country? Or at least the biggest nonrecycleable, noncompactable and bulkiest? Disposable diapers!)
I'm sure you read about the tons and tons of waste at the recent conference in South Africa? Nothing was able to be recycled because those wonderful greenies kept contaminating the recycle receptacles with contaminated (and incorrect) "stuff". Remember, plastic isn't plastic.
The market for products made with recycled materials is quite small. Few people actually want to buy products made with these products. And they're tremendously expensive.
Yes, I ... a conservative who happens to believe in "conserve" ... use it wherever possible and even think about what I buy. My paper or plastic question is genrally answered plastic since it gets reused for quite awhile and when discarded, if it cannot be recycled, consumes very little space in landfill. I enjoy those folks who'd rather use paper - which kills trees and doesn't decompose any more than the plastic in our landfills (as proven by archeologists who study landfills).
Right now I'm in the process of recycling an old manure spreader. I've removed and recycled (chipped and used for mulch the old lumber) and when I rebuild, will try the plastic lumber to see if it will work and if it will last. It'll cost me about double what lumber would .... but I'm betting it will outlast lumber.
And if politics simply MUST be brought into a discussion about recycling .... I'd much rather have the libertarian method of choosing to recycle than the liberal method of passing another law to generate more fines as an alternate method of taxation.

 

[BigDave]

Thanks Chuck /w3tcompact/icons/smile.gif

I recycle due to economics. I cut my trash bill in half. I haul my trash to the transfer station, along with the recyling once a month. The recycling is free, but the trash costs about $4. /w3tcompact/icons/laugh.gif Our trash is shipped out of state and burned in an incernator. Hooray for PA. /w3tcompact/icons/grin.gif

My mother recycles due to local legislation. She lives in New Jersey, and has mandatory recycling. It is ridiculus. She has to put paper out on one day. Glass, metal & plastic the next day. Trash on another. They actually will leave the trash bags behind if they suspect recycleables are in the bags. /w3tcompact/icons/mad.gif Of course if she has anything bigger than standard trash bags, there's only one day a year that it will be picked up. /w3tcompact/icons/frown.gif

 

[wroughtn_harv]

We have a full recycle box each and every week. Of course there's the paper we get everyday and then there's all the plastic.

The aluminum goes down to the shop where it goes into a barrel. I have an eighty something old phart that comes by occasionally and grabs all the aluminum.

I also have a pile of steel of various sizes going at any one given time. It isn't economical for me to haul it. I don't generate enough to justify a scrapper putting me in a container for it. But I do have a bud who's a demolition contractor so he's found it advantageous to haul scrap. When the pile gets of size I call him and he sends some guys over and they haul it off.

I've never cashed in an aluminum can in my life. But the sight of an aluminum can in the trash goes over me like a hot flash. Just one of those little things that accumalate and make us what we are I guess.

Steel I love. Almost more than rocks even. Maybe old steel more than rocks now that I think about it.

 

[Chuck52]

<font color=blue>You're just itchin to make this a political discussion, aren't you? Why?</font color=blue>

Actually, no, I wasn't trying to get anyone's goat. I was simply making the observation that civic recycling seems to be more prevalent in those areas which might be characterized as of a more liberal leaning. I'm not even sure that is accurate, but assuming it is, is the reason because a more conservative population might resist what they would see as governmental meddling. In other words, though they might be personally inclined to recycle, they see no need for the government to implement such a plan. I can see that as a possible reason, and even agree to some extent. Believe it or not, I don't always post to intentionally tick someone off.

Chuck

 

[Chuck52]

Dave,

I wish I did save money due to my recycling, but the private company that hauls my trash doesn't give me a break on the bill. I probably put out a couple bags of odds and ends that don't make sense to try to recycle, and that would double if I included the recycleables, but that wouldn't max out my load so far as the company is concerned. Now in the town where I take my recyleables, they might soon go to some kind of plan to encourage recycling, like you have. Makes sense, if you consider the cost to maintain a decent landfill.

Chuck