Landfill is underrated and recycling overrated
1–10 of 344 posts
Re: Landfill is underrated and recycling overrated
#2NYC ships its garbage hundreds, and even thousands of miles in some cases:
https://www.freshairfortheeastside.com/latestnews/2018/1/22/...
There’s even a poop train to Alabama:
https://beta.washingtonpost.com/news/post-nation/wp/2018/04/...
Re: Landfill is underrated and recycling overrated
#3This is why markets should make decisions about this stuff (with appropriate taxes for externalities) rather than politicians with their gut instinct...
"We're doing nothing for the environment" doesn't get one elected tho...
Re: Landfill is underrated and recycling overrated
#4This is true enough (in some markets and some circumstances, yada yada), but sort of missing the point. A world where all the Good Liberals are trained to recycle everything into hand sorted artisinal bins that they keep next to their compost containers is one where people think about what they purchase and push for public policies that worry about resource consumption in ways that benefit all of us.
A world (we live in it) where libertarians tell everyone that "landfill is underrated" is one where people buy and dispose of way too much junk, and create the problems all us communists are vainly trying to solve via personal recycling.
I mean, sure, a world of scientists might be able to handle rules like "recycling that aluminum can is a big win, but the polypropylene bottle with the same product in it is mostly a wash". A world of real people is just going to hear "throw out all the things".
Re: Landfill is underrated and recycling overrated
#5> Plastics come from oil, which we are gradually running out of, though not quickly.
I guess it depends on your definition of "quickly", or it would be good to see a citation on this one.
Personally, I believe that if we encourage recycling more, that creates an opportunity for companies to innovate in that space and come up with better recycling methods. So in that respect, I'd prefer to over-recycle than under-recycle.
Re: Landfill is underrated and recycling overrated
#6This is why markets should make decisions about this stuff (with appropriate taxes for externalities) rather than politicians with their gut instinct... "We're doing nothing for the environment" doesn't get one elected tho...
Markets haven't been doing a good job of it so far, why would they in the future?
Re: Landfill is underrated and recycling overrated
#7three main issues: 1) yes the Earth is huge but cities really don't have easy access to landfill, and many are in fact running out of it because transporting garbage is expensive. 2) podcasts aren't convincing sources for a debate. 3) the real debate is "how do we reduce waste", not "landfill vs recycling".
Re: Landfill is underrated and recycling overrated
#8This is why markets should make decisions about this stuff (with appropriate taxes for externalities) rather than politicians with their gut instinct... "We're doing nothing for the environment" doesn't get one elected tho...
Markets haven't been doing a good job of it so far, why would they in the future?
Yeah we live in the time where companies look quarter to quarter....or are rewarded by the market by growing like Uber where profits don't even matter.
Not sure we can hope for them to look into the future very far / care.
Re: Landfill is underrated and recycling overrated
#9NYC ships its garbage hundreds, and even thousands of miles in some cases: https://www.freshairfortheeastside.com/latestnews/2018/1/22/... There’s even a poop train to Alabama: https://beta.washingtonpost.com/news/post-nation/wp/2018/04/...
> There's even a poop train to Alabama
An NYC poop train bound for other parts played a big role in season 4 of the television show Billions.
Re: Landfill is underrated and recycling overrated
#10This is why markets should make decisions about this stuff (with appropriate taxes for externalities) rather than politicians with their gut instinct... "We're doing nothing for the environment" doesn't get one elected tho...
Markets have no interest in environmental outcomes, and most consumers have greedy ones at best. There needs to be some oversight to ensure optimal outcomes for all.