"Most recycled materials should be cheaper than virgin commodities" Surprisingly this just isn't true. It takes a lot of work and chemicals to clean inks and glues out of paper for recycling. Penn & Teller looked into this in an episode of Bullshit! a while back - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rExEVZlQia4 Aluminum and clear glass are very efficient to recycle, plastics and colored glass depend on commodity prices,…
Recycling in America
11–20 of 77 posts
Re: Recycling in America
#12Will never forget how I (German) walked into a Safeway in San Francisco with my bag full of bottles and asked the cashier where the deposit-machine is. She had absolutely no clue what I was talking about.
They just have a weird implementation of the redemption: http://www.calrecycle.ca.gov/BevContainer/Recyclers/Director... (I see California on all the returnables from my state (which requires stores accept any that they sell), so I wondered what you were talking about)
Re: Recycling in America
#13America is way behind from living overseas for 3 years. I have to pay extra to recycle, which I do not think is correct. Should be more like some areas in Germany where you pay for the amount of trash you have(weight), the more you throw away the more you pay -> encourages recycling! I also work for a brewery and it is sad that none will re-use bottles in the united states, all beer goes into brand new bottles :(
>I have to pay extra to recycle, which I do not think is correct. what. Who's charging you? Local government?
Re: Recycling in America
#14Will never forget how I (German) walked into a Safeway in San Francisco with my bag full of bottles and asked the cashier where the deposit-machine is. She had absolutely no clue what I was talking about.
I like California's policy so much better cause I buy a lot of beer that gets rejected in the reverse vending machines.
Re: Recycling in America
#15Will never forget how I (German) walked into a Safeway in San Francisco with my bag full of bottles and asked the cashier where the deposit-machine is. She had absolutely no clue what I was talking about.
New York has those bottle in/ cash out machines. If you have a bottle that the store doesn't sell it would reject it. Recycling is very regional. Some states don't have bottle deposits. Where I live now, they gave up on the rules that nobody followed (plastic # types in particular) and have "single stream" where everything that might be recyclable goes to one plant and is sorted by machines/people. I remember having…
Re: Recycling in America
#16Will never forget how I (German) walked into a Safeway in San Francisco with my bag full of bottles and asked the cashier where the deposit-machine is. She had absolutely no clue what I was talking about.
New York has those bottle in/ cash out machines. If you have a bottle that the store doesn't sell it would reject it. Recycling is very regional. Some states don't have bottle deposits. Where I live now, they gave up on the rules that nobody followed (plastic # types in particular) and have "single stream" where everything that might be recyclable goes to one plant and is sorted by machines/people. I remember having…
Re: Recycling in America
#17Will never forget how I (German) walked into a Safeway in San Francisco with my bag full of bottles and asked the cashier where the deposit-machine is. She had absolutely no clue what I was talking about.
Re: Recycling in America
#18Earlier quoted context omitted.
>I have to pay extra to recycle, which I do not think is correct. what. Who's charging you? Local government?
In many municipalities, they contract trash and recycling collection out to private companies. Many times those companies charge separately for recycling collection.
Re: Recycling in America
#19America is way behind from living overseas for 3 years. I have to pay extra to recycle, which I do not think is correct. Should be more like some areas in Germany where you pay for the amount of trash you have(weight), the more you throw away the more you pay -> encourages recycling! I also work for a brewery and it is sad that none will re-use bottles in the united states, all beer goes into brand new bottles :(
I was forced to pay people to take my recycling, which I never had any of because I take it to the recycling center and get around 35-40 cents a pound.
Re: Recycling in America
#20There is no financial incentive to use recycled goods. They cost more than 'fresh' goods, they require additional processing, they add risk from material contamination (not biologic, structural and chemical). There are a dozen different reasons for this but much of the blame can be laid at the feet of the amazingly interlinked municipal waste management structure.
Here is a situation where you could hire anyone from students, to sex-offender ex-Cons, to the mentally impaired to work at a recycling plant pre-processing material for effective recycling, thus providing jobs for anyone willing to work. They get paid and perhaps feel good about helping the environment, and the supply of recycled material goes up and helps push the price down on the spot market.
Financially you are going to lose taxpayer money running those plants because it is cheaper to make this stuff fresh, but its perhaps a better investment than other assistance programs.
[1] http://www.sec.gov/news/headlines/wastemgmt6.htm
[2] http://www.nytimes.com/2002/11/22/us/mayor-and-trash-hauling...
[3] "Landfill company sued over bribery case" http://www.wwltv.com/story/news/2014/08/29/14405720/