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Plastics: What's Recyclable, What Becomes Trash and Why

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Re: Plastics: What's Recyclable, What Becomes Trash and Why

#161

Post by pixl97 »

trickstra wrote: post #93
pcmaffey wrote: post #44

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Depends on the area, or so I learned recently upon moving to Montana, where they don't recycle it. Apparently most recycled glass is crushed up and used as roadbase. In MT, gravel is dirt cheap, and so it's not economical to use glass for construction, so into the landfill it goes. As for recycling glass into other glass, I can't say.

Making glass from scratch is incredibly energy intensive, and glass impurities can be handled (purified), so it always makes sense to recycle glass. Don't let your officials tell you any different.

Not in single stream recycling. The problem? Glass gets crushed and ruins other recyclable materials.

Also glass is very heavy when compared to a similar strength container made of plastic. That is why plastic took over the market.

Re: Plastics: What's Recyclable, What Becomes Trash and Why

#162

Post by pixl97 »

baroffoos wrote: post #68
eloff wrote: post #6

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I've noticed that people aren't actually fully capable of just sorting the recycling correctly. There's always stuff in the wrong bins in my building despite an ongoing education effort to fix that and helpful illustrated rules above the bins. Rules about lids and labels is a joke.

The rules are just insanely complicated and depend entirely on what suburb you are in. There are countless different kinds of plastics which all have the recycling triangle on them but you have to actually check the number inside and remember all the kinds of plastics there are and which ones your local council can recycle as well as keeping up to date if this changes. And then you have to deal with the fact that loa…

I love the bottles that have the recycling symbol, but the number is so small an ill defined you can't actually read it.

Re: Plastics: What's Recyclable, What Becomes Trash and Why

#163

Post by np_tedious »

Something I've wondered about but never been able to find a clear answer: what is the cost of putting a non recyclable item in the recycling?

I'm sure there's a lot of "it depends" in this answer, just as there is for most parts of this article. Still, even a ballpark answer would really help with the applied question of how much confidence in an item's recyclability one should have before putting it in the bin.

If I'm 95% sure then I'll do it. If I think the odds are 10% I won't. But where is the line? This depends on the cost of being wrong in terms of processing effort/energy, potential to ruin surrounding goods items, etc

Re: Plastics: What's Recyclable, What Becomes Trash and Why

#164

Post by brnt »

trickstra wrote: post #93
pcmaffey wrote: post #44

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Depends on the area, or so I learned recently upon moving to Montana, where they don't recycle it. Apparently most recycled glass is crushed up and used as roadbase. In MT, gravel is dirt cheap, and so it's not economical to use glass for construction, so into the landfill it goes. As for recycling glass into other glass, I can't say.

Making glass from scratch is incredibly energy intensive, and glass impurities can be handled (purified), so it always makes sense to recycle glass. Don't let your officials tell you any different.

I heard on a recent podcast from a Dutch recycler that recycling glas only saves ~10% of energy creating new glass. Melting the glass requires heat, and the raw material is not much more expensive than collecting used glass.

Re: Plastics: What's Recyclable, What Becomes Trash and Why

#165

Post by JTbane »

swframe2 wrote: post #5

I was wondering if we should put "seller unique rfids" on everything so the trash can be sorted and returned to the seller. Then we just add the cost of recycling to the cost of the product. Alternatively, add a "recycler unique rfid" and every seller has to partner with a recycler in order to sell a product.

Honestly there ought to be a law that if you sell things in plastic, you also have to pay for or provide recycling for that volume of plastic.

Re: Plastics: What's Recyclable, What Becomes Trash and Why

#166

Post by JTbane »

alanbernstein wrote: post #86

Why can't we just package more food items in aluminum? Every time I read about the mess that is recycling, I am reassured that aluminum is the absolute best case material. Why are we only using it for soda cans?

Soda can designs have to be under pressure to be strong.

Re: Plastics: What's Recyclable, What Becomes Trash and Why

#167

Post by pixl97 »

leggomylibro wrote: post #10

You can recycle polyethylene pretty easily on its own, and a lot of those plastic wraps that the article says aren't recycled are made out of LDPE. HDPE and LDPE are great materials for a lot of things that you might otherwise make out of wood or 3D-print. It's easy to machine, and it can be very strong and rigid for its weight. Basically, you just shred the donor plastic, heat it to 300-350F, press the air out, and…

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rpXq6mnbCus&

>How To Recycle HDPE Bottle Lids Into Flawless Flat Sheet Material

Decent video on how to make HDPE into new materials

Re: Plastics: What's Recyclable, What Becomes Trash and Why

#168

Post by rficcaglia »

spodek wrote: post #23
paultopia wrote: post #3

This is LUDICROUS. Recycling is harder than doing your taxes. We desperately need uniformity on this. " BEVERAGE BOTTLES Recyclable. Be sure to remove the plastic film label, which isn’t recyclable. " FFS. Have you ever tried to remove one of those labels? It's impossible. " A bottle with a cap or an opening the same size or smaller than the base of the bottle is probably going to be recyclable. " -- WTF does the siz…

I found a simple 80% solution for home plastic: I avoid packaged food in favor of fresh, unwrapped fruits, vegetables, and foods from bulk bins. Now I have a load of garbage to empty a little less than once a year and a load of metal and plastic recycling once or twice a year. Plus my food tastes better and costs less. Everyone is free to do what they want, and experience shows someone will have to tell me the soluti…

Local farmers markets and reusable canvas bags. I know not everyone lives in areas with these options, though.

We were able to reduce our garbage and recycling in half.

But I also think taxing and or regulating packaging at the manufacturer for the rest is needed.

Re: Plastics: What's Recyclable, What Becomes Trash and Why

#169

Post by specialist »

18pfsmt wrote: post #114
ImprovedSilence wrote: post #43

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Agreed. Incentivize the correct materials.

One cannot coercively distort the market with government power and expect that life will not, "uh, uh, find a way." Great intentions do not always lead to great outcomes (often the opposite).

Regulation makes the market. No regulation (rules), no market.

What you oppose are incentives you disagree with.

Re: Plastics: What's Recyclable, What Becomes Trash and Why

#170

Post by rficcaglia »

raverbashing wrote: post #107
sexydefinesher wrote: post #102

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Wouldn't the lost productivity of sick people due to lower hygiene be more harmful to the environment than the plastic gloves?

Yes Plastics have helped a lot in the hygiene aspects of food, as much as some people think ( very naively) that food can't make you sick. Especially if you live in a country with warmer temperatures and low infrastructure (hello Climate Change)

I ran a restaurant in college and had to become a certified food manager (a step up from the line food handler). So while I won’t prentend to have all the data, it was clear that simple processes prevent 99.99% of food borne illness, and not one law required plastic gloves! In fact they expressly warned NOT to use gloves if you were not sure they were food grade.

If you follow the simple rules, most illness is caused by tainted supply.

The most common infraction I saw was failing to wash hands, followed by not separating meats from other stations. (Work surface, knives, hand washing, etc)

In a busy kitchen, you would be shocked at how much cross contamination occurs every single day, plastic or not. Plastic is not the solution, training and oversight is the essential thing.

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