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As Costs Skyrocket, More U.S. Cities Stop Recycling

nytimes.com

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Re: As Costs Skyrocket, More U.S. Cities Stop Recycling

#51

Post by maxxxxx »

saboot wrote: post #39
genocidicbunny wrote: post #26

Earlier quoted context omitted.

California has this as well -- CRV, but I dont see too many people taking advantage of it. Part of the problem is that most stores dont accept the bottles back -- you need to bring them to a recycling dropoff point that seem to be relatively rare and far in between.

It's now become a weird social welfare system for the homeless, some go around collecting large bags and drop them off at recycling areas for cash in urban areas.

I think that's not a bad thing. When I was a kid in Germany we always looked for bottles to return to make some money.

Re: As Costs Skyrocket, More U.S. Cities Stop Recycling

#52

Post by dredmorbius »

nostrademons wrote: post #18

It makes me wonder if we were ever really recycling, or if "recycling" was a marketing buzzword for "cheaply dumping your trash in China". I seem to remember a lot of controversy over recycling in the 80s and early 90s, with my local town government insisting it was too expensive. Suddenly everything changed in the late 90s, right around the time that globalization took off, and recycle bins took off everywhere. By t…

In many ways, China's chief export for the past two decades has been its environmental sink capacity -- that is, absorbing both pollution and extractive environmental disruption.

Re: As Costs Skyrocket, More U.S. Cities Stop Recycling

#53

Post by acjohnson55 »

saboot wrote: post #39
genocidicbunny wrote: post #26

Earlier quoted context omitted.

California has this as well -- CRV, but I dont see too many people taking advantage of it. Part of the problem is that most stores dont accept the bottles back -- you need to bring them to a recycling dropoff point that seem to be relatively rare and far in between.

It's now become a weird social welfare system for the homeless, some go around collecting large bags and drop them off at recycling areas for cash in urban areas.

I think it's a perfectly fine source of cash for people in need and willing to hustle.

Re: As Costs Skyrocket, More U.S. Cities Stop Recycling

#54

Post by abainbridge »

abainbridge wrote: post #29
ddebernardy wrote: post #11

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Out of curiosity, what's wrong with single use paper packaging or some other non-plastic alternative to the same effect?

Broadly speaking, I expect the answer is that plastic better prolongs shelf life and leads to less food waste. And plastic is cheaper.

For example, in the UK a punnet of strawberries in the supermarket has a little rectangle of bubble wrap glued into the bottom of it. It is there to reduce the amount of physical damage to the fruit. It looks like it couldn't do anything. But the food companies would love not to have the extra cost of the rectangle of bubble wrap and the gluing process. They do it because it works.

Re: As Costs Skyrocket, More U.S. Cities Stop Recycling

#55

Post by aviv »

barbecue_sauce wrote: post #41
aviv wrote: post #25

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I would argue most of what you are referring to as "food" is not and should not be considered food for humans though.

This is a rather elitist perspective.

Eating fruits and vegetables that can easily be composted is elitist? News to me.

Re: As Costs Skyrocket, More U.S. Cities Stop Recycling

#56

Post by username223 »

nostrademons wrote: post #18

It makes me wonder if we were ever really recycling, or if "recycling" was a marketing buzzword for "cheaply dumping your trash in China". I seem to remember a lot of controversy over recycling in the 80s and early 90s, with my local town government insisting it was too expensive. Suddenly everything changed in the late 90s, right around the time that globalization took off, and recycle bins took off everywhere. By t…

There was, and still is, actual recycling. I remember taking the (sorted) recyclables to a recycling business, which paid by the pound. I remember watching the homeless guys in LA pick aluminum cans out of the blue bins early in the morning on trash day, presumably for the money.

That said, I wouldn't be surprised if the single-stream version were largely marketing (by weight). WM or whichever company picks out a few things that are valuable enough to separate, then treats the majority as waste.

Re: As Costs Skyrocket, More U.S. Cities Stop Recycling

#57

Post by acjohnson55 »

maxxxxx wrote: post #12

In Germany you pay a deposit when you buy a bottle and when you bring it back, you get your money back. At least when I lived there the system worked well. there is always a lot of pressure from industry to go one-way though.

Isn't it also the case that the bottles are reused, rather than recycled?

Re: As Costs Skyrocket, More U.S. Cities Stop Recycling

#58

Post by pfranz »

jiaweihli wrote: post #27

How do compostable products compare to recyclable ones? How much better/worse are they and how much impact do they have?

Just my opinion, but compostable doesn't make that great of a product in a lot of places they're being pushed. I've seen a bunch of places switch to compostable silverware and cups. The silverware is a lot less durable than plastic (which is already a low bar) and coffee lids don't fit properly. One place I frequent uses them and I constantly hear others complain and discover this for themselves. I sound like an old man, but I am often very explicit about getting a mug of coffee when I order, but a different person fulfills the order and often puts it in a compostable cup.

Poor products turns people off to that technology and discourages me from ordering coffee.

Re: As Costs Skyrocket, More U.S. Cities Stop Recycling

#59

Post by thinkingkong »

dredmorbius wrote: post #40
andrewstuart wrote: post #2

The packaging industry is going to fight tooth and nail so it can continue to spew out single use plastics for every single sales transaction that occurs. There's big money involved. Imagine the costs to the packaging industry if it was no longer allowed to create infinite garbage. I do find it strange that there seems to be zero noticeable social pressure on bottled drink companies to stop using single use plastic b…

That's been a very long-term strategy. See Annie Leonard's "Moving from Individual Change to Societal Change": In one of the most iconic ads of the twentieth century, a Native American (actually, it was an Italian dressed up as a Native American) canoes through a river strewn with trash. He disembarks and walks along the shore as the passenger in a car driving past throws a bag of litter out the window. As the camera…

It's a little more nuanced than that. The ad was produced by soft drink companies, because the tabs were strewn all over the place. The goal of the companies banding together and creating this campaign was to put the onus on the individual to clean up garbage, and defer responsibility themselves.

Re: As Costs Skyrocket, More U.S. Cities Stop Recycling

#60

Post by maxxxxx »

acjohnson55 wrote: post #57
maxxxxx wrote: post #12

In Germany you pay a deposit when you buy a bottle and when you bring it back, you get your money back. At least when I lived there the system worked well. there is always a lot of pressure from industry to go one-way though.

Isn't it also the case that the bottles are reused, rather than recycled?

Even better!
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