Are you/we really recycling?

[ghostinthemach]

So, everything I'm about to post is anecdotal. I'll grant that right out of the gate.

NONE of what I'm posting is political. And please don't take it there!

I was hanging out at my father-in-law's store this past weekend. A guy came in to get a snack. As soon as he walked in my father-in-law said "Hey man. Tell him (pointing to me) what you told me the other day."

Turns out this guy is a "sanitation engineer" (or whatever the least offensive term for a garbage collector is these days).

He told me a long story, the gist is which is as follows.

Every day when their garbage truck gets full, they go to the landfill to dump it. They have to get in line with other trucks. In their area, the recycling trucks are in the same line with the garbage trucks..... and they dump their loads into the SAME PILE AS THE GARBAGE.

The "recycling" isn't going to any processing plant where the divide it up and actually send it to places that will do something with the stuff we're cleaning, peeling labels off of, and collecting for weeks at a time.

He also said that he "has it on good authority" that it's happening all over the country in pockets. He said he "knew for sure" that the Raleigh/Durham/Cary/Chapel Hill area of NC was doing the same thing. (His words, not mine. I have no idea.)

I'm posting here to see if any of you k ow anyone who works in your area sanitation departments. I would he curious to know how many people THINK they are recycling when they're not. Out here in the burbs, we have to use a private garbage collection company ("sanitation engineering firm"?). I plan to call them and ask point blank. We actually pay extra for a separate wheeled bin to collect the stuff in. They only pick up recycling every other week in my neighborhood. Seems we're all signed up for the service (which is voluntary) because the streets are lined with recycling bins on recycling day (which is different from trash day).

Have any of you heard this in your area? If it's true, is there any way (other than repurposing) to ACTUALLY recycle stuff?

I'm no tree hugger. But I think it's silly to throw away anything that can be kept out of landfills. I even compost with a neighbor who grows a vegetable garden. Throwing away food scraps is even more of a waste to me. If it's just going to rot anyway, that rot should be used for something. I would rather throw an apple core into the woods than into a garbage can. At least there, it returns to the ecosystem.

I'm happy to discuss ways to be a better earth buddy in another thread. But I would really like to stick to the subject at hand here.

Are you sure your recycling is actually being recycled? If it isn't, is there anywhere to take recycling that it actually would be recycled? What would you do if you found out your "recycling" was being dumped into the same pile as your garbage?

Again, NO POLITICS PLEASE. IT'S NOT JIST A RULE HERE AT TB, BUT IT KEEPS THINGS CIVIL. And there's simply no good reason to drag it in here. Thanks.

Aww man, are you really gonna make me follow the doggone recycling truck around to see where all the carefully rinsed plastic, glass and cans, dutifully collapsed cardboard and tirelessly collected plastic is going, ‘cause they sure as hell better not be lying to me!

Damn, even the trash man has something to hide, sheesh is nothing sacred?

 

[Joedog]

Yes it happened here for multiple months when the recycling plant we were shipping to closed. The county kept collecting it and burying it w/the trash (w/o telling us). When the press found out, there was a big stink. The county built their own recycling plant at the land fill, and now we are not burying it. As I understand it, the main problem is we are too stupid to properly sort our trash (lots of trash mixed in with the recycled materials) making it less valuable, or worthless. We used to have 2 recycling roll-offs just outside our subdivision, but they discontinued them because of the a-holes using them to dump their garbage.

 

[buldog5151bass]

The problem is finding a market where you can profitably do something with what you recycle. A lot more is going in than is coming out, so to speak.

 

[Richland123]

Yesterday, the regular trash hauler, who I pay, did not pick up my weekly trash. I had to call today.

A few weeks ago, the company that picks up the recyclables (we don't pay for that) did not pick up my recyclables on two occasions in the same month but took my neighbor's stuff and our cans were in the same driveway.

 

[Tom Bomb]

Political political political political political. Nothing I've said in the preceding statement is political. All adjectives aforementioned will be readily recycled, which I do do, every chance I get. All in. We're even recycling foodstuffs these days, in accordance with the (recycling >) political p's that be. It all goes into the local composter for a lovely rich aromatic humus. But we do pay for the privilege, since China dropped the ball. That was a game changer.

Despite the cyanide in the seeds, I eat the whole apple these days; I eat the entire Chinese gooseberry — furry good; all the gristle on a bird or beast — good for the knees; the leaves, skins and stems of almost everything vegetative — most is good roughage and nutritious; bones etc. become stock. And whenever I can, I use everything twice: bread bags etc. become waste-paper bin liners/packaging, newspapers become packaging or mopping agents or rags if they weren't rags to begin with — not really a paper man me.

Finding other uses for things is half the fun: Grolsch bottles make excellent water bottles, or for iced tea or coffee etc., and so on. One thing's certain: we could all do much better in the recycling game.

 

[Yango]

Canada too.

Yes sir. I work with a guy whose uncle owns and operates a large recycling business that is operating along side his garbage collection business. This guy worked for his uncle for a number of years, and had the same story. Different trucks doing the pickups, but it was all dumped in the same landfill.

These companies get huge tax breaks and incentives on the recycling side of the business which makes it extremely lucrative. It’s a cash grab.

And just in case anyone from the government dropped in, they had purchased a large number of recycled boxes that they kept on hand to show as the results of their “recycling”.

 

[Turbo Sparky]

In my area, residents must pay to have a little blue bin. Residents must also pay for "private" refuse/garbage removal. I think "recycle day" is the 3rd Thursday of the month.
Blue bins fill, blue bins dumped into/onto garbage truck, simultaneously with garbage.
I do not pay for the little blue bin and we recycle/repurpose on our own.
Read an article sometime ago regarding clothing donations. After clothing is donated, and if it is not used, it is sent on ships to "under priviledged" regions of the world, whereupon it is shredded/ground for use in powerplants/energy production.
As an aside, is it just me, or does it seem like there are frequent infernoes of rubber (tire) recycling facilities?

 

[Alkali Ike]

Around here they've had to start an ANTI-recycling campaign. It's centered around the (perjorative?) term "Wishful Recycling". Very little of what was once recyclable still is. Many types of plastic and cardboard are no longer taken by China because the level of contamination in US waste material was far too high. For example, cereal boxes are waxed to make them attractive on the shelf, but the wax makes them non-recyclable. Unrinsed milk jugs and other similar plastic food containers are unusable due to food contamination. Plain old brown cardboard is still recyclable. Some metals, a few types of clean glass and even fewer clean plastics.

 

[Chad Michael]

Was just at the local "waste transfer station" with my son. Pickup bed full of refuse... We had trash to offload as well as cardboard for the recycling bin. It certainly appears that the recycle building (where the single stream of glass, plastic, metal, etc.) was separating the categories of items. Don't know why the effort would be wasted (pardon the pun)

 

[Chad Michael]

Also, FWIW: Spokane uses a "Waste to energy" plant, in which non - recyclable refuse is incinerated, and the heat is converted to electricity:

Spokane's Waste to Energy (WTE) Facility is part of our community's overall comprehensive solid waste system that encourages recycling and waste reduction—along with the recovery of energy. The facility burns municipal solid waste to recover energy in the form of electricity.

 

[Chad Michael]

 

[petrus61]

The thing is all these private companies can’t just dump loads of collected recyclables into the public dump. AFAIK, it’s not even legal and there’s enough of a waste glut that no municipality in their right mind wouldn’t strictly regulate this, especially in small municipalities. There’s probably enough activity for the mob (heavily involved in waste removal all across the country) to pay off city/state employees to look the other way at the larger collection dumps, but the system isn’t really designed to make it easy. There’s a ton of govt oversight on multiple levels to ensure it’s an exception rather than the norm, but you know how that goes too.

 

[petrus61]

In my area, residents must pay to have a little blue bin. Residents must also pay for "private" refuse/garbage removal. I think "recycle day" is the 3rd Thursday of the month.
Blue bins fill, blue bins dumped into/onto garbage truck, simultaneously with garbage.
I do not pay for the little blue bin and we recycle/repurpose on our own.
Read an article sometime ago regarding clothing donations. After clothing is donated, and if it is not used, it is sent on ships to "under priviledged" regions of the world, whereupon it is shredded/ground for use in powerplants/energy production.
As an aside, is it just me, or does it seem like there are frequent infernoes of rubber (tire) recycling facilities?

What many of those clothing collection bins actually go to are companies that convert it into rags for the food service/hotel industry. Almost all of it is bought and shipped overseas to be processed, then sold back to companies in the US. I know a gentleman who has made a fortune doing exactly this. He said it’s because the chemicals involved are mostly illegal in the US. Guess which country is more than happy to take on the task?

 

[dbsfgyd1]

So, everything I'm about to post is anecdotal. I'll grant that right out of the gate.

NONE of what I'm posting is political. And please don't take it there!

I was hanging out at my father-in-law's store this past weekend. A guy came in to get a snack. As soon as he walked in my father-in-law said "Hey man. Tell him (pointing to me) what you told me the other day."

Turns out this guy is a "sanitation engineer" (or whatever the least offensive term for a garbage collector is these days).

He told me a long story, the gist is which is as follows.

Every day when their garbage truck gets full, they go to the landfill to dump it. They have to get in line with other trucks. In their area, the recycling trucks are in the same line with the garbage trucks..... and they dump their loads into the SAME PILE AS THE GARBAGE.

The "recycling" isn't going to any processing plant where the divide it up and actually send it to places that will do something with the stuff we're cleaning, peeling labels off of, and collecting for weeks at a time.

He also said that he "has it on good authority" that it's happening all over the country in pockets. He said he "knew for sure" that the Raleigh/Durham/Cary/Chapel Hill area of NC was doing the same thing. (His words, not mine. I have no idea.)

I'm posting here to see if any of you k ow anyone who works in your area sanitation departments. I would he curious to know how many people THINK they are recycling when they're not. Out here in the burbs, we have to use a private garbage collection company ("sanitation engineering firm"?). I plan to call them and ask point blank. We actually pay extra for a separate wheeled bin to collect the stuff in. They only pick up recycling every other week in my neighborhood. Seems we're all signed up for the service (which is voluntary) because the streets are lined with recycling bins on recycling day (which is different from trash day).

Have any of you heard this in your area? If it's true, is there any way (other than repurposing) to ACTUALLY recycle stuff?

I'm no tree hugger. But I think it's silly to throw away anything that can be kept out of landfills. I even compost with a neighbor who grows a vegetable garden. Throwing away food scraps is even more of a waste to me. If it's just going to rot anyway, that rot should be used for something. I would rather throw an apple core into the woods than into a garbage can. At least there, it returns to the ecosystem.

I'm happy to discuss ways to be a better earth buddy in another thread. But I would really like to stick to the subject at hand here.

Are you sure your recycling is actually being recycled? If it isn't, is there anywhere to take recycling that it actually would be recycled? What would you do if you found out your "recycling" was being dumped into the same pile as your garbage?

Again, NO POLITICS PLEASE. IT'S NOT JIST A RULE HERE AT TB, BUT IT KEEPS THINGS CIVIL. And there's simply no good reason to drag it in here. Thanks.

Here in Virginia, we keep our trash company by importing out of state refuse and building Mt.Trashmores all over the place. Little elevated hills all over the place. I drive by two of them every day that just keep growing and growing.. Actually, in Virginia Beach, they have road signs announcing Mt. Trashmore as a location. Honest Injun!

Yeah, when the county started collecting a fee for recycle pick up, I figured something like this was up.

 

[Mike N]

Burning off wiring to gather the copper is a crack head speciality.

Fixed.

 

[pie_man_25]

There are probably scandals everywhere if you look just below the surface.

The best and worst things about capitalism are that if it can be done profitably, it will be done.

 

[Scottgun]

No. I think lots of stuff slated for recycling isn't. Just as the TSA is "security theater", recycling is environmental theater.

 

[hrodbert696]

The last couple of towns I've lived in didn't have municipal trash pickup or mandatory anything - you can pay a private hauler, or take your bins over to the transfer station yourself. I make the transfer station run on Saturday mornings. There's a separate recycling building (the former town was sort-your-own, where I live now is single-stream) from the trash building and both towns elected to create these structures because the recycling was a way to recoup money rather than dumping in landfills. The sort-your-own facility actually posted the $-per-pound of each type of material and urged us to drink beer from cans rather than bottles because the town got more money for metal than glass.

It stretches credulity to think that some company is paying the town for its recyclable material only to turn around and dump it in landfills. I don't doubt that there are many places where, the way the system is structured, the kind of scam @two fingers described is happening. And clearly there's the issue of matching the material with manufacturers who can use it, which will never be exact (and I understand is particularly difficult right now). But maybe the better way to think of it, in the big picture, is as an efficiency problem - what percentage of material we try to recycle actually gets recycled, and then what can we do to improve those percentages? It will probably never be 100%.

I also agree with the issue that you can't put all the onus on the retail customer, you have to have more responsible behavior on the production side, especially as regards packaging. It really struck me when I bought a volleyball net last summer; it came in a box with the components all wrapped in plastic and padded with styrofoam. If I had a choice, I wouldn't ever touch styrofoam, and I certainly wouldn't go to a store and say, "I need to buy me some styrofoam today." The stuff is noxious. But I literally have no idea where I would buy a volleyball net that WASN'T packed in styrofoam, and even if there were more than one option of net in the store, there's no way I would have known that THIS model was packed in styrofoam but THAT one was packed in, say, something biodegradable. I'm not allowed to make a free choice as a consumer because I don't have the options and I don't have the information I would need, if I wanted to make a styrofoam-free purchase.

 

[buldog5151bass]

There are probably scandals everywhere if you look just below the surface.

The best and worst things about capitalism are that if it can be done profitably, it will be done.

But that's exactly the point. The goal of recycling is to convert the recyclable waste to something useable. If there is no product, of if it costs too much to be done, it won't e done.

 

[Chicory Blue]

I’ve definitely had some wildly different experiences with recycling services in the different towns I’ve lived, ranging from curbside services to facilities you had to drive to yourself. I’m embarrassed to say there were times when making an effort to protect the planet was just not even remotely worth the trouble.

The coolest situation was in a particular college town where there were no recycling trucks, but a public facility a modest drive away where people could sort their own stuff into big recepticles. In concept it was a total drag, but it was a good way to meet new people, so even if the stuff all went to the same landfill I’d say the experience was often worth it.

Not actually sure how recycling services even work in this town, save for that they weren’t mentioned alongside trash and water services, so I’m guessing it’s on me again. I’d ask someone, but I’m a little scared- the last time I asked the locals where I could get some fresh fish they looked at me like the pope of morons and replied “the lake,” so I’m not so sure I want to ask them where I’m supposed to put the slightly more different garbage.

--^@