Recycling - do you bother, how much? (Poll)

[edpal]

I was visited by my oldest sister a few weeks ago - chick drove us nuts. Pro tree-hugger with street cred, arrested for blocking a mining operation!! We recycle a lot but not enough for "Rose". Finally had to tell her to quit dumpster diving in our kitchen can. We separate out all dry paper, plastics, metals. Anything that was ever alive(food stuffs, soggy paperplates,coffee grounds,etc) goes into composting outside - we have (2) 100 gallon composters. How about you - how do you trash your trash?

 

[Unrepresented]

Everything that can be sorted is. Hippie girlfriend has a composting tub set up to catch most of the rest.

 

[toothbrush]

I do my best to keep the trash and the recycle separate throughout the week before trash day. Can't always say that I'm perfect though... I'm not always the best with each and every single piece of discarded paper, but I hate to see plastic bottles just thrown away.

 

[Humbled]

Two compost piles because I have room for it and we keep two garden patches. I also recycle all paper and aluminum. Glass, not so much.

 

[buldog5151bass]

Compost food, give newspapers to vet for dogs, recycle plastics and such.

I also discovered aquaponics. I built a waterfall/stream with goldfish. We put some vege plants in pebbles in the stream. The fish #%%*% fertilizes the plants, which thus filters the water for the fish.

 

[edpal]

Two compost piles because I have room for it and we keep two garden patches. I also recycle all paper and aluminum. Glass, not so much.

Curious - is the glass because your trash service won't take it? AOur township changes companies every few years and what they will take always changes. Which seems odd to me.

 

[edpal]

Compost food, give newspapers to vet for dogs, recycle plastics and such.

I also discovered aquaponics. I built a waterfall/stream with goldfish. We put some vege plants in pebbles in the stream. The fish #%%*% fertilizes the plants, which thus filters the water for the fish.

Will you be eating those veges?

 

[buldog5151bass]

Oh yeah. No different than horse manure compost. They actually have some big operations doing that commercially - bigger than I at least.

 

[Philonius]

It's so easy (here is Socialist Seattle.) Compost, garbage, recycling. Done.

 

[Humbled]

Curious - is the glass because your trash service won't take it? AOur township changes companies every few years and what they will take always changes. Which seems odd to me.

I live in the sticks, and there is no municipal recycle pick-up. We have a roll-out trash bin picked up once a week, which I pay for. I collect aluminum and steel and paper in separate containers of my own and haul it to the County Collection center myself. I don't do glass because they make you separate the colors, won't take brown, and I'm lazy.

 

[Phalex]

The city provides a big rolling can for recyclables. We recycle plastic, paper, glass, and cans. It all goes in the big bin with no need for sorting. I think we generate one bag of actual garbage every 2 or 3 weeks.

 

[buldog5151bass]

Phalex, you can compost corn cobs.

 

[bassinplace]

I recycle everything my city will accept. There's a lot they don't though, which I think is ridiculous. The way I see it, if something can be manufactured, it can be recycled. It just requires more effort than the municipality is willing to put forth.

 

[BBox Bass]

I've been recycling paper, plastic, glass, and cans for years, but my township didn't provide pickup so I had to take my stuff to the municipal building a few miles from my house. Seven years ago, I moved to a township that does not provide trash or recycling pickup, so most people hire private garbage collectors (I don't know what they do about recycling). I did the same thing at first, but when I realized I was seldom putting out more than a 13-gallon kitchen bag of trash once a week, I decided that the monthly $18 fee wasn't worth it. I now haul my trash and recylcables to the dump about 3 times a year. The dump charges $20 a ton, and there's no way I can fit that much in my Subaru! I also have a compost pile with a healthy worm farm.

 

[buldog5151bass]

Rather than pay for collection, we use the dump. $20/ year first car, $5 for second.

 

[ryco]

recycle as much as possible. This town provides a bin for glass; one for paper, plastic, and metal; and a garbage can. So easy to sort as to be a no brainer.

 

[fdeck]

Madison makes it so easy. One tumbril for trash, one for recycling. More stuff goes into recycling than trash. The city doesn't collect yard waste, so it has to be composted.

 

[machine gewehr]

Nope, nothing. I discourage recycling, heck I even re-recycle. I take the stuff out of recycling bins and put them on garbage. I am the opposite side of the equation. I am, the balance.

And to tree huggers that wants me to sign something or donate money, I tell " You're against nuclear power? I wish there was a nuclear warfare that would wipe 98% of the humans from the face of the planet so that the remaining ones would live in harmony with the cockroaches".

 

[skychief]

Where we live, recycling isn't optional, its mandatory. The trash collection company actually weighs the recyclables bin vs the garbage bin. I believe theres a 66/33 rule. Or maybe is 75/25.... Anyways,, theres a minimum percentage of garbage-to-recyclables ratio that is strictly enforced. If you fail to meet the minimum standards they (the collection company) fine the City! And then you get a nasty-gram from the City. They have a special "remedial process" to encourage compliance with regulations. I'm serious.

My neighbor and I joke around and speculate what the "remedial process" involves. But its there.

Ahhh, living in The People's Republik of Kalifornia. Gotta love it.

 

[delta7fred]

I recycle about 95%. In the UK the local councils (that's us the rate payers) get hit with a tax if they don't achieve 65%.
We have 3 bins,
1 - Food and Garden waste, inc. hedge trimmings - anything that will compost
2 - Paper, cardboard, glass, most plastics, aluminium foil
3 - Anything not covered in 1 & 2, - packaging film, expanded polystyrene