How much recycling work would you be willing to do?
Where I live, everyone is expected to divide ALL trash into :
- burnable
- non-burnable
- recyclable plastics
- recyclable cardboard
(I'm probably forgetting something as my wife usually does the dividing...)
Each type has it's own trash can in your house/apartment and each is disposed of separately.
It's a bit of a pain, but nothing compared to other parts of Japan.
In some locations, everyone is required to divide trash as mentioned above, but also remove all tape, staples, labels etc. from recycled cardboard and plastics.
For example, a 2 liter coke bottle of coke should have the label peeled off and be washed to remove all the sticky tape left behind by the label.
My question to you is:
What would you be willing to do?
How much is too much?
And do you think others in your neighborhood would be willing to do the same?
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M$10 Answers
In addition I do the following:
- Warn out sneakers - to Nike for playground surfaces
- Ink Cartridges - to Office Depot for $3
- Beverage Containers - to CRV center for redemption value
- Building Materials - to Habitat for Humanity Store for Resale
- Old Denim - to next roundup for making household insulation
- Old Electronics - to Goodwill for California e-Waste program
I do my best to reduce how much I send off to a landfill. Have always been a bit ahead of city programs. If they give me more options, I'll sort more stuff for curbside pickup. It is all voluntary except for the hazardous/e-Waste, but there is no enforcement on the household level.
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M$Here in Ontario I've been through 3 different recycling situations.
Our first one allowed us to throw away paper or plain cardboard... no shiny paper, nothing like cereal boxes, and one type of plastic. We could also recycle cans and glass. However, this recycling had to be sorted and placed in ONE box or it was refused. My parents never kept it up, so every two weeks when recycling went out, my mom would spend 2-3 hours sorting the recycling. I'm not sure how effective it was, but they've recently changed the rules that all garbage and recyclables have to go out in clear bags. If anything is in the wrong bag, the entire household's waste will be refused. I'm sure all the non-recyclers will carry on with their ways for some time, until the trash build up gets too much, they will be forced to correct their practices.. though knowing the people from my town, it'll likely end up being dumped on a dead end country road or burned in a backyard fire pit.
My second house (after I moved out) was the easiest for everyone... Almost all types of plastic and plastic bags were allowed to be recycled, as well as cardboard, coated cardboard, paper, tin cans, and glass. Basically almost everything except for obvious garbage like tissues or food waste. This did not need to be sorted, just throw together in a clear bag, and it was sorted at the factory. It was great! I think this was more effective because people only had one choice, garbage or recycling. To be honest, I didn't see too many cases of improper disposal when I was dropping off ours at curbside; though I guess I didn't really see what people were throwing out either. Seemed to be a fair share of recycling in comparison to garbage, however. It was a pretty low-income neighborhood (lots of drug dealers and within 6 blocks of the highest murder rate in the city), I think changing those rules would have cut down on recycling DRASTICALLY because not many of the people there would be the type to make the conscious decision of what type of recycling they have. I'm sure there were lots of mistakes with a simple trash-recycle split.
Where I live now is apartment style recycling... a bin for cardboard, a bin for all other paper materials, and a bin for plastic/glass/tin with a few exceptions, but nothing within these bins needs to be sorted. It's fairly easy to do. To be honest, this likely gets the WORST participation rate I've seen out of all 3. There is constantly cardboard boxes stuck in the garbage chute. When I go down to throw trash in the dumpsters, there are entire cases of empty beer bottles (which are not only recyclable but can be returned for $2.40 refund), entire cardboard boxes, stacks of newspaper, and recently, what looked like an entire set of kitchen supplies. Two things that seriously annoy me are a) when people throw out something recyclable when the garbage and recycling are next to eachother (so it would take no extra effort to recycle) and b) when people throw away things in perfectly good condition which could be donated. I see so many things go through that dumpster, it's ridiculous. There was full 8-person set of beautiful dishes down there a few days ago that I wanted to take so badly - though so many people were milling around, who wants to be seen dumpster diving? There is nice furniture just chucked in the trash constantly, utensils, everything. Even though I was embarrassed by it, I dumpster dived for an 8 bottle wine rack in fine condition. I religiously sort my things, and I'll notice things like plastic bags in the recycle bins (not allowed) or other obvious garbage all the time. It drives me mad.
I personally wouldn't mind doing more, I wouldn't even mind staple-picking or tape-peeling. I think the rest of the neighborhood would be a fairly even split; half would do whatever they could to recycle, the other would take the laziness approach and stop recycling. I think we're personally settled at a good compromise right now!
Enjoy, and use your three Rs!
Where I live now is apartment style disposal.
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M$
We've lived a thrifty lifestyle for over 40 years.
Yes, different areas take in different items. Some areas take in lots of things for recycling and reuse.
The problem is in some areas that it takes more time and gas to deliver things than it could be worth to salvage
habitat for humanity asked us to drive 1 hour, 1 way to deliver some unused lumber and 2 year old doors and windows. they would not pick it up. so we gave it to a neighbor to build his house. he picked it up.
sometimes it is better to recycle/reuse within friends and neighbors than large organizations
Amy's books on thrift are great!
http://www.amazon.com/Complete-Tightwad-Gazette-Amy-Dacyczyn/dp/0375752250
we recycle, reuse, do without, etc. as much as we can. we don't count the hours we spend. It is part of our lifestyle. I'd have to estimate, perhaps an hour a day.
I don't think many people do as much as they can. You see recyclable paper, plastics, etc. in public trash bins. You see perfectly usable lumber and clothing in trash cans and the dump.
Yes, more public awareness needs to be done.
Our local garbage dump offers community recycling days. It is like a swap meet. People bring things. It is examined by the organizers for "usability". Other people come and take it home, for free. It's great!! More of this could be done everywhere!
57 years of life
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M$I don't rinse glass, nor am I willing to separate plastic. I feel it is WAY more trouble than it's worth, even environmentally wise.
Removing the label of a bottle, and having to remove the sticky stuff? Are they crazy? Do you realize how much clean water is wasted by having to rinse and wash all that glass? It is far more efficient to let the waste-collectors do the cleaning, as they can rinse all bottles at once.
Oh, I forget, my garden-waste (branches, leaves, grass etc) is also collected seperately, and I do that because it is A LOT, and wouldn't fit in the normal bin.
So that's how far I am willing to go. It has to be hassle-free, and cannot be messy in any way.
I know my neighborhood probably has a different opinion...
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M$
I think the best solution is somewhere in between.
People should be encouraged to do more, but the products we consume could definitely be improved to be more environmentally friendly/recyclable.
And you do have a good point about the water/energy wasted in all that cleaning on an individual basis.
But a happy middle (more effort by consumers and more friendly products) might be the best way to go.
I agree with you partially. I actually think that focus should be much more on businesses doing cradle-to-cradle product development (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cradle_to_Cradle).
Consumer initiated recycling is never going to be enough, with whatever effort put into it. It can help a bit, but the more consumers recycle, the lazier the companies become.
Some core principles should be:
- a company creating a product is ALWAYS responsible for its disposal and recovery of its waste
- a company using more energy to create a product than the average industry standard should pay an additional energy tax.
- no industry tax-cuts for energy-consumption (many, many countries give tax benefits to transport, airliners, chemical companies etc).
and I think you can come up with many more like this. As long as there is no incentive to do these things, why would I excel in recycling, while companies neglect their responsibility?
Sorry to be a bit firm on this subject, but I am quite convinced that consumer recycling is a hoax.
Edit: maybe not a hoax, but extremely overrated...
"As long as there is no incentive to do these things, why would I excel in recycling, while companies neglect their responsibility?"
I'm agreeing with you, but with a slight difference of opinion, so bare with me. We all need to do our part, even if we look over and see our neighbor is getting away with not doing his part or see a company not doing their part. Nobody is special, even though some of us think we are. We need to forget about our neighbor is doing or what that company over there is doing and just focus on our part. I know, it's difficult. It's the hardest part of teamwork to take on responsibilty while others on the team aren't doing anything at all, but we must take action as individuals and eventually we will almost all be doing our part. Did you know there is an area of the ocean in the South Pacific twice the size of Texas that is full of little plastic pieces? Check out this link... http://greatgreengadgets.com/gadgets/2009/02/16/the-widening-gyre-of-plastic-pollution-in-the-ocean/
Also, we need to be conscientius of what we buy in the store and what packaging is coming along with it. Packaging is a major problem in the country, especially plastic. They have finally come up with a way of converting corn into a type of plastic that is biodegradable, but it's expensive so only the extremely conscientious are using it at this time.
I don't think enough people recycle, even myself.
Lately I've been slacking on this. Infact the last time I even bothered was months ago. I'm a bit disappointed in myself on this front.
Recycling is a important part of being carbon neutral / positive.
I encourage all officials as well to look into single stream recycling.
So in a few words. Not enough.
EDIT:
All the video's on the page where a little to much so you can watch the at these addresses .
Part 2: http:// www.youtube.com/watch?v=_X-Hcwdh70U
Part 3: http:// www.youtube.com/watch?v=qWH1Mg8gdic
Part 4: http:// www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZGJdjwD-OCc
Part 5: http:// www.youtube.com/watch?v=ccubxZfwUFI
Part 6: http:// www.youtube.com/watch?v=Kf8bWDPDSi8
My Memory.
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M$
as a household we recycle:
food (goes on the garden)
plastics
metals
wood/paper (log burner)
clothing
electrical goods
we have reduced our landfill waste by over 70%, very little goes in our bin now
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M$
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M$
I think, the manufacturers should be forced to find new methods to make recycling easier. I do rinse the plastic juice containers and like stuff before putting in the bin.
I don't buy soft drinks and juices much now a days.
Time is very precious. I think, it must not take a lot of time from your life to do the recycling. So manufacturers should find a way to make the packaging material easier to recycle. If the media is really putting some efforts, it can be easily done. Plastic bags will cost and extra 5 cents now. People are carrying reusable bags to the shops. The reusable bags are cheaper now. So things can be changed
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M$
I also had a friend who stayed in Japan about 10 years ago and said that they would throw out perfectly good furniture and household items on or around New Years. Sort of an 'out with the old, in with the new' custom. He said he would walk down the alley ways and see beautiful items and furniture that looked barely even used.
Do they do anything like that still?
Growing up as a hippie in Berkeley, CA... my family has always recycled. It's just been a part of living for me.
When I moved to Denver, they didn't have a good recycling program, but after a few years they kicked one into gear. I was happy to find that the program was free, you just has to sign up and request the 2 buckets (glass, newspaper, cardboard and No.2 plastic only)
By the time I left, they changed and added many more items to recycle and offered a large single bin so you didn't have to separate anything!
Now Mobile, AL. is another story. Their recycling program costs $18 per month and is not doing well.
http://www.earthresourcesrecycling.com/about_earth_resources
Curb side recycling may become a thing of the past around here very soon.
At this point, I have to transport all of my recycling down to one local recycle area. The people here just don't get it.
I am surprised that this city can't get its 'trash' together before it falls apart.
This is one of the dirtiest cities in the US I have seen so far.
People dump trash in parking lots, parks and along the roads here.
I do see signs around here that say "Only trash liters" meaning, you must be white trash if you liter. I find those signs to be snobby and rude if you ask me.
This city needs a wake up call, and fast!
(I do about the same amount of recycling as you Brian, but I don't wash any items, and I have to transport it all across town myself)
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M$
"That's a big turn around for Japan. I had heard when I was young (almost 20 years ago) that Japan had the biggest amount of waste per capita with their single serving containers for just about everything."
Unfortunately, Japan still has that problem. (possibly the only country in the world where you can get a single egg from a convenience store wrapped in it's own plastic container.)
And just today I went to the bakery section of a local grocery store. The woman at the cash register apparently handles bread, so when it came time to take my money, she put on a pair of disposable plastic gloves. That's when I noticed this enormous mound of the "single use" gloves next to the register. She was putting on a new set every time she rung up an order...
So for consumption, I think the problem remains.
But for recycling, they are ahead of the game.
I have never noticed the furniture renewal thing particularly.
But I do live in a high rise, and in the basement is the large "trash" room.
(you have to pay money to dispose of anything bigger than a shoe box)
This room could be turned in to a salvation army store simply by putting a cash register in the front (that you can probably find in the pile of "junk")
But in my building's case, it is more about people moving and simply leaving things behind rather than paying to have them hauled to the new location.
However another quirk of Japan is automobiles.
The Japanese government set up a system where you basically are taxed to death if your car becomes more than a few years old (it's called a shaken)
So thousands of perfectly good vehicles get shipped to other countries at absolutely ridiculous low prices, or simply get shredded.
I'm not sure what the overall logic is, other than to keep clunkers off the road.
But it doesn't seem very friendly to the environment.
So in summary, Japan does several things right, but is far from the perfect example.
One more thing while I have a forum to vent.
Last month I was on the campus of the University of Tokyo.
There are always hundreds of bicycles parked everywhere as that is the most common mode of transportation (well maybe second to the trains, but anyway)
As I was going to lunch one day I noticed a big trash truck (the type that compacts trash on the spot). To my horror, there were about 5 men tossing perfectly good bicycles into the back of the trash truck for compacting.
It seems that people abandon bicycles everywhere in the Japan. And they don't have any decent systems for dealing with the quantity (though there are some shops for refurbishing and reselling, though many of the "recycle shops" charge about the same for a used bike as they cost new..)
So if anyone has any ideas for providing bicycles to third world countries and the like, please give a call to the local Japanese government!
(though they have a reputation for being a bit hard to deal with on occasion..)
Brian San, I have heard that the Germans also make it hard for a car to get old. (From reading Business and the Wall Street Journal) I think this probably has to do with promoting the Domestic Auto Industry, much the way the United States encourages people to move so the home building industry can keep building home. I also have heard (again from reading various business journals) that the Europeans tend to have less packaging that the U.S. does.
I think with Japan because they import so many of their resources they have to recycle to import less, although if they wanted to ship some of their adult oriented films over people here would be glad to have them. Really lots of people wont recycle unless they are made to, forced, this is where government comes in because if they did not too many people would just find it acceptable to waste as much as they can get away with.
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M$
Sorry, I have to call BS on the BS story
"Daniel K. Benjamin, in his often cited paper Eight Great Myths of Recycling (2003), cites a 1989 EPA study"
And yes, a homeless person is only going to recycle what pays them money. No stretch in logic there.
And yes, if we didn't consume paper, plastic and other raw materials, then there would be no need for recycling. But as I'm guessing you are using these items.
So what do you think we should do with all this waste?
Land Fills? Let it float out to sea?
Recycling works in Japan because people are more accepting of social responsibilities of that sort.
In America, I think it will take more to "convince" people to recycle. If they were forced to, then I think you would suddenly see a decrease in wasteful packaging would follow.
"Its funny you mention land fills. In this exact episode of BS they hit that myth as well. Landfills are not overflowing."
Yes, they are not overflowing, though I never made that claim.
Look, I'm tired of this debate.
If you want to believe Pen&Teller then that's your prerogative.
If you don't want to recycle because you think we should just use landfills and there no problem with deforestation in the world and plenty of oil to process into new plastic containers, then more power to you..
@silverhammer Well I disagree about healthcare, but absolutely. And what makes it worse is in many areas recycling is enforced. You have to do it. What the hell is this? If its such a good program, why would we need to be forced to do it. I would recycle more than cans if I thought it did something. Trees are a renewable source, so what do we need to recycle it for.
it depends, here in CA they require a deposit on plastic bottles so you see dwelling challenged also collecting plastic bottles.
Why are they the only feasible ones? That doesn't make sense. Does that mean you throw things like paper and cardboard in the garbage?
The reason you see homeless people with cans is because you get paid for them if you bring them to a depot. Its their way of making money and it cleans up the city a bit too.
@ girlieq3000 Yeah thats right, Homeless only recycle cans because they get paid for it. They don't get paid to recycle paper or cardboard, because its not worth anything. If recycling paper was valuable, it would be worth something.
Deforestation? TREES ARE A RENEWABLE RESOURCE!
Its funny you mention land fills. In this exact episode of BS they hit that myth as well. Landfills are not overflowing. A one mile by one mile opening could hold America's trash for many years. Hundreds. And as I mentioned, trees are a renewable source, which is where paper comes from. What kind of wasteful packaging are you referring to. How does recycling 'work' in Japan.
I'm glad someone quoted P&T's BS segment on recycling. Most of their work for the BS series is very well done. Recycling is one that I felt was actually helpful in confirming my opinions on the matter.
Recycling is a money making scheme. It has little to nothing to do with actually saving the environment.
People recycle cans for the cash. No cash incentive? No one would care.
If the recycling program didn't provide jobs and wasn't profitable for those who promote it - it wouldn't get done either.
Like drug manufacturing. It is possible to engineer specific strains of bacteria to produce a product that could replace some very expensive medications. Why aren't we doing it? Because it takes money out of their pockets. Even though it would produce less waste and make it available and affordable worldwide.
It's never about what's good for the people. It's about who is profiting and how carefully the story is spun.
Health care options are the perfect example. Lots of BS about the plan being spread by those whose pockets would be affected. Lots of those in favor of it who can't afford costs that are out of control for the average person.
The best way to "save" the environment is to stop creating the waste in the first place. Find a "profitable" way to do that and you'll have your Green Solution that everyone will be on board with (and by Green, I mean cash AND clean for the environment).
Old batteries and ink cartridges are my pet peeve. Around here, there are hazardous waste drop offs for batteries almost everywhere; libraries, stores, government offices, etc. But yet, people couldn't be bothered to bring them in, and just throw them in the garbage. I actually yell at them for it. If I can't get to a drop box, I give them to my parents who bring them to a waste depot once they save a bunch up.
I've been trying to convince my work to start doing this for ages. We go through a ton of dead laptop batteries, and the IT department just throws them out. I brought one in for disposal and they told me to trash it. You would think most people dealing with electronics would know how to properly dispose of a battery!
Thanks,
Do you think others in your area are willing to do the same?
Unfortunately, few comply with the mandatory stuff. Curbside recycling is getting better, but multi-unit buildings and businesses don't have to do any of the voluntary blue bin/green bin stuff. The city doesn't put much effort into promotion of curbside recycling, except when it is time to put your dead Christmas Tree at the curb.
I'm willing to do more.