Posted on 06/11/2024 9:38:21 AM PDT by Red Badger
I worked at a recycling company. They had special magnetic machines that pulled metals and coins out of the waste.
I see those volcanoes in Iceland, and think, why can’t they just drop all that garbage into a volcano?
When i found out my local dump was going to charge $100 to recycle a dryer that died, i said no thank you. I took it apart in my garage and cut up the larger pieces, it all fit into my trash barrel unit. Cost me no extra at all
You can choose your candidate, but they are all the same.
Yep, burning tash is a good idea: Generates approximately 670 kilowatts of electricity for every ton of trash burned, using a renewable fuel source.
In states like NH we do not have any redemption value for our beer & soda bottles.
Aluminum cans have a scrap value. Therefore, someone will pay for crushed Aluminum cans. That is because they can melt it down and drain off the impurities and make more aluminum.
It is cheaper than making Aluminum from the mineral they dig out of the ground.
Tin cans/steel cans have a scrap value. No different than a crushed car. They can melt them down and make rebar out of them. Heating them up and remove the impurities. Rebar comes out the other end of the mill. Buying the scrap is CHEAPER than making steel from Iron ore, Coke , etc.
Glass has some value. Some company will buy glass. It does not matter what color. It can be melted down. Remove the impurities and make more glass.
Cardboard can be recycled and turned back into brown paper bags or more cardboard. Therefore, it has a value. It is cheaper than buying wood waster from a sawmill and making pulp to turn into paper bags and cardboard.
Most plastics do not have a value to anyone. With the exception of PETE(number 1) plastic. Which can be recycled.
The issues arise when it is mixed in with other plastics. Like PVC (#2) plastics.
If the plastics are not separated, then they can not be recycled into new plastic bottles and containers.
It is cheaper to just make brand new plastic containers than it is to recycle them.
So, it is better to just BURN them.
This is what Wheelabrator Technologies does here in NH, MA and other places. They burn my trash including the plastic bottles. Burning it boils water and creates steam. Which turns a turbine to create electricity. Which they sell back to the grid. That electricity generation is NOT as cheap as the juice coming from Seabrook Nuclear plant. Probably not as cheap as the electricity generated by burning natural gas . Definitely, not as cheap as hydroelectric electricity However, the landfill space is not as plentiful here in New England as it once was. So, we burn our plastics.
You know another scam? Donating blood for free.
Carter Blood is one of the largest recipients of donated blood. The company is listed as a non profit organization. Guess what? The CEO of Carter Blood Care brings home $980,000 annually. The other officials in the company are similarly compensated. Non profit, yea right…
I would be interested to know what this program cost.
What did this composted cost per cubic yard?
Is it comparable to commercially available mulch?
I would bet that this yard waste composted by Government Union Labor is costing at least 3 times commercially available mulch.
We have a big open dumpster at our transfer station for any steel scrap metal. People throw dryers, washing machines and anything else made out of steel including tin cans in it all the time.
Scrap steel/tin has a value. Current price is about $.08/lb for tin/light Iron
https://www.arrowscrap.com/prices
Ideally, people would find a way to compost material back into their own yards, i.e. compost bins, chop and drop, etc. But most people are too lazy or can't be inconvenienced.
Same thing where I used to live. Here’s how a guy at the company said it worked: When the price for recyclables is high enough to profit, the items get recycled. When the price is not profitable the stuff goes to the dump because that’s cheaper than the separation process, etc.
I do that all the time. It’s amazing the stuff you can get rid of by cutting it up and feeding it into the normal trash.
Burning it in a high temperature incinerator to drive steam turbines:
Puts a steady 80MW on the grid
Recovers the metals for actual recycling
Drastically reduces the amount of “stuff” that goes in the landfill.
And we get to pay for that extra bin and pick-up. Waste Mgmt. doesn’t let you opt out of recycling, at least not in my county. And they have a monopoly for the non-city residents.
Totally.................
I was involved with my former towns transfer station. The number one thing we TRIED to get our residents to NOT throw in their trash was their aluminum cans. It takes a lot of aluminum cans to fill up a 25’ dumpster. Especially if you have a compactor. Aluminum Cans are currently worth $.50/pound.
At one point they were well over $1/pound. So, a 25’ compacted dumpster was worth over $25000. Plus, the Anheauser Busch container recovery plant was less than 10 miles away. So, it did not cost much to truck it over there.
It was a big money maker for our town. We basically ran the transfer station with what we made off of selling Aluminum.
The next most profitable thing was scrap steel/tin/cast iron. This also was a money maker, but not even close to aluminum.
Cardboard had a value too. However, you had to truck it up to the paper mill four hours away. So, it was about a break even with the trucking cost.
However, cardboard is the largest volume of any single item in the current trash stream.
Plastics IF you separated them out could be sold. The trucking was more than you could sell them for BUT it was not as expensive as having to haul mixed trash away.
You had to pay to get someone to take your trash.
The most expensive thing to get rid of was construction debris. Stuff like pressure treated lumber and drywall.
It had to go to a special landfill. So, we CHARGED $.10/pound to dispose of that in a special dumpster.
It is a government mandated scam..........
Pele is not amused.
They actually quit doing this quite a while ago. lol
It all ends up at the dump.
But we still have to separate our garbage!..................
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