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To: ansel12

Yes, we have to ‘wash’ our recyclables before putting them into a separate waste container, ours is green with a yellow lid, so that the garbage company (Waste Management) can come and pick it up and take it to the same transfer station before going to the landfill..........................


25 posted on 06/11/2024 9:58:54 AM PDT by Red Badger (Homeless veterans camp in the streets while illegals are put up in 5 Star hotels....................)
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To: Red Badger

In an advanced nation of 330 million people all that studious washing, and the duplicating of garbage cans and the handling of 2 half filled ones instead of one full one, the use sometimes of different trucks, all that stuff adds up to tremendous numbers.

I think it is like the electric cars, no one ever looks at the total cost of the big picture.


37 posted on 06/11/2024 10:13:18 AM PDT by ansel12 ((NATO warrior under Reagan, and RA under Nixon, bemoaning the pro-Russians from Vietnam to Ukraine.))
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To: Red Badger
Some items in the trash stream have value, others do not.

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.

46 posted on 06/11/2024 10:26:19 AM PDT by woodbutcher1963
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