A FULL one ton truck cost me $1.50... (early 70's) and "recycling" was done by a bunch of folks hanging around, that that could hardly wait for you to drop it off and scavage "treasures". Some would even give you a hand to off load it! 90% of the time I would grab some thrown off "treasure" myself from somebody's pile!
I suppose the buck and a half was to pay the old guy that ran the D8 over the stuff that nobody wanted...
Despite protests from Virginia state officials, residents in communities that host landfills want New York City trash because they receive revenue from it. Virginia's seven regional landfills employ hundreds of residents, paying out millions in annual wages and bringing in more than $500 million annually to the state. Landfill fees enabled Charles City County to build a courthouse and a school, while cutting property taxes by about a third.Forced Recycling is a waste
Mandatory Recycling Wastes Resources, Harms Environment
Recycling: Your Time Can Be Better Spent!
In the past three years, the number of municipal recycling programs has grown from 600 to more than 6,000, and at least 40 states have passed laws to promote recycling. Recycling is being pushed because of two beliefs, both of which are highly debatable: that the nation is running out of landfill space and that recycling of household waste makes inherent economic and environmental sense. Almost universally, however, these programs are failures:Recycling is a waste I used to recycle, until I read a thread here on Free Republic that debunked the myth of recycling. I dont' recycle anything anymore except used motor oil and oil filters, and batteries. That isn't actually recycling, its ensuring proper disposal of hazardous waste.
The bottom line is that the whole thing is nothing but enviro-weenie feel-good propaganda ploy. Do a Google of "recycling is a waste of resources" and you get a lot of hits to recycling resources and evironmental services (both private and municipal), and your results will be awash in teacher=student educational theme pages. But the economics of the whole issue are virtually non-existant.
Without doubt our right-minded senators from the State of Michigan have managed to rid us of that pesky garbage from Canada (and associated financial windfall) in one fell swoop. $500 million generated annually from landfill revenues? Who needs that? Michigan receives over $2 billion in Single Business Tax (SBT) income (and there's absolutely no concievable alternative to that for sure), whereby a bankrupt business pays tax on revenue and not on profit. Gee, with government leaders such as those, no wonder Michigan is the Utopia that it is. A Utopia whereby House For Sale signs are up all over the state, and yet adjecent to them are Re-Elect Granholm for Gov signs. Yep, Utopia alright.