Posted on 09/29/2021 9:18:15 AM PDT by Right Wing Vegan
A pair of state lawmakers and environmentalists are pushing back against a little-publicized plan by the Department of Environmental Conservation they say could allow more products to bear the familiar "chasing arrow" logo that signifies a recyclable item — even though many plastic products that have the sign aren't really able to be recycled.
Rather than periodically updating its list of products that should or shouldn't be considered recyclable, "the Department proposed to do away with the specific standards and eliminate the program entirely." Instead, the DEC wants products labeled as recyclable, reusable or recycled to merely conform with the Federal Trade Commission's recyclable standards known as the Green Guide, according to a letter from New York City Assemblyman Dan Quart and Long Island Assemblyman Steven Englebright to Katie Kidalowski, at DEC's Division of Materials Management, and DEC Commissioner Basil Seggos.
Quart chairs a special panel on regulatory review and Englebright chairs the Assembly Conservation Committee. Both are Democrats.
Their letter also says that the DEC is supposed to every two years look at the state guidelines to see if new technologies or other changes warrant updating the standards. But the agency "seems to have long since abandoned such efforts," according to the letter from Quart and Englebright.
"Recently, several states have taken steps to overhaul their recycling programs and New York cannot afford to fall behind," Quart said regarding the proposed change. "While the Legislature works to enact a more comprehensive approach to addressing misinformation consumers receive about recycling, I strongly discourage the DEC from scrapping the official emblem program and instead encourage it to work with us to improve the program."
The Federal Trade Commission does have guidelines for what should be considered recyclable, but there is scant enforcement of those standards, said Judith Enck, a former EPA regional administrator and founder of Beyond Plastics, which aims to remove plastic from the waste stream.
"Relying on the federal Green Guide is a mistake," said Enck.
The planned move at DEC comes amid ongoing debates over what is actually recyclable. And it comes as California is about to crack down on what they say is misuse of the recyclable symbol. New York lawmakers have looked at similar proposals.
DEC in a written statement said the changes are needed because current definitions are outdated and don't adequately deal with the terms "recycled," "recyclable," and "reusable." They also said new regulations are needed to deal with products that contain mercury.
Where I live in Florida, we updated our recycling just recently.
Everything now gets burned for energy.
It makes separating stuff super easy. You move garbage into the can and you’re done, then move it out to the street on pickup day.
Some days later, it comes back to you and blows on you from a ceiling fan.
Everything goes in the garbage pail. Everything!
Back in Silicon Valley, our city had contracted with the garbage company to recycle yard debris (grass, leaves, etc.). At some point, food scraps and soiled paper products (napkins, paper towels, pizza boxes, etc.) were also allowed to be added to the yard debris bin.
The good news is this debris was actually recycled, turned into compost. The compost was available for any homeowner in the city, plus was used by the city and local county to supplement public landscape projects. One of the few times I've heard of where they actually recycled what they collected.
Yes, my wife, now ex, was always on me for putting things marked recycleable into the recycling. Either they are or they are not.
Here’s a wild idea. Stop buying stuff you don’t need. Pass along stuff you don’t need anymore. Reuse and repurpose stuff before having a debate if it is recyclable.
It is ridiculous to bag grass clipping and leaves. Those same people go out and buy chemical fertilizer and then complain those chemicals get washed into the water supply. Bunch of idiots.
Just leave it after mowing or if anal about it, use a mulching blade.
Leftists are recyclable.
There are a variety of ways they can benefit Mother Earth.
Do unto them before they do unto us.
I gave up on believing this stuff when some "expert" from our area (Seattle) stated that if even one little bit of something that was not recyclable ended up in the recycle truck, the entire load was compromised and couldn't be recycled.
My response to that info was that NOTHING is being recycled then because when you go through entire neighborhoods to pick up this stuff, you are absolutely going to have, at least, one thing that isn't recyclable. Which means, nothing is being recycled.
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