[homeschool mama]

Are you saying that all recycling companies are gov't owned? If so you're wrong.

The commitment is individual. Most folks are so apathetic they don't care to be good stewards of the earth. *I'm not an earth muffin so don't even consider it* I believe in taking care of what I have and taking into consideration ways to lower the level of landfill, while recycling those things that can indeed be recycled. As mentioned before in an earlier post, recycling success varies by area. Our area is successful.

[gridlock]

The commitment is individual. Most folks are so apathetic they don't care to be good stewards of the earth.

So how do you change the level of individual committment for most folks?

Most places I have been have penalties associated with failure to recycle. These penalties are assessed by the local government. People recycle in order to avoid a fine. The fines make recycling the economically logical choice.

There is no way the economics of recycling justify the number of man hours and the consumption of resources required to make it work. Even the best programs barely cover the direct costs of collection and processing. But what is absent from these costs is the subsidy from the free labor and resources that were extracted from the individual householder through force of law. Add up all that, and recycling is a loser for everybody.

[blackdog]

As you point out to gridlock, recycling done by industry can be of some value due to the consistancy on output of said recyclables. Let's stick with curbside recycling and not the 700 tons of cardboard that Sara Lee puts out in wire bales each week. We are still talking glass, plastic, cardboard, junkmail, tires, and newsprint/magazines. Can we discuss that?

It seems that those who have a small presence in a narrow segment of the industry are creating a different picture on Industrial waste VS. curbside garbage.