The Utter Waste Of Recycling

Toogood Reports ^ | January 19, 2003 | Alan Caruba

[Robert A Cook PE]

Prudent (heavy emphasis on the prudent!) makes sense.

Certain metals are reasonably (and profitably) recycled, most easily steel, then mos obviously Al and Brass/copper.

Glass? Saves volme, a little energy.

Paper? Not much profit, unless it's demand driven If kept separate, then the mess can tolerated. (Newspapers completely separate from magazines, inserts and mail spearate from newsprint (yeah, right...Like that happens in the real world.) Telephone books in their own box.

Plastics? Maybe, maybe not economic. Depends on type and availability of the local companies doing it.

We recycle seriously, but get nothing from it that even pays the gas to take it to the recycling center. County has a GOOD garbage-to-compost center, but it doesn't pick up recycle items itself. Everybody has to take their own.

But, I know the volume we put out is less (substantially) than before, and thus saves us against garbage fees increase. (15.00/month twelve years ago: 16.00/month now.)

[driftless]

When I was at university, one of my liberal geography professors did a study on recycling. His conclusion was that it used more energy to recycle than it did to just throw all your trash away like in the old days. Naturally my liberal in-laws refused to believe that when I told them of my professors findings. Liberals don't even want to believe other liberals when the truth is unpleasant.

[driftless]

I too live in the country, and I can burn also. I was amazed at how much stuff is flammable. Most garbage I'm convinced is either paper or plastic. Both burn very nicely thank you.

[OBone]

You best not try to fight the "families"

[snopercod]

I promote Civil Disobedience on this topic.

No need to promote it, it's rampant naturally here in NC.

We burn waste paper in our fireplaces, and throw the "recyclables" in with the rest of our trash.

We know that separating out glass, paper, aluminum, etc. just adds to our tax burden every time we take that stuff down to the government-run recycling depot. Not to mention wasting the citizens' time during the separation, the hassle of storing it, and the gasoline used to haul it to the recycling center.

Better to just bury it and be done with it.

[ScholarWarrior]

Permit me a vanity recycle story.

In the 1920s, gambling or liquor were not permitted in WVa. At the Greenbrier, if someone was interested in it, they were referred to a customer who had a house on the grounds. A few years ago, they were clearing the land near this house, and discovered his empty bottles.

It turns out it was traincarloads of now priceless but empty Dom Perignon, wines, and scotch.

The guy was a broker, but I guess made a few bucks on the side gambling, and knew how to live. An inspirational story. I'd like to be someone's archeological site sometime.

[Calvin Locke]

Heck. Mexico City just had an earthquake. If there are any cracks, just bulldoze the stuff in to the crevices.

Mother Earth taking care of humanity yet again.

Of course, if she would have just opened the ground beneath the trash mountain, that would have been something.

[Slyfox]

To recycle or to not recycle
That is the question

[supercat]

Net the entire process, it cost more money and is harder on the environment to recycle paper than to make it from scratch.

In most cases, true. But in cases where paper may be handled in bulk [e.g. palettes of undistributed phone books, etc.] there's no reason not to.

If it takes one man hour to handle 20 tons of paper for recycling, it can be well worth it. If it takes 20 man hours to handle 1 ton, it's probably not worth it.

[supercat]

Your garbage man friend is correct (I'm a former garbage god)except for newspaper, and cardboard. Those two types of paper are easily re-cycled and save on wood that's better put to other uses like houses, plywood, particle board products, and my favorite gunstocks.

Tree farms are capable of producing as much pulpwood as is needed. Besides, if reducing atmosphereic CO2 is desirable, growing trees, turning them into paper, and landfilling them will be an effective method of sequestering CO2.

[Alamo-Girl]

Thanks for the heads up!

[aeronca]

Another downside of recycling is people who wash out milk cartons and canned food containers before they toss them in the bin so the bin out in the garage doesn't attract BUGS.
WATER WASTE.
I refuse to attract bugs into my home and will throw away anything that is too nasty to sit in the bin for a week.
We all know that most of the recycle issue has been imposed on cities and that most of this material WILL end up in the landfill anyway. How about that big truck that drives around picking it up???

[SeeRushToldU_So]

 I work for a place that makes a popular food additive. We burn our waste in a Waste Heat Recovery Boiler at temps around 2200 degrees F.

We save a ton of money on waste disposal and making steam from a waste product. But we are heavily regulated and have huge expenses to monitor our emissions. We have computers out of the whazoo to track everything in the process.

[Victoria Delsoul]

That´s how environmentalism works. It creates a Big Lie and then sets about getting laws passed to mandate it. Years later, states, cities, communities, and just ordinary people begin to ask, "Why are we doing this?" and the answer is, "It´s the law."

And that's the truth! I don't recycle so I don't feel bad about it.

[justrepublican]

And my garbage costs more to burn than my neighbors garbage because he lives in a dumpy old house { property taxes is our friend}, such is
the wisdom of the met council. (sarcasim)

[Sabertooth]

And that's the truth! I don't recycle so I don't feel bad about it.

Recycling takes time, and that is the one unrenewable resource.

[Victoria Delsoul]

Yes, it does. That's why I don't do it, LOL.

[Tailback]

I have yet to see a decent gunstock come out of a pulpwood tree farm. But if you really want cheap pulp, grow hemp instead of hybrid cottonwoods. (that's gonna open up a can o' worms) Seriously though you are correct, there's lots of pulp tree farms here in Oregon. It must be economically easier to use recycled newspaper though, otherwise there wouldn't be a decent market for it.

[fogarty]

IP does not get subsidized paper deliveries from the government. My uncle said they have private contracts with office supply stores and other businesses which provide the majority of their high-grade recycled products.

The main point is: recycling CAN work in the private sector. There are certainly materials which are amenable to do so. The thesis that all recycling is an utter waste is flat-out wrong.