America Finally Admits Recycling Doesn�t Work

Omce again another Koch brothers-funded right wing think tank distorts the news. Nowhere does the NYT article say recycling �doesn�t work� or that the very recent challenges have always existed (as suggested by saying �finally admits�)

The real story: Costs of recycling have increased due to recent events, not �recycling doesn�t work�.

The recent events are that China, a major buyer of Western countries� recycling, has stopped accepting overseas recycling because it contains too much garbage and they are cracking down. At the same time, falling oil prices have meant that certain types of plastic are cheaper to manufacture new than from recycled materials.

So there�s a problem with municipalities not properly sorting their recycling and there�s a temporary problem due to market forces. Both can be addressed Regarding the former, Part of the problem is that esxh municipality has its own rules and programs and things that are accepted in one town are not accepted in the next town. There should be one universal standard and proper resources should be made available to run the programs properly.

But recycling only deals with the discharge end of the waste cycle, we need to really go back to the source and holding companies accountable for the waste they produce like excess packaging, which is a real problem. Something that fits in the palm of your hand doesn�t need to come in a box that a homeless person can live inside. The key to curbing all this excess waste is to produce less of it in the first place.

Sweden's recycling program is so effective that the country keeps running out of trash.

https://www.facebook.com/watch/?v=1947652818833559

And . . . the containers appear to be triple the size required too.

Certain aspects of recycling are terrific, like the now traditional system of deposit bottles & cans. Same too with recycling of large cardboard and plastic packaging. Other parts of it have gone way too far though. We now have a state of affairs where the municipalities have "inspectors" checking to make sure that you've spend a good portion of your free time organizing your trash properly and, if you haven't, they have the power to give you a nice smiley Big Sister warning to do it right, or else. Yes, they're now literally bothering people in Calgary (for example) to make sure the dog shit goes into the compost bin instead of the garbage.

This is insanity, and it always happens whenever the goddamn politicians give too much influence to the damn SJWs with OCD who have no intention of ever leaving anyone alone, ever, even over the most nonsensical things. Insanity, and the only thing crazier is the disinterested body politic doing nothing during elections to kick these kinds of idiots out of office.

Recycling works if done correctly. Personally, I love recycling. I have a blue bin, and a compost bin. I do more trips down to the recycling and compost area (I live in an apartment) than I do to the garbage chute. We have about 30 large bins at our building for recycling, and five more for compost. They are almost always filled to the brim!

-J.

Had a hell of the time with the kids who worked for me in my shop tossing their pop cans. Had a separate bin with a clear bag, rules were rinse them out put them in there. If none of the lazy little bastards wanted to take them to the bottle depot and stock more pop in the fridge, then I'd just set it out in front of the shop and the winos would within 10 minutes.
Dunno how many kids I had to tell "It's not about the goddam nickel!"

Biggest fuckup in history was getting rid of the stubbies. The "freedom" of beer companies to market their product was more important than the environment of the citizens. So now we pay a "recycling fee" on top of the deposit to sort all those different beer bottles.