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Thread: Why I Don’t Recycle

  1. #1
    Williamsmith
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    Why I Don’t Recycle

    Yesterday I attended my Home Owners Association board meeting as I try to do on occasion. For those of you who haven’t had the pleasure, living in a condo has its pros and cons. I would say the HOA is a definite con.

    Anyway, I managed to make it to the last item on the agenda without pissing anybody off. Don’t scoff, that is a real achievement for me. I dutifully kept my mouth shut as my wife requested. My career didn’t exactly develop negotiation and compromise skills in me. A guy with a uniform, gun and handcuffs and 4000 members of a law enforcement gang backing him up doesn’t have to listen to the other side. He might pretend just to humor you but in the end...well like I said , handcuffs.

    But everything was going just to smooth. The last item was recycling, and the board secretary clears her throat and starts in. “I want to address the board about the county shutting down its recycling center. Where am I going to get rid of my recyclables? I think it is incumbent on everyone to recycle. I feel it’s no less of a duty than voting.”

    I bit my tongue. And I almost thought I made it when they started talking about mandating everyone pay an extra $20/ mo. For a large blue bin that I can’t even fit in my garage yet I’m required to have it there. Then they started discussing putting a dumpster in the community that would attract bees and bears and people ....some would toss crap in and some would scatter crap across the streets and lawns.

    I have done some organized crime crime investigations in my day and it is no secret the mob loves waste removal companies. And recycling is not a regulated activity. In essence, there is little reason to believe your recyclables make it to a new product and quite frankly a guarantee that 1/3 of it goes to the landfill.

    In fact, plastic is no longer a viable candidate for recycling. Neither is cardboard. It actually is worse for the environment to recycle these due to the “carbon footprint” needed to process them. And I said so. Yes, out loud. You would have thought I just stepped outside and shot the neighbors dog.

    Now dont get me wrong. If you want to recycle....as long as I’m not footing the bill, knock yourself out. And so that is what we agreed to. She could negotiate with the trash company to take her recyclables to wherever they take them and she can pay them the outrageous fees. Hey, if it makes her sleep well at night.....

    http://www.plasticpollutioncoalition...hink-recycling

  2. #2
    Senior Member Teacher Terry's Avatar
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    When I lived in a condo I did not have a garage. I kept my recycling in the extra bedroom and then took it to a place on my way to work. Now we get provided with a big container and our garbage has been greatly reduced.

  3. #3
    Senior Member catherine's Avatar
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    Haha.. Funny, WS! I have to say I agree with you in a certain respect. The idea is:

    refuse
    reduce
    reuse +repair
    recycle
    rot

    "Recycle" should be at the bottom of the list for plastic. Obviously it's not going to rot very easily, or at least for a very long time.

    So I would agree that people who buy 48-packs of bottled water at Costco and then get sanctimonious about recycling are a little misguided. And I'm not even taking into consideration the Sopranos scenario.

    If people are serious about the environmental impact of plastic, they wouldn't use it, or they would reduce their use of it drastically. I've read bloggers who have been able to go plastic-free. I don't have that degree of ambition, but it shows that use of plastic is a choice that makes us feel better when green truck comes around
    "Do any human beings ever realize life while they live it--every, every minute?" Emily Webb, Our Town
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  4. #4
    Senior Member bae's Avatar
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    I don’t bother to recycle here anymore. The recycle-nazis have taken over the operation of our local transfer station/waste handling facility. They even got the county to tax us for their private benefit. Yay.

    I figure those landfills are a form of recycling _ at some point in the distant future, they will be valuable concentrati)has of resources and mined and processed. Until then, I’m not wearing a hair shirt.

  5. #5
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    I understand. I being told what to do....I do not work well with that. On the recycling topic. I have recycled for gosh 25-30 years, every type way offered I think. No need to rehash the past, so here is todays option. I pay for trash pick up 6 bags a week in the provided can to set by the road. I am allowed as many however clear plastic bags as I would want to put out, I buy the bags. Then one truck comes along and YEP all tossed in back. So my hard work of sorting, separating and buying the bags IMO meant nothing. I have been told it is sorted later somewhere. I do not believe it is unless the entire truck full of trash is picked through. SO I stopped. Feel bad yes, but My small tiny bag each wee is not saving the world when the restaurants for one are tossing #10 tins by the dozens.

    I do flatten all cardboard and take tit to the cardboard recycling up the road as Amazon boxes pile up.

  6. #6
    Senior Member Rogar's Avatar
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    My cycling center buses in disabled people who help unload cars and do basic sorting. They charge a dollar a load and it's about 10 blocks from my house. I can't think of any reason not to recycle. They take plastic, cardboard, junk mail, and charge a small fee for electronics. I have no idea where it all ends up, but it run by some decent young people who seem like they are doing it to try to make a difference.

    I guess an HMO is like a mini democracy where the will of the people rules, with some guidelines. I can see the point of not wanting to be forced into recycling with an additional expense.

  7. #7
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    I will add I think since the stuff is shoved at use and everything basically comes in packaging, the companies should be regulated in packaging reduction. IDK

  8. #8
    Senior Member razz's Avatar
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    There is less demand for recyclables since China is reducing the amount that they will accept. This Forbes story seems to give a balanced picture on the dilemma we are facing. Some solutions are suggested which is good.
    https://www.forbes.com/sites/jamesco.../#4ba89e8f2122
    As Cicero said, “Gratitude is not only the greatest of virtues, but the parent of all the others.”

  9. #9
    Williamsmith
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    Before anyone jumps in and gets critical of me.....I want to assert I’m not a wreck the creation slob. I give a read to anything that has a viewpoint. And I read this article that does acknowledge recycling is not the panecea Americans think it is, in fact it mostly appeals to affluent Americans who feel guilty about their environmental footprint.....just like my HOA Secretary. It’s more a religion than an understanding of fact.

    But more to the point, we ought to move past the dinosaur we call recycling and consider our consumption. It’s like sitting down with four other people at Thanksgiving dinner with one pie and saying, “I’m eating 3/4 of this pie just because I can.”

    I guess the term, “decoupling” is a buzzword for this. It has to do with reducing the direct influence consumption has on economic activity. I believe with our economy growing (my opinion, I know) we will se an uptick in consumption and a bumper crop of waste and futile recycling attempts. Recycling that actually causes environmental damage in the form of waste water, etc.

    As highlighted by this article:

    https://www.alternet.org/environment...t-should-we-do

  10. #10
    Senior Member Teacher Terry's Avatar
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    Our products come with a ridiculous amount of packaging. I also do not buy water in plastic bottles. What about filling a travel mug with water when you are going places.

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