View Full Version : Recycling once again
I just don't really get the put everything in the same can and it will be picked through idea. I buy the clear bags for recycling, then toss them in the can with the other bags. The truck comes dumps and squashes the bags. Honestly, the clear bags are not mushed with the other trash?
At this point I am using the clear bags in case I have to much regular trash and the company allows as many recycling bags as you want to put out without a charge. At that point the clear bags can be set by the can.
Then my new neighbors who seem to be living large types(another post), put out a semi full of moving boxes for the trash. Not smashed, not tagged for recycling. Actually the last few weeks there has been massive trash. I said today to hubby perhaps a joke, but I think less of those people now.
Sp compound those to situations I wonder again if I am just causing myself extra work and problems by recycling my tiny amount of cans and such.
lessisbest
2-11-16, 8:20am
We have a recycling bin used for the City-wide recycling (you have to pay extra for this service - above your trash/water bill - and not everyone participates), and I divide things within the bin in plastic containers from the Dollar Store. It helps speed things up when they pick things up. We can also opt to take our recycling to a center, which we do with cardboard, packing peanuts, and a few other things the City doesn't take.
Our neighbors (family of 2 adults) fill two large trash carts each week (we have one bag of garbage in the bottom of our trash cart), and they don't give a damn about recycling. I just can't understand how they generate so much waste.....?
Our city provides us with a lot of recycling options however I think they consider anything contained in a plastic bag as regular trash even if it is recyclable. If I recall, the plastic bags clog up their recycling separators. We are given three cans - a huge one for yard waste and cloth, choice of three sizes for regular trash and another huge one for solid stream recycling. I think there might be some shame in having the large one for regular trash since most have the tiny ones. The other day, I saw a neighbor stealthily adding his regular trash to someone else's can. Between composting and recycling, we are down to half a bag of regular trash a week.
SteveinMN
2-11-16, 11:01am
We have commingled recycling here, in pretty much whatever container you want to put it in. Open bins are provided on request, but we usually put our recyclables out in an old plastic garbage container or paper bags if we have extras. In our city, it's also legal for people to share garbage collection, so we share it with my mom at her place. One bag or less every week.
Recycling collection is separate from trash collection. It all goes in the same truck and is separated partly by machine and partly by hand. We're comfortable that what we recycle truly gets recycled. They are selective in what they collect so they're not involuntary trash collectors. But for all this, it's still staggering to see how many people either treat all the recycling as trash -- or vice versa.
I have a recycling center close to my home. They take junk mail, cardboard, plastic, glass, tin cans and even larger items. Mostly single stream. I took an old metal BBQ to them a couple of months ago and have taken worn out bicycle parts. They employ disabled to help unload and sort things. I suppose I could pay the little extra for curbside recycling, but the recycling center is great and I hope they stay in business for a long time. I store up bags in the garage and do a recycling run every few weeks. I can empty the bags there and reuse them.
We have single stream plus yard waste/compost and garbage. Even so, I feel like I have a part time job sorting, bagging, toting, and making trips to recycle the stuff that falls outside regular classifications--like electronics and styrofoam. Sometime (all right, often) I dream about the days when we just chucked the lot. But I'm dutiful, and do hope I'm helping some to maintain the planet.
I don't get using plastic bags for recycling, but I do bag shredded paper in clear plastic, which was OK until they decided we should just put shreds in with our yard waste. The rules change all the time; it's so much fun staying current. >:(
rodeosweetheart
2-11-16, 12:01pm
I shred our junk mail and either put it into the compost directly or I use it as mulch, underneath the straw, as it tends to blow and is unslightly. So it never gets out of the yard.
We have single stream plus yard waste/compost and garbage. Even so, I feel like I have a part time job sorting, bagging, toting, and making trips to recycle the stuff that falls outside regular classifications--like electronics and styrofoam. Sometime (all right, often) I dream about the days when we just chucked the lot. But I'm dutiful, and do hope I'm helping some to maintain the planet.
I don't get using plastic bags for recycling, but I do bag shredded paper in clear plastic, which was OK until they decided we should just put shreds in with our yard waste. The rules change all the time; it's so much fun staying current. >:(
Jane, I used to live in Bridle Trails area... I lived there for 42 years and moved away 13 years ago (Not BT proper as that was not in my price range :cool:) I always had 3 trash cans plus one extra that was used for recycle. Things might be more strict since I have moved, but I would take it all once a month to the transfer station on NE 60th and be done with it ... 18.00 once a month no fuss . Maybe things are more strict now. I moved 100 miles south and do the same only the minimum is 10.00
Miss Cellane
2-11-16, 1:46pm
My town picks up recycling for free. You can put it out in any container that is 33 gallons or smaller in size, or pay $8 to get the "official" town recycling bin.
Trash must be put out in special trash bags with the town name and seal printed on them. There are two sizes of bags, the 15 gallon bag costs $1.47, and the 30 gallon bag costs around $2.50. You know exactly how much your trash costs you each week. I tend to fill up a 15 gallon bag about every three weeks, with stuff that just can't be recycled as of this time.
As a result, almost everyone recycles. It's single stream, with all the recycling going into one truck and from there to a facility where it is sorted.
The town transfer station takes electronics, yard waste, construction waste, CFLs, and other stuff I can't remember--some stuff you can dump off for free, but electronics and large appliances you have to buy a $5-$15 ticket. They are very strict about what goes where. Books have their own little plywood hut, and you can bring some to leave and take some with you.
I have a friend who discontinued his trash service. Composts food waste, goes to a recycling center, and also has a location that takes yard waste. I strongly suspect he sneaks a midnight run to the McDonald's dumpsters occasionally or leaves a bag with his neighbor's landfill trash, but I can see where it is close to doable. My catch is yard waste from a mature landscape. Branches and the like.
iris lilies
2-11-16, 3:18pm
Used cat litter is our bulkiest contribution to landfill, usually. That is, unless we are doing a home renovation project.
We all have giant yard waste dumpsters that we fill to the brim, often.
We spoke of this topic before and I did at that time look at different sites on how recycling gets separated. I have such doubts that my washing , removing labels and separating really means a toot, when it is all mixed in with other trash. This is what is going on here. I called the trash comp and was told not to worry it goes through a process to separate. I can take my recycling items to the township center but since I pay for trash removal I feel I should be able to fell good about using their system.
Yes the amount of trash difference some generate is amazing. Two homes have double trash dumpsters they set out each week. One family has a scant recycling bag and one small bag.
I do bag shredded paper in clear plastic, which was OK until they decided we should just put shreds in with our yard waste. The rules change all the time; it's so much fun staying current. >:(
Our county collects "garden detritus". A collection site is maybe a quarter-mile from here. But it's for leaves and soft plant matter only. Brush and branches go someplace else in town. And while most leaf-collection sites in the area have chosen to accept biodegradable (kraft-paper) collection bags, our county's has not. Even if you put the leaves in the biodegradable bags, the bags must be emptied at the site. So once the first batch of kraft-paper bags tore through, I recycled them (in our weekly city pickup) and went back to contractor plastic bags, which we fill and empty for years. We do keep some leaves for mulch and the compost bin. But we can't use as many leaves as are generated on our and my mom's properties, so we're not making multiple trips every week, but still...
No wonder people just give up on the whole thing and throw things away.
iris lilies
2-12-16, 1:27pm
I laugh in frustration when I see leaves and lawn debris, carefully bagged in plastic bags, put in the "green" Compost containers.
somene is sincerely trying,, but dudes, plastic is not compostable..
It comes back as little shreds in the cooked compost that I use.
Teacher Terry
2-12-16, 1:28pm
WE have a garbage can with a blue lid for recycling and green lid for trash which is how the correct truck knows what to take. They are provided by the trash company. Also even if the house is empty you still have to pay for trash-city/county rule which is really stupid. WE recycle everything we can.
There are flimsy biodegradable plastic bags you can use in compost bins. I've taken to lining my paper bags with them...
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