Your Questions About Recycling

The Expert answers:

Our community recycling is hybrid, meaning that we only sort between wet and dry. Anything wet it garbage(green clear bags) and dry stuff is to be recycled (paper, carton, plastics, glass etc)

I have often pondered on how they actually sort it all out and what exactly constitutes a contamination. I think it would be a good idea for everyone to get a glance at what really goes on in the recycling plants. Cause it seems to be a true mystery. Anyways, from my own analysys, I conclude that anything that isn’t mad of a one substance will be simply put to landfill because pulling it all apart will be a waste of time. On the other hand, I am sure these facilities have extensive purifying systems to avoid getting glass or plastic into recycled paper. Things are heated, melted, rinsed, pre-sorted, my magnetism, floatation, air etc.

I thought i had a better answer, but turns out I don’t.

The Expert answers:

Our school children collected plastic bags to recycle, and earned 3000 dollars or more! We use so many. Most people will not take them back to the store to recycle, but they will give them to little school children if it’s for a fundraiser type of activity.

I reuse them a lot as garbage sacks in my house, lining the smaller garbage cans.

The Expert answers:

Just leave your plastic bottles in a clear plastic bag and place it next to your regular garbage. They should see that those bottles are recyclables and will take the necessary action.

The Expert answers:

You should drop them off in the wal-mart plastic bag recycling thing. I talked to my wal-mart manager and he says they take back all kinds of plastic even shrink wrap. I don’t know how much he really knows, but I don’t think it would hurt to add your items. It is better than the garbage people put in those containers. In my area people think they are garbage cans and put all their garbage in them.

The Expert answers:

Hey!

Here are the list of 15 questions:

~ What can cause bugs to invade a disposing garbage?
~ What can cause infestation of bugs in a disposed garbage?
~ What is one of the risk of disposing open garbage without any bags?
~ What can be recycled in a disposed garbage?
~ How sanitary it is to dispose a garbage in a black bag?
~ How can a open disposed garbage harm marine life?
~ How can we prevent community to stop disposing open garbage?
~ If we start recycling Plastics, metals, papers and certain types of glass and other renewable sources would it help our community?
~ What can cause a soil contamination?
~ Air contamination can occur in a open disposed garbage, how can we prevent it?
~ How can a community change the way of disposing garbage?
~ What can harm animal and marine as well as our life in a open disposed garbage?
~ How can we start recycling renewable sources from beginning to end?
~ What are some of the warnings to having garbage disposed in an open area near a community?
~ What are the advantages and disadvantages to dispose garbage?

Good luck!

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The Expert answers:

You’re facing one of the biggest headaches that come with recycling–people who put trash in recycling bins. Whether it’s from ignorance or spite, the end result is the same–no recycling center will pick it up or accept it.

My recycling center has 5 cardboard bins and 2 paper bins that are “always” available. What do people put in them? Bags of yard waste; bags of household garbage; dead animals; used contraceptives; broken glass; used syringes; lumber; dirty clothing; televisions; tree branches; and used carpet. Since there is a large trash dumpster 200 feet away from the recycling center, I can only assume this is done out of spite. We even lost one cardboard bin and one paper bin when someone burned them down.

Not that this solves your problem, but it does let you know that it’s a common problem.

If you want to try to keep this recycling bin, my suggestion is:
1. Find a “real” trash can and put it beside the recycling bin. Ask your school to provide one if possible. This will encourage people to put their rubbish in the trash can, not the recycling bin.
2. Contact the administration at your school and ask them to empty the rubbish out of the recycling bin into a regular trash dumpster (they should have maintenance people/janitors who can do this).
3. Make a sign, or have your school make a sign, for the recycling box. “Recycling only please – put trash in separate trash can” or something similar.

It is not likely that normal collection people will empty your recycling box, as they are supposed to empty only their own boxes or bins.

I work at a school, and I put paper-recycling bins in classrooms. The students then bring the full bins to my area. If there is ANY rubbish in the paper bins, I tell the students, “Take it out to the dumpster. It has trash in it.” After this happens once, the students no longer throw trash in the classroom bins.

Bless you for trying! It can be frustrating, I know, but at least you’re trying to do something.

The Expert answers:

Recycling is more important than ever because just throwing away trash in a landfill or digging a hole and burying it is not a solution to the waste problem. Most natural trash items like food can break down and decompose in a matter of weeks, leaving no trace of it in the environment. But for man-made products like glass, plastic bags and aluminum cans it may take months or years to break down.

Recycling benefits everyone and everything. Here are a few reasons why:

* Conserves natural resources such as wood, water and minerals
* Saves energy because less energy is used to manufacture brand new products
* Produces less greenhouse gases because industries burn fewer fossil fuels
* Recycling programs cost less than waste disposal programs
* Recycling programs keep 70 tons of waste from being deposited into landfills every year
* Prevents the destruction of natural habitats
* Decreases soil erosion associated with mining and logging

The Expert answers:

Most biodegradable bags are starch based. While they are strong when dry, they do lose integrity if they are subjected to moisture. If they are covered with soil in a landfill, they still take a long time to break down. They also tend to be more expensive.

So yes, they are rarely used, although many large supermarket chains are making the move toward using them to hold groceries.

The bags themselves are not as much of a problem as what we tend to put in them to throw away. With the move toward transfer stations and recycling depots, we are reducing the amount of garbage that goes into landfills.

The Expert answers:

I have been here for life (Tampa area) and the taxes you pay pays for the collection of recycling.

We own property out in Riverview and they collect at our curb. Paper, cardboard, glass, cans and plastic. Publix will take styrofoam, plastic bags, & paper bags I think.There are recycling bins in some areas at businesses. Look around and maybe once a week you can take your own since your building is not required to recycle.

Call the county garbage service for your area and find out how to deal with it. You bought your condo so you acquire the rights of collection in your payment of property taxes in Hillsborough county.