Your Questions About Recycling
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Filed under Recycling Q & A
Donald asks…
advantages of recycling garbage?
The Expert answers:
1.preservation of natural resources
2.decreasing the amount of garbage that has to be landfilled.
3.cost minimization
Lisa asks…
want to buy wheeled recycling garbage toters-what companies sell these?
The Expert answers:
Home depot has some.
Carol asks…
Why would someone go through the garbage looking for i.v. drug needles at a recycling depot?
He was a construction site supervisor looking for disposed needles from homeless people because he found them at his work site. He kept rummaging through the garbage cans for several minutes.
I did ask him but he told me he wanted me to find a kit for him from the supervisor.
The Expert answers:
Curious. Too bad you didn’t ask him instead of us. Just look at the answers you got here.
George asks…
House rental in N.Y.C.- who is responsible for taking garbage and recycling to the curb?
Are there any established rules regarding this or is it something that should be discussed and added to the lease agreement?
The Expert answers:
Usually the tenants are responsible for their own garbage, but legally I would think the landlord is actually the one responsible, they ultimately own the property. I would be like larger buildings where they specifically spell out these kinds of things in “house rules”, then there is no gray area, they are responsible.
Helen asks…
Problems with garbage? Recycling helps what?
Okay, so i’m doing a 7min. speech over mandatory recycling, and i can’t find reasons why we need to recycle, like what are the main problems besides landfill space is scarce, and pollution…?? help! its due tommorrow……….
The Expert answers:
My opinion, I say sustainable living is one of the major reasons that we should recycle. Trash has a great value to a society as it is a pile of slightly used resources that are just waiting to be transformed back into something useful. The problem, however, is that some “junk” might not be cost efficient to transform into another useful good. But when we say cost efficient, it is important to consider more than just the monetary value behind the item itself. We must consider the environmental impact of not recycling a product. Old Paint, for example, would be an excellent product to recycle (I’m not sure if they can yet) regardless of cost because to place it in a landfill or just tossing it in your back yard junk pile because the garbage man wont take it impacts the local environment in subtle ways. Yes, it might not damage our water supply immediately but over a long time these harmful chemicals will leech into the ground, contaminating water, animal habitat, vegetation, etc… So the difficulty found in recycling paint might be the impetus to find an innovative way to make pollution free or an environmentally friendly paint. These are just the ramblings of one man though. My advice is to take a look at wikipedia.org and look at the sources cited or use Google Scholar and see what professional literature is available for the topic. Best of luck!
Mandy asks…
What percent of garbage is being recycled?
I need to know the percent of garbage that is be recycled now days. I tried google but nothing really came up. If you know can you please provide your source a link would be helpful. Thanks! If there is a chart to show how we have increased recycling over the years..even better!
The Expert answers:
Interesting question, a star for you!! I agree with the first guy!
Jenny asks…
WHere does garbage goes after recycling? In GERMANY??
OK…I know the recycling thing in Germany is pretty serious..they have like 4 different types of garbage..
But i wonder…why do they separate garbage so much? I mean..what do they do with all the garbage they recycle? They sell it? they bury it? What?? DOes anyone knows??
Thank you very m uch!!!
I know you recycle to use it again. My question was more about how do they manage the recycled garbage, who buys it again and who is in charge.
Thanks
The Expert answers:
I am originally from Germany, and my dad who is in Germany works for a recycling firm.
One fact that you may not know is that there are no longer landfills in Germany, all trash either has to be recycled or is incinerated (heat produced by the incineration is used to produce power). Since incineration is expensive due to the added cost of cleaning the fumes, as much as possible is recycled. Essentially all packaging in Germany (palstic, paper etc is made of recycled plastic or paper (only a small amount of new plastic/paper may be added to increase quality.
Firms like the one my dad work for collect a broad range of trash and recyclables and further separate out usable components before selling the isolated usable stuff, like Alluminum to companies that reuse them and burning the rest that can no longer be used. They charge depending on the quality of the waste, e.g. How much recyclable material, how well is ot already separate, so it is in the interest of the waste producer to separate the waste as much as possible.
The exact regulations and types of trash that is separates is are different in different counties/Landkreise. Wher my parent live, they have 4 types of household trash: clean glass, metal cans etc, clean palstic, paper etc (yes that means you have to wash out your yoghurt containers before disposing of them), compost and all other waste. Collection of the first 3 is free, but they pay a lot for the last category, thus, it is in the best interst of the people there to separate their trash otherwise they will pay a lot for trash collection.
There are also tax incentives for companies to use recyclable material wherever possible, the higher the content of new material in your product, the higher the taxes.
There are also laws agains shipping waste into other countries to get rid of it the easy way, only separated recyclable material may be sold to other countries. As far as I know the only waste that is shipped out and can’t be recycled is spent radioactive material from nuclear powerplant that are stored in old salt mines in France.
The German system may be a little excessive but it shows how much trash really can be recycled if one makes the effort.
Steven asks…
Do you tip your garbage man at Christmas time?
My husband works for a garbage/recycling company and you wouldn’t believe the tips he gets! He’s brought home at least $200 this week alone in cash, a $25 Sears gift card, a $10 state store (liquor) gift card, a $10 personal check, a warm long sleeved shirt from the nice old lady on oxygen and a 6 pack of beer.
Tossing garbage and recycling into the back of a truck isn’t the most glorious job in the world but it pays!
@Hippie– I’m very sorry that happened. He doesn’t deserve anything.
The Expert answers:
I tip everyone during the holidays. I tip the mail man,the garbage man,the man who puts gas in my car, etc.
Robert asks…
how much does it cost to handle garbage and recycling in Brampton?
ty 4 ur help need 4 project 🙂
The Expert answers:
It costs $400/ton for recycling and $600/ton for garbage. But that’s only if the recycling doesn’t need to be processed and sorted through which it usually does; it costs a lot more if they need to process it and so that’s why a lot of recycling is processed like garbage, as in, it’s thrown out…
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