Your Questions About Recycling
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Filed under Recycling Q & A
Susan asks…
Have I blown my chance at ever being accepted into the liberal elite?
I was firing up my wood burning stove in the shop for the 1st time this year. I’m always very careful to use renewable wood products, recycled waste oil to help start the fire. Suddenly I realized that some poor woodland creatures had made a home in either the stove or the flue. I felt so bad listening to their struggle, but I could do nothing.
So what do I do now?
I think I will try to make up for it by taking the crispy critters (when things cool down) down to the local food bank. Will this help my liberal resume?
TRUE STORY
The Expert answers:
You obviously felt bad about it or you wouldn’t have bothered to post it.
But, true to your Republican nature, you are looking for someone more compassionate to transfer you sorrow onto, because you feel it makes you weak.
There is nothing weak about compassion for animals.
Learn to deal with your freakin feelings before you devolve into another nut-case.
Charles asks…
Should’nt we be doing our own recycling instead of taking cans, jars, bottles etc…to Privately owned tips?
who then ship it abroad to recycle it using more energy to do it but we have to pay for the service even if it doesn’t benefit us?? Insane!
We can make home made furniture using papermache cans bottles materials which our now privatised (ex-council) tips make money on.
I save all my aluminium, copper and give steel to a friend who has a lorry it helps him and we get a few quid.
Better than giving it to people who charge you for recycling it.
Fair enough if its battery’s and florescent lights or waste oil as examples, if you can’t use it again.
But if you need a piece of furniture you could make that using your imagination why not save money and energy on doing that instead?
I am thinking of things to make using glass or whatever its crossed my mind before but we really should make an effort.
The thing is they would still charge us for the facilty but we wouldn’t give them the benefit of making more money out of us.
In the UK the ex-council recycling sites are just expensive to run and would never give you anything for your trouble.
I make my own compost but I am lucky to have a garden to do this.
PLEASE NOTE
No point stating the obvious I am not an idiot to the process whys and where fors of the my chosen subject.
I take it out on compost using my pitch fork Ronnie its such a wind up but I am going to get creative in the sludge department its been so long.
The Expert answers:
Your logic is impeccable. I pay for my bins to be emptied, I have to separate the recyclable materials. The council picks up that and takes it to SITA UK who make money from it.
The American idea of paying you to recycle instead of charging you to take money away is a sound one. Straight away aluminium cans wouldn’t be dropped as litter.
One household can’t buck the system, but a town could. All SITA do is sort it into piles and sell it on. We could do that and turn the profit into reducing our council bills.
Furniture is a classic example of a cooperative business from waste, as are bicycles and electrical goods.
Your point is valid, the idea of doing the collection like a rag and bone man with a horse and cart has merit, it’s the environmentally friendly option.
Nancy asks…
If recycling is such a huge componant of saving the earth?
Why is it not easily accessible? They come and take your trash for nothing, or next to nothing depending on where you live. They deliver your mail for nothing. Why not things that should be recycled? I know some cities have programs for picking the crap up, but you still have to seperate it. The government seems to want you to do it, but they only seem to hire people who want to tell you that you are doing it wrong. I work on cars for a living and know more than most about waste. Oil, ferrous and non ferrous metals, plastics, and the trouble and recources that went into making the sh!t in the first place.
Serious answers only.
The Expert answers:
They charge me to take my trash away. They charge me when I buy a recyclable bottle can, or devices, and they charge me when they take it away. They cash in. I must pay to deal with all recycling at my business (fees and registration costs) and I must demonstrate my compliance if they single me out or inspection. Or I will pay a fine or go to jail.
They charge me to deliver mail, and for me to send mail.
Recycling is only useful if it is efficient: prime example: aluminum. This material requires a lot of energy to create from bauxite.
Goofy example: paper. Nearly all paper in the U.S. Is made from trees and plants specifically grown for the purpose. It is extremely bio-degradable if tossed out, the ink is generally soy-based and requires absolutely no energy to maintain while resting on a bookshelf. All web pages, emails, and on-line documents require continuous generation of electricity in order to power server farms. Personal printers, be they laser jets, ink jets or dot matrix, are far more inefficient than a real printing pressing running at 10,000 copies per hours, and the delivery costs are a one time expense, with no need to run to Staples when the toner runs out.
This whole movement is suspect. I remember Cub Scout paper drives and I recycled aluminum and glass before this movement began. We all used Zippo lighters. Now we all use disposable lighters, disposable razors, and plastic cars that you can’t fix.
Any action taken by a populist politician on the basis of emotional propaganda without the cold hard analysis of an Accountant is suspect. In my state, such irrational environmentalism has led to serious ecological harm and only led to bankruptcy of the economy.
Have a blast.
Sandra asks…
1st question: In what direction will an oil spill move if winds are blowing from the south?
a.) the oil will flow towards the north
b.) the oil will flow towards the south
c.) the oil will flow towards the east
d.) the oil will flow towards the west
2nd question: Which of the following is not a method of conserving nonrenewable resources?
a.) reducing waste
b.) discovering new deposits of nonrenewable materials
c.) developing substitute materials
d.) recycling materials
The Expert answers:
I agree with the previous answers except in the first question – if there is a current (river or ocean) stronger than the wind the oil slick will move in the direction of current flow. If they are equal and coming from opposite directions the spill would remain stationary.
However that answer is not on the list. It doesn’t hurt to think beyond the question unless your teacher doesn’t have an inquiring mind.
Ruth asks…
used vegetable oils and glass bottle recycling.?
I have a pub in south northamptonshire and look for someone to collect our used vegetable cooking oil and also our other recyclable waste like glass bottles and cardboard, at the moment we are paying for this to be removed for landfill and we would like to change this.
any ideas?
The Expert answers:
Post a query on the pub bulletin board, you may have someone in your area already making biofuel from WVO, and they would be the ones to talk to. You can locate them on the street as their vehicle will smell like fried food as it idles.
The only catch is potentiallyBritish law, if there is a loophole in the regulations- use it. If not, there is not much they can do to stop you yourself from using it. If you drive a diesel, you can run simply filtered WVO through your vehicle in the warm season. In the cold season you need to dewater it, and probably remove the glycerine. Those parts of the proccess get messy, but you can store it until temps warm up a bit.
Filtering it is as simple as pushing it though a filter media. The whole process is here:
http://journeytoforever.org/biodiesel_svo.html
http://journeytoforever.org/biodiesel_make.html
Picture a Vauxhaul that smells like chicken when it’s on the road. Don’t advertise it too loudly though- the government want’s it’s road taxes.
As for the glass bottles. Have any local home brewers? They might put a few at least to good use. Otherwise check the region to see if you have any potential glass artists. If you know someone who has a Kiln and routinely fires things- flattened wine bottles and others make for interesting conversation pieces that you could sell as art. Chances are there are few outlets for all the glass bottles you have and without a glass factory nearby, not cost effective to ship. A common lament about glass.
Linda asks…
Why do you try to conserve?
I conserve because it makes sense to not waste.
I collect rain water to water my flower beds because it seems like such a waste to let it wash down the gutter.
I watch my speed and aggressiveness in the car to save gas.
My job involves recycling vegetable oil and I hope one day to open a recycle center as there isn’t one close to where I live.
I do it because it just doesn’t make sense to waste and I also like to have sound reasons for what I do and the sky is falling has never been a driver.
Why do you try to conserve?
The Expert answers:
I conserve because I was told so… I conserve because I believe it is right… I conserve not for global warming but it takes me sweat and blood to earn money to pay for the electric and water bills… Waste and I waste my efforts… And after all, this world I live in, the resources are not mine to abuse so I’m not giving myself the right to indulge on everything…
Sharon asks…
Can Drain Oil be a valuable resource ?
When I change oil in my car I have some drain oil, I know I can take it to the recycle place, BUT that seems a waste. Can I filter it somehow and reuse it in the car? or can I put some in an oil can and just use it to oil hinges and such, or can I use it as bar oil for my chain saw, or can I mix it with gas for 2 cycle engines, or ??? other uses ???
The Expert answers:
No. It is full of contaminants that need to be taken out. The oil will be recycled by a facility designed just for that. It will destroy any two cycle engine.
Helen asks…
Why do some conservatives resist the idea of global warming and going green?
I would think that NOW one would realize how big of an effect human pollution has on the environment, even if we are not the cause of global warming, landfills and wastes, the effects of not recycling, using too much energy and oil still takes a lot out on the environment and our civilization.
So are conservatives STILL turning a blind eye to environmental issues? If you dont believe it is that big of a deal or that we have that much of an effect, what’s the problem with at least going green? I dont see why people fight it.
The Expert answers:
Mankind is the only creature that does not belong to this world
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We are the only life form on the planet that if put out in the wild naked with out anything to fend or find with we 90% would be dead with in a week time
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We are the only creature that is destructive of everything we touch
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Humanity is the only life form that will kill each other for pure spite of color religion what country you live in what sect of the race you are
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And to think that humanity is responsible for the distruction of the earth is saying a
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Beaver did not make that dam on the creak that caused it to flood
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And we have only gotten started
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To top it off we now have the sun to help out in cooking the planet
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The sun has been getting hotter and hotter
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Http://www.futurepundit.com/archives/002242.html
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Mars is proof the sun is getting hotter also takes a little while for this page to load
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Http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/news/uk/article1720024.ece
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Mary asks…
Recycling – what is on the Council list in your area?
In mine it’s:-
Newspapers, Magazines, Telephone Directories, Cardboard, Glass, Plastic Bottles (milk), Batteries, Car Oil, Clothes (clean), Glasses (that you can wear), Garden Waste
The Expert answers:
Collected from the house in Glasgow
paper
plastic
glass all different colours.
Tin
aluminium
all garden waste
we have council recycling sites where we can take things
and we have a great website called freecycle.com where we offer anything we don’t want and ask for anything we do……………all sorts of things get offered from furniture, books push chairs cookers. Corks. Pretty well everything finds a use.
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