Your Questions About Recycling

The Expert answers:

My husband and I run our city’s Recycling Center, and we think this is the very best source for recycling information:

http://earth911.com/

The Expert answers:

I can list problems about recycling! My husband and I run our city’s Recycling Center, and here’s my rant:

1. It’s hard to find volunteers to work at our Recycling Center. Who wants to work outside in the ice, snow, rain, thunderstorms, heat, and humidity for free?

2. People put trash in recycling bins. What have I found in our paper recycling bins? Bags of household garbage and yard waste; used contraceptives; used syringes; televisions; used carpet; lumber; broken glass; beer bottles full of urine; dead animals; clothing; and hazardous chemicals.

3. People burn down recycling bins. Really! We have lost two recycling bins due to arson.

4. Not everything is recyclable. We have brochures and signs that say what items we don’t take, and people want to argue with us about it. They wait until we’re not looking, then throw the non-recyclables into the bins anyway. Then I have to climb into the bins to get the non-recyclables out.

5. Our recycling center has open and closed hours. City laws state you cannot leave anything outside a recycling bin when we’re closed. We have signs posted saying not to leave anything outside a bin or it will be thrown away. People leave things anyway, which we have to throw away.

6. A recycling center is not a dumping ground. People dump, often while we’re watching, things like old swimming pools; barbecue grills; loads of branches and brush; dishwashers; lawn mowers; furniture; and even hazardous wastes like used motor oil.

7. Recycling bins cannot be left unlocked. Not only will people put trash in them, they will steal the aluminum out of them. People often pry open our locked bins, ruining the doors, just to put garbage in them or to take the aluminum out.

There are a lot of problems involved in running a volunteer Recycling Center! Is it worth it? Yes! I spend every single Saturday helping the people in my town recycle their cardboard, paper, aluminum, steel, tin, plastic, and glass. I spend hours calling people on our volunteer list so that every shift will have enough people.

I am doing all this so our future generations won’t look around and see nothing but landfills and garbage.

The Expert answers:

Google:
litter fact sheet derm qld gov au

The Expert answers:

Recycling started before the dark ages when people figured out ways to use leftovers, reuse spent materials and did not waste anything.

Prehistoric peoples utilized every portion of an animal that they killed for food. The plains Indians used every part of the buffalo; food, clothing, shelter, and ornaments/religious symbols, etc.

All things can be recycled, those that are made from more natural fibers, materials would be easier. Wood and cotton would recycle much easier than synthetic materials. Metal, glass, and plastic can be melted and reformed.

Some things that are discarded instead of recycled, remain in the environment for many years, sometimes thousands.

The Expert answers:

There is a “puddle” of plastic debris several miles in diameter traveling the Pacific Ocean that has had reasonable press over the past 5 years or so. It has actually been growing for more years than the past 5 or 10 years. There is at least one guy/organization that is doing some on-going monitoring of it but, more than that have come and gone. Some of the materials surely come from beach litter. Some of the materials pretty much trace themselves to assorted boats and cruise ships. But, a number of the materials have come from what is suspected to be cargo containers lost overboard in storms from the top decks of cargo ships. There are little hints that some of the materials are in actuality plastics collected, gathered, and being transported over-seas for recycling from the ships themselves. And, I seem to remember seeing a report on TV some years ago showing mounds of plastic bottles in some forgien country along side a water way down which many were flowing toward the sea. The existing plastic debris puddle is growing at an increasing rate and seems to lock in the plastic that attaches to it. Many of the plastics themselves are breaking down resulting in what is claimed to be resulting chemical contamination and pieces falling to the ocean bottom. It is estimated that there are an astounding number of tons of plastic in the debris pile which is now of unknown/questionable chemical content. There is a guy who removes a couple of tons per year but, that at this point it would take a concerted effort to eliminate the existing pile.

While this is the general story, I have few direct facts. You can certainly pick up facts by doing a periodical lit search at the library. You could probably pick up a number by searching the internet as well as the major news reporting agencies both in this country and others.

In terms of recycling, there are a number of different angles. One is the prevention of the plastic contributed from beach side, boats, and cruise ships; many of these contributions are recyclable. One is the prevention of the loss of plastic from the decks of cargo ships. Another is the irony of plastic bound for recycling over-seas ending up in the debris heap. Another is the whole issue of exporting recyclables over-seas only to have them handled with less environmental care than we would use in our landfills; this issue has several different aspects, each with a story of its own. Lastly, there are the issues revolving around the concept of removal of the existing debris float/pile/ puddle/reef. There is the cost involved in gathering it onto ships, who would do so, and who would/should be financially responsible. Once “captured” there is so much plastic it is hard to say if there is enough facility capable of handling the retrieved plastic. And, then there are the issues surrounding the chemical composition of the plastic that remains in the pile and whether or not it could actually be recycled. Of course cost and responsibility becomes a part of the equation.

The Expert answers:

We have a great program at the energy exploration center in my town. One of the class tours we do has them look at garbage items and decide if they can be reused or recycled. They explore what the items are made of, for example cell phones contain lead and precious metals not to mention other harmful chemicals. They also rethink items like bottled water and come up with alternatives. Another fun activity is what we call a lunch dump. They eat lunch at the center then put their garbage into a can, they way the waste and then dump it into a small pool and look at what was tossed. Much of the food waste we feed to the worm farm, and look at some of the wrappers, like chips, candy and juice boxes which are all hybrids and can’t be recycled.

I’ve always thought it would be a great project to calculate how much waste is generated by a school just by eating lunch. How many pounds of food waste, how many juice boxes, lunchable containers, sandwich bags and bottles of water would be thrown into the garbage for a school year.

I think we focus too much on recycling, I saw a project done by a local school and everyone knew they should recycle, but less than 10% said they did. I like to focus on reducing waste and increasing demand for recycled products. I like the slogan complete the cycle buy recycled. I was able to buy everything my son needed for high school in recycled content.

The Expert answers:

Very interesting article, thanks for sharing it!

While it’s obvious that it’s better to recycle than to dump used paper into a landfill, incinerators do pose an interesting alternative. This would be especially good if the incinerators were also producing electrical energy. Aside from the chemicals released to the air though, the article did talk about the huge amount of waste they need to keep the plants running. This is a major problem with it.

If employment virgin paper workers is a problem it would be more cost effective to provide job training so they can work elsewhere and to encourage other industries in those areas.

The major flaw with this article and the studies it was referencing is that it did not take into account the environmental impact of growing and harvesting wood for paper. As a former US Forest Service employee, let me describe a few things. First, although paper companies do grow trees on their own land, the Forest Service also grows trees for paper and sells them to companies. This takes up land that could otherwise be maturing into a more appropriate medium-age forest on already-owned government property, not to mention that paper tree lots are usually either aspen monocultures or aspen/balsam stands and provide very, very few benefits to the wildlife and none at all to endangered plants. Also, aside from the pollution caused by the logging machines and transportation, they also produce considerable ground compaction. This decreases the fertility of the soil over repeated clear-cuts because it is progressively harder for roots to grow. This negatively impacts the future of more natural plant communities there.

While I still think that recycling paper is better than the current alternatives, I think we should continue researching and improving the alternatives, reducing our consumption, and generally keep an open mind. The thing with science is that you can never prove something beyond a doubt, you can only disprove everything else. That means everything should be questioned, even the scientific answers that have become dogma to us.

The Expert answers:

1. Recycling helps the planet
2. Less garbage which saves you money
3. Makes you feel warm and fuzzy [=
4. We are running out of room for our garbage this saves room
5. Good ju-ju or karma
6. We will run out of natural resources and recycling slows that process..
7. Hm mm Almost everything can be recycled so it not a burden,..
8. Saves everybody money in the long run

all i could come up with hun
[[=
good luck

The Expert answers:

These types of things are usually handled by the local government. I would start with the city council member who represents your area.