Your Questions About Recycling

The Expert answers:

Recycling makes me feel good. I feel like I am helping save the planet. It helps that I can recycle plastic, alumnum and glass on a weekly basis. I also take my paper, cardboard and newspaper to the local recycling center every 2 weeks or so. It’s interesting how many items are made from recycled materials.

The Expert answers:

1 We absolutely do recycle.
#2. Our county and state (NY) has hundreds of convenient major recycling facilities which take major appliances, tires, garbage paper and plastic. Cornell University sponsors free bi-annual pesticide, paint, antifreeze, glass, batteries, tires and all light bulbs.

The local Cornell Extension office gives out free vouchers to people who want to get rid of old computers, TVs VCR’s or any electronic equipment. I’ve learned that the disposable facility for electronics actually forwards old computer monitors to another company that refurbishes them into Television sets for third world countries.

The county has a motor oil disposal tank. Supposedly, if any individual store sells motor oil they must furnish a disposal tank.
#3.We do have recycling and we use it.
#4. We have the resources to recycle everything so it comes natural. Why let crap stack up!
#5. Fortunately NY has a .05 cent soda and beer bottle and can return policy. It’s something every state should look at.

Recycling is hammered into every-bodies head and is very well advertised in papers, radio and TV.

The Expert answers:

Most of what you recycle gets put back in with the regular waste at a transfer point, dump, or trash co-generation plant. So it actually is a negative effect, because you have special trucks that drive around all day to pick up special trash, that gets put back in with regular trash.

I worked as Environmental Manager, and have been at these dumps and seen this happen. It is not a secret either. Here is a report from Princeton that says, recyling uses more energy than it save, and the study was done in NJ. NJ has a very high concentration of people that would optimize the chances of making recycling pay off.

“recycling measures neither conserve scarce resources nor help to protect the environment. Because New Jersey’s household recycling law is one of the most comprehensive in the nation, it is a salutary example of the follies of mandatory recycling.”
http://www.cato.org/pubs/pas/pa-202.html

The Expert answers:

Recycling is not a scam but is not sometimes a good thing like recycling glass is bad for the enviroment. It takes to much time and energy.

The Expert answers:

Commercial paper recycling programs amount to about 80% of all paper recycled today. Businesses of just about any size now have paper recycling containers throughout their buildings for their employees to put their used paper into. When visiting a business today you will often find a recycling container for white paper and another for colored. The different papers need to be separated for recycling of paper. Newspaper can also be recycled and requires its own paper recycling container.

Once the paper recycling containers are full they are generally hauled off by the local waste disposal company and taken to a paper recycling plant for processing.

There are many ways that you, as an individual, can support the paper recycling process. The easiest is to put your used paper into your kitchen garbage recycling containers. From there you can dump them into your compost pile and the paper will break-down into soil, just as normal household kitchen garbage will.
Another way you can support paper recycling is to purchase recycled paper cards and recycled paper checks along with your recycled paper for your copier .
By using recycled paper products you are helping to support paper recycling in your area, and helping to eliminate trees being cut from the forests to make paper.

Next time you visit your local grocery market be sure to notice whether or not they are using recycled paper shopping bags. If they are they make a nice change from using the usual plastic ones made from petroleum products.

When you shop be on the lookout for recycled paper products such as recycled toilet paper, recycled tissue and recycled paper towels. By supporting the companies who make these products you are supporting paper recycling.

The Expert answers:

For every ton of paper that is recycled, 17 trees live. You can recycle most paper, including white office paper, newspaper and mixed-color paper, through a local curbside recycling program

Instructions

1 Check with your county department of public works to find out about local curbside recycling programs and community drop-off centers, or look under “Recycling” in the yellow pages. Also call 1 (800) CLEANUP for state recycling information.

2 Separate paper into three groups: white office paper, newspaper, and mixed-color paper. Most curbside programs will collect it this way.

3 Recycle all white office paper (usually from laser printers or copiers) together. Be sure to remove the wrappers they come in. These are a lower grade of paper and cannot be recycled with the white office paper and should be recycled with mixed-color paper.

4 Take newspapers, and place them in brown bags, which can be recycled with newspapers, or tie them in bundles with twine (a natural fiber). Colored advertising inserts can also be recycled with newspapers. Be sure to remove rubber bands, plastic and anything that is not paper.

5 Place all mixed-color paper together. This includes anything from magazines to junk mail. Staples do not need to be removed. Remove all plastic stickers, membership cards and anything that is not paper.
🙂

The Expert answers:

Recycling isn’t important to us, just those suckers in the future.

The Expert answers:

1. Enough to recycle all the paper I use.
2. Every day.
3. Because they know it’s the right thing to do and it saves trees.
4. I try to buy only recycled paper.
5. It differs from day to day but I always recycle.
6. We have a local transfer station where we can recycle paper, glass, plastics, metal, etc.
7. This is available 5 days a week.
8. Yes.
9. Absolutely.
10. Sure. The more folks who recycle, the fewer trees need to be cut down.

The Expert answers:

Recycling needs additional faciitly and labour cost to start up. Some cities may not have adequate fundings or have to increase property taxes for residents.

It’s hard of individuals to recycle because they might not have the space to have a separate container in their house, and they don’t want to bother sorting out different materials for recycling.