We have two choices, treat this like shit or not... I think we should treat it like shit

It worked in WWII because it involved large, non-complex items like tires and metal objects, and people were motivated.

Oh, great it worked for a while in specific circumstances 40 years ago. We will just go back to a different time then.

Consumer recycling is nothing like that. It requires people to make slight distinctions in items. And the benefit from this small scale effortaren't as large as people believe.

This isn't some arch-conservative rant. Consumer recycling is shit.

 

As you say, recycling - a 'circular economy' - simply requires people be motivated.

 

That's an absurd, meaningless response. Theoretically anything is possible. But there is no level of motivation that will make consumer recycling meaningful. It's not possible.

 

@justgladtobehere, maybe these are your sincerely held beliefs, but you come off like you're in bed with the extraction industries.

The Big Business of Scavenging in Postindustrial America

 

I ate a Table Talk pie yesterday. It's a four-inch pie sold in an aluminum (?) pie plate inside a cardboard box with a plastic window. Three separate elements to the packaging. Is that ever going to be effectively recycled?

 

Rinse off the plate, rip out the plastic film. Throw the film out and recycle the other two.

 

Sure. The plastic will rip of perfectly. The glue won't be a problem. The water used to wash the plate isn't a factor.

 

The first step is to cut down on single-use plastics. It's not always possible with packaging, etc., but it sure as heck is with plastic bottles, utensils, straws, and bags.
If you drink a bottle of water, refill it, and use it again. That just cut your usage in half. I've got water bottles in the refrigerator that I've used for months. I use an aluminum bottle to take a drink to work every day. I have a plastic fork in my lunchbox that I've probably used for years. When I use it, I wash it and put it back. The only time I accept a straw is if I'm drinking from a cup while driving. I don't use plastic bags unless I have to. I either carry a canvas bag into the store or just carry out a an item or two without a bag.

 

So we have been shipping our waste half way around the world when we could have been burning the shit?

 

I was screechingly told this summer it was virtual suicide to drink Crystal Light type drinks out of reused Gatorade bottles.

 

Guess I'm fucked.
Most of what I keep in the refrigerator is just straight tap water in reused store-bought water bottles. The thing I drink the mix packets in as an aluminum Yeti bottle.