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

More U.S. Towns Are Feeling The Pinch As Recycling Becomes Costlier - More U.S. Towns Are Feeling The Pinch As Recycling Becomes Costlier

I honestly think the fastest way to solve this problem is to set up government run plastic recycling centers. Pay for them with a penny tax, no idea what the best number would be, for every plastic good sold.

We don’t put shit directly back into our ecosystems and we shouldn’t with plastics.

And we need plastics in society today. Banning them is not a viable option at this point.

 

Large scale municipal recycling is a scam and always has been a scam. A pointless ritual designed to make affluent people think they are 'doing their part' for the environment.

 

Our city has nowhere to store the blue bin recycling so it is filling semi trailers until it finds a buyer. All households get to pay 8 bucks a month for the privilege of the city paying to store it.

 

We need new info and ideas on the subject. For sure.

 

The recycling center in the town I used has had to make appeals to the county commission for additional funding because the cost of sending materials out is becoming prohibitive (and, apparently, these things can't be sent to China anymore). The guy who runs it says he needs $7,000 more a month and he's already behind on some bills so he can meet payroll.

 

It isn't a bad idea to have large-scale recycling. The problem is where do we ship it off to have it processed? China and other countries finally said no more and the US is woefully behind in processing centers.

Like Scout said, let's just have a simple tax on plastic consumables to pay for recycling processing centers. California already charges 5 or 10 cents on plastic or aluminum drink containers (depending on size), make that a nation-wide tax with the money to pay for the plants that we actually need to recycle plastics.

The next step (which is already happening) is to change the culture to not use so much disposable products or start demanding compostable containers. Everyone laughs at California for the straws, but honest to God, I feel weird now when I get a drink that includes a plastic straw. I'd much rather have a lid I drink out of or a paper straw.

 

The 'next step' should have been the first step. Forget recycling.

Those numbers on the bottom of plastic containers are not related to recycling, but for years I lived in a place that wanted plastics to be separated by those numbers. Now the distinction in plastic products is 'clear' or 'natural', whatever that means. The grease from a pizza makes the box unrecyclable and potentially contaminates any other cardboard in the recycling stream. For years, newspapers were the only thing that was a reliable recycling item.

And paper bags aren't any better than plastic bags because the environmental impact of paper bags is worse than plastic and paper bags don't degrade in a landfill.

 

You're gonna need to show your work on that one. Thank you.

 

Which is more environmentally friendly: paper or plastic?

 

Thanks.

 

Not going to argue with that next step should have been the first step statement. You're absolutely right on that.

As for the numbers on the bottom of the plastic, that's not recycling I think that's what the plastic consists of. They are different mixes I believe which ultimately affects how they can be recycled. But we can get to a "circular ecosystem" with plastic, but we need more processing centers to make recyclable plastic cheeper than new plastics to eventually ween us off of plastic all together.

As for pizza boxes, can't that go in compost? At least I believe that is where my disposal company wants me to put it.