Is it time to stop recycling?

smurfco

smurfco

Meatus McPrepuce
I've always recycled since I've moved out of my parents' place (and we recycled at home too growing up). Throwing a plastic or glass bottle into the trash always makes me cringe when I do it. I've always really been a "recycling guy", you might say.

But lately I've started to wonder, what's the point? I've read a lot about how 90% of that stuff just winds up in a landfill anyways because it's not economically worth it to recycle. And now they've created a "no bag" policy here where I guess your recycling is just... loose? So I have to carry the whole can all the way down to the recycling bin now and dump it out

Plus I'm pretty sure the climate's fucked already. So it's harder and harder for me to see the actual point of it, other than to make myself feel good. We keep blowing past those "points of no return" on the climate and I doubt even if every single person recycled every single recyclable thing it would really make a difference, but I don't know.

The idea of stopping recycling strikes me as wrong on some basic emotional level, but logically speaking is it just a waste of time?
 
Paper, glass, & aluminum cans are definitely recyclable.

Plastic waste is a different story all together. Point of purchase is probably the one place where the consumer has the most influence but since many products come in single use plastic, easier said than done. We do what we can to avoid as much plastic packaging purchases as possible.
 
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smurfco said:
I've always recycled since I've moved out of my parents' place (and we recycled at home too growing up). Throwing a plastic or glass bottle into the trash always makes me cringe when I do it. I've always really been a "recycling guy", you might say.

But lately I've started to wonder, what's the point? I've read a lot about how 90% of that stuff just winds up in a landfill anyways because it's not economically worth it to recycle. And now they've created a "no bag" policy here where I guess your recycling is just... loose? So I have to carry the whole can all the way down to the recycling bin now and dump it out

Plus I'm pretty sure the climate's fucked already. So it's harder and harder for me to see the actual point of it, other than to make myself feel good. We keep blowing past those "points of no return" on the climate and I doubt even if every single person recycled every single recyclable thing it would really make a difference, but I don't know.

The idea of stopping recycling strikes me as wrong on some basic emotional level, but logically speaking is it just a waste of time?
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I wonder about this too, but I still put glass, plastics and cans in the bin every week. Part of the problem is so many folks don't recycle correctly and put a lot of stuff in the recycle bin that doesn't belong there which complicates the sorting process.

I would really like to see the US move to more of a European model, especially in fast food/counter service restaurants. Instead of serving items in disposable containers, use washable ones. That alone would go a long way to reducing waste headed to the landfill. We should also go back to reusable glass containers with a refundable deposit instead of the single use plastics for sodas and the like.

But back to your question, I guess it's better to use the recycle bin and hope something good happens with those items rather than throwing them in the trash and removing any doubt. :shrug:
 
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I'd like to see a return to using more glass containers instead of plastic. Recycled plastic is a myth.
 
The one people need to stop recycling is plastic. Most of that ends up sent to a developing nation for sorting; from there it gets dumped in a river and ends up in the ocean. What little plastic dogs get recycled is blasted with hot water to clean it and remove labels which creates lots of microplastics that end up in the ocean.
 
Local trash here doesn’t recycle. 600 yards from me at our town office is a recycle dumpster sectioned off for different things. I pay my water bill in person and so can put stuff in the recycle dumpster. I have a good size yard and take a trailer full of yard waste to our dump which is really a sorting station for crap. I use to change my own oil on everything and so once a year would take old oil to the recycle tank. there is a bin for wood and metal, scrap wood etc., appliances and finally for old tires. Food Lion has bins where you can return plastic bags and I do.

On the other side if town is a scrap metal business and they pay you for certain scrap. When ran a machine shop back in the day we tossed scrap metal into 55 gallon barrels and when full would take it down and sell it.

I’m not green oriented enough to say I’m a hard core recycler but if the bins are there anyway then why not. Takes a few minutes to run around.

I saw the program where a lot of recycled stuff gets tossed into the landfill and that’s disappointing. I’m guessing there must be some type of government money you can get if you implement a program.

I read an article the other day about how everyone has x amount of microplastics in their body.
 
jp_nyc said:
The one people need to stop recycling is plastic. Most of that ends up sent to a developing nation for sorting; from there it gets dumped in a river and ends up in the ocean. What little plastic dogs get recycled is blasted with hot water to clean it and remove labels which creates lots of microplastics that end up in the ocean.
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Most of what I typically put in my bin is plastic. Occasionally a glass bottle or empty Ragu jar, or maybe an aluminum can here or there (much less often than before since I started avoiding buying soda), but I'd say 80% plastic. Maybe I just keep it up with the glass and aluminum and empty the bin less often...
 
I have to take mine to some large compartmented dumpsters the county puts out about 5 miles away from the house. They are always overflowing with half of the crap just reg garbage from the rednecks who won’t pay the county for trash pickup. I’m 100% certain the county dosnt bother paying anyone to sort that sht, and they are just pocketing money from some green program or other and throwing it all into the landfill along with everything else.
I complied for years but I quit bothering. I just try my best not to buy excess plastic and save my cardboard to start my annual backyard brushfire after I trim the trees and shrubs. If the county won’t pick up brush they sure ain’t sorting recyclables. The dang HOA is prob gonna get after me for the fire at some point, but it’s only once a year and I’m careful to do it after a rain and not during any no burn orders.
If they would actually pick up sorted bins at the curb on some kinda schedule I would have kept it up just to feel better about myself if nothing else.
 
I worked an IT contract in Waste Management Corp and learned a few things.
My town takes only clear glass.

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We try to stay away from as much single-use plastic as we can (no bottled water, buying traditional milk and OJ cartons, reusable zip storage bags, etc.). I still recycle the plastic containers we do use, but I'm under no illusion that it does any good.
 
micwalt said:
We try to stay away from as much single-use plastic as we can (no bottled water, buying traditional milk and OJ cartons, reusable zip storage bags, etc.). I still recycle the plastic containers we do use, but I'm under no illusion that it does any good.
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I've never understood people who drink bottled water, it tastes awful.
 
Bob411 said:
I've never understood people who drink bottled water, it tastes awful.
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Try spending time somewhere with gross tap water. The water in the Phoenix area is disgusting. Nothing covers the taste. You can’t even cook with it because it will ruin food. Everybody drinks and cooks with bottled water.
 
It really does matter what recycling facilities are available in your area.
Unfortunately, plastics seem to be a common problem everywhere to the point where small companies have cropped up with ways to turn the scraps into something else. So, the re-use principle. That’s great, but the last one I saw on the local news was making something I’d likely never buy. That’s fine as long as they still have a market and/or can expand their line to a broader market.
 
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