St Petersburg Florida Ran Bogus Recycling Operation?

St Petersburg Times ^ | 5/16/2002 | Editorial

[Retired Chemist]

The city of St. Petersburg deceived the public about a curbside recycling program. For the past 10 years, residents in two neighborhoods went to the trouble of separating their newspapers and plastic bottles from the regular garbage. What the residents didn't know, however, is that the city was only pretending to recycle the material. The paper and plastic actually ended up in the county incinerator, along with the rest of the city's garbage.

Meanwhile, the city accepted a state grant every year to operate the recycling program. It even assigned an extra driver and truck to pick up the material, as though it were being handled differently. The wasteful charade was revealed only recently after the Department of Sanitation decided to end the program because the grant was being discontinued and the department faces a budget crunch.

An unsigned letter sent to participants in the so-called recycling program only compounded the deceit. It implies that the recycling center that once took the material had recently shut down, when it actually closed in 1992. The letter further insults residents' intelligence by suggesting that burning the paper and plastic to produce electricity is just as good as recycling. Incineration has its place in garbage disposal, but to suggest it is the equivalent of recycling is ludicrous

[gunnedah]

Americas governments in action.I will guarentee this is not an isolated incident.Our local governments are as inept as the national one and they are raking us through the coals so to speak.But in the morning while brushing your teeth look in the mirror at the one who is responsible.

[Diago]

Simply outstanding.

[jpl]

I for one have never in any way supported the environmental whackos that rammed these ridiculous recycling programs down our throats.

[TightSqueeze]

...The city was only pretending to recycle the material. The paper and plastic actually ended up in the county incinerator, along with the rest of the city's garbage.

Seems like we will need to expand the notion of Yankee ingenuity southward! Atta-boy St. Pete

[thucydides]

This is going on in many locations - recycled items either go to an incinerator or to the landfill. What was behind all the recycling ballyhoo was an opportunity for political patronage and what economists call "rent-seeking." Politically connected firms got rich contracts to operate the recycling. These firms generously support the politicians who put the programs in place. However, there is no market for most recycled material, except aluminum cans. Other recycling activity, such as with paper, is a net loss to the environment due to added energy and pollution costs involved in the reprocessing. But never mind, it is not about the environment or about reason. It is about politics, and for the gullible, about the ersatz religion of environmentalism.

[jpl]

I've actually been to a couple of areas where glass is recycled for use in the paving of streets. But you pretty much nailed it on the head; in the overwhelming majority of cases recycling programs is just another government sham.

[Kermit]

ROTFLMAO!!! Snicker, snicker, tee hee, guffaw!

I love any story that exposes the phoniness, the self-righteousness and hypocrisy of the enviro-religist types. To shock people, I've told them for years that environmentalism is a religion and recycling is a sacrament.

[RWCon]

I bet they charged extra for it, sham or no.

[AppyPappy]

The Greensboro NC newspaper followed a recycling truck all the way to the landfill. The official "explanation" was that the recycling center was "bogged down".

[Catholicguy]

well said. Your post recalled to mind Tom Bethell's book"The Electric Windmill." I can't remember where this happened, but there was a "windmill" powered by an electric generator. As I recall it was a Government demonstration project.