Household Recycling is State-Endorsed Slavery

Breitbart's London ^ | July 5, 2014 | James Delingpole

[2ndDivisionVet]

Recycling is authoritarian, demeaning and an unutterable waste of time, energy and money. No surprise, then, that the European Union is planning to force its vassal states to do much, much more of it.

Last week, the European Commission proposed its most draconian waste disposal legislation yet: a plan requiring 70 per cent of all municipal waste and 80 per cent of packaging waste to be recycled by 2030; a total ban of the landfill of recyclable waste by 2025, aiming "to virtually eliminate landfill" by 2030.

As even the Guardian quietly concedes, this is an impossible ambition:

The new targets will be difficult for the UK to meet, as recycling rates have recently stagnated after a period of rapid growth in the past decade. According to figures released by the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs (Defra) in November, 43.2% of waste in England was recycled in 2012-13. That figure was just 12% in 2001 but the UK is still well behind Austria and Germany, which recycle 63% and 62% of their waste respectively.

But that won't, of course, stop the green activists who have hijacked our councils (in accordance with Local Agenda 21) using it as an excuse to inflict further hairshirt misery on householders. On average, councils in Britain expect residents to sort their waste into four separate containers; but with some local authorities it's as many as seven boxes or multi-coloured bags. The record is held by Newcastle-under-Lyme which has nine different bins, bags and boxes.

This is the most extraordinary imposition on people's time. Research from Seattle suggests that it takes a typical household about 45 minutes per week to recycle its rubbish. In the US that works out at ninety million hours expended every week dividing green glass from brown glass from cardboard...

[2ndDivisionVet]

I don't do it, do you?

[KarlInOhio]

I don't do it, do you?

I do because the local trash company makes it largely painless. They have recycling bins which all the recyclables go into (no separation) and it is just as easy to toss my newspapers, magazines, boxes and drink containers into the recycling can as the regular trash can. Does it do any good? I don't know, but like it said it takes almost no work on my part. For all I know both halves of the trash truck get shoved into the same landfill.

[ClearCase_guy]

I hate recycling. On top of that, my town just had a Hazardous Waste Collection Day -- right when I was cleaning my basement and coming across several cans of various noxious things.

I decided to be a good doobie -- I took a small collection of cans to the collections site:

5 people working there.
1 customer (me)
Waited forever for someone to approach my car (big signs: DO NOT EXIT YOUR VEHICLE!)
They laughed at my small collections of material.
They demanded $20
They gave me a long speech about evil people who don't do what I was doing (huh? Why bore me?)
They took my name, address, phone #, etc. (they may find some of this information is inaccurate)
They tried to steal the large plastic bin I was using to transport the various cans.

I made up my mind: When I find more hazardous waste, I'm, throwing it in the woods.

[OpusatFR]

I do and very little garbage since we compost too. What do you do with used cat litter though. There is no way but to chuck it.

[logitech]

Officer Obie, I cannot tell a lie.

I put that envelope under the pile of garbage.

[WorkingClassFilth]

Better not be the woods on my property.

City people. Sheesh.

[Mears]

“When I find more hazardous waste, I’m, throwing it in the woods. “

---

Good for you. It’s insanity.

People are now getting rid of things behind stores,in parks,and even on a traffic island near me.

.

[al baby]

Nope unless i want to buy scratchers

[ConservativeInPA]

I have two nearly equal sized containers, one for for trash and one for recyclables. I refuse to waste my time to read and learn the rules, so things get mixed up. Our trash trucks are automated to pick up the containers without the aid of a person, so no one is the wiser.

[healy61]

Oh, you bet I do. I have properties. My recycle bin is always full. The trash bin is used for carpeting, drywall, roofing (little by little). I get the free dumpster, and I have sent couches, chairs, mattresses, tables, lamps, doors. You name it, it fits. Haven’t figured out the fridge, but I will. Metal I save for the metal buyers and make money.

[al baby]

just let those cans of paint and stuff that dries out drie up and toss in garbage

[Uncle Chip]

I do because the local trash company makes it largely painless.

Same here. All cans, bottles, plastics, paper get thrown together in one big container and rolled out to the street and they separate it all at the facility. Garbage is thrown in trash bag separately. They make money off the recyclables and that keeps the trash pickup costs down. One truck takes the garbage to the dump and the other to the recycling faciliity.

I like it.

[Organic Panic]

I recycle. I throw it all in the garbage. it gets buried in the local landfill for future generations to use. I only have so many days on this planet. I’m not going to waste my time sorting garbage.

[2ndDivisionVet]

Wouldn’t a refrigerator go to the metal people?

[Alberta's Child]

What's interesting is that some cities are taking a good hard look at "point of disposal" recycling -- that is, separating the materials before they are picked up at the curb or dumpster -- to see if it's even worthwhile. When you take into account the added cost of fuel and the emissions related to using separate trucks for the regular garbage and the different recycled materials, this type of recycling doesn't make any sense even from an environmental standpoint. The better approach would be to have the mixed garbage collected once, then separated at a transfer station to remove the recyclable materials.

For some materials -- like glass bottles and aluminum cans -- transfer stations will often separate these even when the law doesn't require it. They can generate extra revenue by selling these to industrial users.

[ican'tbelieveit]

And, it gives you more room for “trash.”

[sheana]

And every ounce that you voluntarily recycle is sold by them to put more money in their pocket. I pay to have my garbage hauled off and I WILL NOT recycle so they can make money.

[GeronL]

I made this but I have no idea how it ended up sideways

[sheana]

Oooookaaaaay..........

[GeronL]

I took the pics myself. I am proud of it. :p