Recycling is Garbage

New York Times Magazine | June 30, 1996 | John Tierney

[Capriole]

In all honesty I have to make an addendum to my story. Our county does have one very successful recycling effort that I do participate in: they collect and recycle yard waste, including yard clippings, leaves, Christmas trees, and cut-up trimmings. We are encouraged to buy paper recycling bags which are picked up once a week. The bags and their contents are made into the most luscious compost, which people buy as "leaf mold" (not a great name; marketing department should work on that one a little). The trees and trimmings are made into mulch, which the county gives away free. This is much better than paying for decorative mulch.

[Casloy]

Excellent, thanks for posting. I have friends for whom recycling is a religion and the mantra is always we are running out of trees. I try to show them statistical proof the opposite is the case but they don't want to hear it. Recycling is a religion for many people.

[farmfriend]

Rights, farms, environment ping.
Let me know if you wish to be added or removed from this list.
I don't get offended if you want to be removed.

[beaversmom]

I like that idea. I think our area does something similar with the old Christmas trees.

[beaversmom]

I used to recycle a little bit quite a few years ago then stopped--got fed up with it. The last couple of months I started up again and have been driving from my home in Aurora to recycle in Boulder which has huge dumpters that you can help yourself to 24 hours a day. This is despite the fact that our waste company does take recycling, but I've been too lazy to figure out what they take and when they pick it up.

Anyway, I'm fed up once more. I quit recycling a couple of weeks ago and felt guilty so I started up again even though I know it's really a waste of time and resources. I have to make a million trips to the garage and use more water to wash the stuff out when I've already got a sink full of dishes that need my attention so much more. So I think this will be my last load to the center in Boulder. I don't make that many trips there, so it might be a month or two before I make my last trip.

Just to make myself feel better, I will continue recycling aluminum cans. We don't drink pop, but I pick them up and throw them in a grocery sack when I see them laying about. I remember fond days in the 80's of going out to pick up cans with my parents and them giving my brother and I the change they got after depositing them in the can bank. It was sort of like a treasure hunt.

Anyway, you should see the recycling center in Boulder (Berkeley of the Rockies). It always has cars there no matter when you go. It's obvious that many people in that area are religious recyclers. Not surprising since the place is filled with liberals and they enjoy wasting time and money on things that may be of no real benefit but, hey, they feel good when they do it and that's the important thing. Another reason this conservative Bush supporting woman shouldn't be engaging in the activity.

One thing that I do think is a good idea is teaching kids about littering. I grew up in the late 60's and 70's and I remember the ad with the Indian crying at the sight of the trash in the river and the owl that sang "Give a hoot, don't pollute, never be a dirty bird". I can't stand litter all over the streets. I used to be better about picking up litter, but got burned out trying to clean up the whole neighborhood only to have it destroyed by inconsiderates the next day. Another reason I stopped was when I was pregnant with my second--it caused too much heartburn to be bending down so much. They must not teach the children in my area not to throw litter around because it is bad here (surrounded by two schools). Also, one look at the trash and you figure out what junk these kids ingest. On a related note, my mom and I were sitting in a parking lot the other day eating fast food. A group full of teenagers was some distance away eating in their car and they just chucked every bit of their trash out the window. It made me really mad. Trash is a big pet peeve of Michael Medved's--another reason why I love him. He actually stops his car with his family in it to pull alongside the road to pick up trash.

Thanks for posting this. Sorry to have written a book but the article just sparked my interest. It's worth the repost and worth bookmarking.

[E.G.C.]

BTTT!!!!!!!!

[beaversmom]

Penn and Teller doing a show on recycling.

I've backslid--I started recycling again. I'm so ashamed:(

Onef--here's that article I was telling you about.

Warning: REALLY Strong Language-- http://littlegreenfootballs.com/weblog/?entry=24391_Recycling-_Nothing_More_Than_Feelings#comments

[hinckley buzzard]

I recall visiting friends in some town south of Boston(I think it was Norwell) years ago. They had a weekly ritual of loading a couple bags of recyclables and driving it several miles to the local municipal recycling center. I have no doubt whatsoever the gas used by their rather large-ish auto far outweighed the resources they were 'saving'.

[LibWhacker]

Thanks! Hadn't seen that before. Very funny. My favorite pejorative in the whole show: "recycling psychos," lol! Oh, yeah... We've got a bunch of 'em in our neighborhood and they've been looking at me askance since the day we moved in 15 years ago. I haven't recycled a thing in all that time. Are the yo-yos actually trying to make recycling mandatory now?