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The Recycling Myth
Ludwig von Mises Institute ^ | February 4, 2008 | Per Bylund

Posted on 02/05/2008 12:53:26 AM PST by newbie2008

As a Swede I get to hear a lot of the myths of how wonderful a country Sweden supposedly is — the "prosperous socialism" it stands for, a role model for the rest of the world. For instance, quite a few friends from around the world have commended me on Swedish recycling polices and the Swedish government's take on coercive environmentalism.

The way it has been presented to me, Sweden has succeeded with what most other governments at best dream about: creating an efficient and profitable national system for saving the environment through large-scale recycling. And the people are all in on it! Everybody's recycling.

(Excerpt) Read more at mises.org ...


TOPICS: Culture/Society
KEYWORDS: globalwarming; myths; recycling; trash
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To: newbie2008

There is a very simple test that will tell you when recycling makes economic sense:

The moment someone offers to buy your garbage, you’re there.

Until then, anyone that says otherwise is ignorant or lying.


21 posted on 02/05/2008 4:32:25 AM PST by motor_racer (Open war is upon you, whether you would risk it or not.)
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To: newbie2008

Oh, I thought this was about recycled trash.

22 posted on 02/05/2008 4:40:45 AM PST by BigLittle ( .)
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To: newbie2008

This is a challenge to the “recycling” myth. A challenge based on fact and reality, so it will be ignored. This sort of thing (the logical basis for reducing government)isn’t nearly as interesting to the bulk of the forum participants as things like “prayer request for a tiny baby” (which I can truthfully say I never read since it has absolutely nothing to do with conservaticsm as far as I can ascertain)


23 posted on 02/05/2008 4:42:06 AM PST by from occupied ga (Your most dangerous enemy is your own government, Benito Guilinni a short man in search of a balcony)
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To: newbie2008

We’ve recycled for the last 17 years - as soon as they put the igloos up locally for me to dump the stuff, I did it. No charge, and no major separating, just plastics, metal, newspaper etc. It’s been a major boon to us because we haul our stuff to the dump and pay per lb. Between recycling and composting, our actual dump fees are very small. And I already take my own canvas bags to the store for reuse.

My husband used to work at a place that made plastic film, what is used to shrink wrap paper towels, pallets, etc and they used recycled plastic. Recycled newspaper goes into cereal boxes and also between the inner and outer car doors.


24 posted on 02/05/2008 4:43:37 AM PST by ktscarlett66 (Face it girls....I'm older and I have more insurance....)
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Bookmarking.


25 posted on 02/05/2008 4:43:53 AM PST by RandallFlagg (Satisfaction was my sin)
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To: newbie2008
The money line:

...you need to flatten all boxes before recycling — that's the law...

Kinda reminds me of the old SNL Phil Hartman skit, "The Anal Retentive Chef."

26 posted on 02/05/2008 4:46:06 AM PST by TankerKC (I tried to find more Nixon.)
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To: newbie2008

I think we should make all packaging out of edible material. That way, we can eat our garbage and our excrement can be used to fertilize the soil so that we can grow more edible things to eat and make packaging out of. It will be like a never-ending cycle of recycling.


27 posted on 02/05/2008 4:47:34 AM PST by SamAdams76 (I am 5 days away from outliving Nicolette Larson (Mitt is It))
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To: wideminded

Our town has a voluntary recycling center to drop off newspapers, plastic soda bottles, and aluminum cans and the money goes to a center for mentally disabled adults. Everyone is happy to participate in this program.


28 posted on 02/05/2008 4:49:37 AM PST by a real Sheila (Have you hugged your "furry best friend" today?)
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To: DB

Simply what will happen is people we start throwing their trash in the streets or in a ditch because there’s too many barriers in disposing of it properly.

You will shot on sight

http://www.cityofboston.gov/isd/cep/default.asp


29 posted on 02/05/2008 4:53:41 AM PST by ninonitti
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To: motor_racer

Brilliant!


30 posted on 02/05/2008 4:56:45 AM PST by TankerKC (I tried to find more Nixon.)
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To: motor_racer
There is a very simple test that will tell you when recycling makes economic sense:

The moment someone offers to buy your garbage, you’re there.

Until then, anyone that says otherwise is ignorant or lying.

Very well put.

Whenever someone mentions how recycling saves so much money, I ask when the town will be taking bids on buying the recycled waste.

Whenever someone mentions how recycling is good for the environment, I ask if they have really looked at the roadsides lately.

Whenever someone mentions how recycling makes so much sense, I ask, "For Whom?

31 posted on 02/05/2008 5:09:59 AM PST by N. Theknow (Kennedys: Can't drive, can't fly, can't ski, can't skipper a boat; but they know what's best for us)
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To: AlaskaErik

My city recently issued every home a pretty blue recycling bin and a bill for $9.85 for the pretty blue recycling bin. I promptly wrote the mayor and told her that I was not going to be using the pretty blue recycling bin for recycling and that I wanted my money back. Amazingly, I did get a response but no refund for my pretty blue recycling bin. It does make a good storage bin for bike helmets.


32 posted on 02/05/2008 5:25:06 AM PST by cyclotic (Support Scouting-Raising boys to be men, and politically incorrect at the same time.)
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To: BigLittle

“Oh, I thought this was about recycled trash.”

White trash should never be recycled.


33 posted on 02/05/2008 5:25:20 AM PST by Hacklehead (Crush the liberals, see them driven before you, and hear the lamentation of the hippies.)
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To: wideminded

I like this idea. As long as people aren’t being made to do extra work (sorting garbage) AND hare having to pay for it (garbage-collection fees), people are happy to recycle.

If the towns forwarded even a fraction of the value of old aluminum and glass to the recycler, people could get their kids in charge of it to earn some spending money. A full-grown adult probably couldn’t be bothered to sort out bottles and things for so little money, but give a kid a chance to make four or five dollars a week doing something that would be assigned to them as a family chore anyway, and watch that capitalist instinct kick in! (And watch as your house stays remarkably free of recyclable garbage!)


34 posted on 02/05/2008 5:28:24 AM PST by Shigarian
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To: newbie2008

I figured this would be about McCain...


35 posted on 02/05/2008 5:30:22 AM PST by MortMan (Have a pheasant plucking day!)
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To: AlaskaErik

“I recycle all my trash...straight to the dump. Anything and everything I don’t want goes to the dump if it’s garbage. I don’t recycle anything, period.”

Amen Brother. In my community the recycling nazis convinced the pack of village idiots we call councilmen that we were running out of “precious landfill space”. About a year after they instituted manditory recycling, they sold a large portion of our landfill to a neighboring town. I don’t submit to forcible recycling, besides, I refuse to paw through my trash like a starving racoon.


36 posted on 02/05/2008 5:34:41 AM PST by Hacklehead (Crush the liberals, see them driven before you, and hear the lamentation of the hippies.)
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To: ME-262

Recycling AL makes sense when you consider what a pain in the butt it is to make it in the first place.


37 posted on 02/05/2008 6:19:55 AM PST by AFreeBird (No Romney, No Rudy, No McLame, No Huck, No Paul! Toss the GOP into the ashcan of History.)
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To: Hacklehead

Several years ago, our town started a recycling program along with the garbage pickup (exactly as another post about the garbage truck with an arm, followed by truck with 3 men dumping into different bins). Everyone felt “good” about recycling and doing their part. The trash and recyclables was being hauled to another county about 60 miles away. Then a story broke a few months later that said the other county was taking ALL the trash and recycled items and dumping them all TOGETHER into the landfill because otherwise they were not making as large a profit if they employed someone to deal with the recyclables they had collected!

I think folks should recycle on their OWN and then take them to depositories that use the recyclables for charitable contributions.


38 posted on 02/05/2008 6:39:09 AM PST by a real Sheila (Have you hugged your "furry best friend" today?)
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To: newbie2008

No surprise here. In the early nineties when I was completing my college education, I had a geography professor (liberal too) who did a study on recycling. His conclusion was that decidedly more energy was used up for recycling than in non-recycling. I’m sure his study was swiftly consigned to the trash bin (no pun intended) by the lib recycling nazis who didn’t want the study given more exposure.


39 posted on 02/05/2008 11:38:59 AM PST by driftless2
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To: newbie2008

http://www.econtalk.org/archives/2007/07/munger_on_recyc.html

for anyone who maybe interested here’s a really good investigation into the economics of recycling


40 posted on 02/05/2008 11:42:27 AM PST by newbie2008
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