Posted on 03/04/2003 7:16:56 AM PST by ZGuy
A group of Swedish environmentalists -- convinced that recycling is a colossal waste of time and money -- is urging people to toss their blue boxes in the garbage.
To the chagrin of fellow environmentalists in Canada and across the globe, the group said burning cardboard, plastics and other household trash is actually much better for the planet than any recycling program has turned out to be.
In fact, the group contends the so-called benefits of recycling are all but nullified by the environmental damage associated with hauling the waste to and from the recycling facilities.
Coupled with the overwhelming cost of collecting, sorting and reprocessing the material, the group is convinced that decades-old recycling initiatives are nothing short of a complete failure.
"Protection of the environment can mean economic sacrifices, but to maintain the credibility of environmental politics, the environmental gains must be worth the sacrifice," the consortium wrote in a recent newspaper article.
At the controls of this latest anti-recycling crusade are five residents of Sweden, a country well-known for its trailblazing initiatives aimed at protecting the environment. Made up of environmentalists and waste-collection companies, the team is lead by Valfrid Paulsson, a former director of Sweden's environmental protection agency, and Soren Norrby, the former campaign manager for Keep Sweden Tidy.
Based in a country already full of incinerators, the campaigners say technology has improved so much in recent years that the process is completely clean and safe. It also allows communities to generate significant amounts of electricity, reducing their dependency on oil.
Environmentalists in Canada, however, dismissed any suggestions that recycling is a foundering experiment that should be immediately scrapped.
"I think they're flying a kite," said Guy Dauncey, a Victoria-based author and environmental consultant. "It's nonsense."
For decades, Canada has built very few new garbage incinerators, largely over concerns that they emit harmful substances. Changing that philosophy is definitely not the way to solve any glitches associated with recycling, said Veronica Sherwood, who co-ordinates the Nova Scotia Environment Network, an umbrella organization for the environmental groups in the province.
"Recycling may not be the best choice," she said yesterday. "It burns considerable precious energy and does in fact add to fossil fuel emissions. However, incineration is not an ecologically sound alternative."
Burning recyclables, said Mr. Dauncey, would still entail the same amount of effort as traditional recycling. Simply ensuring that certain toxins do not filter into the air would involve the same level of methodical sorting that occurs now.
And, he said, transportation costs -- both financial and environmental -- would not decrease if incineration replaced recycling.
"You can't put an incinerator in the middle of downtown Toronto," he said.
"So you've still got to haul the stuff to an incinerator."
David Wimberly, a well-known Canadian environmentalist, said the campaigners are doing nothing more than trying to sell a few incinerators.
Either way, other observers said it is time that Canadians -- who produce approximately 21 million tonnes of garbage every year -- more rigorously debate the merits of recycling.
"It's always worth taking a look at the numbers and looking at the reliability and asking: Have we got the mix right now or should we be trying something else," said Donald Dewees, a University of Toronto professor who specializes in environmental economics.
um...what's wrong with that?
off to lessons...be back later.
Soylent Greens?
And when that job is done, can we then eliminate the hazardous, dangerous, traffic congesting California Diamond Lanes. Pretty please. There is no possible economic, traffic flow or environmental justification for continuing to reward cars with two occupants some special rights not afforded the rest of us.
That's it! She graduated from there, and we went to one of the reunions a few years ago.
Believe it or not, all the newer homes here now have lawns which are a huge pain in the arse to maintain/water...we have gravel; but the thing on yard clippings is we have a separate can for when we prune the citrus, bouganvillea, cactus, etc.
Speaking of which, I do believe it's a law here that anything requiring pruning MUST have thorns and stickers....adding to the great pleasure of yard maintenance.
Maybe they have. It COULD have been -20 so -14 ipso facto presto change-o proves global warming is happening! [sarcasm/off]
The household consumer does not provide a consistant product like this.
When you are running a paper machine producing 3000' per minute on an 8' roll, anything that gums up the works can be very expensive on hardware and downtime.
So if you run the kitchen faucet waiting for the water to get hot, you can't collect the water in a pan and throw it in the garden without breaking at least two state laws since the water is from the kitchen, and the water didn't pass through an underground pipe.
These are the same folks who told us that water was so precious we were not to flush our toilets unless we had gone "number two".
We've actually had commercials saying, "If it's yellow, let it mellow; If it's brown, flush it down."
Do you pay for garbage by the can where you are? If so, this would be a positive incentive for recycling, if recycling costs less per can. But your incentive is probably eaten up by the subsidies on recycling, which is charged back to you in other ways.
The jury rigged system does make recycling an economically viable choice in some cases, but only does so at the cost of infringement on freedom and through hidden subsidies. If you are one of the winners of this system, you would be silly not to take the money.
It's a real booger! Check the bottom 2 pics on my profile page, and you'll see "Cholla" cactus - a/k/a "jumping cactus"...aptly named, because it seems if you even get near 'em you end up with zillions of targets for the medicine cabinet tweezers.
Actually, Weyerhaeuser does accept those things, with the exception of plastic bands.
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.