Activists call recycling trash waste of time [Environmentalists call recycling "a complete failure"]

National Post ^ | March 03, 2003 | Michael Friscolanti

[gridlock]

the commitment of all is needed to make a significant difference. imho.

So, how do you achieve that committment? Keep in mind that your choices are limited to:

1) Deceptive public education campaigns,
2) Financial incentives,
3) Financial penalties, or
4) Force.

This is all the government can do. Given this, having them lie to us is the least offensive course they can take.

[onedoug]

"The weather bureau...the FAA.... They're all cheats and liars!"

[homeschool mama]

Are you saying that all recycling companies are gov't owned? If so you're wrong.

The commitment is individual. Most folks are so apathetic they don't care to be good stewards of the earth. *I'm not an earth muffin so don't even consider it* I believe in taking care of what I have and taking into consideration ways to lower the level of landfill, while recycling those things that can indeed be recycled. As mentioned before in an earlier post, recycling success varies by area. Our area is successful.

[stylin19a]

I can't wait to retire to the desert. Unfortunatley, my wife has other ideas.
What DOES have my imagination going on overload is, recycle yard clippings ? In the desert? Can you tell me how that works ?

[gridlock]

The commitment is individual. Most folks are so apathetic they don't care to be good stewards of the earth.

So how do you change the level of individual committment for most folks?

Most places I have been have penalties associated with failure to recycle. These penalties are assessed by the local government. People recycle in order to avoid a fine. The fines make recycling the economically logical choice.

There is no way the economics of recycling justify the number of man hours and the consumption of resources required to make it work. Even the best programs barely cover the direct costs of collection and processing. But what is absent from these costs is the subsidy from the free labor and resources that were extracted from the individual householder through force of law. Add up all that, and recycling is a loser for everybody.

[Fidgit]

Financial incentives. (like everthing else in the world) At home you recycle so you don't have to pay for a larger trash bin. At work you recycle so your company can get a "rebate" for some of its "trash" and they don't have to pay for a larger trash bin. Just checked this, 1999 figures. Over 58% of the fiber my company produces is from recycled sources. And yes, tree's still have to fall to suppliment strong fiber content.

[homeschool mama]

LOL...Who has grass lawns in the desert?! :o)

[Joe Hadenuf]

What desert?

[Fidgit]

Thats if you believe that the economics of recycling do not justify the man hours. Our profits show me something completely different.

[johniegrad]

Melrose Dutchmen!!! Mark Olberding!!!

[Sunshine Sister]

I sympathize with the "sigh." Like you are going to poison yourself. Come on!

[blackdog]

As you point out to gridlock, recycling done by industry can be of some value due to the consistancy on output of said recyclables. Let's stick with curbside recycling and not the 700 tons of cardboard that Sara Lee puts out in wire bales each week. We are still talking glass, plastic, cardboard, junkmail, tires, and newsprint/magazines. Can we discuss that?

It seems that those who have a small presence in a narrow segment of the industry are creating a different picture on Industrial waste VS. curbside garbage.

[Sunshine Sister]

You may add idiots to that!

[stylin19a]

I served @ 29 Palms in 1969. My sister lives in Lake Hava Su City...I'll settle for either.

[Mark17]

It's minus 14 degrees in Fargo this morning

I was born and raised in Grand Forks. No one needs to tell me that global warming is a huge lie. We know it already.

[homeschool mama]

What actual sources are you basing your theories on, gridlock? Are you in the recycling industry? Thanks.

[blackdog]

How much of those recycled fibers come from curbside garbage? Those fibers come from industry. I'm sure you have that breakdown?

[Joe Hadenuf]

29 palms and Yucca Valley are pretty nice, and a lot cooler than Lake Havasu in summer.........

[homeschool mama]

I see a rock lawn in your future. ;o)

[gridlock]

Financial incentives. (like everthing else in the world) At home you recycle so you don't have to pay for a larger trash bin. At work you recycle so your company can get a "rebate" for some of its "trash" and they don't have to pay for a larger trash bin.

Poppycock.

At home you recycle so you don't get a fine.
At work you recycle so your company doesn't get a fine.

Given that you get a fine whenever you fail to recycle, there is a financial incentive to recycle. But it is not a positive incentive.

Some recycling supports itself. Nobody throws away automobiles because they have scrap value. If your company produces a lot of waste that is fairly easy to segregate and collect, then some recycling of certain materials can be a paying proposition.

But I defy you to show me a single instance where the mandated levels of recycling, sorting out all recyclable plastic, tin, aluminum, misc. metals, glass, high-grade paper, and newsprint, makes economic sense absent the threat of fines.

I'm sure some people do it, and they have their reasons. But economics is not one of them.