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Post by CampKohler (Sacramento CA) on Mar 24, 2018 12:15:04 GMT -5
The local Sacto governments—county and cities—have started a big advertising push to educate the "members of the public" (as we are called in the UK) about what to put in our recycle bins. Recently there have been multi-page supplements in all the local rags, including the free liberal ones, in hopes of improving the "waste stream."
It used to be enough that we recycled stuff that looked appropriate in the bin, but those days are evidently gone for good. China and other places that buy our stuff by the containerful have not only gotten picky about what goes in, but about the condition it is in, i.e. what contaminants are in it. If it's not good enough, instead of getting paid for it, we have to pay them! So Joe Sixpack must now become a part of the recycling business. We must not simply toss in what we think should go in; we must now evaluate it in terms of whether or not it is saleable.
Little scraps of paper now go in the trash. They want full size or so pieces that can be hand sorted as to grade to be bailed for sale. No broken glass that will contaminate everything else like plastics. And no styrofoam at all. It's not about what shouldn't go in the landfill and stay there undegraded forever; it's now about what they can sell.
Some areas are too far from a glass smelting plant to make it worth the transportation costs, so there is no glass recycling. And "other terms and conditions apply." And on and on. It's just mind boggling!
If you have ever eaten at Costco's hotdog and pizza snack operations, you have seen the collection of cans for this and that kind of waste that leaves most customers stumped as to which one to toss your stuff into. Even if you carefully read the signs and finally figure it all out, you can see that others haven't by their wrong choices. I would be very surprised if Costco doesn't just empty all of the cans into the trash to err on the safe side!
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Post by sneakers (Metro Houston) on Mar 24, 2018 19:43:59 GMT -5
Where I live (Friendswood, TX), the municipal trash service has single-stream recycling.
Aluminum cans, steel cans, paper, cardboard, glass bottles, plastic bottles: all in the blue recycling cart.
I've not yet decided to get a second trash can for my business room, but I'm thinking about it.
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Post by CampKohler (Sacramento CA) on Mar 24, 2018 23:07:38 GMT -5
Ah, you got fancy with the word blue there, but blue makes it look like a traditional link (of which the default in this forum has no underline for some crazy reason). And you changed to a smaller font for that single word. It would be fascinating to know what goes on in member's minds while they are composing posts, but admins have yet to be granted that power. But I digress.
Single stream would certainly solve the problem, but we don't have it here. They used to have it at nearby Folsom, but they ditched it in favor of a second, recycle can, Too expensive I guess. Or maybe the sorters objected to all the dirty diapers even when provided with the proverbial paddles. When the Chinese buy our recyclings (a new word I just invented), I wonder if the sorting is done nearby a particular port or does every big port have one nearby? After tipping, how dirty is the container? Do they have to wash and dry it before stuffing it full of new stuff like bed linens, medical supplies, or knock-off Gucci bags for the trip back here? Or do containers have cleanliness ratings such that they could stuff it unwashed full of, say, granite prefab kitchen countertops or maybe bags of fertilizer, stucco mix or something else not requiring a fastidious transit?
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bbro2018
Full Member
Discovering that getting your kicks is tricky at 66!
Posts: 235
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Post by bbro2018 on Mar 25, 2018 19:00:40 GMT -5
@campkohler: Clever av--as a cigar smoker, I had to LMAO since what you're "smokin'" looks something like one of that other site's milestone markers. I raise my cigar to ya!
This may be an old-school idea, but it's worth sharing!
Some websites offer free magazine subscriptions for participating in their program (interestingly, one of them is a recycling website. I donate my magazines, after reading them, to our community hospital. Believe it or not, volunteers push reading carts around the hospital offering magazines to patients--and they're also very useful in the waiting rooms!
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Post by CampKohler (Sacramento CA) on Mar 25, 2018 23:20:53 GMT -5
The local VA waiting rooms are another good place to "get rid of" mags one has finished with.
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Post by Sparky19038 on Mar 27, 2018 10:49:13 GMT -5
In my practice, we recycle both magazines and books: we have a library of dozens of books, of all genres, and invite our patients to take one with them, if they so desire. Over the years, we have had several walk in with shopping bags full of books to donate to the cause.
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Post by gramsjc on Mar 27, 2018 11:34:12 GMT -5
We recyclecardboard, paper, plastic, tin, glass, anything allowed in the community bins. Biggest problem is people tossing in waste and refuse that ruins the whole load.
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bbro2018
Full Member
Discovering that getting your kicks is tricky at 66!
Posts: 235
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Post by bbro2018 on Mar 27, 2018 23:26:42 GMT -5
Where I live (Friendswood, TX), the municipal trash service has single-stream recycling.
Aluminum cans, steel cans, paper, cardboard, glass bottles, plastic bottles: all in the blue recycling cart.
I've not yet decided to get a second trash can for my business room, but I'm thinking about it.
Not to change the subject, but I notice the "E" Edsel logo as your avatar. I take it you're an Edsel fanatic?
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Post by mullingspices on Mar 28, 2018 20:15:24 GMT -5
The Honolulu politicians want to burn recyclables because not enough garbage is being collected to meet their contracts with the trash to energy producers and have to pay fines. On the other hand, recycling is expensive here and is costing the City lots of money as it can't get a good enough price on recycling to break even!
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Post by CampKohler (Sacramento CA) on Mar 28, 2018 20:27:41 GMT -5
You need to have retailers remove all packaging on the mainland before shipping it to the Islands.
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rjgimp
Senior Member
St Paul MN
Posts: 651
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Post by rjgimp on Mar 30, 2018 1:48:54 GMT -5
The Honolulu politicians want to burn recyclables because not enough garbage is being collected to meet their contracts with the trash to energy producers and have to pay fines. On the other hand, recycling is expensive here and is costing the City lots of money as it can't get a good enough price on recycling to break even! LMAO! Another case of... be careful what you wish for because you just might GET IT! Government creates program A to solve problem B but had no clue that solution A would cause entirely new problem C for which solution D must be invented!
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Post by mullingspices on Apr 1, 2018 20:32:23 GMT -5
The Honolulu politicians want to burn recyclables because not enough garbage is being collected to meet their contracts with the trash to energy producers and have to pay fines. On the other hand, recycling is expensive here and is costing the City lots of money as it can't get a good enough price on recycling to break even! LMAO! Another case of... be careful what you wish for because you just might GET IT! Government creates program A to solve problem B but had no clue that solution A would cause entirely new problem C for which solution D must be invented! I think government here is on letter "F"...
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Post by sneakers (Metro Houston) on Apr 5, 2018 18:44:46 GMT -5
Where I live (Friendswood, TX), the municipal trash service has single-stream recycling.
Aluminum cans, steel cans, paper, cardboard, glass bottles, plastic bottles: all in the blue recycling cart.
I've not yet decided to get a second trash can for my business room, but I'm thinking about it.
Not to change the subject, but I notice the "E" Edsel logo as your avatar. I take it you're an Edsel fanatic? My interest in the Edsel is more as a business school exercise than anything else. I decided to pick up the Edsel "E" in honor of the now dead forums on That Other Site.
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goldie
All Star Member
Posts: 19,808
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Post by goldie on Apr 6, 2018 6:22:04 GMT -5
China stopped buying our recycling several years ago. Did they start back again? It seems that I recall hearing that they spread it out in open fields.
Single stream has its trade-offs. More people do it, b/c they don't have to bother separating materials, but more gets thrown away and fewer items are actually recycled.
AFAIK broken glass has never been acceptable for recycling. I assumed (or did I know?) it was because it could injure the workers.
Traditionally styrofoam was not recycled with other plastics. I used to keep it in the trunk of my car and drop it off at a plastics company in St. Paul. (Anchor, I think it was??) Then the company moved due to redevelopment in the area, and I couldn't find out where to take it after that. Luckily I get very little of it now.
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Post by picturefreak on Apr 6, 2018 14:06:26 GMT -5
LMAO! Another case of... be careful what you wish for because you just might GET IT! Government creates program A to solve problem B but had no clue that solution A would cause entirely new problem C for which solution D must be invented! I think government here is on letter "F"... Don't even need to make it specific to "Government" because things like "Facebook" has the same feedback loop ... which also is an F for that matter, not even them considering taking medical records to try to get people with similar problems to meet each other. Oh how the insurance industry would love that information!
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