s/o Recycling Thread-why would you be against it?

[Mom in High Heels]

I'm curious as to why people would be against mandatory recycling if it didn't cost you anything? Yes, yes, I know someone is going to say it's too much government control, but how would recycling hurt your civil rights? What's the point in NOT recycling.

[Mrs Mungo]

I'm curious as to why people would be against mandatory recycling if it didn't cost you anything? Yes, yes, I know someone is going to say it's too much government control, but how would recycling hurt your civil rights? What's the point in NOT recycling.

 

I think if local government is already taking your trash and having to deposit it somewhere, I think they should have a say in whether you recycle.

[Gooblink]

I think if local government is already taking your trash and having to deposit it somewhere, I think they should have a say in whether you recycle.

 

Except, it's not like they're doing it for free. We still pay for it; we pay for all the services our government provides. We are the ones who need to have the say in whether we choose to recycle or not.

 

As far as why anyone would be against mandated recycling - I'd just want to know how "government" plans to enforce it? Fines? Is someone going to sift through my trash and count infractions?

 

I recycle (and pay extra for the privilage). However, there are times when one of us slips and tosses aluminum foil in the trash rather than the recycle bin. I don't want to be fined for that.

[MyBlueLobsters]

Except, it's not like they're doing it for free. We still pay for it; we pay for all the services our government provides. We are the ones who need to have the say in whether we choose to recycle or not.

 

As far as why anyone would be against mandated recycling - I'd just want to know how "government" plans to enforce it? Fines? Is someone going to sift through my trash and count infractions?

 

I recycle (and pay extra for the privilage). However, there are times when one of us slips and tosses aluminum foil in the trash rather than the recycle bin. I don't want to be fined for that.

 

100% this. :iagree:

[MyBlueLobsters]

Also, around here, (not in our county yet) they have mandatory recycling and then charge you for more than "x" number of bags of trash you have. There is a significant charge for more than 2 bags of trash per week. I already pay them, I shouldn't be charged $10 per extra bag of trash!

[eternalknot]

I'm curious as to why people would be against mandatory recycling if it didn't cost you anything? Yes, yes, I know someone is going to say it's too much government control, but how would recycling hurt your civil rights? What's the point in NOT recycling.

 

Civil rights are hurt by mandatory anything. We each have varying tolerance levels and hot-button issues, so to you it may not be a big deal. But to some, it is - if perhaps, on principle alone.

 

That aside, recycling isn't free. It makes folks feel good, but that doesn't mean it's always the cheapest and/or best use of resources. That could be one point in not recycling. An important one, IMO.

[Parrothead]

I would think it isn't so much the recycling as it is the mandatory part. I can't see how anyone would actually be against recycling in and of itself. If one has the remotest inkling about what is going on in the world one would be pro-recycling. One would recycle just because it is the right thing to do.

 

The being told to do it that causes problems. Being told makes one dig one's heels in. For example generally being a parent one accepts that part of being a parent is tucking in the kids at night . But what if it was mandatory to do it until they are 18? Would you feel the least bit of resentment tucking in your 17-year old at night? You would have to be home and awake each and every night to tuck the kid in. No baby sitter. No going to bed at 9p on the weekend.

 

It is the same principle with mandatory anything whether it is recycling something else.

 

As with anything education is key. It is better to teach people the hows and whys instead of browbeating them.

Edited November 17, 2010 by Parrothead

[FaithManor]

We do some limited recycling, plastic bags taken to Walmart's sack bin (they reuse the Walmart ones and they have their own recycling plant that meets appropriate EPA guidelines), aluminum, and anything lethal such as cardboard. Unfortunately, we don't emphasize more because Michigan's recycling plants were built with exemptions on many anti-pollution/water quality laws that other businesses must follow. As a result, they put out a huge amount of water and air pollution which is counterproductive to the environmental benefits of recycling. Our plastics recycling plants are the absolute worst so they produce more toxins and dump them into the environment than we'd have by leaving the plastics in the landfill.

 

Faith

[Farrar]

From a libertarian standpoint, I feel the government probably shouldn't be in the trash collecting business at all. I would have no problem with a company I contracted a service with to take my trash away putting it in the contract that I have to recycle. After all, I could just go to another business and make a different contract. As well, the idea of the government digging through to fine you (they apparently do it in some places) is a bit appalling to me. It seems to me that it is too much government power. What if the thing you didn't recycle is a paper with personal information - and the government is reading it? And, as someone else said, if you slip up (or, even more likely, your KIDS or maybe even someone visiting your house) and put something in the wrong bin, then getting slapped with a $100 fine just sucks. I'm sorry, but ugh. That's rotten.

 

OTOH, as I said in the other thread, the results are generally pretty positive. I think really the government should just charge us the real cost of our trash- the cost to take it away and the cost to keep it in a landfill or otherwise dispose of it and clean up the results and so forth. I mean, if the government charged you more for hauling away things for a landfill but gave you a compost bin and a recycle bin and charged you a lot less for those, that would change people's habits nearly as well and wouldn't result in fines over accidentally throwing away a jar or something.

[Nestof3]

I think if local government is already taking your trash and having to deposit it somewhere, I think they should have a say in whether you recycle.

 

:iagree:

[Nestof3]

This is why I am glad I live in the city where there is trash pickup. There is nothing more disgusting than driving through the beautiful country in the mountains and see mounds of junk and trash near people's houses all because they don't have trash pickup and don't want to or have a way to get to the landfill.

 

My MIL still burns trash, and she even burns toxic stuff like styrofoam.

 

I am more of a libertarian as well, but I love my trash pickup.

 

A few more things that do annoy me about our city.

 

1. They refused to sell me another recycle bin. I compost and recycle nearly everything I can. I shred paper a lot for the compost as well. Recycling pickup is every other week, and our can is always so overflowing that I have to borrow other people's cans.

 

2. They stopped the composting business. They used to collect limbs and leaves and make compost which they turned around and sold to the public. They were losing money, so now it all goes in the landfill.

 

For me, proper landfills and recycling benefit all people in the long-run.

 

I seriously don't know why people in my city have a hard time recycling. They give us one huge can to put everything into, and they collect it from our curbside.

 

From a libertarian standpoint, I feel the government probably shouldn't be in the trash collecting business at all.

[NoPlaceLikeHome]

IMHO I think those against recycling whether it is mandatory or not should not mind having garbage dump next door to accommodate all of the extra garbage.

[eternalknot]

IMHO I think those against recycling whether it is mandatory or not should not mind having garbage dump next door to accommodate all of the extra garbage.

 

I admire your enthusiasm, but plenty of "recycled" waste is sent to landfills. Recycling is a business, and like any other it business it usually boils down to economics.

 

Recycling is a band-aid. It serves a purpose, but it alone can't heal the damage done and being done.

[Kates]

Recycling isn't the hot button...being required to, is. It's not the government's job to decide whether or not I recycle, or how. If they want to offer the program, fine...if they want to offer some sort of price break for taking advantage of it, great. It's not their job to mandate it, though.

 

Yes, they have the ability to say how recycling is done within their program...they're running it. However, they just plain don't have the right to require me to do so. That's still up to me.

[Sebastian (a lady)]

I'm curious as to why people would be against mandatory recycling if it didn't cost you anything? Yes, yes, I know someone is going to say it's too much government control, but how would recycling hurt your civil rights? What's the point in NOT recycling.

 

I didn't see the original thread, but wanted to chime in with some of the trash collection and recycling I've seen traveling the world.

 

There are separate see through bags for glass (clean and labels soaked off); cardboard, including things like cereal boxes (must have ends open and be flat), cans (must be washed, labels removed. I think that the ends must also be cut off and the cans flattened). I think that food waste must be separate from burnable waste (so you don't throw away a waxed paper bag with moldy bread in it, you separate the two). Trash bags are not picked up in front of your home, but at a collection point somewhere on the block. If the trash in the bag isn't sorted correctly, they won't take the bag. Some of my friends have described how their Japanese neighbors will look through their bags of trash to see if the Americans messed it up (in a snoopy, of course they messed it up, not a helpful way).

 

When we lived in Germany glass was recycled. This meant rinsing out glass bottles and then taking them once in a while to the recyling pods on the main street several blocks away. We usually saved them up under the sink until we had a couple bags worth. Plastic bottles for soda and sparkling water were reusable bottles with a hefty deposit (I think it was about $8 for one plastic crate full of bottles). You had to return these to a store that sold that product. Some grocery stores had bottle return machines that would scan the bottle, then give you a receipt for the deposit return. You took this to a cashier to get cash (or have it taken off your grocery bill). We always had bottles that we'd bought somewhere odd like at a bratwurst stand that would hang around in the return bag because we couldn't find a store that sold the right brand or size. I noticed that one big doner kebap shop downtown was importing water from Turkey (that was not subject to the deposit laws - I always wondered what the impact of trucking all the water in was).

 

Packaging in Germany has a special symbol that indicates the manufacturer has paid a fee for the cost of dealing with the packaging downstream. The cost, of course, is passed on in the cost of the item. Consumers must either get yellow sacks for this trash (available at central points around town) or pay for a special trash bin for packaging.

 

In Hawaii they enacted a deposit law. You paid and got back a $0.05 deposit, but there was also a $0.01 container fee added to the cost of the container.

 

All of this is not to say that we should or should not recycle. Just to say that the choices that we make in how trash is handled have lots of consequences. Sometimes there is a direct cost, sometimes it is a cost in time spent washing and sorting.

 

There was a point while we were in Hawaii, that the state government declared they were stopping sending their used paper off for recycling because they'd determined that the cost of collecting it and shipping it off island for processing (deinking, then remanufacturing it into paper) didn't make sense. They still collected, but I think it was then sent to the trash-to-electricity incinerator power plant that was on island.

 

I'm personally a fan of programs that involve reusing things more, like the way bottles in Germany are washed and reused. I'm old enough that I remember when glass soda bottles in the US would develop a ring around the base and near the neck from being rebottled. I think you also tend to have less packaging in Germany in general.

 

You also pay for most plastic grocery bags. They tend to be more durable, so they support being used several times. It was also more common to bag your own groceries than to have a bagger. So there was little issue to tucking your items into a box or into cotton bags (no lead), or even a wicker shopping basket instead of having someone bag them into lots of little plastic bags (double bagged of course).

[Stacy in NJ]

I'm not necessarily against recycling mandatory or not, but something that few folks consider is how much the program in their community actually costs, how the collection affects the environment, and what opportunites are lost due to the structural expense of the programs. Frequently, the cost collecting, sorting, storing recycled materials is significantly more than and revenue that's collected in the sale of the material. We can't even necessarily feel good that the materials aren't ending up in a landfill because that is exactly where a portion ends up.

 

In the rush to feel good about our green bonafides we've developed expensive and insupportable recycling programs across the country that don't have a significantly positive affect on the environment. Effective, sensible, responsible recycling? Yes. Recycling as a faith-based initiative? No.

[MSNative]

It's not the government's job to force me to recycle. If recycling is a good thing, then it shouldn't have to be forced on anyone. Here is an interesting article from a couple of years ago discussing the economics of recycling. Basically, it says that the economics are tilting more and more in favor of recycling. Let the market forces do their job and soon a vast majority of people will choose to recycle on their own (as many already are.)

 

http://www.popularmechanics.com/science/environment/recycling/4291566-3

[Stacy in NJ]

Recycling isn't the hot button...being required to, is. It's not the government's job to decide whether or not I recycle, or how. If they want to offer the program, fine...if they want to offer some sort of price break for taking advantage of it, great. It's not their job to mandate it, though.

 

Yes, they have the ability to say how recycling is done within their program...they're running it. However, they just plain don't have the right to require me to do so. That's still up to me.

 

I consider myself pretty sympathetic to Libertarian ideas, but the bolded part I strongly disagree with. Of the few responsibilites that government should actually have, waste management is a biggie.

 

Google China and pollution and look at what happens when a country is not able to effectively manage waste.

[sarawatsonim]

I'm curious as to why people would be against mandatory recycling if it didn't cost you anything? Yes, yes, I know someone is going to say it's too much government control, but how would recycling hurt your civil rights? What's the point in NOT recycling.

 

I didn't realize that people would be against recycling regardless if it's government controlled or not :001_huh:. I guess I just assumed people would do it because it is an easy way to do something positive for the environment. In my city you get two garbage bags a week maximum (anything after you have to pay for) but we get unlimited recycling. I'm sure the point of charging for the extra garbage is an incentive to get people to recycle more. We have three tall recycling bins that we fill weekly for pick up. I really can't see the negative aspect of it, aside from people not liking to be told they have to do something. Sorting the recycling can be a pain sometimes, but dd5 is usually eager to help and makes the task relatively painless.

[FaithManor]

Sarawatsonim,

 

I understand where you are coming from but you should do some research into the recycling industry. Most recycling plants in the US were built with exemptions to EPA manufacturing standards. In Michigan, this means that the net pollution from recycling is actually greater than if all of it just made its way to the landfill. That's pretty sad because everyone is told to recycle for the good of the environment, the people, etc. but in actuality, the recycling contribute more to air and water pollution than all of the waste leaching in a landfill.

 

When I break down the science, I find that recycling centers built for batteries, computers, lightbulbs, etc....those things specifically built to contain and dispose of toxins such as mercury...do a good job and meet or exceed EPA rules. Those built to recycle paper and plastic are just as bad or worse than many of the parts manufacturing plants of the 1960's and 70's that caused huge air and water pollution. Additionally, recycling itself requires massive amounts of water. So, in states where droughts, water quality, etc. are very real concerns, recycling plants can do far more harm than help.

 

Faith

[Violet Crown]

It seems much more sensible to go with the carrot rather than the stick.

 

Our city has one-stream recycling: you fling everything that can be recycled in one big (free) bin--no sorting!--and wheel it out to the curb every other week.

 

The city has weekly yard-trimming pick up, which they combine with treated sewage sludge :ack2: and re-sell to the citizenry as compost. They have frequent scheduled pickup of brush and over-large items.

 

After all this, there's not a lot left to go in the trash. And so on top of making it super-easy to recycle, they let you choose the size of your trash bin and charge you less for a smaller size.

 

In the last ten years, since they started initiating this program, the number of residents using solid waste services has increased by over 50 percent; but the amount of waste going to the landfill has been reduced by 25 percent. Nothing mandatory; the trick was to make it easy on the customer and to provide a financial incentive for reducing trash.

 

The best part of the city recycling program is the annual Christmas tree recycling; they truck your tree from your curb to the central park and feed it into a giant wood chipper. It's quite a sight.

[sarawatsonim]

Sarawatsonim,

 

I understand where you are coming from but you should do some research into the recycling industry. Most recycling plants in the US were built with exemptions to EPA manufacturing standards. In Michigan, this means that the net pollution from recycling is actually greater than if all of it just made its way to the landfill. That's pretty sad because everyone is told to recycle for the good of the environment, the people, etc. but in actuality, the recycling contribute more to air and water pollution than all of the waste leaching in a landfill.

 

When I break down the science, I find that recycling centers built for batteries, computers, lightbulbs, etc....those things specifically built to contain and dispose of toxins such as mercury...do a good job and meet or exceed EPA rules. Those built to recycle paper and plastic are just as bad or worse than many of the parts manufacturing plants of the 1960's and 70's that caused huge air and water pollution. Additionally, recycling itself requires massive amounts of water. So, in states where droughts, water quality, etc. are very real concerns, recycling plants can do far more harm than help.

 

Faith

 

I live in Canada though where I'm sure things are different to a degree. My best friend is a environmentalist who has her degree in environmental waste management and works for a large environmental organization in Toronto so my facts usually come from her for anything pertaining to this topic. She is very pro recycling and frequently travels around doing "clean ups" of areas in need. I am sure there are negatives to recycling but I honestly believe that the positives are higher.

[FaithManor]

Yes, Canada has much higher standards and my understanding is that recycling businesses must meet the strictest of your standards. Unfortunately, in many states here, the standards were waived so that the plants could be built quickly and cheaply. That makes me a little crazy because I would otherwise be completely pro-recycling. In American 60% of the petroleum we use goes to the manufacture of plastics. UGH!

 

Faith

[Daisy]

I think if local government is already taking your trash and having to deposit it somewhere, I think they should have a say in whether you recycle.

 

:iagree: I have no problem with it. I wish our city would make recycling mandatory. I lived in Seattle for years and was so thankful for the convenience of curbside recycling. In this city I have to haul it all down to the recycling center myself (which I do).

[AndyJoy]

We are charged $15 a month for a large, "one-size-fits-all" recycling bin, whether we want it or not. A single senior citizen living alone is charged the same fee as a family of 8. This doubled our trash bill every month.

We are no longer allowed to self-haul to the dump that our property taxes fund. We are forced to pay the trash company to haul our trash and recyclables on top of the taxes that pay for the dump.

[Daisy]

We are charged $15 a month for a large, "one-size-fits-all" recycling bin, whether we want it or not. A single senior citizen living alone is charged the same fee as a family of 8. This doubled our trash bill every month.

We are no longer allowed to self-haul to the dump that our property taxes fund. We are forced to pay the trash company to haul our trash and recyclables on top of the taxes that pay for the dump.

 

It would be nice if they would charge based on usage. Our family of four rarely has more than 1 or 2 bags in our HUGE trash can every week and the family next door's is overflowing. Seems really lame to make it the same price regardless of how much garbage you generate.

 

Our city's voluntary curbside recycling isn't seeing much business. Pretty much no one wants to pay $8 a month for curbside recycling when they know the city is making a huge profit on it (since CA has deposits on all plastic & aluminum drinking containers).

[justamouse]

I think if local government is already taking your trash and having to deposit it somewhere, I think they should have a say in whether you recycle.

 

Exactly.

 

We have mandatory recycling, and I couldn't imagine life without it.

 

With 9 people in the house, our weekly garbage is one can (and most weeks it's half full). Now, we have four garbage cans of no sort recycling (per month) that we put out and I also bring my cardboard and newspaper down to the town center once a week.

 

We also have a company in NJ that manufactures 100% recycled household paper products-TP, napkins, towels, what have you, and they've been in business forever and a day. I'd like to keep them that way and help them grow to a national scale. That means I recycle, down to my toothpaste boxes. I'm supporting a US company.

Edited November 18, 2010 by justamouse

[gaillardia]

A friend says he's the trash man and tells me not to recycle. He actually is an environmental engineer who has something to do with gas extractions from landfills which is used, recycled, as energy. I had never heard of this.

We have to pay extra to recycle in our County at curbside, there are very few recycling drop-off places. Refuse collection is costly.

[KidsHappen]

I am Libertarian and I am pretty much opposed to being mandated to do just about anything but the science and economics behind recycling is not as strong as mpst people have been led to believe. I have watched a few documentaries and read a couple of articles to this effect. If you are interested in a quick and easy look at the subject, Penn & Teller has on episode about it on their show Bull sh*t.

[Kates]

I consider myself pretty sympathetic to Libertarian ideas, but the bolded part I strongly disagree with. Of the few responsibilites that government should actually have, waste management is a biggie.

 

Google China and pollution and look at what happens when a country is not able to effectively manage waste.

 

I'm not really Libertarian, but I really don't see in any government document that recycling is something that can be mandated, constitutionally. I'm not saying cities shouldn't have it, they shouldn't strongly encourage it, that they shouldn't offer perks for it - but I don't believe a government should force me to recycle any more than they should force me to send my kid to school or support a certain church. It's just plain not theirs to do.

 

Waste management is important. There are just plain better ways to do it than to force people to abide by one plan, whether it works for everyone or not. Not all recycling programs are all that cost effective or efficient.

 

If it's such a wonderful idea - and I agree with and participate in recycling, btw - it shouldn't have to be forced. That's not how our country works. If it's something that works, the majority of people will do it because it works.

[kalanamak]

However, there are times when one of us slips and tosses aluminum foil in the trash rather than the recycle bin. I don't want to be fined for that.

 

We can't put foil in recycling, here.

 

Do you honestly think you'll be fined? I think they would only bother with terrible violators.

 

I remember some people saying they wouldn't, no matter what. Well, years later, with that nice fat big can that takes all your cardboard, and the little can you pay for.....I don't know anyone who talks like that any more. :)

[Vida Winter]

There are very few things I'm in favor of being mandatory and recycling does not even begin to make it onto that short list.

 

We have no trash service where we live - none available. We bag, haul, and pay for each and every bag of garbage that leaves our property. We voluntarily recycle things that we can because it means that we don't have to pay to get rid of those items.

 

The thought of regulating what someone can throw away is absolutely ridiculous. I'm glad I'm in charge of my own trash - it makes me a responsible consumer.

[mrs.m]

There are some places, like where I live, that trash collection is done by a private company and not by a city or county. They don't even own the landfills! So I think this would be something that would be difficult for the government to mandate with many outlying areas that don't have the means to offer the service.

 

I have contacted the 3 companies available to me for trash collection and none of them offer recycling pick-up. I have to take it into the city on my own because there isn't a facility available to these private companies to drop the recycling.

[Ravin]

Ultimately I think the main reason people don't want mandatory recycling is the same reason it seems needful: people are lazy and/or apathetic. Lots, and lots of people.

 

At the ASU homecoming parade a couple of weeks ago, they had this big push to green up the event. There was literally a recycle bin RIGHT next to EVERY trash can, and water stations to refill bottles or cups instead of free water bottles everywhere.

 

Yet I saw several people drop recyclables (plastic cups and bottles) into the trash cans, because they couldn't be bothered to reach the extra 12 inches to the blue can. One guy (random stranger) I actually gave a dirty look and said something as I pulled his cup out and moved it for him. Probably a waste of my energy...

 

Recycling is a BIG pet peeve of mine. I am forever harping on people at work, housemates, etc. about it. Even just getting the cashiers to open bags and put them back on the carrels when they don't open correctly the first time, instead of throwing them in the recycle unused or simply throwing them away...I've even gotten onto my supervisor for not recycling the hangers and just putting them in the trash instead.:tongue_smilie:

 

I also cheer when customers come in with reusable bags, where other cashiers moan because it slows things down.

[Mom in High Heels]

Interesting responses. I ask because I live in Germany where recycling IS mandatory and nobody sees it as a big deal. You put your stuff in the correct can and life goes on. They DO have garbage inspectors and serve up fines for people who don't separate their trash. I talked to our inspector one day and asked if it was a big problem and he said he almost never wrote fines any more. People get 2 warnings before a fine.

 

I have to say I'm not all that concerned with cost effectiveness. I'm concerned with the impact on the planet of NOT recycling. That's one of the big reasons they recycle so much in Europe. They don't have a lot of land (the countries are small!) and the land they have they need for agriculture and living. They don't have land to spare for trash dumps. All of the countries we've visited (10 so far) they all have mandatory recycling.

 

European grocery stores also don't offer plastic bags. You bring your own, don't use bags or pay for each bag you use (and they are usually made from recycled plastic). Maybe stores in America need to stop giving out bags too. That would cut down on a lot of plastics. Or would that violate someone's civil rights? ;)

 

I don't get the "constitutional" argument. The gov't makes laws. They make a lot of laws that could never have been perceived when the constitution was written. City gov'ts can tell you where you can and can't park and fine you for not obeying. That was hardly an issue when the constitution was written.

 

If the gov't (city or state) takes care of your garbage, they should have a say in how it gets thrown out. Maybe they should offer incentives, like charging for refuse (non-recyclables) by weight. The less you have, the less you pay, but take recycling for free.

 

BTW, this is how the military has saved a ton of money in Europe on garbage pick up. The German gov't charges only for refuse and charges by weight. The recycling is all taken away for free. This has saved millions of US dollars since they started the program push 2 years ago. I think the last figure I saw was around $20 MILLION just in the area where I live, which has about 5 thousand Americans.

 

I'm just not seeing how someone can be against recycling, mandatory or not.

[mazakaal]

I'd like to see a response to this thread by someone who lives in Germany. We visited there once and stayed with friends who had to deal with mandatory recycling. I don't remember the details, but it did seem like it was a hastle for them and there could be fines involved for non-compliance.

 

We have recycling greatly encouraged here, but not required. Do they have 100% compliance? I'm sure they don't. But they do manage to recycle an awful lot. Separate bins or bags are provided for recyclable materials. You put your rubbish in one bin, recyclables separated into other bins, and put in all at the curb. One truck picks up the rubbish and another picks up the recycling. Simple and effective, but not too much government intrusion.

[mazakaal]

LOL We must have been posting at the same time.

[Mom in High Heels]

LOL We must have been posting at the same time.

 

Must have! I read your post and thought, well, I just posted that. :001_smile:

[TammyinTN]

I live in Germany and on the economy. It's definitely different from post living. I have this little can for refuse that's emptied every 2 weeks. Its way to small. We have a paper recycle can...no problem there..it's emptied once a month. My problem is our products from the US are packaged differently. I have to haul loads of stuff to the recycle place in town every couple of days. I wish we packaged our products like the europeans, they have so much less packaging to deal with. We usually have to go to post twice a week to take refuse trash that can't be recycled and get rid of it.

 

We also have those big compost containers for kitchen scraps and yard trash at our home.

[Mom in High Heels]

I live in Germany and on the economy. It's definitely different from post living. I have this little can for refuse that's emptied every 2 weeks. Its way to small. We have a paper recycle can...no problem there..it's emptied once a month. My problem is our products from the US are packaged differently. I have to haul loads of stuff to the recycle place in town every couple of days. I wish we packaged our products like the europeans, they have so much less packaging to deal with. We usually have to go to post twice a week to take refuse trash that can't be recycled and get rid of it.

 

We also have those big compost containers for kitchen scraps and yard trash at our home.

 

 

That will teach you to shop at the commissary! :D We (meaning the US) does have a lot more packaging. I don't understand why. We do a lot of shopping on the economy and there is a big difference between the way similar products are packaged.

[Nestof3]

I have heard stories about how much of the recycling stuff gets dumped in landfills anyway. I am certainly not expert in the matter, but still it seems to me that many people in this thread just want to believe that trash is not a country-side problem. Countries can run out of land for landfills. People want landfills, but they don't want to have to live near one. Our city shut down its composting facility because residents complained about the smell of it. There is no throwing "away."

 

True recycling makes sense and is one solution to the problem of many people in one country.

 

I see this isue like the seat belt issue. I would wear a seatbelt even if there were no law. I recycle even though there is no law. I even compost though there is no law.