not much of recycling around here expect metal, cans, radiators, copper wiring, brass. just about any kind of metal theives can get their hands on to get some money. They have even went into churches and stripped the wiring out to take to the scrap yard. Cars are a big thing here to take to the scrap yard. Makes me sick to see all the jeeps, sammy's, toyota's and classic cars going though here on their way to be crushed. We have 3 scrap yards here witin 5 miles of my house. Nobody around here cares much about recycling unless they can get some money for it. Sad but true
Re-cy-cling?
- Thread starter Saurian
- Start date
TwistedCU
New member
Plastic, and styrofoam is pretty ugly stuff too. I make sure all styrofoam gets burned in the burn barrel.
HAhahaha just kidding. We're pretty stringent with our recycling here. The 2 oldest kids are in charge of it and do a great job.
Recycling, for the most part, is completely bogus. It costs American tax payers over 4 billion dollars a year to fund, and doesn't pan out like people are led to believe.
Lets take a plastic milk jug for example. Before the plastic can be reused to make a new product, it has to be processed. It can only be used to create something new after it has been broken down into a reusable resource. The facilities and equipment that are required to perform this operation cost more to operate, require more energy, and create more pollutants than the factories that originally created the plastic do. This doesn't include the trucks that are needed to transport the used plastics to and from said facilities. Point being, it is much cheaper and less harmful to the environment to create a new plastic product than it is to recycle plastic.
What about paper? Surely recycling paper is helping the tree population bounce back. Not quite true. Companies don't just go mowing down forests to supply the public with paper products. There are dedicated tree farms across the world that grow trees for this specific purpose. Also, since trees are an infinitely renewable resource, these farms can remain self sufficient by harvesting one section, replanting trees there, and moving on to the next section, returning to the first section once it is ready for harvesting again.
Another assumption people have is that landfill space is decreasing at such a rate that soon we will have nowhere to put our trash. This is also a myth. Landfills have become more efficient over the years. Due to new techniques in compacting trash and speeding up the rate of decomposition, landfills are holding up to 40% more trash than they used to. Of course landfills can be harmful to the environment when established guidelines aren't followed, but landfills can also be very helpful. Methods have been established for collecting the gases released from landfills and using these gases to produce enough energy to run cities.
It is, however, extremely efficient to recycle cans such as soda, juice, and beer cans. Very little is required to be done to a used can (mostly just melting it) before a factory can reuse it to make a new product.
Recycling has its ups and downs. It creates thousands of jobs that boost the economy, but it also costs the tax payers a lot to fund and adds to the problem of polluting the atmosphere. I only provided a few examples for my argument. You don't have to believe me though, research it for yourself.
Lets take a plastic milk jug for example. Before the plastic can be reused to make a new product, it has to be processed. It can only be used to create something new after it has been broken down into a reusable resource. The facilities and equipment that are required to perform this operation cost more to operate, require more energy, and create more pollutants than the factories that originally created the plastic do. This doesn't include the trucks that are needed to transport the used plastics to and from said facilities. Point being, it is much cheaper and less harmful to the environment to create a new plastic product than it is to recycle plastic.
What about paper? Surely recycling paper is helping the tree population bounce back. Not quite true. Companies don't just go mowing down forests to supply the public with paper products. There are dedicated tree farms across the world that grow trees for this specific purpose. Also, since trees are an infinitely renewable resource, these farms can remain self sufficient by harvesting one section, replanting trees there, and moving on to the next section, returning to the first section once it is ready for harvesting again.
Another assumption people have is that landfill space is decreasing at such a rate that soon we will have nowhere to put our trash. This is also a myth. Landfills have become more efficient over the years. Due to new techniques in compacting trash and speeding up the rate of decomposition, landfills are holding up to 40% more trash than they used to. Of course landfills can be harmful to the environment when established guidelines aren't followed, but landfills can also be very helpful. Methods have been established for collecting the gases released from landfills and using these gases to produce enough energy to run cities.
It is, however, extremely efficient to recycle cans such as soda, juice, and beer cans. Very little is required to be done to a used can (mostly just melting it) before a factory can reuse it to make a new product.
Recycling has its ups and downs. It creates thousands of jobs that boost the economy, but it also costs the tax payers a lot to fund and adds to the problem of polluting the atmosphere. I only provided a few examples for my argument. You don't have to believe me though, research it for yourself.
90Xjay
New member
urple: 
mingez
New member
Totally agree, and have debated this topics with some of my friends in the industry. The problem is there is 5x more evidence to the contrary, funded by those who stand to gain from the recycling industry.
Snitty
New member
mingez said:
Sadly, that is how most thing do work. Most government programs, pharmacy industry, food industry, auto industry... all of it. Lab studies are easily fixed to accomodate predetermined desired outcomes. The people who fund the "studies" are the ones who have some truth to cover up.
redrooster
New member
We started using the recylcing service in our area 6 months ago. We would have been doing it much longer, but they never would leave a bin. Finally got them to leave one, now it goes out every friday...at least until I ran over it with my Jeep trailer last friday. Nothing some duct tape won't fix.
I would never have thought that we used as many plastic containers as we do. With a baby, the water, juice and milk bottles are ridiculous. I also started adding the junk mail to the paper and cardboard bin. It fills up quickly also.
I would never have thought that we used as many plastic containers as we do. With a baby, the water, juice and milk bottles are ridiculous. I also started adding the junk mail to the paper and cardboard bin. It fills up quickly also.
