Let me say upfront that I believe in recycling. I also think that it’s a pain in the #@!. Our HOA voted to end curbside recycling and now have a big rollaway dumpster for recyclables near the clubhouse. Is it still environmentally conscious to have to drive your recyclables over to be recycled?
So, we usually wait until the bin is overflowing and we absolutely have to get rid of the stuff. I think everyone else in the neighborhood does this at the same time. We’ve had to leave the stuff next to the dumpster because it’s jammed to the top with stuff.
Apparently a few of the residents took the word “recycle” to also mean “dump garbage.” There have been complaints of people dumping old tires, bags of kitchen garbage, and god-knows-what-else over there. I really feel that anyone caught dumping trash in the rollaway should have to clean out and sort everything that’s in there and put the good stuff back so it’s really, really neat. Maybe that would teach them some manners.
I did a Google search on “Which materials are worth recycling?” just out of curiosity. Are we really helping the planet by recycling or are we just making ourselves feel virtuous? Here’s what I found:
1. Recycling paper is kind of a wash environmentally. Too many resources are used to transport, sort, bleach and process used paper to make it really helpful. However, if you recycle paper, more trees can be used for wood rather than paper. Also, there’s less air pollution processing used paper than producing new paper.
2. Aluminum cans – very good to recycle.
3. Glass – also good. Sand may be plentiful, but it’s usually dredged from sandbars in the ocean. Too much sand taken out can lead to erosion and disruption of marine environments.
4. Plastic – made from petroleum, which is non-renewable, but expensive to sort. A lot of plastic to be recycled is shipped to China to be sorted there.
5. Toner and ink cartridges – very good to recycle as the ink is not biodegradable and the cartridges contain toxic materials. Then there’s the money factor – most office supply stores offer money back for recycling the cartridges.
Found a very handy video on eHow.com on what you can recycle and what you can. Always check to find out what your local recycler will and will not accept.
