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Our County has just abandoned recycling.

DavidApp

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Just found out that the county I live in has abandoned recycling as it was costing too much. They went from separate containers for glass, paper, cardboard, steel and plastic to steel and single stream but no glass. Now just steel and trash.

It seems there is no market for anything but clean bailed cardboard and steel now. People could not keep the colored glass out of the clear bin so that went first.

At home I had been carefully separating our recycling from the trash but it seems that I can just put it all in one bin now.
Sad we are moving backwards.

David
 

GregW

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Not just abandoned. Been going on for months if not a year. Plus, the amount of daily trash we produce is growing.
 

NutmegCT

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David - thanks for starting this topic. Will be interesting to see how other members handle recycling issues.

Here's the guide we use in eastern Connecticut. We (the town) pay for the service, which keeps us mindful of how much trash we produce.

https://www.eastfordct.org/cms/lib/CT02204107/Centricity/Domain/1146/Transfer Station Guide 2019.pdf

As I work at Sturbridge Village, I'm always reminded about how *little* trash was produced by households in the 19th century. Commercial packaging? Hardly existed at all, and when it was used, it was natural materials like straw, wood, carton, burlap, etc.

Tom M.
 

TR3driver

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All part of losing our trade war with China.
 

George_H

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I used to work at a high end decorative glass studio. We generated tons of clear glass. A 40 yard dumpster was worth maybe $75. Only if it was 100% clear glass. If it was mixed with color at all, Price was $0. and that was 15 years ago. I now work at a place that generates waste paper and cardboard. 5000 lbs a day. The value has dropped to less than half of what it was. Today, Recycling is about "feel good" more than "do good". Don't get me started on blister packs. I would go on but Basil would, and probably should shut me down.
 

Basil

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Locally we still recycle Plastics, Glass, Metal, & Cardboard (and even electronics). When I remodeled the kitchen, Included a dual bin recyclables pull-out under the main counter.

PS - Please keep the political commentary out of this thread - tempting though it may be. :drill:

recycle.jpg
 
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Basil

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I used to work at a high end decorative glass studio. We generated tons of clear glass. A 40 yard dumpster was worth maybe $75. Only if it was 100% clear glass. If it was mixed with color at all, Price was $0. and that was 15 years ago. I now work at a place that generates waste paper and cardboard. 5000 lbs a day. The value has dropped to less than half of what it was. Today, Recycling is about "feel good" more than "do good". Don't get me started on blister packs. I would go on but Basil would, and probably should shut me down.

I agree about the feel good aspect as there certainly is not any real market value involved. Nevertheless, we do recycle as long as it's available in our area. I just wish someone could come up with a way to recycle Styrofoam.
 

glemon

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Tom hit the nail on the head I think, the problem needs to be attacked from the packaging distribution end not the recycling end. But that is a steep hill to climb as I think about my own household's habits of ordering single items on line, delivered via a blister pack or box within a box plus packing materials.
 

NutmegCT

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yer darn tootin' I would know! Gol dern young folks ...

curmudgeon.jpeg

OK, time for my monthly bath. I get to use the hot water first, and I always leave it for the rest of the family later.
 
D

Deleted member 8987

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All part of losing our trade war with China.

That does exacerbate the situation a bit. But it's been a year or two since the PRC said they didn't want out stuff anymore.

Maybe garbage, maybe recyclables.

Just ship it out, everybody feels good because it's gone.
 

John Turney

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We still have blue containers for recycling and brown containers for trash, so we feel like we're recycling, until I noticed that the truck that picks them up puts all of it in the same bin. The only thing that is actually separated is the garden waste.
 

Basil

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We still have blue containers for recycling and brown containers for trash, so we feel like we're recycling, until I noticed that the truck that picks them up puts all of it in the same bin. The only thing that is actually separated is the garden waste.


Our transfer station has separate bins for cardboard, glass, plastics, etc. What happens after that - no idea.
 

AngliaGT

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When we lived in California,we recycled a lot of things.
The city/county was going to be fined something like $10,000 -
a day,if they didn't get below a certain percentage.
They do have recycle trailers here,but you just dump
everything into them,rather than seperating it.
The hardest part is getting people to recycle stuff.Once
you do that,it becomes a habit.
I do wish that people would flatten cardboard boxes fierst,
but I guess you can't expect common sense (or people being able-
to read/follow the instructions).
 
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DavidApp

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On vacation in the southern part of Ireland a few years ago we stayed at a B & B. They let us know how restrictive the trash pickup was and we should have brought plastic grocery bags for extra trash.
The home gets 1 bin per week and any more is charged extra.
Recycling has to go in bags that are purchased in the stores for the various types of recycled items. At the drop off point for the recyclables there are CCTV cameras monetizing the car tags to make sure you are using the approved bags.
The trash bins around town have narrow slots to discourage or prevent people from dropping off extra trash.

David
 
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DavidApp

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There have been a lot of programs on the recycling industry.

There was one about the UK system.
In the UK it seems the government pays some kind of incentive for recycled material but there seems to be an unintended consequence of this program.
If a company takes in 1 Ton of recyclable material, separates it into plastic, cardboard, aluminium and is left with some useless trash they get the incentive on the weight they recycle.
The second company just bales it all and puts it in a container for shipment overseas they get the full tons worth of incentive.
So a lot of the UK's recyclables go overseas.

David
 

NutmegCT

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Here's a thought: if you have to buy something that's "packaged", you could remove the packaging at the store.

Or one step further - gasp - ask yourself if you really *need* the packaged items. If there's a reduction in the packaged items that are sold, the industry will figure out a better way of storing/displaying/selling them.

(Remember when most people bought flour in sacks?, fruit and veg loose, meat wrapped in paper, milk and soda in glass bottles that were used multiple times, etc.? No plastics at all.)
 

TR3driver

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