meatn3
(equal opportunity eater in the NC Triangle)
21
So true! I had lived in an area where allowable plastics were designated by recycle number category. Then I moved to an area where the number was ignored and the policy was only plastic bottles ie containers where the top is smaller than the rest. Huh? Made no sense to me!
I was able to inquire about this when I toured the facility. Turns out the recycled material travels down a series of conveyors for sorting. Blowers are used at some stages. Certain plastics like clamshell containers are so light weight that they blow at the same pressure as paper. This made the sorting of paper much less profitable hence the ban.
There are reasons for what each district accepts even when it seems counterintuitive!
The dog always cleans the pb jar spotless at my parents I actually either add a splash of hot water and use for a pb sauce or wash really well because i reuse them - perfect size for freezing soups
Pick up at my house is Tuesday and Friday morning about 9 AM…Recyclables on Friday about noon time by a different truck (I am in NYC).
I will usually clean out the fridge on Thursdays and dump the trash Friday morning.
Shopping and planning for the week ahead normally happens Thursday and Friday so this schedule works for us. (We get our senior discount Monday thru Friday).
Like most here the fastest decaying items especially in the summer are put out in the morning, and are generally frozen.
PS …Mrs. Ph absolutely loves empty clean rubbish receptacles both in the house and out. I actually installed a special hose spigot and floor drain at the pad where we have the rubbish receptacles to make it easier for her to clean the cans.
I buy “Mint-X” bags…seems to work for me to keep rodents away…Additionally I take a small plastic take out soup container and cut some 1/4" holes and fill it with Moth Balls and stand it near my rubbish storage area…keeps all others away especially cats and racoons.
1 Like
meatn3
(equal opportunity eater in the NC Triangle)
27
A similar article was in my local news today. Due to the decreased demand from China coupled with the weight of transport a number of the smaller municipalities are no longer accepting glass.
My county was mentioned as now running at a 3k+ loss per month as opposed to the approx. 12-15k profit/month it used to make via the recycling plant.
My state now allows refills of growlers for beer sales so there’s at least that for reuse of glass.
Great article. I recognize myself in the term “wishful recycler.” I have definitely tried putting styrofoam in the recycle bin and have probably also erred in offering up non-accepted plastic in the past.
The author makes a good point that our home recycling is the first step in the remanufacuring process. I hadn’t thought about it that clearly before.
Crush those cans! Although that was easier when you could remove both top and bottom. The stackable cans, not so much. .
I had a whole fish share in the local community supported fishery but failed to consider, before signing up, that the pickup afternoon fell on trash day. So I had to freeze all the guts and other waste until the next week and sometimes forgot to put it out then. I didn’t renew.
I think many people assume that the sorting is better, either by hand or machine, and someone else will be there to make a final decision on plastics.
I had thought that melting glass or metal would burn off the impurities, or they could be skimmed like the scum that floats on chicken stock. Definitely guilty of wishful thinking!
“The popularity makes sense given that single-stream is convenient and a full 66 percent of people surveyed by Harris Poll last October said that they wouldn’t recycle at all if it wasn’t easy to do.”
This quote nearly brought on a stroke! It shows in a small way, how thoroughly we’ve become a selfish and self-serving society here in the U.S.
Maybe many of us think we won’t live long enough for it all to catch up with us. I don’t know. But this line caught my eye too:
There are also electronics and batteries, plastic grocery bags and Christmas lights — all of which can be recycled, but only through specialty drop-off programs, not the curbside bin.
Depending on where you live it can be difficult to do the drop offs. Many New Yorkers (like myself) don’t have cars and even when the electronics dropoff is somewhere near a subway stop it’s going to be almost impossible for a lot of people to schlep an old tv or computer there. Or even people here and elsewhere who do drive may have a hard time finding out when and where the pickups are done. If the pickups for this stuff were done the way pickups for Christmas trees are (heavily publicized dates for curbside pickup) people would do it.
When I have seafood ‘detritus’ I’ll usually put it in an already used plastic bag and freeze it til trash day.
It’s going to depend on your garbage company, I suppose. We don’t need to remove labels from cans for instance. Our company, Waste Management, has a pretty complete list on their website.
meatn3
(equal opportunity eater in the NC Triangle)
37
I just came across a very funny thread which has been revived on CH which made me think of this topic!
After reading that I thought of my Boy Scout days when we learned how to generate enough heat with two dry wood sticks… (that are not match sticks)…
Last time I checked paper is made from wood…and doesn’t microwaves cause the molecules to get agitated and create heat?.. Perhaps Mr. Watson!
Distressing event today here in my home town. It is trash day. Recyclable pick up is also today.
Trash truck came down our street and emptied both the trash and our recyclables into the same truck. No dedicated truck was seen on our street all day. I’m taking recycling very seriously. Seems our trash hauler doesn’t share the same commitment.
4 Likes
meatn3
(equal opportunity eater in the NC Triangle)
40
I actually either add a splash of hot water and use for a pb sauce or wash really well because i reuse them - perfect size for freezing soups