https://www.realclearscience.com/blog/20...trash.html

Interesting take on a politically correct issue.

(07-16-2019 10:00 AM)bullet Wrote:  https://www.realclearscience.com/blog/20...trash.html

Interesting take on a politically correct issue.

Here is where your electronics "recycling" end up lol




But please save the environment and

Quote:As Kinnaman discovered in a 2014 study – a complete life cycle analysis of the recycling process – it currently doesn't make much economic or environmental sense to recycle plastic and glass in much of the developed world. Both of these materials are fairly easy on the environment to produce, but oftentimes very tricky and intense to recycle. When you factor in all of the water used to decontaminate plastic and glass, the immense distances traversed transporting them (usually by truck, train or ship), and the mechanical and chemical processes utilized to transform them into new goods, it becomes clear that they are better off in a landfill.

That's gonna do some triggering......

The article brings up some good points. I recently listened to a podcast discussing China's decision to stop taking in recyclables from the West. A Chinese documentary came out in 2016 (called Plastic China), which depicted a family basically living alongside the machinery in a recycling plant. Instead of sending their little girl to school, she spends the day helping her family sort plastic bottles by color, size, etc...

Since the release of the documentary, China has enacted Operation National Sword, which pretty much banned foreign imports of recyclables. That led to where we are today with recycling being no longer feasible for many municipalities.

As your linked article stated, we ought to put a greater emphasis on the first two R's of the "reuse, reduce, recycle" mantra.

Quote:The present situation should also serve as a reminder that there are two options far preferable to recycling: reducing the trash we're producing, and re-using as many goods as possible.

(For anyone interested...)
Podcast Link

(07-16-2019 10:00 AM)bullet Wrote:  https://www.realclearscience.com/blog/20...trash.html

Interesting take on a politically correct issue.

Read this yesterday and my first thought was that the focus on recycling ranks up there with the idiocy of ethanol.

(07-16-2019 10:44 AM)pkptigers07 Wrote:  

(07-16-2019 10:00 AM)bullet Wrote:  https://www.realclearscience.com/blog/20...trash.html

Interesting take on a politically correct issue.

Read this yesterday and my first thought was that the focus on recycling ranks up there with the idiocy of ethanol.

Well since nearly half of it used to go to China who ending up dumping mass quantities in the ocean, it was a problem. Indonesia, China, the Phillipines, Vietnam and India create most of the massive plastic pollution of the oceans.

(07-16-2019 10:44 AM)pkptigers07 Wrote:  

(07-16-2019 10:00 AM)bullet Wrote:  https://www.realclearscience.com/blog/20...trash.html

Interesting take on a politically correct issue.

Read this yesterday and my first thought was that the focus on recycling ranks up there with the idiocy of ethanol.

No, ethanol is a much higher level of idiocy.


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We need to focus on producing a low cost alternative that is biodegradable.

(07-16-2019 11:25 AM)Fo Shizzle Wrote:  We need to focus on producing a low cost alternative that is biodegradable.

The rise of the plastic bottle (and people willing to pay for bottled water) has been the bane of the environment. We have cheap, biodegradable or more easily recycled alternatives, cardboard and aluminum. Both are already in use, we just need to ban plastic bottles and be done with it.

(07-16-2019 11:06 AM)Jjoey52 Wrote:  

(07-16-2019 10:44 AM)pkptigers07 Wrote:  

(07-16-2019 10:00 AM)bullet Wrote:  https://www.realclearscience.com/blog/20...trash.html

Interesting take on a politically correct issue.

Read this yesterday and my first thought was that the focus on recycling ranks up there with the idiocy of ethanol.

No, ethanol is a much higher level of idiocy.


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I discovered how to separate the ethanol from the gas for use in my lawn mower. No more buying the little cans of ethanol free gas or driving 50 miles round trip to the ONE station that sells ethanol free gas.

I just throw everything in the trash.

I have an acquaintance with a guy here in Memphis who was making some good money processing recyclables. His business has dropped off considerably and the only thing worth taking in now is empty clear plastic water bottles but even that's dried up to the point he's looking for a way out.

My utility company sent out a letter about two years ago announcing that they were going to place a recycling container alongside our regular garbage container, for an added fee. I called and asked if I could decline the container and they said sure, but I'd still have to pay the fee. For about 18 months I was very conscientious about separating out the recyclables. Not any more. I realized I was basically just doing their job for them. Now I just throw it all in whichever container I reach for first. Eff em, another scam thrust upon an unwitting citizenry.

Grind them into sand like particles, melt them to a liquid consistency, mix it with tire pebbles like the kind they use in astroturf and then spread them over a road to replace tar. It'll be stronger and will bond better than tar/gravel.

Try it.