NationStates Jolt Archive

And what are your thoughts on recycling?
But before you answer, consider the following facts:

Fact: It takes more time, money and energy to recycle 1kg of paper, plastic or glass than it does to produce the same amount from raw materials (aluminum is the only exception here)
Fact: Plastic is produced from oil, however it takes more oil to recycle 1kg of plastic (taking into account collection, shipping, cleaning, etc) than it does to produce it from scratch. Recycling plastic is wasteful
Fact: Paper is produced from pulp, which comes from trees, which are a renewable resource which we are not running out of - foresters also replant trees after cutting them down. It takes more oil to recycle 1kg of paper (again collection, etc) than it does to produce it from scratch. Recycling paper is wasteful.
Fact: Glass is produced from sand, which is obviously not in short supply. Again, it takes more energy(oil) to recycle 1kg of glass than to produce it from scratch. Recycling glass is wasteful.
Fact: It takes less energy to melt down and reshape aluminum than it does to convert aluminum ore into aluminum metal. Recycling aluminum is good.
Fact: Recycled plastic is significantly weaker than non-recycled plastic, and less useful overall
Fact: There are strict rules in place to ensure that landfills do not contaminate the environment, and overall they take up very little space. Furthermore, when a landfill becomes full, it is covered in dirt and becomes prime real estate. Landfills usually end up turning into parks, malls, parking lots, you name it. In the city I live in there is a mall built on top of what used to be a landfill, and I would have never even known it if nobody had told me. It is no different from being on solid ground.

So, recycling aluminum is good, but what good reasons are there for recycling plastic, paper or glass? It's a waste of time, money, energy and resources, the products made with recycled materials are inferior, and landfill space simply is not an issue.

Some companies will buy back bottles, give them a good cleaning and reuse them.. right?

Well our familly really just reuses, grocery bags for garbage bags and what not. Our neighbour hood is very 'green,' so there are recycling bins around.

No private cars other than golfcarts. Estate Agents have vans though, and there are buses to take you around the place. It's a really great place.

EDIT: okay, so say I filled up a landfil, covered it up in dirt and then built some houses over it.. Wouldn't the garbage under the buildings begin to decompose, creating pockets of methane and thus become some kind of safety issue?

A compelling argument...

...but I would like to know from what source your getting these "Facts"

yes i recycle

And what are your thoughts on recycling?
But before you answer, consider the following facts:

Fact: It takes more time, money and energy to recycle 1kg of paper, plastic or glass than it does to produce the same amount from raw materials (aluminum is the only exception here)
Fact: Plastic is produced from oil, however it takes more oil to recycle 1kg of plastic (taking into account collection, shipping, cleaning, etc) than it does to produce it from scratch. Recycling plastic is wasteful
Fact: Paper is produced from pulp, which comes from trees, which are a renewable resource which we are not running out of - foresters also replant trees after cutting them down. It takes more oil to recycle 1kg of paper (again collection, etc) than it does to produce it from scratch. Recycling paper is wasteful.
Fact: Glass is produced from sand, which is obviously not in short supply. Again, it takes more energy(oil) to recycle 1kg of glass than to produce it from scratch. Recycling glass is wasteful.
Fact: It takes less energy to melt down and reshape aluminum than it does to convert aluminum ore into aluminum metal. Recycling aluminum is good.
Fact: Recycled plastic is significantly weaker than non-recycled plastic, and less useful overall
Fact: There are strict rules in place to ensure that landfills do not contaminate the environment, and overall they take up very little space. Furthermore, when a landfill becomes full, it is covered in dirt and becomes prime real estate. Landfills usually end up turning into parks, malls, parking lots, you name it. In the city I live in there is a mall built on top of what used to be a landfill, and I would have never even known it if nobody had told me. It is no different from being on solid ground.

So, recycling aluminum is good, but what good reasons are there for recycling plastic, paper or glass? It's a waste of time, money, energy and resources, the products made with recycled materials are inferior, and landfill space simply is not an issue.

Do you work in waste management?

No?

Funny, the professionals I know would say that's absolute nonsense.

I try to avoid waste whereever possible.
As for the rest : Yes, I do recycle. Simply to avoid having to face huge dumps all over the place...

A compelling argument...

...but I would like to know from what source your getting these "Facts"
indeed. where is the source?
these facts are not exactly ones i've heard before or learned about in school. if its some crazy big conspiracy please do enlighten us :rolleyes:


and yes i recycle - our city is pretty good at it

Um its about waste.

Sure it may be cheaper but thats a cowardly Capitilist/Communist approach.

Reusing things is brilliant and protects they enviroment.
Maybe you like Waste but not me.

I've seen some of your arguments before, and some of them are true...

...to a certain extent, it's a matter of scale, in areas where very little recycling is done the costs can out weigh the benefits but that doesn't mean the right thing is to give up. Just try and convince your neighbours to do it to.

And some of them are bollocks. It was true at one time, the same way that at one time it cost more energy to make a solar panel then it could ever create in it's life. But guess what, reasearch into solar energy has improved and now the top end ones are incredibly efficient and are good for the environment.

And who are you to judge how useful weaker plastic is. How strong does a bottle of coke or some pakaging need to be?

Be careful where you get this stuff from, a lot of it turns out to be crap when it gets examined more closely (though the same can be said for most things...)

Post the site you got it from and we'll al have a closer look. :)

We recycle - but only when I remember to separate them into the different boxes

AP

I recycle glass, cans, plastic & paper. I also try & produce as little waste as possible.

indeed. where is the source?
these facts are not exactly ones i've heard before or learned about in school. if its some crazy big conspiracy please do enlighten us :rolleyes:

i think he/she got that from 'penn and teller's bullsh*t' on the telly.

I also try & produce as little waste as possible.

Really? How interesting!

So you limit yourself to going to the toilet to once a month or something? :)

i used to recycle until the recycling bins were taken from our area. we just found it too much hastle to travel a few hours to dispose of our waste in some other recycling place, so we gave up on it.

Really? How interesting!

So you limit yourself to going to the toilet to once a month or something? :)

I just refuse to eat. You'd be amazed how effective it is. It saves on water, toilet paper and food. It's win, win, win! ;)

And what are your thoughts on recycling?
But before you answer, consider the following facts:

Fact: It takes more time, money and energy to recycle 1kg of paper, plastic or glass than it does to produce the same amount from raw materials (aluminum is the only exception here)
Fact: Plastic is produced from oil, however it takes more oil to recycle 1kg of plastic (taking into account collection, shipping, cleaning, etc) than it does to produce it from scratch. Recycling plastic is wasteful
Fact: Paper is produced from pulp, which comes from trees, which are a renewable resource which we are not running out of - foresters also replant trees after cutting them down. It takes more oil to recycle 1kg of paper (again collection, etc) than it does to produce it from scratch. Recycling paper is wasteful.
Fact: Glass is produced from sand, which is obviously not in short supply. Again, it takes more energy(oil) to recycle 1kg of glass than to produce it from scratch. Recycling glass is wasteful.
Fact: It takes less energy to melt down and reshape aluminum than it does to convert aluminum ore into aluminum metal. Recycling aluminum is good.
Fact: Recycled plastic is significantly weaker than non-recycled plastic, and less useful overall
Fact: There are strict rules in place to ensure that landfills do not contaminate the environment, and overall they take up very little space. Furthermore, when a landfill becomes full, it is covered in dirt and becomes prime real estate. Landfills usually end up turning into parks, malls, parking lots, you name it. In the city I live in there is a mall built on top of what used to be a landfill, and I would have never even known it if nobody had told me. It is no different from being on solid ground.

So, recycling aluminum is good, but what good reasons are there for recycling plastic, paper or glass? It's a waste of time, money, energy and resources, the products made with recycled materials are inferior, and landfill space simply is not an issue.

Fact: I'm getting charged a CRV tax whenever I buy drinks in bottles or cans.
Fact: A pickup truck load of bottles and cans will get me approximately a $30 cash refund of the CRV taxes I've already paid.
Fact: I don't know about you, but I'm not going to sneeze at $30.

Of course I recylce, it's Belgian Law ... :)

the city does it for us. plastic, paper, metal, glass; they come and get it.