Today at work we removed all the garbage and recycling bins, replacing them with a more complex waste disposal/recycling system. We generally get about two thousand people per week come through our facility (sometimes more), and the municipality decided this green initiative was of critical importance. There are now different bins for several different types of waste, which requires the public to participate by sorting their garbage before tossing it out. Food items go in one bag, containers another, napkins another, etc. Will the public do their part? Unlikely. The old system had 2 different bins, garbage and recycling, and people would very frequently throw garbage in the recycling bin. Some people care, many don't.
I was often reminded today of the "Green Police" Super Bowl commercial, joking with my boss about waste disposal infractions and our authority to enforce a moral responsibility in the general public. This disposal system will not produce the intended results unless there is some kind of enforcement policy in place. We need badges and the authority to issue fines. Throw a bottle in the paper bin, $50 fine or a night in jail!
Today's poll question; how much of a priority do you place on recycling? Is it very important, something you only do when convenient, or no concern at all?
This Penn and Teller Bullshit episode is priceless...
I've been recycling at home for years now and faithfully fill my two blue boxes with the right stuff each and every Wednesday for morning pick up. Plastics in one and newspaper/cardboard in the other.
ReplyDeleteI've seen multiple bins like the one you speak of and I treat them with contempt. I'll do my part at home but don't expect me to do anything more when I'm basically just passing by and I'm faced with four or five bins to chose from.
Put out one for plastic and another for garbage and I'll participate but, quite frankly, I've read too many stories about blue box contents ending up in the dump anyway so while I don't mind separating at home I'll be damned if I'll do it at work too.
Besides, too often companies that line up five blue box bins are only doing it for show anyway.
"We need badges and the authority to issue fines. Throw a bottle in the paper bin, $50 fine or a night in jail!"
ReplyDeleteSince when did you become a Liberal? Using coercion to force people to adopt a certain lifestyle is something from the realm of the NDP.
And you're reading this from a guy who separates recyclables at home before delivering them to the waste disposal station. I'm also a guy who composts so my usual pickup for the landfill is a single under the sink kitchen catcher which is biodegradable. However, the minute there are penalties applied for non-compliance with rules set out by some nitwit on a local council is the minute I stop these activities and get ready for a night in jail!
I sorted my garbage last week.
ReplyDeleteThe old mattress went into the ditch by the side of the highway.
The used newspapers got pitched into the alley behind the lumber yard.
The broken plastic toys got heaved out across town on a deserted side street.
No need to thank me. Jus' an ordinary Joe jus' doin' his civic duty. ;D
Well, you guys are lucky nobody's planning to foist a home-composting by-law on you. It's still in the planning stages in my area, but I expect it will eventually become law.
ReplyDeleteIn the works, a city-wide compost & methane generating plan, with several sites collecting table scraps and two large-scale compost producing factories -- regardless of attendant problems.
http://montreal.ctv.ca/servlet/an/local/CTVNews/20111202/mtl_birds_111202/20111202/?hub=MontrealHome
But, despite Quebecers' environmentally-conscious reputation, I still see mounds of fallen leaves rotting away on curbs, waiting for someone else to magically remove them. I still see garbage strewn in bus shelters despite the fact there's a garbage bin just outside the shelter. I still see newspapers & other stuff, recyclable or not, left on seats and the floor of buses & subway cars. Not to mention the number of plastic bags flying around in the streets or getting tangled up on tree branches and shrubs.
A lot of lip service but no real individual action.
-- Gabby in QC
Garbage into the bag,bag into my truck, bag directly to the clean pack at work.
ReplyDeleteWorks for me.
Rob C
Everything comes from the earth.Garbage should all go back with no problems.Food scraps are needed in the compost to start the process of rotting,not in separate bins.Paper will rot as will tins.Only problem is plastic,so incinerate plastic or find another solution on how to get rid of it.Maybe like they did for rubber tires (add it to the tar and use it on our roads) C,mon folks this recycling is another scam.It was supposed to pay for itself and make money,instead it is losing money.Each city larger than 100,000 should have at least 1 incinerator like Toronto has to burn its waste and generate electricity for thousands of homes.Quit this BS bin recycling crap and start getting into the modern age.
ReplyDeleteI'd have been contributing to pollution by the spreading of hot lead and gun powder smoke in that environment.
ReplyDeleteRecycling is one of the first of the environmentalists wet dreams,and like all of them,it isn't cost effective,either.
ReplyDeleteIt costs more to recycle almost anything than to manufacture it new from raw materials,this was well established 20 years ago, but as usual,no one wanted to hear the nasty truth.It felt SO good to jump on another bandwagon to save the planet!
Recycling is like windmills and solar that way, sounds all good 'N greenie,except that it isn't.
I recycle paper, tin cans and certain types of plastic,glass has to go in the garbage. I pay a recycling fee when I buy a tire,then have to pay to place it in the recycling depot when it's worn out,so I'm taxed twice.
My main gripe about "going green" is that there is no way to get rid of a large item,such as a mattress or old washing machine,short of paying someone to haul it to the dump.
The "Waste Disposal" people won't take anything that doesn't fit into the small garbage can we're given,and you can only fill one per week,if there's more,you have to haul it to the dump and pay a fee,or pay someone to haul it away. A washing machine will coast you forty dollars to have hauled away,and that's on top of the "recycling fee" you paid when you bought it. I completely understand why some folks just chuck their stuff into the bush.
Waste disposal and recycling have been refined to a point where the service is way less useful than it used to be in the days of "garbage men",and way more costly,to the taxpayer.
Just another of the great improvements we've had since the social engineers took over.
DMorris
the whole garbage thing is out of control. burn it all and generate power. to recycle we have two big trucks going down the street burning fuel. the process of making the steel and building extra trucks negate any so called green benefit. we have the green kitchen waste containers in our city. we have one truck pick up garbage, one paper and one for cans and bottles. isn't that efficent.
ReplyDeletePlease check out Penn and Teller's episode on recycling. It's on YouTube.
ReplyDelete