Monday, June 22, 2015
Recycling problems?
Here in Minnesota, most communities seem to provide giant blue bins where you dump everything in without sorting it out. It's very easy, and leads to less trash-- my own recycling bin is often more full that the trash bin.
However, it appears that this model-- where the recycling facility sorts everything out-- may be failing as big recycling plants are losing money. According to the Star-Tribune:
Trying to encourage conservation, progressive lawmakers and environmentalists have made matters worse. By pushing to increase recycling rates with bigger and bigger bins — while demanding almost no sorting by consumers — the recycling stream has become increasingly polluted and less valuable, imperiling the economics of the whole system.
“We kind of got everyone thinking that recycling was free,” said Bill Moore, a leading industry consultant on paper recycling who is based in Atlanta. “It’s never really been free, and in fact, it’s getting more expensive.”
However, it appears that this model-- where the recycling facility sorts everything out-- may be failing as big recycling plants are losing money. According to the Star-Tribune:
Trying to encourage conservation, progressive lawmakers and environmentalists have made matters worse. By pushing to increase recycling rates with bigger and bigger bins — while demanding almost no sorting by consumers — the recycling stream has become increasingly polluted and less valuable, imperiling the economics of the whole system.
“We kind of got everyone thinking that recycling was free,” said Bill Moore, a leading industry consultant on paper recycling who is based in Atlanta. “It’s never really been free, and in fact, it’s getting more expensive.”
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I saw this article in the NY Times yesterday -- very interesting! I guess I'd better start doing a better job of washing out the cans....
I have always peeled labels off cans and tried to sort. And been laughed at by wives, girlfriends and roommates for doing so.
HA!
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HA!
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