4 ms·

Further, I think most recycling is not correctly sorted. There are many people that really don't care but go through the motions, and many others that care too

by ploxiln 11y ago

Further, I think most recycling is not correctly sorted. There are many people that really don't care but go through the motions, and many others that care too much and put inappropriate materials in the recycling. Getting everyone to sort the same way is really not possible. (I've had a previous landlord that was very into recycling and he would remind us to take the caps off of bottles before putting bottles in recycling. Either he was wrong, or most people I see recycle bottles wrong. I also went to a very liberal high school that was super into recycling, and had large central sorting bins, but half the large recycling pickups were rejected for being too impure.)

klenwell 11y ago
I remember moving to a new office building in a new city a few years ago and puzzling where to find the recycle bins for the complex. I started asking around and I think I ended up calling the city and discovering that the city murfed[0] all its collected trash. Ever since then I assumed all recycle bins were just a courtesy interface like the close door button on an elevator and that because everyone does such a crappy job sorting their own trash (I know I do), it all went into the same truck and ended up at a MRF. [0] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Materials_recovery_facility https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Materials_recovery_facility
- pixelcort 11y ago
  Tangent, but in Japan the close door button actually works; some elevators will even just sit there and wait until that button is pressed.
  - kevin_thibedeau 11y ago
    They are occasionally functional in the US too. Always worth a check if no one else is approaching the elevator.
    - antsar 11y ago
      There are non-functional "close" buttons? I assumed your GP was saying that the buttons do work, just that they don't need to be used because the door will close anyway. At least that's the case in any building I've been in.
      - Vendan 11y ago
        Most(almost all) Elevators in the US have to comply with the ADA codes. One of those is that the doors have to be open for a certain amount of time, period. During this time, the "close" button is required to have no effect. After that time, the "close" button can close the doors, but this is usually about the time the doors would start closing anyways. In essence, the "close" button does nothing most of the time you are hitting it.
        antsar 11y ago
        Interesting, thanks for the insight. For anyone else reading this, here's a decent summary of the ADA requirements: http://sterlingelevatorcons.com/white-papers/elevators-and-the-ada/ http://sterlingelevatorcons.com/white-papers/elevators-and-t...
ewoodrich 11y ago
In Portland, OR the recycling pamphlet provided by the city specifically requests that caps be removed from plastic and glass bottles before recycling. I still see plenty of caps on plastic bottles in the bins, so at least here it's a case of "doing it wrong".
- jrapdx3 11y ago
  I live in Portland where curbside recycling is a long-established tradition. A number of years ago the rules changed, instead of the homeowner separating plastic, glass, paper, etc., all of these are put into the same bin. Separating the components became the hauler's responsibility, definitely a more centralized method of handling the task. Yes, bottle caps are supposed to be removed, but if not probably won't be a major calamity. Anyway, some plastic/bottles have aluminum caps, and those I might leave on vs. tossing in the bin detached. I figure it wouldn't matter, aluminum is recyclable too.
  - santaclaus 11y ago
    Glass is still a separate (yellow) bin, in Portland, at least in Overlook...
  - uuoc 11y ago
    > Anyway, some plastic/bottles have aluminum caps, and those I might leave on vs. tossing in the bin detached. I figure it wouldn't matter, aluminum is recyclable too. Yes, aluminum is recyclable, but not when attached to a plastic bottle. How do you expect that your 'attached' cap is going to become detached from the bottle so it can be recycled with the rest of the aluminum, and the plastic bottle recycled with the rest of the plastics? For plants that use separator machinery, the machines can't unscrew caps from bottles. For plants that use humans, it means the human has to unscrew the cap before it is separated. That's why the pamphlets say separate the caps from the bottles. The bottle and the cap end up in two different streams, and if they are separated at the outset, it is easier to split them up into the two separate streams at the sorting plant.

by ploxiln 11y ago

klenwell 11y ago

I remember moving to a new office building in a new city a few years ago and puzzling where to find the recycle bins for the complex. I started asking around and I think I ended up calling the city and discovering that the city murfed[0] all its collected trash. Ever since then I assumed all recycle bins were just a courtesy interface like the close door button on an elevator and that because everyone does such a crappy job sorting their own trash (I know I do), it all went into the same truck and ended up at a MRF. [0] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Materials_recovery_facility https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Materials_recovery_facility

pixelcort 11y ago
Tangent, but in Japan the close door button actually works; some elevators will even just sit there and wait until that button is pressed.
- kevin_thibedeau 11y ago
  They are occasionally functional in the US too. Always worth a check if no one else is approaching the elevator.
  - antsar 11y ago
    There are non-functional "close" buttons? I assumed your GP was saying that the buttons do work, just that they don't need to be used because the door will close anyway. At least that's the case in any building I've been in.
    - Vendan 11y ago
      Most(almost all) Elevators in the US have to comply with the ADA codes. One of those is that the doors have to be open for a certain amount of time, period. During this time, the "close" button is required to have no effect. After that time, the "close" button can close the doors, but this is usually about the time the doors would start closing anyways. In essence, the "close" button does nothing most of the time you are hitting it.
      - antsar 11y ago
        Interesting, thanks for the insight. For anyone else reading this, here's a decent summary of the ADA requirements: http://sterlingelevatorcons.com/white-papers/elevators-and-the-ada/ http://sterlingelevatorcons.com/white-papers/elevators-and-t...

ewoodrich 11y ago

In Portland, OR the recycling pamphlet provided by the city specifically requests that caps be removed from plastic and glass bottles before recycling. I still see plenty of caps on plastic bottles in the bins, so at least here it's a case of "doing it wrong".

jrapdx3 11y ago
I live in Portland where curbside recycling is a long-established tradition. A number of years ago the rules changed, instead of the homeowner separating plastic, glass, paper, etc., all of these are put into the same bin. Separating the components became the hauler's responsibility, definitely a more centralized method of handling the task. Yes, bottle caps are supposed to be removed, but if not probably won't be a major calamity. Anyway, some plastic/bottles have aluminum caps, and those I might leave on vs. tossing in the bin detached. I figure it wouldn't matter, aluminum is recyclable too.
- santaclaus 11y ago
  Glass is still a separate (yellow) bin, in Portland, at least in Overlook...
- uuoc 11y ago
  > Anyway, some plastic/bottles have aluminum caps, and those I might leave on vs. tossing in the bin detached. I figure it wouldn't matter, aluminum is recyclable too. Yes, aluminum is recyclable, but not when attached to a plastic bottle. How do you expect that your 'attached' cap is going to become detached from the bottle so it can be recycled with the rest of the aluminum, and the plastic bottle recycled with the rest of the plastics? For plants that use separator machinery, the machines can't unscrew caps from bottles. For plants that use humans, it means the human has to unscrew the cap before it is separated. That's why the pamphlets say separate the caps from the bottles. The bottle and the cap end up in two different streams, and if they are separated at the outset, it is easier to split them up into the two separate streams at the sorting plant.