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> frustrated customers on forums discussing how many air-filled cushions they were getting > while deflated air cushions can be recycled, many cities won’t col

> frustrated customers on forums discussing how many air-filled cushions they were getting > while deflated air cushions can be recycled, many cities won’t collect them curbside Pop them, put them in recycling. It's plastic, it's not my job to deal with the fallout. Either it's recyclable and I've done all I can, or it's the retailers' or cities' problem. The idea that there are "frustrated customers" is beyond me. Is this really what ordinary citizens sit around obsessing over? I just don't get it; this would be concern #10,056 on my list of priorities.

abalone 10y ago
If plastic bags are not curbside recyclable then throwing them in the bin doesn't help. Consumers absolutely do bear responsibility for the environmental impact of their consumption choices.
- pinot 10y ago
  In parent's defense, every city has different rules sometimes different recycling vendors within a city. They rarely communicate these rules in an effective and routine manner.
  - ryandrake 10y ago
    I don't think I've ever understood the "what goes in recycling, what goes in organics" rules in any place I've ever lived. It's a total unknown. I put stuff in whatever bin makes intuitive sense and the man in the truck takes it away. Until either 1. the rules are explained in a sensible way or 2. the city starts fining me for putting something in the wrong bin, my behavior is not going to change.
    - abalone 10y ago
      Serious question: did you ever look it up? What's the problem exactly.. did the municipal recycler not have a website that stated what they accept? Could you not find the website in a google search? When you say "explained in a sensible way", do you mean you did find an explanation but it didn't make sense?
    - Lukas_Skywalker 10y ago
      In Switzerland, recycling is done by the city administration. Put things in the wrong bin, get fined (and quite aggressively so). Instructions are sent to you when you move into the city and every year to every household. Works really well [1] (recycling rates: Glass 95%, aluminium 90%, paper 90%, plastic bottles 80%, batteries 70%). Also, no landfills at all, everything is burned, air is filtered and heat is used for heating. [1] http://www.bafu.admin.ch/umwelt/indikatoren/08484/08653/index.html?lang=de http://www.bafu.admin.ch/umwelt/indikatoren/08484/08653/inde...
      - kgwgk 10y ago
        > no landfills at all, everything is burned Only combustible waste is burned. Landfills are still needed.
      - abalone 10y ago
        The recycling rates are great, but even with perfect filtering there's a serious issue with burning trash. Namely, CO2.
        timthorn 10y ago
        That's better than methane from letting it decompose in landfill, plus you get energy out.
        abalone 10y ago
        That depends on how much biomass goes to landfill but a good composting/recycling program can sort a lot of that out. Furthermore, landfill methane can be captured and repurposed.[1] Seriously, burning stuff is not good. We need to stop doing that. [1] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Landfill_gas_utilization https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Landfill_gas_utilization
      - ido 10y ago
        How do they know who put what in which trash can?
- taurath 10y ago
  Consumption choices is a strange term when every store surrounding someone does double plastic bags all day. If the city is concerned, address the problem at the source and not the leaves where I gaurantee you no amount of social pressure will have anywhere near the effect.
  - abalone 10y ago
    That's consistent with shared responsibility. We work together as citizens to make laws that express collective goals. Some cities have banned plastic bags quite effectively. Perhaps we should federally regulate shipping environmental impacts as well.
    - wybiral 10y ago
      Yep, there's a bag ban here in Austin. Stores can't hand them out.
      - seanp2k2 10y ago
        Same in the Bay Area plus we just passed more laws against plastic bags in the past election.
  - siquick 10y ago
    You could always ask them not to double bag, or take your own bags...
- CodeWriter23 10y ago
  In Los Angeles, as they continued to receive recyclables in the blue cans that were deemed inappropriate, they continued to expand the list of appropriate materials to fit what consumers were tossing in the cans. So, it's not cut and dry if putting unlisted items in the blue cans helps or not.
neolefty 10y ago
Seems like there are two kinds: The opaque, crinkly ones -- they seem like the plastic that's in shopping bags. Maybe it's okay to deflate them and recycle them together? Even if your municipal recycling doesn't take them, I've seen lots of grocery stores that do (in the US). The clear ones -- Like a sandwich bag, maybe a polyethylene? Can these be recycled with shopping bags too?
akanet 10y ago
This is very irresponsible. The reason soft plastics are unrecyclable curbside in San Francisco is that they pose a very real danger to the machines that do recycling sorting. This is possible to overcome with greater manual filtering of recyclable materials, but Recology currently does not have the funds for it. Putting soft plastics in curbside recycling at the moment does nothing but make recycling worse for everyone.
- an_account 10y ago
  There are plenty of cities that do soft plastic recycling. I'm surprised San Fransisco doesn't.
  - akanet 10y ago
    SF has a very high diversion percentage (waste that doesn't go to landfull). I'm not sure what tradeoffs go into getting that number, but I do absolutely recommend going on one of the free Recology tours. We went on a tour a few months ago as part of the SF YIMBY infrastructure tour series (shameless plug) and I had a great time.
    - kogepathic 10y ago
      YIMBY? Your infrastructure my back yard?
      - jmharvey 10y ago
        "Yes in my back yard." It's a group that advocates for building more housing in San Francisco.
- deleted 10y ago
  [deleted]
- corecoder 10y ago
  Doesn't this just mean that the machines were chosen unwisely?
anexprogrammer 10y ago
pop them, send them back to the folks who foisted them upon you. They might start using recyclable paper or corn starch instead.
tonyedgecombe 10y ago
Yes, really if you are worried about the environmental impact you shouldn't hit the buy button in the first place.
Disruptive_Dave 10y ago
In Brooklyn we now have four (FOUR!) different containers for trash in our little apartment. Since I was a kid and recycling began as "a thing" it's gotten more and more complex and expensive on the consumer's end. Shouldn't this process be trending the other way?
- spodek 10y ago
  In Manhattan I have three but add the fourth -- composting -- myself voluntarily, which isn't curbside. I have to walk it to the park where they collect it only at certain times. Why? Because it helps me reduce my landfill trash to where I empty it 3 to 4 times per year. Actually, I've reduced my recyclable trash to nearly the same levels.
- tempodox 10y ago
  > Shouldn't this process be trending the other way? I can think up two answers to that. 1. Someone has a nicely rigged racket running. Making the masses pay in a way that's legal and they can't escape would be my wettest dream if I were an organized criminal. 2. Our modes of production and transportation have lots of hidden externalized costs. Finding and addressing those is an ongoing process. Distributing them over the end users may be one of the fairest ways to deal with them.
- GFK_of_xmaspast 10y ago
  They way I remember it in the early days of recycling we had to sort into plastics, glass, and paper, but sometime in the last ten years or so everything's moved to a single stream one-bucket process.

abalone 10y ago

If plastic bags are not curbside recyclable then throwing them in the bin doesn't help. Consumers absolutely do bear responsibility for the environmental impact of their consumption choices.

pinot 10y ago
In parent's defense, every city has different rules sometimes different recycling vendors within a city. They rarely communicate these rules in an effective and routine manner.
- ryandrake 10y ago
  I don't think I've ever understood the "what goes in recycling, what goes in organics" rules in any place I've ever lived. It's a total unknown. I put stuff in whatever bin makes intuitive sense and the man in the truck takes it away. Until either 1. the rules are explained in a sensible way or 2. the city starts fining me for putting something in the wrong bin, my behavior is not going to change.
  - abalone 10y ago
    Serious question: did you ever look it up? What's the problem exactly.. did the municipal recycler not have a website that stated what they accept? Could you not find the website in a google search? When you say "explained in a sensible way", do you mean you did find an explanation but it didn't make sense?
  - Lukas_Skywalker 10y ago
    In Switzerland, recycling is done by the city administration. Put things in the wrong bin, get fined (and quite aggressively so). Instructions are sent to you when you move into the city and every year to every household. Works really well [1] (recycling rates: Glass 95%, aluminium 90%, paper 90%, plastic bottles 80%, batteries 70%). Also, no landfills at all, everything is burned, air is filtered and heat is used for heating. [1] http://www.bafu.admin.ch/umwelt/indikatoren/08484/08653/index.html?lang=de http://www.bafu.admin.ch/umwelt/indikatoren/08484/08653/inde...
    - kgwgk 10y ago
      > no landfills at all, everything is burned Only combustible waste is burned. Landfills are still needed.
    - abalone 10y ago
      The recycling rates are great, but even with perfect filtering there's a serious issue with burning trash. Namely, CO2.
      - timthorn 10y ago
        That's better than methane from letting it decompose in landfill, plus you get energy out.
        abalone 10y ago
        That depends on how much biomass goes to landfill but a good composting/recycling program can sort a lot of that out. Furthermore, landfill methane can be captured and repurposed.[1] Seriously, burning stuff is not good. We need to stop doing that. [1] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Landfill_gas_utilization https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Landfill_gas_utilization
    - ido 10y ago
      How do they know who put what in which trash can?
taurath 10y ago
Consumption choices is a strange term when every store surrounding someone does double plastic bags all day. If the city is concerned, address the problem at the source and not the leaves where I gaurantee you no amount of social pressure will have anywhere near the effect.
- abalone 10y ago
  That's consistent with shared responsibility. We work together as citizens to make laws that express collective goals. Some cities have banned plastic bags quite effectively. Perhaps we should federally regulate shipping environmental impacts as well.
  - wybiral 10y ago
    Yep, there's a bag ban here in Austin. Stores can't hand them out.
    - seanp2k2 10y ago
      Same in the Bay Area plus we just passed more laws against plastic bags in the past election.
- siquick 10y ago
  You could always ask them not to double bag, or take your own bags...
CodeWriter23 10y ago
In Los Angeles, as they continued to receive recyclables in the blue cans that were deemed inappropriate, they continued to expand the list of appropriate materials to fit what consumers were tossing in the cans. So, it's not cut and dry if putting unlisted items in the blue cans helps or not.

neolefty 10y ago

Seems like there are two kinds: The opaque, crinkly ones -- they seem like the plastic that's in shopping bags. Maybe it's okay to deflate them and recycle them together? Even if your municipal recycling doesn't take them, I've seen lots of grocery stores that do (in the US). The clear ones -- Like a sandwich bag, maybe a polyethylene? Can these be recycled with shopping bags too?

akanet 10y ago

This is very irresponsible. The reason soft plastics are unrecyclable curbside in San Francisco is that they pose a very real danger to the machines that do recycling sorting. This is possible to overcome with greater manual filtering of recyclable materials, but Recology currently does not have the funds for it. Putting soft plastics in curbside recycling at the moment does nothing but make recycling worse for everyone.

an_account 10y ago
There are plenty of cities that do soft plastic recycling. I'm surprised San Fransisco doesn't.
- akanet 10y ago
  SF has a very high diversion percentage (waste that doesn't go to landfull). I'm not sure what tradeoffs go into getting that number, but I do absolutely recommend going on one of the free Recology tours. We went on a tour a few months ago as part of the SF YIMBY infrastructure tour series (shameless plug) and I had a great time.
  - kogepathic 10y ago
    YIMBY? Your infrastructure my back yard?
    - jmharvey 10y ago
      "Yes in my back yard." It's a group that advocates for building more housing in San Francisco.
deleted 10y ago
[deleted]
corecoder 10y ago
Doesn't this just mean that the machines were chosen unwisely?

anexprogrammer 10y ago

pop them, send them back to the folks who foisted them upon you. They might start using recyclable paper or corn starch instead.

tonyedgecombe 10y ago

Yes, really if you are worried about the environmental impact you shouldn't hit the buy button in the first place.

Disruptive_Dave 10y ago

In Brooklyn we now have four (FOUR!) different containers for trash in our little apartment. Since I was a kid and recycling began as "a thing" it's gotten more and more complex and expensive on the consumer's end. Shouldn't this process be trending the other way?

spodek 10y ago
In Manhattan I have three but add the fourth -- composting -- myself voluntarily, which isn't curbside. I have to walk it to the park where they collect it only at certain times. Why? Because it helps me reduce my landfill trash to where I empty it 3 to 4 times per year. Actually, I've reduced my recyclable trash to nearly the same levels.
tempodox 10y ago
> Shouldn't this process be trending the other way? I can think up two answers to that. 1. Someone has a nicely rigged racket running. Making the masses pay in a way that's legal and they can't escape would be my wettest dream if I were an organized criminal. 2. Our modes of production and transportation have lots of hidden externalized costs. Finding and addressing those is an ongoing process. Distributing them over the end users may be one of the fairest ways to deal with them.
GFK_of_xmaspast 10y ago
They way I remember it in the early days of recycling we had to sort into plastics, glass, and paper, but sometime in the last ten years or so everything's moved to a single stream one-bucket process.