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Lazy. Whenever I see it happen, I tell people I know: not to recycle plastic bags, not to recycle food stained paper products. I tell them, and explain why; n
by sbov 8y ago
Lazy. Whenever I see it happen, I tell people I know: not to recycle plastic bags, not to recycle food stained paper products. I tell them, and explain why; no one I've told cares, and they all just keep their old habits.
"How do they expect us to remember this?" is the response I usually get. How do they expect you to remember what to do in a decision you make literally every day of your life? Too difficult!
- mmt 8y agoThat's more than a bit dismissive and ignores what has been the reality, at least here in the US: The rules are different in every (small) municipality, often different between all three of home, work, and other commercial locations and can change remarkably frequently. So, no, it's not something anyone does every day of ones life, at least not in the same way every time, not unless it was, "throw all trash into the one trash can". Food stained paper? Well, actually, today, in some locality, it is recyclable, because it's "compost". For the general public to know the details of the particular waste management program du jour of every geographic location they happen to be in is, indeed, too difficult.
- kingosticks 8y agoAnd that's why I'd start making it clearer on the side of the vessel you are literally putting that recycling into. That's not too difficult and it's a start. Where I live we have some info but it's vague and doesn't mention, for example. food stained paper (which I happen to know you cannot recycle here). We don't even have compost available in my current flat, where as down the road in my old place (the same council) it was! There's no excuse for that kind of difference in waste management program and that's another thing they could easily improve on. It doesn't need to be too difficult.
- mmt 8y agoSince you mention your flat, I must still insist on it actually being too difficult for the general public. Just exactly how many separate vessels, with frequently changing "clear" labelling are people going to have to keep inside their homes? I do agree it doesn't need to be too difficult, but I think the only way that can happen is if the sorting is moved way downstream. The primary reason I sort at home is because of the economic incentive of a larger black bin (landfill) costing more, whereas everything else is unmetered.
- kingosticks 8y agoI'm referring to the large communal recycling vessels in the basement that people empty their stuff into a few times a week. There are three of these and they are emptied every so often.
- mmt 8y agoI'd expect that once people get to those, it's too late. They've already done as much sorting as they're going to do. However, I've never lived anywhere with that arrangement, so maybe I'm missing something.
- deleted 8y ago[deleted]
- sbov 8y agoI'm not talking about every geographical location, I'm talking about their own home. Where they have lived for the past 5+ years. Where the vast majority of their waste products are disposed of. Where recycling food stained paper or plastic bags has never been allowed.
- mmt 8y agoEven if it were true that no residential waste program has ever accepted for compost food-soiled paper (nor ever will) and that even the vast majority of people discard the vast majority of their waste at home, it would not follow that this means it's not too difficult for them to remember which rules apply where. Is it even true that people stay put an average of 5+ years in the same home or locality? I can personally attest to the recycling rules changing more often than every 5 years in every locality I've lived in.