6 ms·

I used to live in central New Jersey, where the people of Waste Management would send out quarterly fliers telling people "When in doubt throw it out"[0] I now

by blang 8y ago

I used to live in central New Jersey, where the people of Waste Management would send out quarterly fliers telling people "When in doubt throw it out"[0] I now live in Seattle, and when I tell people this campaign, they get extremely preachy and judgmental. Then when I try to explain that no, it's actually better for the environment, things really go no where. I should probably just give up on that. [0] http://www.hamiltonnj.com/filestorage/228309/252258/Calendar_Middle_Insert_Section_2016_How_Do_I_Get_Rid_Of_Page_Full_Document.pdf http://www.hamiltonnj.com/filestorage/228309/252258/Calendar...

leeter 8y ago
We used to have separate stream recycling here... it was actually easier, you put glass and metal in one bin, I believe 1&2s in the next and 3s in the third, everything else was tossed.
retbull 8y ago
I've had this fight with my roommate here in Seattle as well. He obsesses over which thing goes into our recycle bin. Trashing it fixes a lot of the overhead and you can always recycle glass/metal easily.
- dboreham 8y ago
  If you are forced to haul your own trash 10 miles to town as we are, you really want to separate the recycling because it significantly reduces the volume of trash (which can't be stored for long) vs recycling (which can). Also bears aren't interested in recycling material.
hinkley 8y ago
Method cleaning products was usually a little understated about their environmental bent. One particular time they got loud was when they created a non-recyclable package for refills for their hand soap and dish soap dispensers. From memory, they looked at the net recovery rate for the material they were considering, and it was something like 30% after inputs. But they could engineer a durable water tight material that was less than 20% of the thickness of the recyclable version, and which packed better meaning lower shipping costs (and resources). And given that these were for refills (Reuse!), they felt fully justified in making disposable packaging. But apparently a little defensive...
stephengillie 8y ago
> I now live in Seattle, and when I tell people this campaign, they get extremely preachy and judgmental. Seattle and the region have been leading recyclers for decades. Waste Management sends a similar brochure to King County residents: http://wmnorthwest.com/kingcounty/calendars/guidelines.pdf http://wmnorthwest.com/kingcounty/calendars/guidelines.pdf
- blang 8y ago
  They do have the brochures, but they are missing one of the important ideas (maybe just my opinion) "When in doubt, throw it out", meaning that economically and environmentally it is better to err on the side of throwing away something recyclable rather than erring on the side of contaminating the stream with something that is not recyclable. And while the pacific northwest is good at getting things into the recycling stream, it might not always be for the best, and end up in the landfill anyway: https://www.nytimes.com/2018/05/29/climate/recycling-landfills-plastic-papers.html https://www.nytimes.com/2018/05/29/climate/recycling-landfil...
- sushisource 8y ago
  Heh, first time I've seen this part: • Two (2) feet apart with lids opening toward street • At least three (3) feet from cars, trees and mailboxes, fences and utility boxes Lol. Yeah. As if there's enough room on the street to do that with modern townhouse designs.

by blang 8y ago

leeter 8y ago

We used to have separate stream recycling here... it was actually easier, you put glass and metal in one bin, I believe 1&2s in the next and 3s in the third, everything else was tossed.

retbull 8y ago

I've had this fight with my roommate here in Seattle as well. He obsesses over which thing goes into our recycle bin. Trashing it fixes a lot of the overhead and you can always recycle glass/metal easily.

dboreham 8y ago
If you are forced to haul your own trash 10 miles to town as we are, you really want to separate the recycling because it significantly reduces the volume of trash (which can't be stored for long) vs recycling (which can). Also bears aren't interested in recycling material.

hinkley 8y ago

Method cleaning products was usually a little understated about their environmental bent. One particular time they got loud was when they created a non-recyclable package for refills for their hand soap and dish soap dispensers. From memory, they looked at the net recovery rate for the material they were considering, and it was something like 30% after inputs. But they could engineer a durable water tight material that was less than 20% of the thickness of the recyclable version, and which packed better meaning lower shipping costs (and resources). And given that these were for refills (Reuse!), they felt fully justified in making disposable packaging. But apparently a little defensive...

stephengillie 8y ago

> I now live in Seattle, and when I tell people this campaign, they get extremely preachy and judgmental. Seattle and the region have been leading recyclers for decades. Waste Management sends a similar brochure to King County residents: http://wmnorthwest.com/kingcounty/calendars/guidelines.pdf http://wmnorthwest.com/kingcounty/calendars/guidelines.pdf

blang 8y ago
They do have the brochures, but they are missing one of the important ideas (maybe just my opinion) "When in doubt, throw it out", meaning that economically and environmentally it is better to err on the side of throwing away something recyclable rather than erring on the side of contaminating the stream with something that is not recyclable. And while the pacific northwest is good at getting things into the recycling stream, it might not always be for the best, and end up in the landfill anyway: https://www.nytimes.com/2018/05/29/climate/recycling-landfills-plastic-papers.html https://www.nytimes.com/2018/05/29/climate/recycling-landfil...
sushisource 8y ago
Heh, first time I've seen this part: • Two (2) feet apart with lids opening toward street • At least three (3) feet from cars, trees and mailboxes, fences and utility boxes Lol. Yeah. As if there's enough room on the street to do that with modern townhouse designs.