3 ms·

I don't know, but it seems to be a mostly us problem. Many European countries are quite a bit better when it comes to recycling. The most important thing is to

I don't know, but it seems to be a mostly us problem. Many European countries are quite a bit better when it comes to recycling. The most important thing is to separate the different materials as early as possible. Aluminum, paper, cardboard, PET and other plastic bottles and glass has to be separated by the consumer. Waste that can't be recycled can still be burned to gain energy and reduce the impact and space it uses. Landfills are much worse and probably cost more over the long run anyway.

tomp 7y ago
> Waste that can't be recycled can still be burned to gain energy and reduce the impact and space it uses. Landfills are much worse and probably cost more over the long run anyway. Can you explain / expand on this? From my point of view, landfills are like making oil, whereas burning trash is like burning oil.
- hannob 7y ago
  > From my point of view, landfills are like making oil No, landfill is like making natural gas and letting it escape into the atmosphere (lots of your oil-based products will degrade and produce methane in the process). Which is really bad, because methane is 20x the greenhouse gas effect of CO2. Burning is the best you can do for waste you can't otherwise use.
athenot 7y ago
At the very least, paper & cardboard should be kept separate from plastic & aluminium. The first really need to be kept free of grease/dirt. Plastic/aluminium/steel can be separated relatively easy… but then comes the problem of plastics themselves, separating each type.