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The dirty secret of recycling is that a significant percentage of what the city of Toronto collects is not really recyclable; those black take out containers, p
by Ensorceled 5y ago
The dirty secret of recycling is that a significant percentage of what the city of Toronto collects is not really recyclable; those black take out containers, pizza boxes, plastic bags, contaminated paper products, loose lids ....
The only truly recyclable products are aluminum cans, clean paper and clear glass. Aluminum cans and clean cardboard are the only thing that really pays to recycle. If for profit companies, or even thousands of individuals, are going around scooping all the aluminum and clean cardboard first, the system quickly collapses as it becomes a huge expense and blue bins become simply another garbage bin.
These scavengers were also exacerbating contamination in process -- our blue bins would regularly get dumped out on the street or sidewalk and the blue recycling bags ripped open so the "sorter" could find the cans faster.
To be clear, there are no "profits" in recycling ... it's a loss with some cost recovery.
- poo-yie 5y agoWhat's the significance of the glass being clear? I'm guessing this means that green or brown glass is not recyclable. Why is that?
- moron4hire 5y agoIt's strictly because you can't get the color back out of the glass. They want to make new, clear bottles, instead of just accepting that we could all live with just brown bottles.
- poo-yie 5y agoThat was my guess. However, couldn't they make new brown bottles out of old brown bottles? Maybe not big enough incentive to sort by specific colors.
- Ensorceled 5y agoYep. Most bottles are clear and that's what the system is set up to recycle. We still recycle green and brown glass ... it's just less efficient and productive. I'm pretty sure it's a cost to the system as well.
- Ensorceled 5y agoWell, brown bottles also make it difficult to see if, for instance, those pickles have "passed". Both at the store level and for the consumer.
- moron4hire 5y agoHuh? Pickles don't go bad. That's kinda the whole point of pickling.
- Ensorceled 5y agoI didn't say bad, "passed" ... mushy and yellowish. They can go also bad if they weren't canned properly, which is rare but happens. Which is why people like clear glass.
- kevincox 5y agoToronto doesn't claim to recycle most of those objects: The tool doesn't allow linking to specific items but you can find the source here: https://www.toronto.ca/services-payments/recycling-organics-garbage/waste-wizard/ https://www.toronto.ca/services-payments/recycling-organics-... - plastic food tubs: Place any black and/or compostable plastic in the Garbage Bin. - pizza boxes (food-soiled): Place this item in the Green Bin. - plastic bags: Recommends reuse first, but does claim that they should be put (bundled) into the recycle. I'm not saying that they aren't "collected" but it isn't a secret and Toronto very much encourages you doing it correctly.
- Ensorceled 5y agoYes, collects. I know that the city tells you not to put those things in the blue bin, but it's full of that junk. Then a bunch of stuff they say they recycle isn't really recycled, or gets tossed because it's contaminated.