5 ms·

How do you know?

underseacables 3y ago
Almost all recycling end up in the landfill. https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2019/jun/21/us-plastic-recycling-landfills https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2019/jun/21/us-plastic-r... Municipal recycling is mostly political window dressing to outright falsehoods.
- hathchip 3y ago
  The headline says 'plastic recycling' whereas the GP's claim was about recycling and yard waste in general.
- InSteady 3y ago
  Glass, aluminum, and cardboard are almost always profitable to recycle if the city is big enough to make it worth the infrastructure expense. It's the recycling of plastics that we were scammed into thinking made a difference. It does not. Twas a clever move on the part of plastics producers. Meanwhile most gets either a. dumped in a local landfill (after added expense and hassle of collection and sorting), b. shipped partway across the world and dumped at sea, or c. shipped all the way across the world and burned. Note, there are two specific types of plastic that can actually be profitable to recycle, Numbers 1 and 2 (PET and HDPE). The rest is pure junk. Compost may be similarly beneficial, depending on public compliance, the market/public need for the compost product, and how efficient a particular region can make their system. It is certainly not a one-size-fits-all kind of deal, and probably is not even worth attempting in some regions.
SoftTalker 3y ago
I was told by someone who works for the waste district. Admittedly it's unverified, but he said the only stuff that is reliably recycled are the aluminum cans and steel. The market for plastics and other materials is usually such that it's cheaper to just dump it.
- hathchip 3y ago
  What about yard waste? Your original claim was 'almost all' so if you're just talking about plastic I think I'm quite right to question what you 'heard from the garbage guy'.
  - SoftTalker 3y ago
    Yeah he said the yard waste was all landfilled. They don't have a big compost pile somewhere.
deleted 3y ago
[deleted]

How do you know?

Almost all recycling end up in the landfill. https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2019/jun/21/us-plastic-recycling-landfills https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2019/jun/21/us-plastic-r... Municipal recycling is mostly political window dressing to outright falsehoods.

hathchip 3y ago
The headline says 'plastic recycling' whereas the GP's claim was about recycling and yard waste in general.
InSteady 3y ago
Glass, aluminum, and cardboard are almost always profitable to recycle if the city is big enough to make it worth the infrastructure expense. It's the recycling of plastics that we were scammed into thinking made a difference. It does not. Twas a clever move on the part of plastics producers. Meanwhile most gets either a. dumped in a local landfill (after added expense and hassle of collection and sorting), b. shipped partway across the world and dumped at sea, or c. shipped all the way across the world and burned. Note, there are two specific types of plastic that can actually be profitable to recycle, Numbers 1 and 2 (PET and HDPE). The rest is pure junk. Compost may be similarly beneficial, depending on public compliance, the market/public need for the compost product, and how efficient a particular region can make their system. It is certainly not a one-size-fits-all kind of deal, and probably is not even worth attempting in some regions.

SoftTalker 3y ago

I was told by someone who works for the waste district. Admittedly it's unverified, but he said the only stuff that is reliably recycled are the aluminum cans and steel. The market for plastics and other materials is usually such that it's cheaper to just dump it.

hathchip 3y ago
What about yard waste? Your original claim was 'almost all' so if you're just talking about plastic I think I'm quite right to question what you 'heard from the garbage guy'.
- SoftTalker 3y ago
  Yeah he said the yard waste was all landfilled. They don't have a big compost pile somewhere.

deleted 3y ago

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