Recycle Rant

Doc_Eggerton · February 27

Why is it that I can bring the nastiest greasy old motorcycle motor, or old gasser grill to the metal recycle pile and no one bats an eye, but if I bring a 5 gallon bucket of metal bottle caps, old nails and screws, and tin foil balls a Government official swoops down on me and threatens to ban me.

I detest throwing things in the landfill that are eternal, such as metal, glass, and ceramic. I guess the definition of recyclable is apparently something I don't understand correctly.

td66snrf · February 27

Five gallon bucket of bottle caps! I think you may have a problem other than recycling

Supercilious_In_5280 · February 27

Oh how I love guvment definitions

caliking · February 27

Why is it a problem to recycle those things? I hate it when there are unreasonable restrictions on recycling - makes people disinterested in recycling and then everything just ends up in the trash/landfill.

Little Steven · February 27

Doc,

Most metals are recycled if they are in any quantity. I'm in the steel industry and the recycle rate is tremendous

henapple · February 27

We have one recycle drop off in a town of 100k people...i used 3 gal of diesel to recycle a stack of newspaper and 2 bags of plastic.

Chubbs · February 27

Our city recycling pickup does not recycle glass. Always thought that was ridiculous.

Doc_Eggerton · February 27

td66snrf said:

Five gallon bucket of bottle caps! I think you may have a problem other than recycling

I get the joke, but I have been keeping a 5 gallon bucket int the garage and the family had orders to toss in anything metal outside the curbside pickup. There were beer caps, orange soda caps, nails, screws, odd nuts and bolts, foil balls, you name it. Took a a couple of months to fill. I dumped it twice, and the last time got tossed out of the recycle center.

Charlie tuna · February 27

I lived in a community where this guy came before the city officials and proposed a recycle program for our city?? Said this could save millions of tax dollars!!! Right, i thought!! Well the city went with it, and the results were staggering. The recycle goods paid for the trucks, their upkeep, drivers full salaries, household containers and netted the city MILLIONS of dollars. I moved and now live in a county that doesn't recycle anything??? WHAT?

double · February 27

Come to Seattle ... They even collect food scraps now in the yard waste containers. You have 3 garbage cans a week. I think it's great however trying to convince tenants to recycle at times is a pain. Then there's the guys digging through our dumpsters at properties to steal the recycling to sell especially anything metal. Rant over.

Greeno55 · February 27

double said:

Come to Seattle ... They even collect food scraps now in the yard waste containers. You have 3 garbage cans a week. I think it's great however trying to convince tenants to recycle at times is a pain. Then there's the guys digging through our dumpsters at properties to steal the recycling to sell especially anything metal. Rant over.

Very similar to my city in Ontario. We've had recycling pick up most of my life (33 years old), and recently added the food scraps bin. Even though we have a 3 bag limit, I rarely ever have more than 1 bag of trash, along with my 2 blue recycling bins and 1 green food waste bin. The only ridiculous thing we have is a hazarded waste centre (this part isn't the ridiculous part). But it's only open 1 Saturday a month during the summer months. They make it so difficult to properly dispose of hazardous materials, most hide it in their trash just to get rid of it.

Skiddymarker · February 27

Doc, you and me both. We are allowed to recycle plastic as long as it has a symbol and number on it, except for foam (usually a 6) and clamshells (those boxes that strawberries and donuts come in). Bottle caps, tin foil balls, nails, screws and anything else metal is not to be included as it does not have a valid recycle symbol.

We do recycle glass, there is no market for it so they are considering removing glass from the program.

I'm running out of room in the garage for all the containers as I sort and wash my garbage. Blue boxes for metal, plastic and glass. Blue bags for newsprint. Yellow bags for cardboard and shiny paper inserts. A pail with lid for green items, yard trimmings and food scraps, including bones. A regular garbage pail for anything not in one of the above.

For all of this, my utility tax bill (water sewage and waste) has gone from $125/year to over $915/year over the past 20 years. I can't afford anymore recycling. Rant over - thanks Doc, I feel better!

canegger · February 27

I'm paying more for my garbage pick up and limited to less garbage and they pick it up every second week now instead of every week because it is suppose to create less garbage. I don't know I don't get it

SmokinDAWG82 · February 27

Doc, not sure I understand what their rational is. Metal is metal! What was their problem?

gerhardk · February 27

Metal is metal but aluminum is not stainless steel, I suspect the problem is with identifying and sorting.

Gerhard

Doc_Eggerton · February 27

They apperantly objected to aluminum foil that had (gasp) been in contact with food. No problem with really greasy old grills which I see all the time in the pile.

johnkitchens · February 27

If you can go to a scrap metal recycling yard (not a government recycling center) you will have no problem getting rid of your metal. They will pay you for it.

gerhardk · February 27

I don't know much about the recycling process but would have thought that the food residue would vaporize from the heat involved.

Gerhard

fishlessman · February 27

the problem is that the salvage yards dont want tiny steel scraps. i have a machine shop and they pay good for stainless but they have to be almost forced to take the steel chips. your town recycling is probably having difficulty selling it at any profit

johnkitchens · February 27

Some scrap yards don't want to take the small stuff, but a lot of them will. Every yard wants stainless and the chips (turnings) should not be a problem to get rid of either.

They must not have a lot of competition!

Hokie_Smoker · February 27

I work in local government and we operate a landfill, we encourgage as much recycling as possible because it helps extend the life of our landfill and as you can imagine when you try to find a site for a new landfill it is not a very popular topic. We operate 8 different recycling centers in the county and work with our municipalities in making recycling free for their residents. It costs us money on the recycling side but the life cycle of the landfill is more important than losing a little bit of money.

Charlie tuna · February 27

Scrapyards are responsible to keep the different metals separate, they can't mix steel with stainless steel, because the buyer is going to give them a price on the lowest cost per pound item found in a mixed batch. Aluminum might be $1.50 a pound, and steel fifty cents a pound, but if i bring them a piece of aluminum with steel screws in it, it will be considered "steel".. Depending on the recycle company, they can have some very sofisticated equipment to separate materials. If they have enough recyclables this equipment will pay for itself. I'm guessing it just depends on the size of the community. Most scrap yards i have dealt with are ripoff artists..

Fred19Flintstone · February 27

I like to recycle. The problem lies when rules & government make it such a PITA, people stop recycling & opt for the convenience of the garbage can.

Doc_Eggerton · February 27

Charlie tuna said:

Scrapyards are responsible to keep the different metals separate, they can't mix steel with stainless steel, because the buyer is going to give them a price on the lowest cost per pound item found in a mixed batch. Aluminum might be $1.50 a pound, and steel fifty cents a pound, but if i bring them a piece of aluminum with steel screws in it, it will be considered "steel".. Depending on the recycle company, they can have some very sofisticated equipment to separate materials. If they have enough recyclables this equipment will pay for itself. I'm guessing it just depends on the size of the community. Most scrap yards i have dealt with are ripoff artists..

I can understand your point, but our recycle for metal is just a big pile of everything.

Charlie tuna · February 27

The first community i lived in, that got into early recycling, took a while for people to realize the big advantage it was to our tax base. Once a week, along with the regular garbage pick up, was recyclables day. At first maybe half the people had an extra container at the curb. Within two years we had four different containers, and a wheeled dolly to hold them. We had glass,aluminum,newspaper,cardboard. I was suprised on how it really reduces the amount of garbage in the weekly pickup. This was instituted by "Waste Pro", and they publicized the advantages this program gave back to our community. But like anything, if you don't have the community support - it doesn't work. I went to some of the early community meetings concerning recycling and was doubtful that it would work, but they created a board and the savings went back into the program and the community -- and Waste Pro had less garbage to pick up...

nolaegghead · February 27

What they take is all market driven. If there's not a market for it, they don't want it recycled. We just got city recycling back 5 years after Katrina. They still don't take glass - no market demand (I guess it's cheaper just to melt down sand than sort it). No one recycles aluminum foil. Costs more to process it than to make it from ore.

daffy1909 · February 27

in canada they take them back at our beer stores,and send them off to recycle!!!

daffy1909 · February 27

td66snrf said:

Five gallon bucket of bottle caps! I think you may have a problem other than recycling

i once filled a garbage can!!!!trying to fill it again!!

Alton · February 27

I'm in the scrap metal Recycling business and the mill has yet to develop an efficient way of converting soiled foil into reusable aluminum. Because of if thinness the foil evaporates for lac of a better word when is is put into a smelter hot enough to burn off the food product. Because foil is so thin the indeed needs to be clean and completely void of any contaminants when melted so it can then be stretched into continuos tin sheet. And yes ALL RECYCLING is MARKET DRIVEN!!! If there is a value they will take it.

MaskedMarvel · February 27

A number of years ago, I resolved to live an entire year recycling everything I could and only give the city one trash can for the year. It was called the "One Man, One Can" project. Our city's recycling program was really robust - you put everything that wasn't food contaminated into a brown can and they picked it up once a week (no styrofoam - that was a problem for me). This year, they even expanded to include pizza boxes.

About halfway through the year, I was doing great. Was dumping my styro off to this guy who made archery targets.. Composting in my back yard. Had about half a can of trash. really started seeing the light at the end of the tunnel...

..landlord decided to renovate the house next door - I came home to a can literally falling over overstuffed with his house construction waste material..

Eggcelsior · February 27

MaskedMarvel said:

A number of years ago, I resolved to live an entire year recycling everything I could and only give the city one trash can for the year. It was called the "One Man, One Can" project. Our city's recycling program was really robust - you put everything that wasn't food contaminated into a brown can and they picked it up once a week (no styrofoam - that was a problem for me). This year, they even expanded to include pizza boxes.

About halfway through the year, I was doing great. Was dumping my styro off to this guy who made archery targets.. Composting in my back yard. Had about half a can of trash. really started seeing the light at the end of the tunnel...

..landlord decided to renovate the house next door - I came home to a can literally falling over overstuffed with his house construction waste material..

I hope you moved the can into the renovation house and set it on fire in the living room.

What a douche.

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