Originally posted by @Joe Splitrock:
Originally posted by @Genny Li:
Originally posted by @Joe Splitrock:
Originally posted by @Marshall Henry:
Originally posted by @Paul Bunton:
@Marshall Henry we have a triplex and use 2 garbage bins and 2 recycling bins. Works out fine. I do agree with some of the other comments about education. Some people just don't know how to break down boxes and other bulky items. I go to the dump sometimes but mainly due to projects.
Thank you for your response! Unfortunately we do not have the option of recycling currently. Therefore everything goes in the same bins. I’ll investigate that though. I’ll double check with the city on the recycling and perhaps that could be a good solution.
No recycling? That is weird, it is 2021 not 1980, haha. Must be a very rural area.
My hometown moves the excess cost of recycling on to the residents versus forcing everyone to subsidize it to make everyone feel good. My disabled brother now pays for it out of his SSI disability because my parents made his chore to go to the central recycling facility (which is free), and he got sick of it. Lol. $10 per month for every other week pickup.
Recycling isn't about making people feel good, it is about reducing landfill waste, keeping the air clan and reusing natural resources to reduce cost. My city implemented strict policies years ago and it extended the life of the landfill by 20 years. Whether your city pushes it to a landfill or burns the garbage, it has to go in the ground or in the air. You can reduce garbage by 40-50% if you recycle. The cost of disposal will skyrocket in the future, so extending the life of existing disposal methods is lower cost in the long run.
We pay $19.08 per month for two cans, one garbage and one recycle. They are both 95 gallon. Recycle is picked up every two weeks, garbage every week. It is single stream recycling, so there is no sorting necessary. It gets sorted at the recycling facility. Part of the reason for low cost is we don't have government provided garbage service. We have 20+ local garbage carriers and you can contract whomever you want. Competition and conservation keep costs very low. We also have free drop off centers for yard waste, batteries, chemical waste and electronic waste. This keeps hazardous items out of the landfill.
I guess this is Baltimore's conservation program, haha.
It's my hometown, not the county I live in MD, that does that. Of course Baltimore (where I don't actually live--I'm in the boonies but near DC) has recycling collection. They can't keep their streets clean, but they are going to pay for recycling, for sure.
Landfill space is all but a non-issue. The energy costs of recycling is a fairly major issue, though, and makes most types uneconomical when you throw in individual collection and sorting. I really love the idea of recycling, but I don't feel right forcing my cuddly ideas on to other people for whom the costs of my good intentions may not be trivial.
Your county may publish the cost of each type of disposal per ton. Mine does. My hometown also does. It's not a pretty number for recycling still, even with mandated forcing certain percentages of post consumer waste to be used.
Now, another 50 years downstream... maybe even 30 years...the incredibly clever and fascinating waste sorting centers may get good enough that is is actually price competitive with landfills. I'll love that. I recycle myself, and our recycling is always a lot fuller than our trash. But I'm still not going to feel right about the amount of money that's it's going to take to get to that point, technologically, and that it is extracted from many people who don't see the value in it.
