Recycling a waste of time? (Portland, Salem: fit in, to buy, gated)

[SumTingy]

I thought this article was interesting. It does refer to a Portland recycling company.

IMHO, we should continue to recycle but are we doing it correctly?




Environment: It has become an article of faith in the U.S. that recycling is a good thing. But evidence is piling up that recycling is a waste of time and money, and a bit of a fraud.

The New York Times recently reported that, unknown to most families who spend hours separating garbage into little recycling bins, much of the stuff ends up in a landfill anyway.

One big reason: China has essentially shut the door to U.S. recyclables.

The Times notes that about a third of recyclables gets shipped abroad, with China the biggest importer. But starting this year, China imposed strict rules on what it will accept, effectively banning most of it. That, the Times reports, has forced many recycling companies who can't find other takers to dump recyclables into landfills.
<mod cut - please don't quote more than a few sentences that highlight the issue you want to discuss. Include the link (as you did)>

https://www.investors.com/politics/e...lobal-warming/

[StealthRabbit]

The vast majority of OR and WA 'recycling' gets added to the landfill. Likely 90%+, even tho sorted... if there is not market for used / reclaim, and it is more expensive to re-claim than to buy virgin feedstocks... It goes to the trash. Even my last load of 'bagged' hazmat building demolition got tossed into the generic trash bins headed for Arlington, OR.

[PNW-type-gal]

The article mentioned Rogue Recycling, which is here in the Rogue Valley. The problem is sort of specific to them, in that the area is too small to have a sole contract with a larger firm and too big to piggyback on other smaller contracts, like the one the city of Ashland has with a recycling company in California.

As a result, Rogue Recycling takes corrugated cardboard, white or clear milk containers, aluminum (of course) cans, tin cans, and newsprint in the red recycling bins. If you go to their plant they will take clean glass, office paper (no magazines).

There is a fair amount of noise locally about the fact that they raised rates late last year to cover recycling and then this year stopped taking much of anything.

Added: Part of the problem seems to be a "contamination" issue caused by comingling. Rogue cut recycling costs by using a comingled bin that can be picked up by a truck but then found that the comingled bins had to be hand-sorted, which cost too much. Humans are a chunk of the issue, throwing things that are basically trash in the recycling bins, but much of the issue is that Rogue doesn't want to have to hand-sort recycling or go to the old 3 bin system, which had to be hand-loaded into the trucks.

[PamelaIamela]

Most recycling efforts are a 'feel-good' response to the problems of garbage disposal and ecological benefits, which are often overstated or actually unknown. Sometimes the net effect is MORE pollution, not less!

Nowadays we have modern waste-to-energy plants that combusts waste to produce electricity.
Only very obvious materials like glass or metal items would be segregated for specific treatment and recycling.

In FL the newest plants will burn anything, produce little to no noxious gases, while selling energy back to FPL.
I now use the rule 'When in doubt, THROW IT OUT.'
It's simpler, cheaper, and easier for everyone.

[Metlakatla]

We're having the same issue in Florence. The Chinese ban is not specific to Rogue. It's affecting communities all over the country.

[PNW-type-gal]

Originally Posted by PamelaIamela

In FL the newest plants will burn anything, produce little to no noxious gases, while selling energy back to FPL.

Those plants are pretty controversial and have been turned down in almost every other state they have been proposed in. They make sense for Florida, which has a water table either right at or just below the surface plus Florida tends to site them in areas where there is a fair amount of air movement, ie: little-to-no existing air pollution.

[Cloudy Dayz]

Originally Posted by SumTingy

I thought this article was interesting. It does refer to a Portland recycling company.

IMHO, we should continue to recycle but are we doing it correctly?




Environment: It has become an article of faith in the U.S. that recycling is a good thing. But evidence is piling up that recycling is a waste of time and money, and a bit of a fraud.

The New York Times recently reported that, unknown to most families who spend hours separating garbage into little recycling bins, much of the stuff ends up in a landfill anyway.

One big reason: China has essentially shut the door to U.S. recyclables.

The Times notes that about a third of recyclables gets shipped abroad, with China the biggest importer. But starting this year, China imposed strict rules on what it will accept, effectively banning most of it. That, the Times reports, has forced many recycling companies who can't find other takers to dump recyclables into landfills.
<mod cut - please don't quote more than a few sentences that highlight the issue you want to discuss. Include the link (as you did)>

https://www.investors.com/politics/e...lobal-warming/

It sounds like typical anti-environmentalist propaganda. I would put it right up there with the deniers of global warming. I stopped reading at "all the stuff Americans throw away for the next 1,000 years would fit into "one-tenth of 1% of land available for grazing,". Yeah, right. You can keep increasing the population forever, throw away more and more garbage and never recycle anything, and it will never affect the environment. Meanwhile landfills keep filling up and we keep looking for new locations for them, and the Pacific Ocean is becoming one big floating garbage patch.

Why do we need to export it to China? It should all be recycled right here in this country. Sorted recyclables should be picked up for free. Unsorted garbage should be charged a minimum of $100 for pick up or dumping.

[S550]

Since my garbage bill went up I get my money’s worth and hardly care if we recycle. Now I don’t just dump stupid obvious stuff In the big blue bins but you better believe I get my dollars worth

[DKM]

Originally Posted by PNW-type-gal

Those plants are pretty controversial and have been turned down in almost every other state they have been proposed in. They make sense for Florida, which has a water table either right at or just below the surface plus Florida tends to site them in areas where there is a fair amount of air movement, ie: little-to-no existing air pollution.

There's one in Salem.

[Larry Caldwell]

Douglas County completely quit accepting recycling on June 1, but has resumed accepting corrugated cardboard. That is all. No plastic, cans or bottles. I think they may still accept motor oil, but would have to check on that.