Please register to participate in our discussions with 2 million other members - it's free and quick! Some forums can only be seen by registered members. After you create your account, you'll be able to customize options and access all our 15,000 new posts/day with fewer ads.
Seeing as how the metals I recycle I am paid for I can only assume they end up back as consumer products. Many things are made from Aluminum, Copper, Brass, and pot metal. For me, I rarely have anything but Aluminum. They probably make more aluminum foil and soda cans from the aluminum.
Yes, aluminum can essentially be recycled indefinitely, and it takes less than 1/10 the energy to recycle aluminum as it does to refine it initially from raw materials, so it's a very practical process. Here's a cute little explanation of how it's done. I particularly like the statistic that the materials in an aluminum can be recycled, made into a new can, filled with new product, and back on a store shelf in as little as six weeks.
Copper and brass are heavily used in plumbing from fixtures to pipes.
And copper is in wiring and electrical and electronic devices. Copper is highly recyclable and quite valuable.
Quote:
And the low grade pot metal I find in lamps and cheap pots.. (Hence the name)
Actually, "pot metal" is a term for cheap metals that melt at low temperatures, that were melted together from scraps in a big iron pot to make items that didn't require a lot of strength, such as decorative lamp parts. The assay has varied over the years depending on what was readily available, but today probably has zinc as its primary ingredient.
Quote:
I see napkins and paper cups that say XX% post consumer recycled materials, so I assume that is where the paper I recycle goes.
Yes, "pre-consumer waste" is trimmings and scraps from the manufacturing process, and "post-consumer waste" has been used previously, such as newspapers and cardboard. Unfortunately paper that is contaminated with food waste cannot currently be recycled, but it can be burned to generate electricty, or shredded up to help it break down in a compost pile.
If we're talking the United States, I'd say the majority are still not recycling, or not anything more than cans & bottles. I live in a mid-sized Midwestern town, and only a few people in the neighborhood besides us puts out recycling bins with their trash, and most of the recycling bins at work are full of garbage thanks to people who don't know or care. It was, of course, much different in California, where curbside recycling was invented in this country.
I have friends all across the country who live in all kinds of situations. The more urban the environment, the more likely that recycling is widely practiced. The more rural the setting, the less likely that recycling is even available, much less widely practiced.
But to see how much recycling is on people's minds, just attend any large public crowd function, like an open air concert or a fireworks show and see how much litter is just dropped on the ground, both rubbish and recyclables alike. It's staggering.
In other words, sadly, recycling is still a minority activity.
I agree completely with this. And at our annual County Fair in Maryland, there are marked recycling bins right next toevery regular trash bin, and yet half the people put their empty cups in the regular bin. Just completely clueless. (and half the time the cups they drop in, are filled with heavy ice - which they ought to pour out on the ground first - as the cumulative weight of many cups of ice, adds burdensome weight to the garbage bag when it's eventually disposed of. But again, completely clueless and thoughtless).
Beside every gasoline pump, and outside every store and shopping center all around our "progressive state" are regular garbage bins just filled with drink bottles, drink cans, and motor oil bottles, which are never recycled- and no one seems to care.
The National Mall area in Washington, D.C. - which has some of the busiest museums in the entire world - only added recycling bins just a few years ago. Millions upon millions of drink containers always just went in the regular garbage -which in summer always seemed to be overflowing and spilling on the ground. And the Sierra Club also had to file a lawsuit to get the D.C. city government to start up any residential recycling collection - and we're talking the nation's capital here, and an overwhelmingly Democratic-run city.
The American Legion hall near me - in what's considered a progressive, educated state -, discards just tons of heavy beer bottles every week, and doesn't seem to make any effort to separate them and recycle- and no even notices or cares.
And don't get me started on the thousand or so snack-bars and souvenir shops all over Disney World, FL and associated parks, which leave their doorways wide-open all day, all summer long- pouring out tons of air-conditioning into the outside air - and many of those doorways are 10 or 12 feet high, and 20 feet wide, which makes it even worse still. And no one even cares. But then that's a whole different subject.
Last edited by slowlane3; 05-15-2014 at 04:38 PM..
If we're talking the United States, I'd say the majority are still not recycling, or not anything more than cans & bottles. I live in a mid-sized Midwestern town, and only a few people in the neighborhood besides us puts out recycling bins with their trash, and most of the recycling bins at work are full of garbage thanks to people who don't know or care. It was, of course, much different in California, where curbside recycling was invented in this country.
Where I live now on the Big Island, there is no county garbage collection of any kind (except from County Parks) so I have to haul my own to a transfer station a few miles away, where there are separate containers for trash, metal, glass, and paper. And there's a separate program called Hi 5 (Hawai'i 5 cents) for beverage containers that have a 5 cent deposit to be redeemed. Considering the low population density and rural nature of most of the island, I'm happy to see them do this much at the local level. They have a more involved recycling program at the two landfill locations, one one each side, that will accept used appliances, lawn trimmings and agricultural waste (which are composted into free mulch, which is in high demand), etc. But overall there is little incentive other than personal conscience to keeping recyclables out of the landfill stream, and it's obvious that compliance with the voluntary guidelines is sketchy at best.
In terms of more developed urban areas, I think that of Austin, TX is a model of working effectively with human nature. Garbage collection is charged for, it's not cheap, and you have to use official provided containers. They are available in a number of sizes. Recylables, however, are collected free, in a single stream process, and you can have as many of those containers as you wish. So there is a significant incentive to recycle, and even to reduce your regular garbage pickup, because switching down to a smaller container is free and saves you money each month thereafter. And though some people, predictably, try to game the system by putting garbage into the recycle cans, or overloading the garbage containers, or leaving extra bags (without buying special pickup stickers for them) pickups are monitored and fines assessed for this kind of abuse. From what I've read, it's working well. :OK:
Plastic beverage bottles are made into fleece lined garments and upholstery filling. Paper fiber can go around the recycling loop up to seven times, and is widely used in newsprint and cardboard manufacture. Plastic milk bottles are turned into weather resistant decking and dimensional lumber.
Shirts made of recycled plastic bottles. Ok, can you point me to a store that sells them? In an era where people proudly wear their environmentalism on their sleeves you would think shirts made of plastic would have that proudly displayed on a tag somewhere. I go to the Home Depot often but have yet to see decking material advertised as made of recycled milk jugs.
Shirts made of recycled plastic bottles. Ok, can you point me to a store that sells them? In an era where people proudly wear their environmentalism on their sleeves you would think shirts made of plastic would have that proudly displayed on a tag somewhere.
Your lack of knowledge in this area is vast. Check out Polar Fleece, for one, from PolarTec LLC. It's the earliest (1979) and one of the best known brand names for fabric made from PET (Polyethylene terephthalate), which is the same material used to make large soda bottles. From the very beginning recycled PET bottles have been used along with virgin material to produce this material, which is now very widely used, especially in outdoor wear, and is made and sold by many different companies ...
Quote:
Polar fleece is used in jackets, hats, sweaters, jogging bottoms/sweatpants, cloth diapers, gym clothes, hoodies, inexpensive throw blankets, and high-performance outdoor clothing, and can be used as a vegan alternative to wool.
I go to the Home Depot often but have yet to see decking material advertised as made of recycled milk jugs.
I guess you weren't looking very hard, because they've had featured displays about composite decking and fencing for years. They use a different type of plastic than polar fleece.
Quote:
Composite Decking:
Composite decking materials are made of wood and plastic (sometimes recycled grocery bags or milk jugs). Manufacturers typically do not recommend painting, staining, or sealing composite surfaces. Martha Stewart | Garden Club
And if you check out this page, Home Depot lists 123 items they sell for Composite Fencing. It's weather resistant, doesn't rot, and doesn't need painting, so it's gaining a good reputation with DIYers.
Another place recycled composite material is gaining popularity is in the manufacture of park benches and bus benches because it's low-maintenance, tough, and resists vandalism.
And here's another manufacturer, one of many who make these products, showing some of the versatility of these materials...
None of this stuff is new, some has been around as long as 35 years. Rather than being dubious or sarcastic with others about recycling efforts you don't know about or don't understand, I suggest you do some personal research to catch up.
Recycling in Lubbock Tex. is completely voluntary. They have some dumpsters for the stuff near a few grocery stores, but most people don't bother. We are way too far from any place where they could reuse the stuff. The freight cost would kill any savings.
In California there is taxation (or a 'deposit' they call it) on every soda can and bottle. For instance, you pay 10 cents for every 2-liter plastic bottle of Coca-Cola at the point of sale.
Most people separate their trash into the 3 colored bins like the poster MountainBiking said, but in most urban areas the homeless & dumpster diver-types are *very very* aggressive about getting up at 3am in the morning and rummaging thru the curbside bins for your treasure before the trash truck comes by in the morning. There are business dedicated to cashing out your various plastics, glass, steel, aluminum and copper that operate based on weight.
But if you are fussy and don't like such rough operations (there might be homeless people standing in line next to you) there are cleaner automated facilities in like the parking lot of the grocery store - but they require a 'perfect barcode' on the UPC symbol to scan your item, then you get a paper ticket that you bring inside to the grocery store to get your cash back.
Or you can do nothing, just sort your trash and the trash truck just hauls it away if you don't have time or energy to mess with the whole process. That's what the state is banking on, that nobody bothers to collect their soda can tax back.
The uses of the recycled material are limited only by the imagination of manufacturers. Glass I dont think is particularly valuable or rare, but metal definitely is.
Last edited by SUPbud; 05-22-2014 at 06:27 AM..
Reason: typos
Reading this, from my home in Toronto, I have to shake my head at the resistance to recycling by SOME Americans.
Now that I am retired , I make a very good living from recycling computer parts and monitors. I get them from my local advertising. A basic desk top computer contains about $50 worth of metal, and circuit boards, that I sell to a E-waste buyer, here in Toronto. It takes me about 20 minutes to dismantle a computer, down to it's valuable parts. Don't tell anybody.... but there is gold in those computer boards, and I "mine them " . An ounce a week is not unusual.
Here in Ontario, all beer bottles and cans, and liquor bottles are worth ten cents refund at the Beer Stores. As a result , the average beer can or bottle , here in Ontario is recycled 98 percent of the time. A beer bottle can be reused about 37 times, before it is broken down, melted, and re-made, as new, again.
In our supermarkets, there are whole aisles of recycled products. Here is a list off the top of my head. Toilet paper, paper towels, coffee filters, egg cartons, milk cartons, soda pop bottles, margarine tubs, and plastic garbage bags. At the automotive store.......recycled plastic floor mats, recycled automotive batteries, recycled motor oil, and anti-freeze, recycled yard waste bags, rain wear made from recycled plastic bottles, and the most obvious one, recycling containers, made from recycled plastic.
Toronto has over 10,000 street side recycling containers, that didn't cost the city ANYTHING. The total cost was paid by a advertising company, who place ads on the outside of the bins. Every night, city of Toronto trucks come along and empty the bins which have three separate openings, for paper, plastic and metal. The city of Toronto SELLS that material to corporations that use the materials to create NEW products. That system , in 2013, made the city of Toronto a EIGHTY MILLION DOLLAR PROFIT.
Every location in Canada, with more than 1,000 residents, MUST have a recycling program in place, and that dates from the year 2001. So, even in the high arctic, we recycle every thing. That's a Federal law, that covers the whole country.
Here is a link to the things that the city of Toronto recycles.
Please register to post and access all features of our very popular forum. It is free and quick. Over $68,000 in prizes has already been given out to active posters on our forum. Additional giveaways are planned.
Detailed information about all U.S. cities, counties, and zip codes on our site: City-data.com.
Please register to participate in our discussions with 2 million other members - it's free and quick! Some forums can only be seen by registered members. After you create your account, you'll be able to customize options and access all our 15,000 new posts/day with fewer ads.
