I no longer recycle because....
 

.....I went to Publix to get the bags for recycling and got confused with all the choices. I ended up with white bags instead of clear plastic. I mistakenly thought the white bags would work.

I don't buy much food in plastic so I don't have a lot to recycle. It took me about 3 or 4 months to fill up one bag. I was so proud to have accomplished that that I almost didn't want to part with it. It was like a collection of old favorite containers.

I proudly put the bag out at the end of my driveway. And just to make sure they wouldn't get it confused with regular trash I put it next to a stack of newspapers. And I put the other trash about 3 feet away.

So guess what? I saw the garbage guy take the recycling-bag with the rest of the regular trash.

So I said, "that's it" no more recycling.

How long will it be before the recycling police show up at my door?

LOL....Not laughing at you. I could just picture the look on your face when the trash guy picked up your recycle bag. Recycle is a joke and I don't do it except for boxes and newspaper because you don't need a "special" clear bag. Oh, by the way, what's with the plastic bag anyway? Doesn't that contribute to the problem? A separate bin would work for me but then there's the argument against the big diesel burning truck. It's a vicious circle.

So you would rather have your non-biodegradable trash end up in a landfill forever because you are confused?
Wow.

Well, the plastic bag is probably recycled along with the stuff in it. Glass and plastics don't need to go in landfills. Not that big a deal to put stuff in a clear bag.

Big fan of recycling.
1. Publix would have gladly exchanged the bags once you realized you had the wrong ones. Assume you realized it before using??
2. Garbage on one side of the driveway, recycling on the other....not just a few feet apart.
3. Clear bags so the guys can tell it's recycling, not garbage,
and last by not least...
4. I bet you could recycle a lot more than just plastic. How about glass, junk mail, packaging for most products, and the list goes on and on. You can get a list from the recycling department or probably just google it.

My recycling is always larger than my garbage.

Why is recycle a joke ?

Unbelievable nonsense. Do you not care about anyone but yourself? Future generations, the environment? Your attitude is shameful.

We usually have much more recycling than regular trash, win plastics, papers, junk mail, cartons, etc, etc. Recycling is everyone's responsibility IMHO.

My husband was told directly by one of the recycle guys that you can use any kind of plastic bag if you do not have a clear one. Just put a label on stating that it is recycle.

I wonder if he, the recycle guy, shared that with all the other recycle guys?

I'm sorry to hear that you are unwilling to make the effort to recycle. All of your stuff added to the landfill cancels out my conscientious effort to recycle everything I possibly can. And so it goes.

:If you choose not to recycle SO BE IT. Just keep it to yourself and NO ONE Would KNOW and you wouldn't get all the negative feedback. Life goes on.:22yikes:

Dod you ever think about the fact that some people are making millions of dollars from the recycling business and we are doing a god deal of the work for them? If they are so concerned about the environment and making money from it why don't they go through the trash and separate it themselves. Then, they have the nerve to charge us for the bags.

I may be a bit cynical, but sometimes I think that it's all a big scam.

Nothing cancels out what you do. A certain percentage of stuff is going to end up being recycled and a percentage is not. All you can d is add to the percentage that will be recycled.

Why in the world would you be concerned about the fact that recycling is a profitable business. Do you picture employees having to sort through your personal garbage by hand? Food waste, diapers, used q-tips, dirty tissues, etc? If you don't think that keeping stuff that can be recycled out of our landfills is important, then nothing I say here can change your mind. Sometimes I am so disappointed when I hear about people that cannot take 2 minutes out of their week to help make the world a better place for ourselves, our children and our grandchildren.

I used to put our recycle-appropriate trash in a bin on which I had spray-painted the words "For Recycling," along with my address. This saved me from using plastic bags. That stopped when the trash guys tossed the bin in their truck along with its contents.

One reason recycling is promoted is because the trash contractor sells those materials to processors.

As for volume, we toss out more recyclables than garbage. In fact, it would be better with a once weekly garbage pick-up and twice weekly recycle pick up -- at least for me it would.

I have no problem with recycling being a profitable business. I am all for people making all the profit that they can from any business that they invest in and work hard at. I have a problem being an unpaid employee of that business.

Inside the world of for-profit recycling - The Week

Recycling E-Waste Becoming Big, Profitable Business | Industry Leaders Magazine

From Waste to Wealth

There are many more stories if you're interested in looking them up.

As someone said, the people that pick up our trash simply sell the recyclables to another company. They make money for doing nothing really. We do all the work for them.

And let me reiterate, I have no problem with these business. In fact, I think that they are good for the economy and produce jobs. But like I said, I have no interest in being an unpaid employee.

One of my pet peeves. They pick up the stuff and sell it and we have to buy the bags for them. If they want me to recycle 100% then supply the bags. It's like going to a restaurant and having to supply the food.

As for volume, we toss out more recyclables than garbage. In fact, it would be better with a once weekly garbage pick-up and twice weekly recycle pick up -- at least for me it would.[/QUOTE]

Same holds true at our house too. Small amounts of garbage and large amounts of recyclables. Would prefer 2 days of recycle and 1 day of garbage pickup.

Oh for Heveans Sake. A recycle bag cost 45cents or less. For 45 cents I can be a good steward of our planet. Find another excuse than price.

We purchased 200 clear bags from Amazon for less than $40.00 (about $10.00 per year) and delivered for free to our door. Have one waste basket with a clear bag and another with a black bag. It really is very easy.

Where do they take the material you put out for recycling?

It is your garbage and trash. You don't want to bag it? I guess we should just throw all that garbage and trash on the road and expect someone to come along and shovel it up. How can anybody complain about buying two types of bags? We should all do our share.

In the old days, as kids, we would collect bottles and newspapers and we would get the money. Too bad that went away along with the paper route.
To me, that was worthwhile recycling.

The petty small mindedness of some people never fails to amaze and depress me.

The only work required is to buy the bags and do a little sorting. We still have dozens of clear bags left from a one-time purchase at Sam's Club in 2008. I hate to imagine the cubic yards the amount of recycles we put out over the years would occupy at the landfill had it been lumped together with the garbage.

I think it goes to Orlando and is sorted by hand.

Recycling is a matter of conscience. If you favor the idea of not creating landfill waste, then you do it.
I do. I recycle every week, because I believe it's the right thing to do. I've never had a problem finding and purchasing the correct bags. I've never resented providing the bags. It's like pumping your own gas to provide profits for oil companies, or paying for parking while you go to the theatre, or paying for internet service to shop at Amazon, or providing the water and electricity to contractors at your home, or buying checks to do business with my bank. It's just the cost of doing business. And I choose to contribute to the recycling business because it's good for the environment and is considerate of future generations.
You make your own choice!

I recycle as much as possible and try to do my part. But many of these comments sound like it's a religion, and like the o.p. is seen as a heretic in the times of burnings at the stake.

NO Complaints here with The Villages in Sumter County
___________________________________________
... EVERY Monday
TWO guys + Truck at 8 am to take the recycle

THREE guys + Truck at NOON to take trash and garbage.
______________________________________________
...EVERY Wednesday
THREE guys +Truck at 8 am to pick up yard trimmings
and tree cuttings.
_______________________________________________
...EVERY Thursday
TWO guys + Truck at 8 am to take the recycle

THREE guys + Truck at 930 am to take trash and garbage
__________________________________________________

52 weeks per year times 5 stops per week = 260 stops per year.
Charges me 17.90 per month times 12 = $ 214.80 per year

ALL my Trash + Garbage + Recycle + Yard waste is taken away.
No matter how much I put out there.

:agree: It's one small but important thing we can all do to make the world a better place.

Cattywampus, just FYI: recycling is only picked up once a week. So, if you're putting recycling out twice a week, one of those times your recycling is going to the garbage dump, not to the recycling center.

I just don't understand all this intensity. If it were Warren Buffett who owned this place would it be better?

http://notesandrestsmakemusic.wordpr...ocrat-i-think/

Rules are rules and in place for a reason. If someone wants to change the rules on what color bag to use, it is their option to go to those in charge and work on changing what they feel is wrong. Until the rule is changed, we have the responsibility to follow the rules, regardless of our personal opinion.

And that's a bad thing?

Have been recycling for years. We started when we moved to northern CA....and at that time, you took your recyclables to drop off locations. We were young, it made us feel like we were doing something good for the planet. Moving to the lower part of the state was almost the same for recycling, you took your recyclables to drop off locations. A number of years later, our city became involved in recycling pick up through our trash company. After years of those dam small containers, one for glass, one for plastic, one for paper, they went to those huge containers, one for trash, another for recyclables. Good idea, if you have a place for them. Luckily, all yards in our neighborhood were fenced so the large bins were generally not visible during the week. On trash day, well, not the same story. The containers lined the streets every Thursday morning all lined up like little soldiers. After pickup, many still stood at attention, their owners off to work for the day. Empty bins aren't heavy and could be blown about by the wind and on days with Santa Ana winds, well the bins could travel quite far. It wasn't a pretty sight, really and those bins can get pretty stinky over time. The clear bag rules here for recyclables, for me, is a relatively simple and convenient way to recycle. I have a regular trash barrel in the garage, lined with a clear bag. When the bag is filled, I pull it out and tie it up. When trash is picked up, no rolling bins making their way down the street, no tipped over bins blocking driving lanes. You can buy large bags at warehouse stores, online, etc. I've bought them at Costco and Sam's Club in the past. The bags are 33 gallon size and I find them useful for things other than recycling.

Recycling isn't mandatory....either do it or don't do it.