[Bonanza]

Originally Posted by perrjojo

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.

You aren't a good steward for our planet; no one in TV is.

As long as we are "required" to use plastic bags for our trash
and recycle items, we are contributing to the problem . . . big time!

Somewhere over 50,000 homes X 2 trash pickups a week =
at least 3 bags per household per week.

Absolutely disgaceful!

[Bonanza]

Originally Posted by Walter123

There are many pros and cons for recycling. I for one believe that recycling is far overrated. I am surprised of the righteous comments. We’re talking about trash but some are trashing others rather than just stating your opinion on the subject. Please focus.

What are the "cons" for recycling?

How is recycling overrated?

"Please focus!"

[Chinook]

Hello, I just bought a home in the villages and I come from a very socially and environmentally progressive part of the country and we have recycled for 30 years. I have dutifully separated my trash from my recycle, used the appropriate bags etc.
My neighbors told me: " its all a joke and they just throw the recycle in the same place as the garbage"......
Is this true?
Can any Villagers that have lived in the Villages inform me it they truely recycle our materials we separate into bags for them?

Thanks,
Sue

[KeepingItReal]

Originally Posted by Chinook

Hello, I just bought a home in the villages and I come from a very socially and environmentally progressive part of the country.
Thanks,
Sue

Heck, we must be from the same town.....Welcome!

[bkcunningham1]

If it is too hot to go outside today and you need something to occupy your mind, here are some interesting trashy reads: Energy-from-Waste*Facility - Covanta

Overview of Costly Lake County Municipal Garbage Contract - Lake County Fiscal Rangers

Lake County task force presents recommendations on garbage to commissioners - Orlando Sentinel

[perrjojo]

Originally Posted by Chinook

Hello, I just bought a home in the villages and I come from a very socially and environmentally progressive part of the country and we have recycled for 30 years. I have dutifully separated my trash from my recycle, used the appropriate bags etc.
My neighbors told me: " its all a joke and they just throw the recycle in the same place as the garbage"......
Is this true?
Can any Villagers that have lived in the Villages inform me it they truely recycle our materials we separate into bags for them?

Thanks,
Sue

I can't imagine they would run a separate truck with all the expense involved if it were not being recycled. It's funny some complain that the Developer is making money from our recycled trash and others complain it's not really being recycled.
I cannot verify what happens to our trash but I believe it is truly recycled.

[mulligan]

Originally Posted by perrjojo

I can't imagine they would run a separate truck with all the expense involved if it were not being recycled. It's funny some complain that the Developer is making money from our recycled trash and others complain it's not really being recycled.
I cannot verify what happens to our trash but I believe it is truly recycled.

Two separate trucks come to my street every week. The recycle material is shipped to a single stream recycling facility. Even the abominable clear plastic bags are sorted and recycled there in a mostly automated operation. The regular trash does NOT go to a landfill. It is shipped to any one of several trash burning power plants.

[maybe]

Originally Posted by Dr Winston O Boogie jr

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.

------------------

You are not an unpaid employee for recycling anymore than you are for garbage because you have to properly bag it and take it to the curb. If we wanted to pay the costs involved, we could leave the garbage next to the house or garage, but society decides what is a reasonable effort for individuals to make in order to make the operation run as efficiently as possible. Likewise for recycling, it is more efficient to keep them separate from garbage because of contamination. You could also think of it as you ARE being paid to place recyclables separately, in that your taxes would otherwise be higher. The money the contractor makes on selling recyclables reduces the amount he has to charge the municipality. Personally, I think the sooner we get to sending nothing to landfills, the better off future generations will be.

[Walter123]

Originally Posted by Bonanza

What are the "cons" for recycling?

How is recycling overrated?

"Please focus!"

So you think there are no cons to recycling? Google it. There are pros and cons to almost everything. Right now in Florida recycling is a choice. I put out bundled newspapers and boxes because that makes sense to me. Plastic bottles placed in a plastic bag doesn't make sense to me.

[Barefoot]

Originally Posted by Walter123

Right now in Florida recycling is a choice. I put out bundled newspapers and boxes because that makes sense to me. Plastic bottles placed in a plastic bag doesn't make sense to me.

Originally Posted by mulligan

Two separate trucks come to my street every week. The recycle material is shipped to a single stream recycling facility. Even the abominable clear plastic bags are sorted and recycled there in a mostly automated operation. The regular trash does NOT go to a landfill. It is shipped to any one of several trash burning power plants.

Mulligan explained what happens with recycling, and that the plastic bags are sorted and recycled.
Walter, how does that not make sense to you??

[Villages PL]

Originally Posted by KathieI

[FONT=Comic Sans MS][SIZE=4] Let's take large plastic bottles for instance:

b) generally they only recycle large containers over 8 oz. and over. so anything smaller also gets tossed

Just on that basis alone, more than half of my stuff would have been tossed.

d) if any bottles contain labels or caps they must be removed, especially if the label contains any metallic substance in its substrate

Most of my larger containers had labels so they would have been tossed too.

e) then there is probably a very detailed SOP guidelines they must process in order to assure that the recycled material does not contain any contaminants, bacteria, or other harmful substances.

At least one of my big containers had a label and had contained a poison-herbicide so that would have been tossed.

This is only for plastic bottles. Now think about all the other types of materials, metal cans, alum cans, corrugate boxes, cereal or folding boxes, glass (which is probably the easiest material to recycle). Did I miss one??

At most I only have one (dark green) glass bottle per month and it has a label on the front and back. I don't drink soda etc. so there are no alum cans. My steel-cut oats comes in cardboard but I only have about one or two per month and they will break down in a land fill.

Of that one bag, that took me several months to fill, there might have been only one or two items that they could use. So I'm not going to feel bad about not recycling.

Here's an idea: If in the future I have an item that seems worthy of recycling I might just put it out by itself with no bag. As a matter of fact, I just remembered, I did that once and it worked.

[rubicon]

Originally Posted by Dr Winston O Boogie jr

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.

I happen to agree with much of what you say. At least when living in Minneapolis area the waste companies discounted your bill if you agreed to recycle.

In my home town recycling got to be so anal that they were demanding that residents separate bottles from cans, from plastic from paper and demanding that residents pull the labels off of cans and flatten them. Waste management had so many designated days for certain pick ups that they issued a calendar so residents knew what to place at the curb. and in specially colored bins

It infuriated me because my parents were not in the best of health and to go through all of this nonsense in the middle of winter

[Villages PL]

Originally Posted by Walter123

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.

Yes, I remember, those were the good ol' days!

[Villages PL]

Originally Posted by Walter123

We’re talking about trash but some are trashing others rather than just stating your opinion on the subject. Please focus.

Right! Some of them have called us petty, small-minded and shameful.

Yes, it's "trash-talk".

[Villages PL]

Originally Posted by sunnyatlast

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.

Perhaps they could start the Church of Latter Day Recycling.