[dandt]

Is there a way to promote recycling in this area? Many of us come places where recycling is not only possible but required.
Fine for aluminum cans and papers, but how about glass, plastic, bi-metal cans?

[Sandy222]

Lets think "Green" . Its so hard to just throw everything in the trash when we are use to recycling almost everything up in Ma.

It just amazes me that so little recycling is done. People here are so concerned about water conservation , shouldn't we also be concerned about other environmental issues.


One other question----How many phone books do we really need??? Is there a list to get on so we don't get all these phone books.???

[Talk Host]

I was really a shock to our system to not recycle here. We were soooooo use to it in Upstate New York, where they were really frontrunners in the recycling movement. It became second nature for us to recycle. Now, even after 4 years it is still difficult for me to throw bottles and cans into the trash.

JLK

[JohnZ]

Ah recycling. As an environmental engineer, this is a topic near and dear to my heart. There is indeed a severe lack of recycling in these parts....and in other parts of the country as well these days. The questions is....why? Aside from the environmental good it does.....it's a business. At times, as a business, recycling is prone to be anemic during down market conditions. It often requires local governement subsidies to sustain a community recycling program. Would y'all pay more for general trash pick-up to support a recycling program?

[dandt]

Although it's a bit of a bother, those of us in Marion County can take recyclables to a center just behind the post office in Weirsdale. It's only five miles away and a very pleasant drive. Perhaps there are similar sites for Sumter and Lake Counties.

[REDCART]

Yesterday in New York City, Rupert Murdoch announced that News Corporation (his baby with 47,000 employees) would implement a company-wide energy plan to become carbon-neutral by 2010. You may also recall that Australia recently banned the sale of incandescent light bulbs and that California and Connecticut were considering similar steps.

Since the Villages management prides itself on being environmentally green, you wonder why they haven't installed compact florescent lighting in all lampposts throughout the Villages and maybe spearheaded a campaign to promote these energy savers among all Village homeowners. It might be prohibitively expensive for the Villages to retrofit existing homes (lampposts) but it could begin with all new construction.

By itself it may not solve the climate problem but it's the environmentally correct thing to do. Does anyone have experience with purchasing these compact florescent light bulbs. I've heard that they're very affordable when purchased in contractor packs of 20 from either Home Depot or Costco?

[PJ]

Yes I've been using them (CFLs) ever since they first became available (before moving to The Villages). They really do last a long time. When I get a new CFL I take a black majic marker and put the current date on the white base, just to see for myself how long it will last. I've had some last 10 years. And it saves energy and money, so it's a feel-good thing to do...

[REDCART]

Thanks PJ. I didn't know how to refer to them but CFL makes sense. My in-laws have used them for years but whenever we visited, their home always appeared to dimly lit for me. It should have occurred to me that maybe they were using inadequate wattage CFL's to begin with. In any event, I'm sure this technology has significantly improved over the last 20 years, especially with recent environmental interest. I've heard that some CFLs are not only dimable but even come in 3-way configuration for lamps. I've tried a CFL rated at 75W compared to a 75W incandescent and it appeared to be the same in lumens. The difference of course, is the 75W CFL uses 20W of electricity and produced very little heat.