I tend to trust known, usually reliable sources, whether it's the internet or not...over unknown anecdotal opinions.

Aluminum Recycling (Poke Here)
:ho:

The best of all these posts .

Today the trash folks refused to pickup my trash because they could see a tiny bit through the bag. It wasn’t dark enough for them. I have been using white Sam's kitchen bags for 12 years and all of a sudden they wouldn’t take them. I went on Amazon and had to order black bags or they won’t take them. The whole world is trying to reduce plastic and now I am buying more after just buying 200 white Sam's 13gallon kitchen trash bags. Insanity reigns.

This Defies Any Logic!
 

Your fiasco -- and that's what it is -- is incredible!
They wouldn't take your trash bag??? Unbelievable.

In what general area do you live where this happened?
I wonder if they would take my bags.
I use WalMart bags because I refuse to buy any!

Maybe they saw something inside the bag that they are not allowed to take. I have never had a bag left behind. And the ones that we are using now are pretty thin and can be seen a tiny bit through.

When we moved here 7 years ago, the neighbors said that regular trash was supposed to be in dark bags and recycled trash in clear bags (so as to verify it was actual recyclable items I presume).

I've since been using white garbage bags for regular trash and clear for recyclables...and have never either types of bags refused. :shrug:

:ho: From the District Web Site on Sanitation Collection Info:

"Garbage should not be in cans, but
instead put in white or black plastic
bags at the end of your driveway. Bags
should be placed at the end of your
driveway, at the edge of the street. Bags
must be placed for collection before
6:00 a.m. on your collection day or
the night before (no sooner than 9:00
p.m.). All garbage should be placed
in sealed, standard 20-30 gallon trash
bags, each bag weighing no more than
40 pounds. Refrain from leaving trash
out on undesignated collection days.
Wrap broken glass or other sharp
objects in newspaper and try to place
them where they cannot cause injury."

And

"Single Stream refers to a system that takes two recycling “streams” – mixed paper
and acceptable containers – and puts them together. No sorting needed! ALL your
recyclable items MUST be in a clear plastic bag. This increases the ease and
convenience of recycling so more people participate and more resources are saved."

Why I mention what happens up north is that we don’t repeat the same mistakes in TV. If it isn’t obvious, what I’m trying to say that the mastered planned community of TV with all it’s faults, is really doing very well and I am very proud of it!

There was just my usual stuff, nothing else. Nothing forbidden in a white Sam's club 13 gallon kitchen trash bag. I see them all over the place. I am giving them to my younger son in Viera, I now have Hefty black bags. Came today. Thank you Amazon. Delivery in less than 24 hours. It’s a crazy world out there. I live in Mallory Square.

I know it sounds wasteful, but you could double up the white bags so they can't see inside.
I've never had any bags not picked up and I use white bags.

Vermin love composts. Wouldn't want to live next to you.

Must be some better ideas for product containers out there
 

Personally I would label myself "average" as far as being aware of recycling and control of waste, but lately I've been thinking/questioning more and more if there might not be a better way of doing things. One example, I absolutely love the weed, insect, fertilizers, and fungus products that come in the bottles you attach to the hose. So easy, so fast, don't even need to put on "work" clothes, and so incredibly inexpensive compared to hiring gardener/lawn people to do it, but, lately I have wondered if anyone has thought of a way to just refill the bottles rather than purchase the entire hose fitted container each time. I know the same applications can be bought in large gallon or more heavy plastic containers, but then you get into the messy mixing like the old garden sprayers. I think there is plenty of opportunity for some ingenuity. Could things like laundry detergent, fabric softener, etc. come in the "old fashioned" paper cartons like some milk and juice still does ? Or, are these as much of a problem as the thick plastic such things now come in ? What about mouth wash and such, could it come in cartons like juice ?

This is quoted from The Guardian, US Edition, which is doing a series on recycling in America...

"Plastic degrades in quality when it is recycled, and while it’s tough to know how many times a piece of plastic will get recycled before becoming unusable, experts estimate it may only be once or twice. After that, it is landfilled, incinerated, or ends up in the environment.

"There’s only one real solution, these experts say: make and consume less plastic."

I reference this article: How you're recycling plastic wrong, from coffee cups to toothpaste | Environment | The Guardian

There was once a poster a year or two ago who, defending her daily consumption of bottled water, said it was okay for her to do that because she recycled every bottle. Those bottles will all end up in the landfill eventually.

We must come up with solutions.

This is the first place I have ever lived that allowed garbage put out in sacks. It was new to me ! I have lived in several places that provided the special cans that save so much manual labor, and I have lived in locations that require each resident purchase one or more of the "official" can from the city (and they are very expensive). So the developer here would most likely not purchase the cans at all, it might be a required additional cost here.

Hummm… I too have used the tall white 13 gal. bags for at least 16 years now. Some weeks have so little I even use a double WM or Publix bag, tie it well at the opening, etc. and put that out. I do use heavy weight large black bags if I have an exceptional amount once in awhile but not often !

You obviously know nothing about composting. Do some reading, gain some knowledge and then make intelligent comments. Following your comment means that vermin should be rampant around the villages because there are lots of dead, brown and green plant materials which is the only thing that goes into a compost pile.

The plastics are just Ethylene.
They decompose (oxidize) to CO2 and Water...Which is plant food.
This is basic grade school Chemistry/Earth Science.

One of the bigger problems I have is trying to reduce the amount of plastic I purchase. More and more items are now only available in plastic. It's nearly impossible to buy milk in a carton unless I pay 3 times more for organic. Powdered laundry detergent is a rare find; and I no longer buy the powdered drink mixes in plastic (Crystal Light and the like). If I can find the 4C brand in the cardboard box I will use that instead. I use a refillable device for my Keurig, but even coffee is hard to find in something other than plastic! I never EVER buy bottles of water.
I think we need to focus not on recycling but reducing the amount of plastic that we purchase. I am thrilled to hear that Dunkin Donuts is starting to do away with their Styrofoam coffee cups! We need to put pressure on all of these companies to look for alternatives to plastic in their packaging!

No Rats Around My House!
 

Yes, rats probably do love composts but they have to be able to get into my bin which they absolutely cannot do unless they have the muscles of Atlas.
Actually, it would be impossible for them to open it.

And since you probably have palm trees around your house (or your next door neighbor's house) you probably DO have rats because that's where they live.

I have no palms and NO rats but I'd bet you do!
And maybe -- just maybe -- you DO live next door to me and just don't know it! :a040:

The plastic grocery bags? Plastic bottles? Plastic containers? Which plastics?

Remember, this important meeting starts at 9 a.m. tomorrow at Laurel Manor Recreation Center. I will be there and hope to see many of you at this presentation to be followed by a question-and-answer session.
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You probably should have taken advanced chemistry/earth science, because you missed the part where you learn that it can take between 10 and 1000 years for a plastic grocery bag to decompose (depending on the complete composition of the bag) and 750 years for a plastic bottle to decompose.

Bags made of plastic are NOT biodegradable. That is why there are recycling programs. It's why some landfills are full. It's why China isn't accepting more recycling plastics. It's why the pollution at the bottom of the oceans is causing marine life to suffer.

Or using less!

Supermarkets could lead the way by simply stop issuing plastic bags.
If they want to give bags, paper only.
Aldis have done it from the start. No bags, bring your own.
Simple.

Ridiculously over-simplified statement on plastics. And yes, which plastics? Don't forget children's toys, lawn furniture, and the like.

Remember, this important meeting starts at 9 a.m. today at Laurel Manor Recreation Center. I will be there and hope to see many of you at this presentation to be followed by a question-and-answer session. If you have questions and concerns, attend the meeting to hear from experts.
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I love that many states have deposits on glass and plastic beverage bottles and aluminum beverage cans. Knowing we have to pay for the privilege, but can be refunded if we keep them out of the landfill, makes a huge impact.

We have to bring the bottles back, but if you drink mostly water and rinse any soda/beer containers before tossing them in your garage bag there's no risk of attracting bugs while you build up enough to haul them to the supermarket.

It also guarantees that you'll have at least one grocery bag being re-used, since you have to put those bottles and cans somewhere, to get them from your garage to your store. And then you have that money to spend in the store, and put whatever you buy in the bag you just emptied out.

It's a mentality perhaps many people aren't capable of embracing, but up in states that have deposits it's just part of life, and no inconvenience at all.

I find it astounding that if you buy a case of water at Staples in the Villages, you'll notice that you pay only the case price, with no deposit. Yet every one of those bottles has a deposit indication on the label. That means I can buy the case in Florida, drink the water, and bring the empties in the car when I travel back north, and get $1.20 back for the deposits.

It's not the mentality of the people in the states without bottle return, it's the grocery store lobby. The grocery stores don't want to have to deal with the returns, and they now have strong lobbies to keep it out of those states.

I would like to see a change in the composition of plastic. There must be a way we can produce biodegradable and less harmful plastic in the first place. I believe the technology already exists it is just still too expensive to use in practice.

The newest problem is straws.

I've seen new ones made out of aluminum, I believe, but why isn't anyone coming back with and manufacturing paper straws???

You can buy paper straws. They're great - for around 15 minutes. And then they unravel and you're stuck with soggy paper and a cup you still have to sip directly from anyway.

You can also buy bamboo straws, which last much longer, and are re-useable and washable.

You can also buy acrylic adult sippy cups with no staws needed at all, but you have to (OMG THE HORROR) carry it around with you because it's too expensive to throw away when it's empty.

The only time I use a straw now, is when I'm drinking a frozen drink that is too thick to sip, and not thick enough to spoon.

As to Velvet re: biodegradeable plastic: not possible. Plastic, by definition, is a petroleum-derived product and just doesn't biodegrade.

What you CAN do, however, is support the banana, hemp, and bamboo industries. Did you know that the stalk of a banana plant is fibrous and can be made into clothing, and bags? Bamboo and hemp are also fibers that can be made into clothing and bags.

They are re-useable, and they're not cheap. This is likely why they're not popular for bags. Because we live in a disposable society. It'd be nice if we were less disposable but the advent of the TV dinner pretty much destroyed any chance we have of returning to NOT having paper plates, NOT having disposable diapers, NOT having plastic utensils and plastic bags that end up in the landfills by the billions every day.

Yes, you are right I should have written “biodegradable plastic substitute”. I believe that changing the chemical composition is probably easier than trying to change, on a large scale, established human behavior.

I like the idea of bamboo very much, I use it for my cutting board, etc.

I love my bamboo cutting board. It's so much lighter weight than hardwood. It's a big one, I use it mostly to roll out dough for pastries and cookies, or slice apples for pie (I bake. A lot.)

There's a local grocer up north, they provide plastic grocery bags but they are made from recycled plastic. Most supermarkets use non-recycled plastic. So this grocer's bags are made FROM recycled bags, which are in turn recyclable. And the inks they use to identify the store on the bags are made from natural pigments, which are safer to print with and less toxic to manufacture.

There is -also- a movement to create new bags out of old bags up here. It's a group of crafters who take used plastic grocery bags that aren't ripped up, clean them, and weave them into other things. Pocketbooks and lunch totes and wallets. They have color schemes and even specific designs that make them decorative. They're very tightly woven, so it looks more like raffia than plastic grocery bags. Very clever.

I should have been more clear about the straws. Yes, you can buy paper straws.
However, the big plastic straw culprits are restaurants, fast food places, and stores which prepare and have take-out food.
None of these places have gone to or offer an alternative to plastic

A video of the presentation that includes the questions and answers will soon be on the District web site. In the meantime, I have attached the slides from the meeting.

When are our trash rates increasing?

Thanks for the attachment. Definitely setting up for some changes and a rate increase.

Sent from my SM-N960U using Tapatalk

The alternative is to a) bring your own straw or b) don't use a straw. Drink right from the glass. Do you drink champagne with a straw? Beer? A shot of whiskey? No? Then why is it necessary to use a straw with any other liquid refreshment?

Thanks for doing that.

Bring my own straw? I think not!

A lot of using a straw is just habit. I NEVER recall being served iced tea in a restaurant and NOT getting a straw. The same actually goes for just about anything that's served cold.

Also, one would have to admit it's pretty difficult to drink from a take-out paper glass with a lid, without a straw :1rotfl:.