So many opinions, so little knowledge......so much, it's some one elses problem to fix and if they don't fix it my way they are irresponsible. Do we really believe that if recycling provided an acceptable return on investment there wouldn't be investors lining up?

I remember back in my childhood black smoke coming from the manufacturing places & semi trucks. Now you see white smoke. If it can be done the single stream is better & far more economical. I do like taking my own bags to the grocery store. They pack & stack better. They are much easier to lift from the cart to my trunk. The insulated bags go on the counter closest to the refrigerator & non-insulated bags go on counters closer to other supplies. I do agree we all can make an effort to reuse containers. I now make my own insect repellent so I reuse the bottles. Egg cartoons in my childhood were made of a different material than the ones todayy. If we burn the garbage can the melted plastic still be used with concrete for roads and home building products?

This has already been instituted in Ocala.

We have been recycling for over 20 years. We are from Oregon and for us this was taking a huge step back in time. I remember how hard it was to switch the mind set. I just can’t help but wonder places like where we came from made this work in a huge scale- why can’t Florida follow their model and then the counties, cities will follow suit- just like what happened there.
I makes me sad when someone comes up with a great working model and no one sees it to repeat it.
There was time when Oregon was number one at recycling. Now that about the only thing I am going to tout for them.
But I do know this... it took the state to get involved for it to work on a mass level and economic feasibility.
That being said, I am not a proponent for state involvement but apparently at this, it was a good working model for all and earth.

Over in the left and up north, there is a deposit and return $, there are large recycle centers where you take your items, allowed 2 bags a day, and they hire and staff these buildings where you take your bottle deposit items and they credit your account which then can be used at the grocery stores or you go there and cash out your account when you want. The stores are all for this, that way they don’t have to deal with it at all. The facilities employ people. The mass bottles and cans (daily consumption kind) don’t become landfill) win -win

And what do you want to do with it...
the market is flooded, and no one needs it...:ohdear: :ohdear:

You are being factual and are not reading between the lines. Thank you for Posting this. Some were hoping you would've not come along and just blamed the trade deal.

All of those items came from the earth, so what's the problem with returning them to the earth?
I support the Covanta single stream option, even though it's more expensive it makes sense in reduced truck travel and higher effective recycle rate.

I live at the southern end of The Villages for the past year and we never had recycling--I guess this is the reason. As far as harming the environment, if that presents a problem then the EPA
will have to step in. That being said, I assume there will be some kind of guidelines for The Villages as far as dumping and burning garbage.

[QUOTE=dougawhite;1761159]All of those items came from the earth, so what's the problem with returning them to the earth?
I support the Covanta single stream option, even though it's more expensive it makes sense in reduced truck travel and higher effective recycle rate.[/QUOTE
Plastics didn’t come from the earth. They are man made. When burned they have the chance of releasing carcinogens into the air. Part of the reason you’re not supposed to reheat food in the microwave using plastic containers. I don’t have the answer. But, dumping all this S$&@ in the air isn’t it.

I agree.

HOWEVER, we can only blame it on ourselves for refusing to know how to recycle correctly and be careful of what goes in the recycling bin. I see people throw trash into recycle bins in public and at home. People seem to think greasy pizza boxes, used napkins, aluminum foil, and bottle caps are OK. The are not!

A few months ago when the "refuse" hit the fan over China refusing to take our recycling, I limited it to glass bottles (no caps!), cans, and corrugated cardboard. That stuff is all easy to separate at the recycling center. I suspect they are even valuable. I would love to recycle plastic, but with the many varieties, it is difficult to separate. I choose to use at little as possible. I really hate that my groceries are delivered in plastic bags now. :-(

Here's a video showing the incredible amounts of trash people throw into the recycling bins:

Single-stream recycling workers - YouTube

At one of the workshops, residents who participated in the survey said they were willing to pay a little more for an environmental-friendly system. Seeing what people were putting in the recycle bags, status-quo meant everything was refused due to "contamination" and it all went to the landfill. (That was the problem with sending to China--they didn't want all that contamination either.) Now that few items are worth any money separating "recyclables" doesn't pay. With everything going to a facility that recycles it ALL to energy it's 100% recycled with only ash going to landfill. They will pull out metals for re-use. Fewer pick-ups and less travel distance (by about half) saves gas and emissions. So the whole single stream is more environmental friendly. If you want to improve on that, decrease the amount of plastics you use--who needs to buy water in single-use bottles? As someone suggested, buy in bulk and re-fill smaller containers. Even pro-recycle proponents agreed that single-stream, waste-to-energy is a better way to go.

As for bulk pick-ups, all of us were paying for a few to abuse the system. If you buy white goods and electronics you can either pay the retailer to take your old ones or pay far less for a pick-up from Jacobs. That seems more fair than possibly adding more to everyone's bill. It's the way most places deal with it. Maybe trolls will catch any culprits illegally dumping at postal stations, etc.

In New Jersey, we were not to recycle bottle caps. When we moved to The Villages, I was told that bottle caps are fine to put into recycles. I called the trash company that services my village and they told me that bottle caps were fine to include with the recycles. I know that is not relevant now that recycling is not going to be done but I just want to let people know that bottle caps were OK to recycle.

:what:

Now who caused that?

Probably a part of the regulation purge done by some "acting" director.

China and their “National Sword” policy, enacted in January 2018
Why the world’s recycling system stopped working | Financial Times

How will they handle metal? Steel and aluminum and iron don’t burn all that well.

question about donating cans to animal services
 

I will start doing that as well. (pause) Actually, I just got through calling SCAS, and the guy that answered the phone knew absolutely nothing about that. I suggested that it might be something the volunteer group does, to raise extra $$ that isn't available for dog stuff in petty cash. He told me they don't have volunteers. (that shocked me), so I asked , so you don't have a volunteer group that comes in and plays with, works with, help with basic training and he said no, their employees do that. SO, I'm wondering if you could give me the name of who you work with, or the address of where you go to drop off. When I called the # for them, it rang into a county office that transferred me to this man, who supposedly was with Sumpter County Animal Services. thanks

For me, the "acceptable return on investment" is a planet that can sustain life for a few years longer than if we just continued to pollute it at the current rate.

I might not see a single extra day of life out of the deal. In fact I probably won't. But someone's great-grandchildren will. And that makes it worth the effort.

Since China doesn't want our recyclables anymore we can just dump them in our nearby oceans like they were. Saves the transport fee. Just kidding but certainly could be true. I'm sure there will be cleaners in the smoke stacks at the sight where the waste will be burned to generate electricity. Of course there will be ash generated. Maybe they will use that to make highways, who knows, but I am sure it will be disposed of as best as possible. Seems better than having gigantic piles of garbage covered with a thin layer of dirt around all our major cities.