Is Recycling Really Worth It?

sickofbluebins asks: "If one does a google on Why To Recycle there is a staggering amount of information on how recycling saves trees, resources, reduces pollution and generally is A Good Thing (tm). However, I recently read this article which comments that most recycling (besides aluminum) is not really worth it, and most of the recycling push is not based on science, but rather just by more politically based groups. I remember having people in my college classes be shocked when I informed them (being from a small town in the middle of logging country), that old growth forest was NOT being used for paper, as those trees produce the best lumber for things like houses and decks. The shock continued when I also stated in fact most paper comes from trees planted just for that purpose. All this makes me wonder how accurate the typical recycling information is. So I ask you, Slashdot readers, have any of you seen a true 'scientific' study of the benefits (or lack thereof) of recycling, especially renewable resources such as paper. I would really like to know what recycling really helps our planet out, and what is just a bunch of hype."

Comments

Re:Recycling is to achieve two goals.

[youngsd]

Do you want to be an asshole? No then buy four waste bins and one basket. 1 for paper. 1 for glass. 1 for food remains and finally one for all the rest. The basket is for all the stuff like old tv's fridges batteries and the like. How much time will it cost you to seperate them? Zero. How much time will it cost you to empty them? 1 hour extra per week max. Small price to pay for not being an asshole.

Now there is impeccable logic. Seriously, the fact that most environmental activists I know come off sounding like you (i.e. a pompous idiot) is the reason I cringe when recycling anything and I feel a small secret joy when I throw an aluminum can into the trash. My next can's dedicated to you, dude!

-Steve

Recycling? I guess. What about batteries?

[jtnix]

I once read an expose article from Casco Bay Weekly sometime back, I want to say about 8 years or more, about the recycling effort in Portland, Maine. Essentially the reporter discovered if there was more than 10% of 'unclean' recycleables in a batch collected from the public bins, they were put on a barge and trucked 50 miles out to sea and dumped. i.e. if people weren't properly sorting their recylcleables, or putting unacceptable materials for recycling the batch was just disposed of in the most convenient fashion.

The city stopped utilizing public recycling bins about 5 years ago, and are now doing curbside collection so I am not sure if thats still the procedure for 'dirty' batch collections, but I wouldn't put it past them.

I do know that (usually) if there is unacceptable recycleables in our bin, they are left in the bin for us to dispose of. If they are unsorted or excessively dirty, they dont collect at all and sometimes leave a note why.

What I wanna know is where the heck am I supposed to bring my depleted batteries? I called all over the city a year ago trying to find a public recycling bin for batteries since it is technically against the law to dispose of them in the general trash. Absolutely none of the waste disposal or city management departments knew of a place where residents could properly dispose of batteries and consistently deferred me to another city department or waste management facility.

So I still toss them in the trash, like everyone else.

Yay, America! We're gonna be living in a Stinking Pile in 50 years. Congratulations, Capitalism.