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Old 05-13-2023, 06:50 AM   #21
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Here in west Michigan our recycling is sorted combined with everyone else's and then either made into a bail or put in a large container. If any, even one piece, is contaminated the entire bail/container is sent to the landfill. My wife chaperoned a field trip to our local recycling plant and was told that only about 10% of what is sent to be recycled is actually recycled, the rest is sent to the landfill.
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Old 05-13-2023, 07:05 AM   #22
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We are continually frustrated by the absence of campgrounds that provide recycling of any kind. Out of necessity, we put recyclables (plastic, glass, paper and aluminum) in our tow vehicle to recycle when we return home. This becomes a challenge, especially on long trips. We need to encourage campgrounds to offer this service. Am I missing something?
My guess is that campgrounds only recycle, anything other than clean metals, if there is a State law mandating recycling. Many of the States have mandatory recycling laws.

Also, in more populous States, the large waste collection companies such as Casella actually have what they call "Zero-Sort Recycling" facilities where they process the trash. End products are sold to third party manufacturers and true waste is burned in "clean trash to energy" facilities or composted.

I think the issue is the "economy of scale" conundrum. Populated areas can do it economically, rural areal, not so much.
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Old 05-13-2023, 07:22 AM   #23
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There are a few campgrounds around here where we have seen recycling dumpsters, most likely because it is required by the local government. (We have to pay an extra few dollars a month on our water/electric bill to have a recycling bin at our house--no choice on that, but I am sure much of it just goes to the landfill).


As mentioned earlier, it is the money that ultimately determines what is recycled. Scrap metal has been successfully recycled for decades (if not longer) because it is financially worth doing. Paper/cardboard in some situations is also somewhat profitable to recycle. New plastic is so cheap that there is almost zero direct financial benefit for most manufacturers to go to the trouble of recycling. The world knows that there is a major problem with plastic pollution all over the world, but as a whole, we (as in the collective) simply have not figured out how to economically fix the plastic problem.
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Old 05-13-2023, 07:59 AM   #24
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On the surface you would think recycling would work for campers ( people who enjoy the outdoors) however there are many reasons it may not.

1. Many public ( state) campgrounds are in remote areas where recycling (even trash pick up) pick up is a paid option and not a public service meaning added cost for the operator.
2. Even at campgrounds with recycling bins there see little use. There appears to be a mentality that " we are in the great outdoors where rules are different from at home"
3. When breaking camp speed is a focus for many campers and an extra trip to the recycling bin is not a priority.
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Old 05-13-2023, 09:15 AM   #25
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A lot of landfills are required to separate trash
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Old 05-13-2023, 09:16 AM   #26
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Even at home, our county provides recycling bins at the trash convenience centers. The truck comes by, empties all of the bins into one truck and it is hauled to the county landfill.

As said earlier, if 100% of people do it correctly 100% of the time, recycling works. If one person does not separate correctly, then the entire collection is contaminated and it goes to the landfill.

Recycling is a great idea but unless it is done correctly, it is only a "good idea".

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Old 05-13-2023, 09:24 AM   #27
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Even at home, our county provides recycling bins at the trash convenience centers. The truck comes by, empties all of the bins into one truck and it is hauled to the county landfill.



As said earlier, if 100% of people do it correctly 100% of the time, recycling works. If one person does not separate correctly, then the entire collection is contaminated and it goes to the landfill.



Recycling is a great idea but unless it is done correctly, it is only a "good idea".



Bob
Knowing humans, that means every load is rejected in your area. Why bother?
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Old 05-13-2023, 09:30 AM   #28
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Knowing humans, that means every load is rejected in your area. Why bother?
Exactly.
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Old 05-13-2023, 09:42 AM   #29
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Oregon recycles

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Originally Posted by Domer1972 View Post
We need to encourage campgrounds to offer this service. Am I missing something?
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I don't think I've ever seen a campground with anything besides a few dumpsters for garbage.
Every - EVERY - Oregon state campground that I have used has a complete, full line of recycling bins. Glass, plastic, metal, etc.. Most of the private campgrounds that I have used also have recycling bins. Perhaps it's just an Oregon thing.
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Old 05-13-2023, 10:59 AM   #30
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I do what I can to support recycling. If it doesn’t work because others are too lazy or incapable of properly sorting their recyclables, or if there is no profit in it, that’s beyond my control. What I also do is avoid buying products with overpackaging or environmentaly unfriendly packaging. For example, I absolutely refuse to buy water in a plastic bottle, or potato chips in a plastic can.

In any event, at least trying to recycle at free drop off points allows me to be rid of my trash, and I don’t have to pay for trash pickup at home.
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Old 05-13-2023, 11:54 AM   #31
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Every - EVERY - Oregon state campground that I have used has a complete, full line of recycling bins. Glass, plastic, metal, etc.. Most of the private campgrounds that I have used also have recycling bins. Perhaps it's just an Oregon thing.
Add Maine to the list.
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Old 05-13-2023, 05:34 PM   #32
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Recycling at a campground, that be great, but heck having people pick up there regular litter would be really great also.
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Old 05-13-2023, 11:08 PM   #33
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Recycling at campgrounds

Our Canadian friends are appalled that we don't rinse and recycle. Sure, let's waste fresh water to flush stuff down the sanitary sewer system so the item can go in the recycle bin.

Our city provides two bins, one for recycling. Amazon boxes go in it so it gets a lot of use. But the city's trash hauler sends two diesel-powered trash trucks around each week, one for regular trash and one for recyclables. How much air pollution is getting added by running that second diesel truck each week?

This week I took my old gas lawnmower to a local scrapyard for recycling. I got $3.50 cash for it and it cost me about $2 in gas to drop it off.

But there was a method to that madness. Right now many Regional Air Quality Boards are offering people money if they prove they recycled a gas lawnmower and bought a battery lawnmower. My gas one was 14 years old and finally was unrepairable.

I had applied for the RAQB program and got accepted. I emailed them the scrapyard receipt and my new battery lawnmower purchase receipt and I'm getting a $100 VISA card in return.

Now I gotta decide if I'm going to keep the battery lawnmower or return it so I can buy a lot cheaper gas one and put that $100 towards it.

Decisions, decisions. [emoji4]
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Old 05-14-2023, 04:36 AM   #34
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Ah, recycling.
A few years ago we discovered about 90% of the recycle material picked up goes into the landfill. Decided it is no longer worth my time and money for an exercise in 'feeling' like we were doing our part.s

I'm an avid recycler and a friend recently mentioned to me what you stated above. Would you mind telling me where you found that info? It's disheartening, but I'd sure like to figure out the truth.

Thanks!
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Old 05-14-2023, 06:52 AM   #35
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I'm an avid recycler and a friend recently mentioned to me what you stated above. Would you mind telling me where you found that info? It's disheartening, but I'd sure like to figure out the truth.

Thanks!
Lots of places. Just need to google "how much recycling is recycled"

The world has a plastic problem. I watched a youtube video a few years ago where they were experimenting with being able to combine all the plastics into a usable plastic.

Give me paper or cardboard packaging any day. Trees are a crop just like corn and soybeans, harvested and replanted. Plastic holds up better and is cheaper most likely for packaging but somewhere along the line packaging has to change.
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Old 05-14-2023, 06:53 AM   #36
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I'm an avid recycler and a friend recently mentioned to me what you stated above. Would you mind telling me where you found that info? It's disheartening, but I'd sure like to figure out the truth.
Not quite 90% except for plastics for these articles but not far off either. Some places quietly stopped their recycling drop-offs but still kept up the charade for residents.

https://www.cleveland.com/cityhall/2...r-garbage.html

https://www.baynews9.com/fl/tampa/ne...-contamination

https://www.tampabay.com/news/clearw...icial-resigns/

Plastics specifically: https://www.npr.org/2022/10/24/11311...-getting-worse

The linked reports in that NPR article are particularly depressing but do tell the story.

Yet some wording is sufficiently vague, such as somehow determining that the number of plastic bags on the sea floor and beaches dropped "significantly" or "steeply" when the locales started charging for bags. That wording is someone pushing an agenda. I mean, really? The sea floor is pretty big as I recall. Just how were plastic bags counted? Are we tagging plastic bags like sharks nowadays?

No numbers or just percentages with no numbers is always a red flag to me.

Ray
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Old 05-14-2023, 07:14 AM   #37
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Our Canadian friends are appalled that we don't rinse and recycle. Sure, let's waste fresh water to flush stuff down the sanitary sewer system so the item can go in the recycle bin.

Our city provides two bins, one for recycling. Amazon boxes go in it so it gets a lot of use. But the city's trash hauler sends two diesel-powered trash trucks around each week, one for regular trash and one for recyclables. How much air pollution is getting added by running that second diesel truck each week?

This week I took my old gas lawnmower to a local scrapyard for recycling. I got $3.50 cash for it and it cost me about $2 in gas to drop it off.

But there was a method to that madness. Right now many Regional Air Quality Boards are offering people money if they prove they recycled a gas lawnmower and bought a battery lawnmower. My gas one was 14 years old and finally was unrepairable.

I had applied for the RAQB program and got accepted. I emailed them the scrapyard receipt and my new battery lawnmower purchase receipt and I'm getting a $100 VISA card in return.

Now I gotta decide if I'm going to keep the battery lawnmower or return it so I can buy a lot cheaper gas one and put that $100 towards it.

Decisions, decisions. [emoji4]


I bought a cheap Ryobi 40 amp lawn mower, 4-5 years ago. Still work’s good. It’s quite easy to start lightweight. It replaced my gas mower that I had bought to make life easier for my grandfather self propelled push button start most expensive mower I had ever bought lasted 4 years. I have thought about upgrading but dang they went up in price
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Old 05-14-2023, 07:33 AM   #38
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I bought a cheap Ryobi 40 amp lawn mower, 4-5 years ago. Still work’s good. It’s quite easy to start lightweight. It replaced my gas mower that I had bought to make life easier for my grandfather self propelled push button start most expensive mower I had ever bought lasted 4 years. I have thought about upgrading but dang they went up in price
Yeah, no kidding. I bought a Ryobi 40 volt AWD self-propelled (obviously) and cut the lawn once. Looks like the two 6 AH batteries it came with will work out OK but one 6 AH battery barely does the front and our yard is only 1/4 acre (10,250 sq ft) minus the house, deck, shed, driveway, etc. so maybe 7,000 sq ft of grass.

$850 with tax.

I got clued in that Ryobi, sold exclusively at Home Depot, often has bundles and promotions on their web site that Home Depot does not show. Their web site had a bundle of a 40 volt $270 string trimmer for free that the HD site did not show but only with the AWD mower. HD Customer Service could not place the order either. I had to place an online order while standing at their Customer Service desk for a pickup.

On the HD site the non-AWD mower with two batteries also was $799 without the string trimmer.

So I got a nice mower and the trimmer, which came with a 40 volt 6 AH battery so that price is not quite as bad as it seems. And now I have three batteries and two chargers. Yes, I am going to keep it.

I found that $100 rebate RAQB program in another state when I was searching for how to get rid of the gas lawnmower. It took a a lot of searching but I then found the local one, as well as the same program in other states.

Ray
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Old 05-14-2023, 10:20 AM   #39
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I'm an avid recycler and a friend recently mentioned to me what you stated above. Would you mind telling me where you found that info? It's disheartening, but I'd sure like to figure out the truth.



Thanks!
Our local news station teamed up with a university (NMSU) committee to investigate exactly what happened to all the recycle picked up by our city and how it affected the environment. The goal was to increase participation by the university and city residents.
They followed the recycle from pickup, through sorting, and then final outcome/destination. During sorting, the crew picked out specific types of cardboard, metal, plastic, and glass that they had buyers for at that time. The rest went to the land fill. During the investigation, the city lost the buyers for the ground glass. Of course it was after they bought the upgraded glass grinders.
So, after running the numbers, by pounds I believe, 90% of the recycle picked up did not get recycled. And the city definitely did not break even in the recycle efforts.
The city still sorts and grinds the glass by color and residents can pick it up for free. Many folks use it for landscaping.
The study was about 6 years ago and I can't easily find the articles. Was very disappointing.
They did spin the positive side by focusing on how many pounds were kept out of the landfill and what new products were made by the companies that ultimately bought the recycle.
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Old 05-14-2023, 11:57 AM   #40
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Our local news station teamed up with a university (NMSU) committee to investigate exactly what happened to all the recycle picked up by our city and how it affected the environment. The goal was to increase participation by the university and city residents.
The city still sorts and grinds the glass by color and residents can pick it up for free. Many folks use it for landscaping.
The study was about 6 years ago and I can't easily find the articles. Was very disappointing.
They did spin the positive side by focusing on how many pounds were kept out of the landfill and what new products were made by the companies that ultimately bought the recycle.
Wow! Thanks all for providing the sources. I'll have to do some reading. The 90% is disappointing. Personally, I also like paper, cardboard and glass as I thought they were recycled.

I live in Washington state 28,000. Thanks to Puget Sound/Salish Sea and the San Juan Archipelago we have a whole bunch of shoreline, about 28,000 miles. There is a lot of plastic that washes up, especially related to the fishing industry. I spend a few hours each month picking up trash at various beaches. Lots of fishing debris, shotgun shells, plastic, etc.
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