How much time do you spend?

[NHSleddog]

Classifying the plastic they are going to burn anyway. Why do they keep up the dishonest charade here, why not just tell people all the time you are spending separating what is going to be burned is a waste of time.

 

[B737]

funny you posted this today, yesterday my recycling can did not get picked up due to "non-compliance", ok fine i'll just throw it all in the garbage

 

[Nicfin36]

I found the timing interesting as well. We have a couple of coworkers that have taken it upon themselves to maintain some recycling bins in our office. I have given them a hard time about it for years. Yesterday one of them was complaining about the wrong item being put in one of the bins. As I have told them many times, I just say, "You know they pick out all the aluminum cans and send the rest to the landfill." They disagree and I just say, "Look it up, you'll see."

 

[NHSleddog]

It turns out that all those DEF fluid bottles are on the "get burned" list.

Now, not only do I burn additional diesel, I also burn a new chemical DEF - AND it turns out all the waste from the DEF packaging GETS BURNED AS WELL.

I like smart environmentalists. The dumb ones REALLY hurt us all (the planet included).

 

[B737]

It turns out that all those DEF fluid bottles are on the "get burned" list.

Now, not only do I burn additional diesel, I also burn a new chemical DEF - AND it turns out all the waste from the DEF packaging GETS BURNED AS WELL.

I like smart environmentalists. The dumb ones REALLY hurt us all (the planet included).

right!?! this drives me nuts. On the highway marveling at 7500 pounds getting 22 mpg, only to see it plunge to 10 mpg for 25 minutes... "oh, its regenning saving the environment"

 

[motionclone]

Zero time. I have an on site dumpster that gets everything. My wife returns bottles so i throw them in a bin for her to return. when the bin gets full i throw them in the trash as well.

also this thread will probably butthurt a couple members here who will then try to get it locked

 

[skeets]

So maybe if we started using glass again,,

 

[NCL4701]

I do what I’m legally required to do by local gov’t, which is separate plastic bottles for recycling. Sometimes my wife wants to do a bit more. She’s on her own with that if she does and we’re both OK with that.

Work is the same. Some people think it’s grossly important to recycle everything possible. Some think it’s stupid crap. There are recycling receptacles for those who wish to use them but there’s no requirement on anyone. We have enough problems at work just because it’s work. Regardless of what someone’s opinion is on the matter, if they want to make a big enough deal to waste more than about 10 seconds of business time, they can go home and stay there until they’re ready to shut up about recycling or anything else creating conflict that’s not business related.

Some of it makes sense to me: metals, glass. Some not so much. Generally seems to me there’s a bit too much plastic in general to be healthy long term. Paper products rot, metal oxidizes, glass eventually breaks down to small particles. Plastic is such an unnatural product there’s not really a “return to dust” cycle. (Says the guy sitting on plastic, typing on plastic, looking through plastic corrective lenses, while drinking from a plastic cup.)

 

[JimmyJazz]

The recycling thing is kind of a joke. On YouTube there are rivers of plastic garbage flowing in the lesser "developed" countries. Massive amounts being dumped as the normal means of disposal. It's still also not unusual for millions of humans to poop in their front yards. Again, as the normal means of disposal. Perspective. I try and cultivate a "world view" while also maintaining adequate ammunition stores.

 

[ZTMAN]

Burn barrel makes my life simple

 

[fruitcakesa]

Burn barrel makes my life simple

Do you burn your plastic in it?

 

[B737]

One of the things I came to realize as I traveled further from home was the paradox of environmental awareness. Here in the USA we are putting emissions controls on tractors, shutting down pipelines for xyz turtle.

I arrived in Beijing for the first time about 6 years ago and couldn't see the end of the city block through the thick smog. India, same thing. They are building their civilizations without limits or care. 3 billion people who are not wrapped up in red tape, bureaucracy and nonsense. The chinese built a 35 mile bridge across the sea from macau to hong kong in 10 years... I saw a runway get built in cancun that took less than 1 year and 60 million dollars. I watched a runway get built in chicago, that took more than a decade and 1.3 billion dollars.

we are doing it wrong.

 

[Borane4]

There is a lot of evidence that the "ocean garbage patch" is simply our unusable recycling, dumped in the ocean by China. We sent all those container ships bringing goods from China back to China with all our recyclables. We felt better about how green we were, while they picked out the aluminum, steel and PET bottles and pushed the rest into rivers to flow to the ocean. China ended the shipment of our junk to them a few years ago, so now it all goes in the landfill except the aluminum, steel and PET bottles. At least now there is hope that the garbage patches will shrink. Recycling all but a few things (metal, PET and corrugated cardboard) is stupid policy. But the enviros will tell you something dumb like we need to train people to recycle everything, even though it goes in the landfill. Consumer recycling of milk jugs, plastic bags and junkmail is just theatre.

 

[Bmyers]

I think we use to recycle more when I was kid. Milk bottles and soda bottles went back to the store. Egg cartons went to the farm where we got our eggs.

 

[motionclone]

Remember that craze of CFL bulbs that were more energy efficient but they only lasted a year ? Then 99% of the population threw them in the garbage instead of in hazardous waste bins? they had mercury in them, now the landfills have mercury too. It sure made people feel better when they screwed them in and threw away those evil incandescents..lol

 

[ZTMAN]

Do you burn your plastic in it?

Only burnable plastic.

 

[GreensvilleJay]

yeah.. CFLs....installed them, used less power, rates went up.....gone LED, use less power...
yup rates went UP !!! Smart eteres repalced 'demand' meters so ,yup, rate went UP.....

re.building stuff...
major highway here goes up a hill...less than a mile long, will be shut down for 2 YEARS.....back in '43(?) over two thousand miles of road was built in 8 months...aka the Alaskan Highway..... My Uncle Bob knew exactly where he 'lost' 3 brand new dozers in the muskeg. Always wanted to go back, dig them up.said put batteries and fuel in them, they'd start/run fine.....sigh.....

 

[jimh406]

When I moved, I switched every bulb in the house/fixture to Warm LEDs. They don’t add hardly any heat for Summer, and my electric bill is usually around $70 per month and that’s with doing lots of loads of laundry etc with multiple TVs that are all LED also. Highly recommended considering how much better the bulbs are than they used to be.

We literally can’t recycle as part of the garbage service. The only place that was at all near us charged even to drop off cardboard. Kind of strange considering we moved from a location that strongly encouraged recycling.

 

[Borane4]

When I moved, I switched every bulb in the house/fixture to Warm LEDs. They don’t add hardly any heat for Summer, and my electric bill is usually around $70 per month and that’s with doing lots of loads of laundry etc with multiple TVs that are all LED also. Highly recommended considering how much better the bulbs are than they used to be.

We literally can’t recycle as part of the garbage service. The only place that was at all near us charged even to drop off cardboard. Kind of strange considering we moved from a location that strongly encouraged recycling.

Dont feel bad about recycling because the story of recycling borders on propaganda. Only 35% of the PET drink bottles are recycled despite 40 years of trying. Just because it can be doesnt mean it is recycled.

 

[Oliver]

I recycle what "gets recycled", aluminum and metal cans. The rest goes to directly in the garbage saving the recycling company the effort of separating it out themselves to take to the landfill. My question is why does glass have to go to the landfill? It's sand and other similar material if nothing else they can grind it up for roads.