Expanded Recycling in Connecticut Communities

[severine]

Just saw this on the news... On May 1st, expanded recycling came to 64 communities in Connecticut. Now, 1-7 plastics will be recyclable (formerly, only 1-2 plastics were). More info:

http://www.crra.org/pages/mid-conn_recycling_table.htm

 

[o3jeff]

Everything goes in the dumpster at work since in Southington you have to pay someone to haul you garbage.

 

[bvibert]

Everything goes in the dumpster at work since in Southington you have to pay someone to haul you garbage.

Boo Southington...

 

[severine]

Everything goes in the dumpster at work since in Southington you have to pay someone to haul you garbage.

That's stupid for a city the size of Southington. It costs communities nothing to recycle. I know there was a big push in our town a few years back because they had to pay for the garbage tonnage but recycling didn't cost them a thing.

We pay here, it's just built into the taxes.

 

[deadheadskier]

Is recycling in CT communities single stream? that makes a big difference towards participation IMO.

 

[bvibert]

Is recycling in CT communities single stream? that makes a big difference towards participation IMO.

In some it is, like ours. We now have a huge blue can that they pick up every other week. It's very similar to the big garbage can that they use for automated pickup, but it seems even a little bigger. It makes it a lot easier than having to tie together cardboard and stuff like that.

 

[RootDKJ]

My town is great on recycling. They'll take anything.

 

[TheBEast]

My in-laws live in Granby, CT. For some dumb reason they've never been able to recycle certain numbered plastic and certain card board. Pretty dumb if you ask me. Time to get into the 21st century! That time has finally come!

I will say one nice thing is they can put all their recycling out at once, where I have to seperate here in Easthampton, MA.

 

[bvibert]

My in-laws live in Granby, CT. For some dumb reason they've never been able to recycle certain numbered plastic and certain card board. Pretty dumb if you ask me. Time to get into the 21st century! That time has finally come!

I will say one nice thing is they can put all their recycling out at once, where I have to seperate here in Easthampton, MA.

We were only able to recycle number 1 and 2 plastics until now too. Looks like Granby is on the list of CT towns that can now recycle up to #7 plastics too...

 

[Glenn]

Is recycling in CT communities single stream? that makes a big difference towards participation IMO.

It got me to start doing it. It's a pain in the ass to sort stuff, cut up cardboard ect. I just don't have time for it. That being said; the main reason I recycle is because it allows me to stuff more trash in the trash bin.

That being said, with regards to my opinion: The jury is still out in my mind as if to this really does much good. Maybe it works with economies of scale... I have a hard time comprehending how it's saving much of anything to send out another fleet of trucks to collect this stuff, build facilities to process it it, power said facilities, put and pay workers in facilities, sort it, bundle it, haul it yet again, process it and then make it to something else.

Just IMHO.

 

[bvibert]

It got me to start doing it. It's a pain in the ass to sort stuff, cut up cardboard ect. I just don't have time for it. That being said; the main reason I recycle is because it allows me to stuff more trash in the trash bin.

That being said, with regards to my opinion: The jury is still out in my mind as if to this really does much good. Maybe it works with economies of scale... I have a hard time comprehending how it's saving much of anything to send out another fleet of trucks to collect this stuff, build facilities to process it it, power said facilities, put and pay workers in facilities, sort it, bundle it, haul it yet again, process it and then make it to something else.

Just IMHO.

Do you think the raw materials needed to make stuff just fall out of the sky into the factories? I'd guess that most raw materials go through a similar amount of steps before they're made into anything. Just saying...

 

[twinplanx]

Do you think the raw materials needed to make stuff just fall out of the sky into the factories? I'd guess that most raw materials go through a similar amount of steps before they're made into anything. Just saying...

...Not to even mention the insane amount of plastic in the oceans.

 

[Glenn]

Do you think the raw materials needed to make stuff just fall out of the sky into the factories? I'd guess that most raw materials go through a similar amount of steps before they're made into anything. Just saying...

That's what makes me think. I wonder if it's all "a wash" so to speak.

 

[ctenidae]

That's what makes me think. I wonder if it's all "a wash" so to speak.

The upside is, if you're not pulling the resources out of the ground, they'll still be there later if you need them.

 

[Marc]

Dudley has singe stream recycling. It's the cat's ass. All recyclables into one bin, trash in the other. Simple as that. No sorting.

 

[Warp Daddy]

Fortunately we can just send it all out no BS bundling or separating except for returnables ..

Living away from so called POPULATION centers has it's advantages. There is a Hazardous Materials facilty nearby to take that stuff but otherwise things are pretty laid back

 

[severine]

With them taking 1-7, I could easily see needing 2 bins. We usually only have 1-2 bags of trash per week as it is for a family of 4 with a dog with single stream recycling for cardboard, boxboard, plastics 1-2, aluminum... the typical stuff. Including the other plastics means I'll easily fill that bin and could probably get down to every other week garbage, needing recycling pickup every week.

 

[mondeo]

Do you think the raw materials needed to make stuff just fall out of the sky into the factories? I'd guess that most raw materials go through a similar amount of steps before they're made into anything. Just saying...

Couple things I've heard about recycling: it takes more energy to recycle paper than to make new paper, and that there is more plastic put into the recycling stream than can actually be used due to the difficulty of using recycled plastic in food containers, so a lot of it gets thrown out anyways. Not entirely sure about the veracity of either statement, but with the way environmentalist weenies lash out against anything that goes against what they back, the lack of contrary statements may be telling. It certainly makes sense for paper - compare how many stops a recycling truck would have to make to gather the same amount of stock material as a logging truck, then transport it to a recycled products plant (which probably isn't as strategically located as a non-recycled paper mill,) and you've probably got a lot of extra, less efficient miles driven. It's like comparing semis to freight trains - freight trains are a much denser and more linear mode of transport, therefore are more efficient.

Metals are the one thing that seem like an obvious benefit to me. It takes a lot of energy to turn bauxite into aluminum, iron oxide into iron, etc. An aluminum can pretty much just has to be melted down and mildy re-refined again to be reused. Combine that with fairly centralized recycling (people are going to the store anyways, the grocery trucks have to return to the warehouse anyways, etc.) and it's fairly clear cut.

And that's why I only recycle metals. And bottles with deposit (but only for the 5 cents.)

 

[severine]

Think of how much space that crap you throw away instead of recycling takes up in landfills though. Good land being wasted to bury garbage. I'm not a tree hugger by any means, but that bothers me.

 

[mondeo]

Think of how much space that crap you throw away instead of recycling takes up in landfills though. Good land being wasted to bury garbage. I'm not a tree hugger by any means, but that bothers me.

Paper's biodegradable, and as I said, the plastic just ends up there anyways. Plus landfills end up getting reused as rec areas once they're done.

And I'm all for incineration or other waste to energy methods.