6 responses to “Recycling Update: Running Out of County Landfill”

1. Edible Food Rescue

   July 31, 2019

   Edible food rescue? Sounds like it was written by someone who is accustomed to Prior Beer Rescue as a means of slaking their thirst, mate.

2. HMB

   August 1, 2019

   So I guess my neighbors who don’t recycle and just dump everything in the trash are on to something … SIGH

3. Peter Garrison

   August 1, 2019

   In Singapore they have trash detectives who go through people’s trash and fine them if the trash is not recycled properly.

4. Joe

   August 19, 2019

   Whoops. Looks like it’s time for someone who can do basic math and has political clout to try and blend those two attributes together. From the SacBee:
   When rePlanet closed its doors at its remaining 284 California locations earlier this month, alarm bells went up among recycling advocates.
   The recycling chain cited a reduction in state subsidies, reduced prices for aluminum and plastic and rising operating costs as the reason for shutting its doors.
   In California, one of the biggest areas that cost is affecting is the state’s can and bottle redemption program. The state is losing more of those centers than it is gaining.
   When the beverage container recycling law went into effect, 60 percent of all containers were aluminum cans, Murray said, “and aluminum cans cover their own way.”
   But over the last three decades, beverage companies have gradually shifted to plastic containers — Murray said more than half, 54 percent, of containers are plastic now — and plastic scrap is worth only about half the cost of what it takes to recycle it.
   As a result, “the recycling sector loses $300 a ton,” Murray said. For one thing, Californians have adopted the “dirty, single-stream approach” to recycling, with everything going into one blue bin. Often, that includes “residual” material, such as food or other un-recyclable matter, Bourque said.
   That effort is encouraged by retailers, who Bourque said spread the mantra of “Everything is recyclable.”
   “Those two things combined have really created a quality crisis,” Bourque said.
   ———
   Just click through for the rest of it, but don’t hold your breath that it will get fixed without it cost you more.
   Link

5. Joe

   August 20, 2019

   Whoops. Looks like it’s time for someone who can do basic math and has political clout to try and blend those two attributes together. From the SacBee:
   When rePlanet closed its doors at its remaining 284 California locations earlier this month, alarm bells went up among recycling advocates. The recycling chain cited a reduction in state subsidies, reduced prices for aluminum and plastic and rising operating costs as the reason for shutting its doors.
   In California, one of the biggest areas that cost is affecting is the state’s can and bottle redemption program. The state is losing more of those centers than it is gaining. When the beverage container recycling law went into effect, 60 percent of all containers were aluminum cans, Murray said, “and aluminum cans cover their own way.” But over the last three decades, beverage companies have gradually shifted to plastic containers — Murray said more than half, 54 percent, of containers are plastic now — and plastic scrap is worth only about half the cost of what it takes to recycle it. As a result, “the recycling sector loses $300 a ton,” Murray said.
   For one thing, Californians have adopted the “dirty, single-stream approach” to recycling, with everything going into one blue bin. Often, that includes “residual” material, such as food or other un-recyclable matter, Bourque said. That effort is encouraged by retailers, who Bourque said spread the mantra of “Everything is recyclable.” “Those two things combined have really created a quality crisis,” Bourque said.
   ———
   Just click through for the rest of it, but don’t hold your breath that it will get fixed without it cost you more. Link

6. Anna

   August 21, 2019

   Interesting…