A recycleing center or just another dump?

Just recently it was announced in the local Taney Times paper that the City of Forsyth was going to streamline the recycling operation by installing a single collection container instead of the numerous ones that used to dot the landscape. At the time, I thought this sounded like a good idea, but now I wonder.

Pictured is the lone container that contains portals with signs that indicate the type of recycled items that should go into that section. But there are a few problems that I could see. One was the lack of dividers inside the container to keep items separate. An other was the vague term 'plastic types' that is used to indicate what types of plastic bottles are allowed. If I remember correctly, there are at least six to eight classes of plastic, some of which can be recycled and some of which cannot. finally, there is no sign to indicate where paper items should go.

The end result can be plainly seen. People end up dumping a hodge-podge of materials into whatever portal they think is appropriate. My question. Is this stuff really even being recycled?

Slowing down the river of trash!

After making my first tentative efforts at recycling earlier in January 2012 (a work in progress), I continued to investigate the topic on the internet. What really blew me away was the sheer enormity of the problem we face in the form of a literal river of trash that is produced every year, most of which continues to go into landfills. Consider these facts:

Municipal Solid Waste produced each year   ~ a quarter of a billion tons!

MSW that end up in landfills – ~165 million tons!

The average amount of trash produced by the average person per day - 4.43 pounds

So, with only 34% of the potential recyclable material actually recovered (2010 EPA figures), we have quite a way to go if the country is going to get a handle on this growing problem. It’s a problem, you ask? Yes, it is! Let’s take one form of plastic (PET) as an example.

'Each year, 29 billion plastic water bottles are produced for use in the United States, according to the Earth Policy Institute, an environmental organization in Washington, D.C. Manufacturing them requires the equivalent of 17 million barrels of crude oil, so rising oil and natural gas prices have only exacerbated the high price of virgin plastic.’(At right is a graphic of some of the waste that was produced in 2010 - Source EPA)

I gleaned the following quote from a site called 'Life's Little Mysteries' where this problem was discussed more in detail. In the above paragraph they are referring to PET plastic (also known as #1) that is used in the manufacture of bottles that hold water and beverages. Currently there are eleven kinds of plastics that are routinely used in consumer goods with typically numbers 1 through 7 finding frequent use in kitchens across the land. And, unlike glass and metal containers (aluminum and tin coated steel) which are actually sought after, the cost of re-manufacturing plastic is high. For that reason, much of what we discard into landfills (other than paper and kitchen scraps) are in reality some form of used plastic container. Think about 29 billion used bottles getting discarded each year! Adding insult to injury, many of these plastics will take as long as 500 years before they break down! So, it’s plain to see that any form of recycling of plastic is better than no recycling at all.

I would ask that everyone who reads this post give some thought to recycling. I would encourage families, church members and community leadership to all make this a topic of discussion. Maybe, with a little effort, we can make a start in cleaning up this country we all call home.