Recycling

marienbad

A constant thought that I have when I look at my grandkids ia what kind of world are we leaving them and their kids? And because of that I follow all the rules on recycling etc.

As I wash and clean my used cans, yogurt cartons,glass bottles,old clothes and drive all the way to the recycling centre I can't help but wonder am I using up more than will actually be salvaged ?


And the only real effect is to enable us feel a bit better as a society but do nothing about the real issues ? Am I wrong ?

djpbarry

Moved from Environmental Science.

Judgement Day

marienbad wrote: »

A constant thought that I have when I look at my grandkids ia what kind of world are we leaving them and their kids? And because of that I follow all the rules on recycling etc.

As I wash and clean my used cans, yogurt cartons,glass bottles,old clothes and drive all the way to the recycling centre I can't help but wonder am I using up more than will actually be salvaged ?


And the only real effect is to enable us feel a bit better as a society but do nothing about the real issues ? Am I wrong ?

I don't agree, we have to start somewhere and recycling is part of it. However, I see you point and you can relieve your conscience by using the water left over from the washing-up to clean cans etc. and by trying to make a visit to the recycling centre as part of another necessary trip rather than a special stand-alone journey.

marienbad

Judgement Day wrote: »

I don't agree, we have to start somewhere and recycling is part of it. However, I see you point and you can relieve your conscience by using the water left over from the washing-up to clean cans etc. and by trying to make a visit to the recycling centre as part of another necessary trip rather than a special stand-alone journey.

I do all those things and more , but the point I am making is that if every citizen in the developed world did the same would it make any difference ?

The scale of the issue is so great is this just sticking plaster stuff and just makes this generation salve their conscience and not demand the fundamental changes required at the national and corporate level ?

Birdnuts

Its vital to keep recycling plastics - they are a serious environmental pollutant and plastic particles now contaminate nearly every square inch of the land and ocean:(

greasepalm

looking at how busy those recycling centers are getting as more and more stuff is added so its not going to landfill,our planet has been harmed enough and now global warming is here simply because we did not care then,but we do now and hope its not too late.

zagmund

I agree with JD above - we have to start somewhere. If we never start recycling then systems & processes will never improve and become more efficient. It's worth developing a recycling ethic in the population, even if it only has a long term future payback. The processes may be very inefficient at the moment, but over time they will hopefully improve and get better.

You ask about "if every citizen in the developed world" . . . the answer is that, yes, this can make a difference. If every citizen in the developed world decided that from tomorrow they were only going to buy their apples loose and not in a tray & wrapped with plastic this would make a huge difference to the volume of waste. Sure, compared to some processes the volume may not be significant, but if they decided the next day to only buy something else in bulk and not individually wrapped the volume saved would increase. And so it goes.

z

djpbarry

marienbad wrote: »

I do all those things and more , but the point I am making is that if every citizen in the developed world did the same would it make any difference ?

Sure, of course it would. For example, here in the UK, about 30 million tonnes of household waste is produced every year and somewhere between 40 and 50% of that still goes to landfill. So that's roughly half a tonne of waste being produced per person per year and about a quarter of a tonne going to landfill. There's huge scope for improvement there.

As zagmund says, think about the amount of unnecessary packaging that we buy all the time. That stuff has to be manufactured and transported to a retail outlet, only to be disposed of by the consumer. It's a massive waste of energy and materials, not to mention money.

At the end of the day, it's in the interests of the consumer to aim for less packaging, because they're the one's who are paying for its production and its disposal.

marienbad

djpbarry wrote: »

Sure, of course it would. For example, here in the UK, about 30 million tonnes of household waste is produced every year and somewhere between 40 and 50% of that still goes to landfill. So that's roughly half a tonne of waste being produced per person per year and about a quarter of a tonne going to landfill. There's huge scope for improvement there.

As zagmund says, think about the amount of unnecessary packaging that we buy all the time. That stuff has to be manufactured and transported to a retail outlet, only to be disposed of by the consumer. It's a massive waste of energy and materials, not to mention money.

At the end of the day, it's in the interests of the consumer to aim for less packaging, because they're the one's who are paying for its production and its disposal.

This is exactly the kind of thing I am getting at . The used packaging has to be washed and cleaned and then driven to the recycling centre - how much does that cost ?