Get Paid To Recycle?

[cabinetman]

Some threads are just about garbage. But it has me thinking about the recycle process. I know that separating garbage for recyclables is the thing to do for our environment. We go through the process of separating our garbage and besides the process being good for the environment there are others that profit from our efforts.

After all, I could just put recycle items in bags with my regular trash and put it in the can instead of separating. I'm thinking for that effort there should be some compensation or allowance for being eco-minded. Money is probably already being spent on the trash inspection/separation process where all the general trash goes. And, there are some that benefit from having a source of material.

So is it fair to think that the homeowner could be entitled to some benefits for the effort?
.

[jonmulzer]

Some threads are just about garbage.
.

Hey! I resemble that remark!!!

Actually, to moan and complain even more.....in my town I have to PAY to recycle. I can't get private trash service, but I can pay a company to come get my recyclables.

I worked in "Environmental Earthworks" (read: I built landfills) for three years after I graduated. If you can believe the Waste Management big wigs (I never did, they are as crooked as vacuum salesmen) recycling cost them money and they only did it as a PR move.

[Stytooner]

We don't actually have recycling here. Not in any city limits. I do however recycle all my metals, but not my plastics. I should start doing that for lexan off cuts as well. That is if I can find out where to take that.
Guys around here will give you $2 for any old batteries, lawn mower to truck size.
I think especially the way the gas is now, that having them pick the stuff up at the curb relinquishes anything you might get from it.
Plastics, paper and glass really isn't worth a lot in the recycle game.
Doing so, however is the right thing to do and for that, you get an atta boy.
Currently one atta boy and $1.50 might get you a cup of coffee in a non recycled cup.

[jhart]

In Minneapolis, they give a $7.00 credit on the trash bill for doing recycling. Has to be seperated into bags or they won't pick it up.

[Ed62]

IMHO the payment is in the fact that you're leaving a better planet for your decendants. No additional payment needed.

Ed

[JR]

In California the big issue is the amount of stuff going to the landfill. We have two bins for recycling, both picked up at the curb on trash day. One for paper, plastic, glass - no sorting required. The other for green waste - this one has made a huge difference in waste mgt.

JR

[DUD]

We have a blue bag program here and We use it, all clear glass, plastic botles and

aluminum cans and metal cans go into it. Your regular garbage needs to be bagged and

put in container at curbside, You set the blue bag curbside same day as trash pickup.

They empty container with trash truck and another truck picks up blue bag and leaves

another. We don't pay for garbage service, it is done by the city and sales tax does the

paying. Bill

[Richard in Smithville]

IMHO the payment is in the fact that you're leaving a better planet for your decendants. No additional payment needed.

Ed

I agree. I'm not trying to sound like a tree hugger or anything, but I would like to leave something for my children and their children besides a great big mess to clean up.

[os1kne]

IMHO the payment is in the fact that you're leaving a better planet for your decendants. No additional payment needed.

Ed

I agree. When I lived in TX, homeowners were provided with a recycle bin that they were expected to use, and we always did. Where I live now (in the country) doesn't have a recycling service. A few months ago, the township started parking a "recycle trailer" next to the police station (that most people drive by when they go anywhere) on weekends. I've gotten back into the recycle habit, and it has cut my garbage in half. If someone can do something useful with something that I'm getting rid of, and it isn't much effort for me - I'm all for it.

[Ed62]

I'm not trying to sound like a tree hugger

I don't consider myself a tree hugger either. We don't have recycling pickup, but we do save items that we deliver to a recycle dumpster.

Ed

[Kristofor]

IMHO the payment is in the fact that you're leaving a better planet for your decendants. No additional payment needed.

Ed

There's the rub... There are really only 2 things of value in the world, people's time/life/satisfaction and energy (which could also ultimately break down to people's time with the right technology). Anything else derives its value from the amount of these two inputs that need to be invested to produce/create the product. Gold or steel or corn is valuable because it's limited and they're labor and energy intensive in varying degrees to produce.

Recycling only makes sense if it costs less than producing new goods and thus generates some profit for the person doing the recycling. Today that's not generally true. However, everyone knows that it takes much less energy to make a new can from a recycled one than to make new aluminum in an arc furnace to make the new can.

The discrepancy is more a function of faulty accounting that fails to take into account ancillary or remediation costs at the front end. I'm no tree hugger, but I think once those costs (carbon to start, but probably water cleanup, habitat restoration, etc. eventually) are added on to the costs of goods and services then we can stop fighting human nature by forcing people to act in a proscribed fashion and instead can simply let folks continue to choose the low cost (but now fully burdened) provider.

[Tom Slick]

When you look at your can or bottle that says MI 10 cents, CA Redemption value, etc, that is the cash value of that bottle or can in that state. You pay a deposit with the purchase, then if you were to take them back into a recycling center you'd get that much back. It puts the bums to work picking up litter.
MI has redemtion machines that are like a reverse vending machine. put bottle or can in the machine and it give you back your deposit.

We also benefit from lower cost raw materials. Glass, steel, aluminum, paper and non-electrical copper are made from very high percentages of recycled materials. They recycle because it is cheaper, not because it is friendlier.

[jackellis]

So is it fair to think that the homeowner could be entitled to some benefits for the effort?

Mike, you should read this article: http://www.time.com/time/magazine/ar...821648,00.html

Most metropolitan areas are running out of landfill space, so anything they can do to recycle avoids the cost of shipping garbage somewhere else. Sacramento sends theirs to Reno, Detroit sends theirs to Canada, and I think New York City sumps a lot in the ocean.

Aluminum is very expensive to produce from ore since it's mostly electricity at that point. Plastics are being resused in construction materials like Trex and similar composites. As the cost of energy rises, recycling starts to look more interesting and more economical.

I'd burn my sawdust except that it's got chemicals from plywood and if I put it in our wood stove, I'm a little worried about the explosion hazard.

[mschrank]

I'm thinking for that effort there should be some compensation or allowance for being eco-minded.

Do you expect to be compensated for following laws? Like being a law-abiding citizen, recycling is just the right thing to do...and IMHO is a pretty meager contribution to a better environment compared to how much more many of us (myself included) could be doing.

[shoottx]

I love the philosophical questions on recycling but the real question is what can you do personally that will make a difference (even just a little).

It is against my nature to throw any thing away! That is why my shop looks more like a landfill than a shop. You just never know when you might need it.

So I have three small “recycling” efforts underway. First all of the small pieces of stock too small to be saved or used are cut to length on the chop saw. They are bundled as fire starters for friends. Second is taking the small blocks and pieces and saving them up to make building block sets for kids. Third, the larger pieces go into the bin for making small boxes. Since I have a bunch of rough sawn oak and walnut that is most of my scrap.

And I bag up my saw dust for a friend who uses it in flower beds or in compost.

I still don’t have a good answer for plywood cutoffs.