   recycling
  In my area, once a week the trash collector people come and pick up recyclables (paper, aluminum, and glass), paid for courtesy of the CA recyclables deposit.Now, having grown up in california public schools in the '90s I've been heavily inundated with recycling propoganda - and I've always been told to "seperate" the recyclables into their different types so they can be recycled properly.But the thing is, when they come and take the recyclables away, they just dump'em all into the one big bin in the back of the truck. Needless to say, my suspicions are aroused. Do they really have good enough tech (or lots of minimum wage workers...) to seperate out the stuff at the plant?? Or are they just tossing the stuff in the incinerator with everything else?   
  I believe they have people that separate that stuff. I don't see how they could separate it with a machine.   ;Quote:Original post by lethalhamsterI believe they have people that separate that stuff. I don't see how they could separate it with a machine.This sounds like it would be just about the worst job in the world.......I wonder if they're hiring.   ;  The show "Dirty Jobs" tells me they separate it at the processing facility.   ;  My neighborhood has switched to using only one bin for everything, because the three bins was pointless.Penn & Teller: Bullshit has an episode on recycling. The conclusion they came to was that for the most part recycling is bullshit. I'm not saying they're right or wrong, but you hardly ever hear anti-recycling messages, so it's interesting to watch.   ;  depends on where you are. Some places have great systems, others just like to pretend they do.Sorting most trash can be done fairly easily by machine. Paper and sheet plastic is light enough to easily be blown off, glass is heavy and can be broken up to drop down. Aluminum can't be attracted by magnets, where as steel can. Throw a few workers along the line to make sure things get where they're going and sorting mixed recyclables isn't too hard of a job. Some places find it easier to hire people to sort after they are mixed simply because trusting people to sort things properly doesn't work well.Now, if they are mixing compost and non recyclable stuff in with the stuff bound for 'recycling' chances are it is all being dumped.   ;Quote:Original post by etothexDo they really have good enough tech (or lots of minimum wage workers...) to seperate out the stuff at the plant?? Or are they just tossing the stuff in the incinerator with everything else?Call 'em up and see if they'll take you on a tour. I would think that they would gather materials that they could make money from and dispose of the rest. These days it seems the focus is on seperating out biodegradables (like lawn clippings) in order to decrease the fillrate of landfills. What irks me is how much stuff there is that would seem to be recycleable but isn't. If I think an item should be recycleable, I put it in the recycle bin. [grin]   ;Quote:Original post by mtwMy neighborhood has switched to using only one bin for everything, because the three bins was pointless.Penn & Teller: Bullshit has an episode on recycling. The conclusion they came to was that for the most part recycling is bullshit. I'm not saying they're right or wrong, but you hardly ever hear anti-recycling messages, so it's interesting to watch.It was the worst episode of the show that I've seen. That episode demonstrated to me that Penn and Teller value the propagation of the libertarian consensus stance on issues over rational thought.   ;  Here we are moving to a new system that separates the different types of recyclables by machine at the plant. Before it had to be done by hand, but of course not everyone does it correctly. There is a divider in the can and some people mistakenly thought that the hole in the recycling truck on top didn't have a divider on the inside.   ;Quote:Original post by BerwynIrishQuote:Original post by mtwMy neighborhood has switched to using only one bin for everything, because the three bins was pointless.Penn & Teller: Bullshit has an episode on recycling. The conclusion they came to was that for the most part recycling is bullshit. I'm not saying they're right or wrong, but you hardly ever hear anti-recycling messages, so it's interesting to watch.It was the worst episode of the show that I've seen. That episode demonstrated to me that Penn and Teller value the propagation of the libertarian consensus stance on issues over rational thought.The episode on the Endangered Species Act was pretty horrible too.   