You are not alone. These are common situations. Is there a zero-waste organization in your area? If so, ask them via email for updated info.
Who is your waste and recycling hauler and for what area? I'll bug them.
Killing our planet with plastics
- Thread starter begreen
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Who is your waste and recycling hauler and for what area? I'll bug them.
Ashful
Minister of Fire
Thanks for the offer! But your prompting got me to check myself: https://www.republicservices.com/cms/documents/RecyclingGuide1pager.pdf
So, I'm guessing my clear polyethylene wood pile covers fall in with "plastic bags", under the "non-recyclable" list. What a shame! I'm still tempted to put them in there, just to irritate them to the point of including that in the program, but based on your better advice I will refrain from doing it this year.
I do hate the thought of putting all of that plastic in a land fill, though. After next year I will be done with plastic-covered stacks, I'm building wood sheds at that rate to replace them.
Looks like they are only taking #1 & 2 plastics. That is not unusual, they are the most recyclable and therefore have the highest value. I don't understand what they mean by takeout containers. That can cover a bunch of different plastics.
Here is a more complete guide:
recyclingsimplified.com
Plastic films take special handling. Very few places are set up to deal with it. In large conveyor systems that are typically dealing with comingled recyclables, these items wrap around the belts and drive wheels creating a serious mess and hazards for the workers.
Here is a handy search engine for recycling locations. Type in your zip code and item.
One place in your area that is set up for plastic films is at the Forge Transfer station
(215) 335-0330
5109 Bleigh Ave
Philadelphia, PA 19136
Here is a more complete guide:
How to Recycle: Recycling Basics | Republic Services
Learn the recycling basics including what you can recycle and how to prepare it for pickup. It’s easy once you know how to recycle!
Plastic films take special handling. Very few places are set up to deal with it. In large conveyor systems that are typically dealing with comingled recyclables, these items wrap around the belts and drive wheels creating a serious mess and hazards for the workers.
Here is a handy search engine for recycling locations. Type in your zip code and item.
Recycling Center Search - Earth911.com
Find recycling centers and services in your neighborhood.
search.earth911.com
(215) 335-0330
5109 Bleigh Ave
Philadelphia, PA 19136
Looks like they are only taking #1 & 2 plastics. That is not unusual, they are the most recyclable and therefore have the highest value. I don't understand what they mean by takeout containers. That can cover a bunch of different plastics.
Here is a more complete guide:
How to Recycle: Recycling Basics | Republic Services
Learn the recycling basics including what you can recycle and how to prepare it for pickup. It’s easy once you know how to recycle!
Plastic films take special handling. Very few places are set up to deal with it. In large conveyor systems that are typically dealing with comingled recyclables, these items wrap around the belts and drive wheels creating a serious mess and hazards for the workers.
Here is a handy search engine for recycling locations. Type in your zip code and item.
One place in your area that is set up for plastic films is at the Forge Transfer stationRecycling Center Search - Earth911.com
Find recycling centers and services in your neighborhood.search.earth911.com
(215) 335-0330
5109 Bleigh Ave
Philadelphia, PA 19136
I'm in south east Michigan and we had recycling service with a trash hauler that started out as Duncan disposal, who offered recycling for a couple bucks a month along with a 90 gallon cart. Then they were bought out by Rizzo disposal, who was bought by GFL Corp. Our recycle cart was almost always full, and there were weeks we didn't even need to put out our refuse cart. The problem was there were weeks when they would skip our whole road, a mile long road. I'd call and they'd say just leave it out, we have a truck in the area. Complete BS, they never came. So I switched companies to one that was much more reliable, but didn't offer recycling, because there's no money in it. Now it's time for renewal, and I'm torn between going back to the old company with recycling or staying with the current company. There were rumors and all that GFL did was charge extra for the recycling and just dumped it all in the landfill. I'm not sure how that's regulated if at all. BTW, they would accept #1-#7 plastics.
I am sorry to say, but some are dumping it in the landfill.
I think this can happen more when the company also manages the landfill. They get paid for incoming tonnage so in essence they are getting paid twice. That is unscrupulous, but it happens. I am pleased that King County has Recology managing their recycling program. They own no landfills and have to pay for hauling anything there so it in their best interests (and the community's) to recycle as much as possible. One way they achieve this is with customer education. Like Ashful pointed out, many don't know what they can recycle, so we help them. As a result, our area has a much lower contamination rate than nationally. I'm glad to say that our town is the best in the county with an under 1% contamination rate even though we recycle at over double the average rate.
Just got a new flyer on recycling stuff from our trash guys. The only metal they want is cans. Looks like they will take any plastic bottles, glass jars, or paper. It's a shame. I get rid of a lot of aluminum and steel for work.
SpaceBus
Minister of Fire
semipro
Minister of Fire
I've seen ads in CL from those that will collect it from your property and recycle it.
Seasoned Oak
Minister of Fire
Our local scrap yard still pays for any kind of metal. Aluminum is 50c Lb Copper $1.50 Steel or Cast Iron and tin cans about 5c a lb.
SpaceBus
Minister of Fire
That's a great price for copper. I've got a few hundred feet of copper that needs to come out of our house since I renovated the plumbing. I've also got some welding gas canisters that can't be refilled that will probably end up at the scrap yard. I've been saving up our bottles and cans for the last year, but it's only $0.5 per item.
Seasoned Oak
Minister of Fire
Brass is over $1 as well Copper fluctuates between $1.50 to $1.65 A yr ago i was getting $2.65 for copper. I get a lot of copper and brass renovating, even the waste pipes used to be brass.
Encourage them to setup for steel and aluminum. These materials are exceptionally recyclable at a profit.
Seasoned Oak
Minister of Fire
Cant imagine they wont take Copper,Brass and Aluminum ,thats where the big money is.
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Ashful
Minister of Fire
None of which makes it worth the trip. I’ll throw anything under $100 in the trash to save the effort of starting the car and wasting an hour. Time is money, not to mention the $2 in gas you’ll burn to get $1 back in scrap.
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Seasoned Oak
Minister of Fire
Last load of copper i took i got around $200 the one before that was $400. As far as steel ,getting paid $60 for a load vs paying $90 to dump it is well worth it and still takes the same amount of time. I dont go there with just one pound. . By that analogy most of us wouldnt be Hauling, chopping, splitting and drying wood either. Ever figure out the hourly rate for your time vs $ saved on your heating cost? Or spending time running cardboard and plastic bottles to the recycle center for which we get nothing for our time.
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Yes I have and by heating with wood, considering I now have Natural Gas, it costs me money to heat with wood. By the time I cut it, limb it, buck it, split it, stack it, season it, fill my wood rack, and the hassle of constantly tending the stove I pay myself <$5 per hour. I still keep my wood shed full in case the SHTF, but if the furnace runs, I don't care. Not to mention the saw gas, splitter gas, maintenance on all those items its not a money saver. If I had propane or fuel oil, it's a whole different story.
Seasoned Oak
Minister of Fire
Yes it does. All the wood prep is the least enjoyable part of wood burning for me.
Interesting that you say too cheap, so you want to artificially increase the price of oil which would be essentially be a regressive tax on the working poor. Their heat bills would rise as would their electric and gasoline costs, and the costs of anything made from plastic right down to carpeting. I think a solution that needs to be revisited is burning the combustible trash to generate electricity using advanced scrubbers to keep emissions to a bare minimum. Of course their will be some push back from environmentalist but you can't have your cake and eat it too. I know people that live paycheck to paycheck and increase their utility costs would push them into a very tough financial situation. Those that are well off could care less how much they pay for fuel, or electricity.
SpaceBus
Minister of Fire
Wealthy people absolutely care about the cost of things. How do you think they became wealthy (aside from those born into wealth)? Forcing the plastic mfgs to pick up the bill is not punishing the lower socioeconomic stratums
A minor rant is my local Walmart's policy is that anyone carrying anything that is not in a Walmart bag leaving the registers have to show a receipt. If I am carrying a plastic milk jug by the handle without it being in a bag I have to show a receipt, if I slide a bag over it and still carry it by the handle I don't get scanned. The policy encourages a waste of plastic for no good reason.
Seasoned Oak
Minister of Fire
What i meant by that is "Too cheap to encourage conservation" . I have a lot of experience with the workin poor as i own a real estate business that rents housing. The waste is astounding. (a subject for another thread) There are only a few ways to finance cleanup of waste plastic before we are up to our eyeballs in it. Making the producers if this product (as well as the users)at least a little responsible for the mess its making is not out of line. The money for advanced waste to electric production has to come from somewhere as well. If its extracted from taxpayers as a tax it hits all the same people anyway.
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Seasoned Oak
Minister of Fire
They also dont waste near as much and spend much more wisely and recycle as much as possible. I have tenants who make a good deal more income than i do and are always 1 paycheck from homelessness , mostly from poor spending habits, and also very wasteful as far as home heating. This may sound off topic but is a big part of the problem, incentives,financial and otherwise are needed. People generally DONT just do the right thing without some kind of incentive. In my experience.
I guess I could have worded that better. The wealthy are not as affected as much by a higher than normal power or fuel bill. They may not like it, but they can afford to pay it. When the government passes a law mandating that manufacturers change the way they do things that cost them more money, they'll just raise the price of the product. Unless your talking about price controls which have failed in the past. Personally in the case of bottled water, I don't use it. My Grandfather would be spinning in his grave if he knew people paid to have water in a bottle that you throw away. As a kid if you were thirsty, you turned on the garden hose and chugged away, it's amazing that I'm still alive. I will agree with you on one point if you want people to change their habits price is one way to control it. I'm not a smoker and never have been, but I was behind a guy that dropped $150 for a carton of cigs. When I was a boy, and this will show my age, cigs were .50 a pack and you could buy them from a machine almost anywhere. Knowing that prohibition doesn't work the gov't just kept raising the cost. I think it help a lot of people quit.