On 1/23/2020 8:54 AM, Cindy Hamilton wrote:
On Thursday, January 23, 2020 at 8:02:38 AM UTC-5, Frank wrote:

Speaking of recycling, I think it is stupid to have multiple cans for
different trash. Look at your friend Adam Schiff's house and you will
see three cans. That means 3 different trucks will have to come to his
house for pickup. Trash should go into one can, handled by one truck
and should be picked for recycle at the dump. It is done like that in
many places and in order to recycle you have to have people at the dump
anyway to pick through the recycle.

Paper for recycling has to be clean. If it's got coffee grounds, oil, etc.,
it cannot be recycled.

I doubt they could hire people to wade through disposable diapers, rotting
meat, etc. just to get the useful recyclables separated and cleaned.

We switched some years back to single-stream recycling, so we only need
two cans (and two trucks). One for recycling and one for things headed
to the landfill.

If I am reliably informed, King County, WA, requires compostables to be
disposed of separately. Your carrot peels can't go in with your
diapers.

Cindy Hamilton

Cindy Hamilton


True that clean recycle wanted. I think you have to look at the overall
picture in terms of economics including pollution. There is also the
value of the recycle which varies with demand. Paper products are the
lowest value. That's why I think clogging up our driveways with cans
and having multiple trucks for pickup is not as efficient as doing all
the chores at the dump.

While clean recycle is preferred it is not that simple. Take a PET soda
bottle for example. It has a PE cap and a paper label which must be
removed. If the PET is dyed it cannot be used. The bottles must be
chopped up and washed. PE and paper float and are skimmed off. The PET
cannot be used directly and most is probably depolymerized and
repolymerized. Even then the polymer is not as color free as virgin
resin and must be used where color is not observed or a problem.