Why don't you recycle?

[Absolutely Virtue]

Akron, OH. It's an urban area. The only recycle bins I see on a regular basis are on college campus (where I do recycle). But even then there are only a few places on campus to recycle certain things. I can't recycle bottles from where I am on campus now. I would have to walk about 10 minutes out of my way to do so. I can recycle paper almost anywhere though. I have no clue where I could recycle aluminum ( <-- no spellcheck at work, sorry). I don't use cans anyways though.

Like I said earlier, at home 9an apartment) recycling is not even an option. There are no recycle bins. I don't know where the local recycling facility is, and I don't have a car to get there anyways.

What's most amazing about that is the college campus part. At my school (and this was years and years ago) the bins were literally everywhere. Basically everywhere you saw a trashcan, you saw a recycling bin. And this was a big state school, not some tiny hippie private college.

[Mjd]

Beer/soda bottles/cans, I go to the store and get my 5 cents back. We have a box under the sink for it, and a container in the outside closet for when it gets too full.

Other bottles/plastics I toss with the trash. The recycling bin is so far out of the way it's not even worth going too, specially since we throw out 3-4 plastics/glass a week out.

At work I recycle everything and shut off my monitor at night.

[Mizango]

10 cents a can here.... i don't waste that money!

PMing this idea to Cream Soda. He can have his new white slave collect cans for him and resell them on the (no pun) black market.

[SamanosukeShiva]

aluminum cans only, plastic goes to landfill

[Isiolia]

Quick follow-up. For those that don't because there are no facilities available, can you describe where you live? Not in detail, just like urban, suburban, rural, etc? I have lived in apartments all around DC and the suburbs, and I've never been in a complex that didn't have recycling somewhere (although I often had to look for it). Just wondering if that's regional.

Christiansburg, VA, so... somewhere in between suburban and rural I guess? Recycling exists in form of dropoff locations only, curbside pickup isn't split up. http://www.christiansburg.org/index.aspx?NID=256

Technically available, I guess, but not just a matter of putting two bins out on trash day like some areas (such as Manassas, where my parents are).

When I'm in a location that actually picks things up separately, then I split it up. Likewise if there's a trash and a recycle bin when I'm out n' about, I'll toss a can/bottle/etc where it goes.

So perhaps it's partly laziness too, since technically I could pile things up in separate containers until I remember to load up the car and dump them off. Perhaps something I'll keep in mind if I generate a particularly large amount of recyclable waste (as-is I often only put trash out every other week or so).

[Takedown3]

everywhere in Canada i've lived from BC to Ontario gives its people at least 2 blue boxes and have UNLIMITED amount of recycling pickup at least once per week.

we recycle everything we can, bottles, cans, plastic film(bags), cardboard, and we also have a composter and are putting a second one in the yard for a winter rotation so we can use the summer one for the next springs garden.

the amount of garbage we actually throw out is very small now, especially since our daughter has become potty trained.

we still throw out meat as it is bad for composting (some people argue its not but it is), sometimes little things like bottle caps, Styrofoam (we have no recycle option for that), metal/film covers from yogurt or cream cheese, and other little things make it into the trash.

composting is an amazing thing, makes the garbage not smell at all, or not nearly as much anyway. I know alot of city people don't have the option but maybe look around for a local city garden they might accept your scraps as it makes for great fertilizer.

to me the big cities that have such large issues with garbage not having recycling options is just ridiculous, sure the upfront costs for building the infastructure might be high but the long term benefits are far too good to pass up.

kind of makes me sick to hear of all the plastic that is being thrown into regular garbage cans in this thread. i know its not your fault because its not an offered service but man, just counter productive to what most Canadians are doing.

[Mizango]

Here we have recycle trucks that come by just like curbside garbage collection and separate your papers/plastics/glass/metal into individual bins on the truck. They go house to house and come once or twice a week in some locations. (twice in my neighborhood)

Not sure how hard it is enforced but people have been fined before in the past for tossing recyclables in the normal trash. The recycle bins are free and they even come pick them up so the excuses really dont fly around here.

[Nynaeve]

I recycle everything at home that I can. At work we shred and then recycle our paper. For other stuff though they stupidly put recycling bins for bottles, glass, etc only in the main hospital building departments and by the cafeteria, and none in the ancillary buildings. So if I'm near one, I use it or I will sometimes take stuff home to recycle. But it usually ends up in the garbage because I'll be damned If I'm walking that fucking far (out of my building, across a busy street, down 2 flights of stairs) to do it.

[Gwynplaine]

If it were worthwhile to recycle something it wouldn't require compulsory government subsidy. I do use the recycle bins to an extent however. Because the damn things have already been paid for with everyone's money, I figure you might as well make some use of it if you can find one. They're useful for the large trash that would take up a lot of space in garbage bags that you have to pay for. Like big boxes, milk cartons, etc. But in general recycling and environmentalism is just another vapid guilt trip. It doesn't save any resources, and there's no massive landfill crisis.

http://www.theobjectivestandard.com/...loit-green.gif

[Takedown3]

If it were worthwhile to recycle something it wouldn't require compulsory government subsidy. I do use the recycle bins to an extent however. Because the damn things have already been paid for with everyone's money, I figure you might as well make some use of it if you can find one. They're useful for the large trash that would take up a lot of space in garbage bags that you have to pay for. Like big boxes, milk cartons, etc. But in general recycling and environmentalism is just another vapid guilt trip. It doesn't save any resources, and there's no massive landfill crisis.

http://www.theobjectivestandard.com/...loit-green.gif

what is this i dont even

[tyven]

my house recycles all recyclables

[dejet]

at my house I do, at my school I dont. At home I can its right there. At school its fucking out of my way; no joke we must have one area to throw cans away and stuff. Its not worth my time to head 15min away. If they had a area by each of the classrooms I would. Id like to know if the numbers are up a little now, NY state and a few others just followed Main in the water bottle .05 deposit.

[Devia]

I save plastic, aluminum and glass both at work and at home. I donate everything unsorted to a recycling program at the ranch where I rent a guest house and the owners use the money to make little improvements to the property. Everybody wins.

[Moss]

Last year there were recycling bins in my dorm so I did, there aren't any near my apartment now, so I don't. There are random ones scattered across the campus but I'm not going to carry around a bag of empty water bottles looking for them.

[Pirian]

I recycle everything that my city will take up as separate from regular trash, which isn't all that much, unfortunately

[Ksandra]

I recycle at home, but not at work. Surprisingly to me, California is not as "green" as I would have thought.

Back home every grocery story has a recycling machine for bottles.

Here we stock up like crazy then have to go to the hospital where there's a recycling center.

Also, my job doesn't have recycling facilities.

[*Shinzon*]

I have to make sure that we recycle and recycle properly at my house. The reason for this is because if the garbage guys can hear plastic bottles or aluminum cans and glass in a garbage bag they wont take it. Also if there is say paper inside the glass and plastic bags they leave them. They'll take like glass and aluminum and metal as garbage just not the bottles and cans.

[Scythiroth]

I really only recycle at home, but we do recycle pretty much everything that can be. When I'm out, which isn't much besides school, I don't really see a lot of recycling bins. My college probably has them, but I never really have anything to throw away when I'm there.

[Absolutely Virtue]

Would you guys say perspectives are changing? I have family (both my own, and my in-laws) who think my wife and I are worthless hippies because we take the time to put the beer bottles in one bag, and beer cans in another. Like this is some amazing affront to their freedom as Americans.

Thing is, we could probably get just about everyone to agree that littering is bad. If you throw a plastic bag in the street, you'll get plenty of dirty looks. Will we one day give people the same dirty looks if they just bury the bag in the ground somewhere?

[Alleya]

Except for glass and steel, recycling takes more energy than it saves and often adds extra pollution to the environment (especially paper products). Municipal programs are especially bad, huge waste of tax dollars. A lot of landfills actually produce a net positive of energy by capturing the methane from decomposition; and contrary to the environmental hysterics, it would be basically impossible to run out of landfill space in this country. So I still recycle glass and aluminum, but it's not actually as vital as people think it is to recycle. For that reason I'd fight any government mandates or municipal pickup systems, in addition to the usual libertarian reasons.