Recycling? (1 Viewer)

What do you think the most important material is that should be recycled for the sake of wildlife? I always thought that paper was important to recycle because of the rainforests, that support the most organisms, but I may be wrong.

I always thought the rainforests gave us hard woods which are not normally used for paper. Having said that, and I'm probably wrong, I think it's very important to recycle paper. The biggest shift however, has got to be away from oil. If we can do that and cut down on all the packaging of goods we stand a chance of making an impact.


Rob

I may also be wrong as well Jake, I probably am wrong but I'll go along with paper as well.

Isn't fossil fuel part of the process of making plastics?
I think oil, but that is more of doing without rather than recycling.
As far as recycling goes, paper.

Elizabeth

I was recently exposed to view that shocked me.... the high energy put into the recyling of some resources is actually a serious consideration. It may be better not to recyle eg paper and plastics in terms of total environmental load!!

The argument went on to say that dealing with large amnounts of landfill is a luxury we can worry about once we are sure that we are not about to go into meltdown.

Reducing usage and reusing wherever possible is far more impactful than recyling. That argument holds whether or not you you believe in global warming.

I would vote for plastics :-

8% of global oil usage ( 4% feedstock/4% manufacture ) goes into plastics .
80% of UK plastics go to landfill where they are long life sources of chemical pollution .
17.5billion plastic bags are given away by UK supermarkets each year .

The gains in recycling plastics and/or incinerating for energy seem considerable . The savings in oil consumption are directly translated into CO2 savings . :-


http://www.wasteonline.org.uk/resources/InformationSheets/Plastics.htm

http://www.dnr.state.oh.us/recycling/plastics/vsdisposal.htm

Colin

I think home composting is important in the sense that it can be a powerful reminder of how linked in we are to our environment, and of how with a little care and know-how we can come up with positive and satisfying solutions to environmental issues. In this case, by dealing with our waste at the same time as fertilising the garden and reducing all sorts of environmental costs elsewhere, eg in transport.

As Jane says, recycling schemes have to be low energy. They also should be as local as possible - apart from the benefits in decreased transport, it seems good for us to see exactly how much waste we're producing and what happens to it.

James

In terms of energy efficiency of recycling over cost of manufacture from raw materials, Aluminium wins hands down.

Re the environmental cost of recycling - very true; I'd suspect the best way of dealing with waste paper is to compost it at home. But if that's not a realistic option, it is better to recycle than dump, as dumping (and transport to the dump) also costs the environment badly. The recycling truck uses fuel, but so does the binmens' lorry.

I think a lot of paper comes from forests that are re-planted when they're felled, thus providing a variety of habitats so it's probably not at the top of the list for re-cycling from that point of view.

However, it's difficult to compost paper in large quantities and it's very solid as well - just look how long it would take for the contents of you bookshelf to rot down without some help from us!

My opinion? Agree with much that has been said here, but I go fo plastics.

Simply... what will we do when the oil runs out?

Perhaps that "argument" applies to many things in today's society (metal) - but just look around you and see how much plastic there is within 3 feet... and most of it don't degrade. Gotta reuse it!

The question is a good one, as are the answers that all make good points. The conclusion I've come away with over the years is that it's best to recycle, reuse and buy recycled or reused whenever and whatever you can.

Here in Sacramento we have city recycling for "garbage" paper, plastic, glass, aluminum and other cans, cardboard. All goes into one bin that is emptied into a garbage truck and taken to a recycling center for sorting and moving material on to the next stage(s) of processing. So I have a certain degree of trust that City Waste is dealing with all this stuff in the best way they can.

California (US?) public garbage agencies have a mandate to reduce the amount they send to landfills. We also have pickup of yard waste - currently it goes into piles in the gutter - we'll probably have to start putting it into a bin soon. That material gets ground up and composted. The compost is available for the hauling.

I also recycle the plastic peanut and other packaging material that come into my possession by taking them to commercial package stores. My local conventional grocery store collects clean plastic bags and passes them on to organizations that can reuse them (thrift stores, food banks, etc.). All dropped off when out and about for other purposes.

Our solid waste system also has a twice annual day where people can put
any thing (no toxics) that they want to get rid of out on the street. As you can imagine, there is some great stuff put out- lots of people pick it over and the reusable stuff is pretty well collected by whoever finds it first.

There are some very interesting things going with building material recycling. THe local Co-op grocery is building a new store that is as green as possible. One of the materials is shredded bluejeans that are compressed into pads for building insulation. The folks who work with it like it because they don't have to wear a face mask to keep from breathing fiberglass and it doesn't get imbedded in their skin.

This isn't meant to be holier than thou or self-righteous - just a little bit about what's possible for those who want to do it. Barbara

Plastics get my vote for most effective recycling. Also they make great bird feeders. No use buying all that commercial stuff when you can make your own out of old soda bottles, or a really great one is the new plastic Folger coffee cans. Cut a few 5/8" holes near the bottom set the container on 1/4" plastic offsets (to keep the rain out) on a recycled plant tray and you have a tray feeder with a waterproof top. In my case the metal pole supporting the tray was left over from a closet project, white slick enamel that is also squirrel proof.

I use other plastic coffee cans to store various types of birdseed.