I'm doing my part!
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In the US it's nearly impossible since the pandemic. Most waste collection firms are dumping both cans in the same truck and not recycling anything. Plastic recycling in particular turned out to be much more expensive than waste management was prepared to keep doing so they stopped.
notice how you're immediately moving the goalposts: you're not talking about an individual separating packaging, you're talking about the industrial process.
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the recycling system is broken and often just a complete lie in many places in the world.
In many places in the world, or mainly the US? I keep seeing this claim repeated but usually any proof is just about the US
I think a lot of first world countries like do it (e.g. the UK sends around 60% away), because recycling elsewhere is cheaper than doing it at home.
And it's cheaper still if you don't bother to check that it hasn't just ended up in a landfill in Bangladesh or something.
I think also part of the issue is that plastic can be recycled, but not in the same way as metals or glass. That plastic bottle might get shredded and used in road surfacing (where it will doubtless leak micro plastics everywhere), which is probably not what most people envisage when they clean it up and separate it nicely.
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I think a lot of first world countries like do it (e.g. the UK sends around 60% away), because recycling elsewhere is cheaper than doing it at home.
And it's cheaper still if you don't bother to check that it hasn't just ended up in a landfill in Bangladesh or something.
I think also part of the issue is that plastic can be recycled, but not in the same way as metals or glass. That plastic bottle might get shredded and used in road surfacing (where it will doubtless leak micro plastics everywhere), which is probably not what most people envisage when they clean it up and separate it nicely.
wrote on last edited by [email protected]I had to check, and it looks like at least as far as plastic goes, in Finland it's sent to two domestic recycling plants, and everything they don't have the capacity to handle is shipped to Sweden's Site Zero in Motala (dunno where they go from there.)
But yeah, something like using shredded plastic for road surfacing definitely isn't what I'd call a sensible way to recycle the material. It's just adding an extra step before getting to "microplastic endocrine disruptors EVERYWHERE"
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the recycling system is broken and often just a complete lie in many places in the world.
In many places in the world, or mainly the US? I keep seeing this claim repeated but usually any proof is just about the US
wrote on last edited by [email protected]I've ranted in various places over the years but it's 100% true in my city in Canada.
Decades ago we built a massive publicly-funded recycling system because the City could actually draw profit from the collection and sale of materials.
But about 15 years ago China stopped buying the waste, and it became a new shell-game of collecting the material but literally unable to do anything with it or sell it, so any that does get sold mostly ends up in the down-stream recycling economy, where the bulk of it ends up being burned. The rest goes into the regular old landfill. Even waste cardboard has no value anymore.
People who separate recycling in our city now, are just pre-sorting it for the waste management company and keeping it out of their regular waste (profit) stream.
We do have our ewaste centers but knowing people that work there, I can say anecdotally I've been informed that the metal and rare metal waste is collected and sent for processing in Ontario, the rest of the bits (all the plastic which is 90% of eWaste) goes into the regular waste stream where it's buried or burned, but never recycled.
Notice how Pepsi and Coke don't use recycled plastic? If that doesn't condemn the whole recycling "meme" as a sham, I don't know what would.
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I've ranted in various places over the years but it's 100% true in my city in Canada.
Decades ago we built a massive publicly-funded recycling system because the City could actually draw profit from the collection and sale of materials.
But about 15 years ago China stopped buying the waste, and it became a new shell-game of collecting the material but literally unable to do anything with it or sell it, so any that does get sold mostly ends up in the down-stream recycling economy, where the bulk of it ends up being burned. The rest goes into the regular old landfill. Even waste cardboard has no value anymore.
People who separate recycling in our city now, are just pre-sorting it for the waste management company and keeping it out of their regular waste (profit) stream.
We do have our ewaste centers but knowing people that work there, I can say anecdotally I've been informed that the metal and rare metal waste is collected and sent for processing in Ontario, the rest of the bits (all the plastic which is 90% of eWaste) goes into the regular waste stream where it's buried or burned, but never recycled.
Notice how Pepsi and Coke don't use recycled plastic? If that doesn't condemn the whole recycling "meme" as a sham, I don't know what would.
But about 15 years ago China stopped buying the waste
Guess where that waste used to go
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the recycling system is broken and often just a complete lie in many places in the world.
In many places in the world, or mainly the US? I keep seeing this claim repeated but usually any proof is just about the US
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Even if most every day people would lower their carbon footprint as much as possible, corporations would simply say "Neat, we can pollute more, we're within target emissions", and they would
Microsoft is literally buying and pumping shit in the ground to offset carbon produced by their useless AI. It's ridiculous
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notice how you're immediately moving the goalposts: you're not talking about an individual separating packaging, you're talking about the industrial process.
I'm just speaking as someone who does carefully separate everything, only to watch the truck put it all the same place. My individual actions mean fuck all if the rest of the process doesn't work.
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Got a source on that “most”? The ones around here DEFINITELY don’t do that.
What proof do you have that your waste is being processed correctly? I have proof mine is not and plenty of news reporting from across the US in the last 5 years that says consumer curbside recycling is basically dead.
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What proof do you have that your waste is being processed correctly? I have proof mine is not and plenty of news reporting from across the US in the last 5 years that says consumer curbside recycling is basically dead.
Im calling you out for your claim that most places dump it all in the same truck. While it is true that a lot of plastic gets thrown away by the recycler, that is absolutely not true for metal, glass, and paper.
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You know what's also shitty about recycling? The companies that pick that up bin in some areas throw it in another bin which gets shipped to an "out of country" recycling company to make it someone else's problem. In the shipping process, that plastic falls off into the ocean making a worse problem now than just throwing it into regular waste management. Also, the process to recycle is more toxic than just throwing it away because the companies use really old processes; like paper for example. I gave up recycling except for metals.
edit: I guess i forgot to add "In the US" for the Europeans. Yeah, it's a US problem and nowhere else does this happen I guess.
Glass is good too AFAIK
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The thing is just that its not that one woman, but hundreds of millions if not billions of people that follow trash separation rules.
This would actually have a pretty large effect, however sadly the recycling system is broken and often just a complete lie in many places in the world.wrote on last edited by [email protected]Isn't it somewhere like only 1% of the recycling stuff actually getting recycled? The rest goes to some kind of landfill to a poor country that decides to take it. I saw this in some documentary
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Even better: compost the rich!
Burn the rich so we don't introduce prion diseases to the soil!
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The latter half of your comment is why I dont even bother. The "recycling" here is picked up and dumped into the same truck, there is no separation facility, just a landfill/incinerator.
Im not paying extra to lie to myself.
We have separate trucks here, but I was behind the recycling truck one day and watched it pull into the landfill.
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Arent they still off-sourcing the actual recycling to a 3rd world country?
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Isn't it somewhere like only 1% of the recycling stuff actually getting recycled? The rest goes to some kind of landfill to a poor country that decides to take it. I saw this in some documentary
For plastics, pretty much. The thing about plastic recycling is that it's more expensive that making new plastic, and the recycled stuff is lower quality and unsuitable for many uses.
Metal.recycling, especially aluminum, makes economic sense and does better.
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We have separate trucks here, but I was behind the recycling truck one day and watched it pull into the landfill.
I remember my home district had one spot that handled both trash and recycling, so maybe there’s a chance of it still getting somewhere useful.
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Private Jets MUST be outlawed
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But about 15 years ago China stopped buying the waste
Guess where that waste used to go
wrote on last edited by [email protected]Don't be that smart ass that thinks he's cool and guarding some super secret information, and he only speaks in riddles and leading questions.
Everybody knows where that plastic went.
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It's a fair observation and very agreeable when the intent is to focus deserved ire on the primary element responsible for the wretched state of the world. But this could also be used to absolve oneself of inaction, deny any personal responsibility, to justify exhibiting similar selfish behavior oneself, or to feel smug about demoralizing or shitting on people who seek to improve society somewhat.
As the meme itself implies, the exploitation class is the problem that needs to be addressed. No need for anyone else to catch strays.
I think most of us understand that, and you're just being obnoxious for pointing it out.
