Matt Wuerker for June 23, 2022

Plastics can breakdown, they do, but it takes a long time; plastic bottles take up to 450 years to decompose in landfill.

And many Q-publicans probably believe the sign.

The whole problem with recycling is it isn’t cost effective and therefore has no viable market. As long as it’s cheaper to use fresh petroleum instead of reusing the old plastics that’s the way Industry will go.

Humans continue to defecate themselves into oblivion. Unfortunately, we are taking other livings things with us.

& #2 bottles, if reasonably clean yes, everything else, no. It takes very few folks who fail to follow this to contaminate the entire batch or material that could be recycled to screw the entire batch!

“Life in plastic, it’s fantastic” (Aqua)

Not to dispute the point of the toon’, but exactly what are some viable alternatives to using plastic water bottles and such? I understand that a LOT of things that are wrapped or packaged in plastic can have alternative packaging, and we can use reusable bags for shopping, or even go back to paper bags in a pinch and the like, but what about water? Glass bottles are one choice, but disposing of them is just about as hard as the plastic ones, plus they can break. Then there could be cardboard like the old milk cartons, but then again there is the waste and destruction of trees to make them. Some folks DO have refillable water containers, and that’s a good idea, but we need to find SOME alternative means of carrying a portable source of water especially during heat waves like a LOT of the country is enduring right now.

Any Ideas???

i was in a state park not long ago and the sight of hundreds of carelessly discarded plastic water bottles along the trails was appalling! WTF is wrong with people who seem to think it’s okay to just toss their trash wherever?

When did it become de rigeur to carry bottled water at all times & places? Whoever was behind that marketing scam was an evil genius. i see people who seem to be more likely to leave the house without wearing pants than to be caught without their damn disposable bottle of water.

The other evil marketing geniuses were those who convinced people that “disposable” anything was the way to go- “Just use it & toss it! Never mind about waste, we have plenty of landfills and ocean to dump it.”

yep

Of course they are.. it’s just that we are so impatient. Had there been people around in the Carboniferous and early Permian periods no doubt they would have complained about all that dead plant material. In a couple of million years no doubt paleontologists will note a distinct change in species associated with a layer of plasticised rock.. much like we associate the demise of dinosaurs with an asteroid.

Like Mrs. Castorini said in Moonstruck, “Don’t shit where you eat.” The human race is doing just that. It doesn’t appear stoppable. That is a complete quote, sorry for the obscenity.

Most plastics “could” be recycled if there was a less labor intensive way to sort them.

Unfortunately, each plastic is made up of a slightly different chemical composition, and can’t simply be melted together to yield a usable plastic pellet to be re-manufactured.

Bio-based plastic is on the way, though. Check out Danimer Scientific if you want to see what sort of progress is being made.

At work, we had bins for all different recyclables. Then in the evening, the maintenance folk had no choice but to throw it all in the same dumpster.

may be time to go back to glass

Every Monday, people in our neighborhood dutifully put out their trash, with the recyclables separated into a different bin. I’m new to this neighborhood and city. One morning I notice the trash truck pulling up. I wondered which bin he was collecting. Then, to my horror, I saw that the was dumping BOTH into the SAME truck! What?

I went to the city’s website where I found, in very small print, that the recycling contract had been cancelled. I checked with our councilman who affirmed that, yes, all of it was going to the same landfill. He said the city hoped to have a new contract in place sometime soon. That was 6 months ago, and who knows how long it had been going on? It continues. And, no, I don’t separate my waste anymore.

Here in British Columbia we’ve had deposits on bottles and cans for some time, recently extended to items like milk cartons. This has resulted in armies of scavengers roaming the streets and parks, cleaning up for the refunds. (There’s a centralized organization that handles the returns and payments.) Further result: a significant reduction in litter, some pocket money for many who have very little, and a modest “recycling fee” to support the recycling structure.

Everyone knows that plastics are not truly recyclable. They just chose to ignore that fact. Way more convenient to just keep buying the crap and give lip service to being green.

…heat and toxic air pollution.

When moving to Colorado farm country last year, I didn’t realize there was a recycling plant about 7 miles east supported by a non-profit foundation. When I called to inquire about their services, the dispatcher invited me to take a tour of the facilities and I have to say, it’s pretty impressive. @Tabby, the plant is in Swink.

Recycle-able does not guarantee that it will be recycled.

So true