USA Recycling Problem
Here's a good read from "The Week"........
AMERICA HAS A RECYCLING PROBLEM. HERE'S HOW TO SOLVE IT.
Author Jeff Spross writes:
America's recycling system has been a rickety, jury-rigged contraption for a very long time. The infrastructure was awkwardly duct-taped onto a waste management model that was purely linear: take resources from the natural world, use them, then toss them and move on. As a result, there isn't really a good business model for recycling in America, which means few smart innovators have stepped in to make it better. The process can be complicated, and for many Americans, dealing with recycling is too much trouble to bother.
Meanwhile, there's a deeper dissonance at play: The average American may be motivated to put their stuff in the recycling bin by an urge to protect the environment. But whether a plastic bottle actually gets a new life depends not on our good intentions, but on something far less altruistic: market changes and business cycles. Most recycling and waste management here in the U.S. is handled by private companies that partner with local governments. Like all businesses, recycling costs time, energy, labor, and resources. Profits depend on how expensive it is to recycle versus how expensive it is to just make new commodities with new materials. When the price of the latter falls below the former, the economic incentives disincentivize recycling.
Read the rest:
https://theweek.com/articles/819488/america-recycling-problem-heres-how-solve
Curbside recycling is provided here in Oreana once a week -- every Wednesday. Sadly though, I see so few bins/tubs/totes placed at the end of driveways.
You know all their recycle stuff (cardboard, paper, plastic, etc.) is in the other tote..... the dark garbage-green one.
Are they lazy? Do they not care? Do they feel recycling is a joke?
I'm sure there's 100's of responses/excuses that would be given.
Grace & Peace & Love to you all -
Matt
AMERICA HAS A RECYCLING PROBLEM. HERE'S HOW TO SOLVE IT.
Author Jeff Spross writes:
America's recycling system has been a rickety, jury-rigged contraption for a very long time. The infrastructure was awkwardly duct-taped onto a waste management model that was purely linear: take resources from the natural world, use them, then toss them and move on. As a result, there isn't really a good business model for recycling in America, which means few smart innovators have stepped in to make it better. The process can be complicated, and for many Americans, dealing with recycling is too much trouble to bother.
Meanwhile, there's a deeper dissonance at play: The average American may be motivated to put their stuff in the recycling bin by an urge to protect the environment. But whether a plastic bottle actually gets a new life depends not on our good intentions, but on something far less altruistic: market changes and business cycles. Most recycling and waste management here in the U.S. is handled by private companies that partner with local governments. Like all businesses, recycling costs time, energy, labor, and resources. Profits depend on how expensive it is to recycle versus how expensive it is to just make new commodities with new materials. When the price of the latter falls below the former, the economic incentives disincentivize recycling.
Read the rest:
https://theweek.com/articles/819488/america-recycling-problem-heres-how-solve
Curbside recycling is provided here in Oreana once a week -- every Wednesday. Sadly though, I see so few bins/tubs/totes placed at the end of driveways.
You know all their recycle stuff (cardboard, paper, plastic, etc.) is in the other tote..... the dark garbage-green one.
Are they lazy? Do they not care? Do they feel recycling is a joke?
I'm sure there's 100's of responses/excuses that would be given.
Grace & Peace & Love to you all -
Matt
