687 replies to this topic

[Mike K.]

The only valuable items for recycling are metals and they make up a tiny portion of items consumers actually recycle.

The rest of the stuff either ends up getting dumped into a landfill or sits in massive piles waiting for someone somewhere to purchase it.

[VicHockeyFan]

I agree.  If the stuff has value, it'll get recycled on its own.  Look at auto parts "casings", ie. you get money back if you bring back your old brake shoes etc.  That system works all on its own.

 

It's when government gets involved that recycling goes off the rails, and we spend more energy and money reclaiming, sorting, transporting and storing "recyclables" than we get back for the effort. 

Edited by VicHockeyFan, 29 December 2017 - 02:36 PM.

[Rob Randall]

Here's another of my million-dollar ideas.

 

Why not go back to the very earliest part of Hartland and re-excavate it? Reprocess the contents, use a magnet to pull out the metal etc. Maybe incinerate the rest? Then dump new stuff there. I just don't buy this idea that a landfill is a permanent tomb. If they can strip mine a mountain to get a few tons of metal ore, surely they can strip out a landfill.

[VicHockeyFan]

Is there a geologist on the board?

[North Shore]

Here's another of my million-dollar ideas.

 

Why not go back to the very earliest part of Hartland and re-excavate it? 

 

"Andy crawled to freedom through 500 yards of sh!t-smelling foulness I can't even imagine..."

Edited by North Shore, 29 December 2017 - 03:24 PM.

[Bingo]

^no one wants to have a new garbage dump started near their house.  I know I don't

 

Unless your house is already a dump and you don't want to pay for garbage pickup.

[Mike K.]

Bad news for recycling advocates.

China has officially stopped importing/accepting most recycled goods, meaning the copious amounts of garbage, er recyclables, piling up across our country is most likely now destined for the trash heap.

In BC we won’t fare as badly as cities in other provinces because of our current recycling regime, and China will continue accepting our cardboard. But my oh my, the entire industry is highly dependent on someone else, somewhere else to handle this stuff with the hope it ends up where consumers think it’s ending up.

[VicHockeyFan]

The bigger Q is, why we have to send it all the way to China, if it's so worth recycling?  Halifax is about to throw 300 tons of plastic in the local dump, nobody wants it.  Thanks for sorting, everyone.

Edited by VicHockeyFan, 10 January 2018 - 08:47 AM.

[Mike K.]

Well that’s just the thing. It’s trash to all but the Chinese who will accept it for cash. And then what happens to it is anybody’s guess.

[VicHockeyFan]

And then what happens to it is anybody’s guess.

 

Check with the Chinese Boogeyman, maybe?

[tjv]

Bad news for recycling advocates.

China has officially stopped importing/accepting most recycled goods, meaning the copious amounts of garbage, er recyclables, piling up across our country is most likely now destined for the trash heap.

In BC we won’t fare as badly as cities in other provinces because of our current recycling regime, and China will continue accepting our cardboard. But my oh my, the entire industry is highly dependent on someone else, somewhere else to handle this stuff with the hope it ends up where consumers think it’s ending up.

I wasn't aware that is where we shipped all our recycling.  Why aren't there metal, plastic, glass and cardboard recycling facilities in North America?

[lanforod]

Paper/cardboard is certainly recycled in North America, though I don't know if our CRD paper/cardboard is.

[Mike K.]

Lots if not all cardboard in BC goes to China. Metals certainly do.

[jonny]

I wasn't aware that is where we shipped all our recycling.  Why aren't there metal, plastic, glass and cardboard recycling facilities in North America?

 

The answer to that question is likely why does China manufacture so much of most consumer products? Cost. 

[VicHockeyFan]

I wasn't aware that is where we shipped all our recycling.  Why aren't there metal, plastic, glass and cardboard recycling facilities in North America?

 

The high cost of operation.  Labour rates and environmental standards are much lower in China.

[Mike K.]

Hence why we send them our garbage, er, recyclables.

[tjv]

I guess it makes sense since that plastic milk jug will get recycled into made in china stuff

 

I wonder why they don't want it any more because its not like China isn't making products for the world market any longer

[Rob Randall]

Seriously, what exactly happens to all the plastic we put in our blue boxes? The best answer I've heard is something vague about China, but what is the true flow chart?

 

A plastic water bottle is made up of only about 20% recycled plastic so clearly the math doesn't add up when you think of how much we consume and how much we recycle.

[VicHockeyFan]

The time, effort, and energy spent cleaning, sorting, and separating, then collecting, accumulating, and shipping all the stuff makes no economic sense in the end, but don't let that stop governments.

[Rob Randall]

^We'd have to add an eco-fee like we do for paint to force the market into compliance.

 

So that nose hair trimmer that costs $11.99 now costs $12.88.