Category: Recyling Works
While remodeling your kitchen, you install a $200 under-the-sink garbage disposal. Finally, the last twist of the wrench. A big job but well worth it….it’s done. You turn it on to make sure it works and doesn’t leak. Perfect. Now you’re ready…..to not use it. Not use it? What? The controversy spiraling around the use of garbage disposals for food scraps vs throwing it in the trash to be buried in the landfill has many facets and can get pretty heated.
With a stocked, or semi-stocked, pantry in your home, you probably have a handful of items that you just keep pushing out of the way to get to the cans or boxes that you want. Maybe these items were supposed to go into a recipe that you never made, or perhaps you bought too many and ended up with some you weren’t going to use. Many of us have extra non-perishable food items in our homes that we could easily part with and don’t think much of it, but with a 16% hunger rate in Northern Indiana alone, we hold a veritable goldmine!
A landfill is a large area of land or an excavated site that is specifically designed and built to
receive wastes. The volume of waste consumers and businesses throw out increases when the economy is doing well. When the economy is stagnant, volume decreases. Garbage volumes rose sharply in 2013 indicating that the economy is improving.
When you think of a landfill, does it conjure up an image of a big hole in the ground with trash in it that gets covered with dirt every once in a while? Studies show that when asked what a landfill is, this is a close depiction of several answers given. In reality, Federal guidelines have made modern landfills an intricate layering system that puts “open dumps” to shame and will keep them a thing of the past.
We hear that we should recycle everything we can anytime we can. We should recycle plastic. We should recycle paper. We hear it on television, on the radio, at work, at school…..you get the idea. The fact that we should recycle is clear. Why we should recycle is something altogether different. This may be what we need to be reminded.
Recycling companies often talk a lot about...well…..recycling. What is unfortunately allowed to hang back in the shadows are the other 2 “Rs”. Reducing and Reusing are such an integral part of the recycling process that they should always remain in the forefront.
The term “Recycling Bias” refers to the propensity of people to throw larger or full sheets of paper into the recycling bin while bits and scraps of paper went into the trash. The same was found to be true of crushed cans or plastic bottles. Empty but intact cans or bottles went into the recycling bin while their crushed or dented counterparts were destined for the landfill.
Recycling to some people seems like a no-brainer and a civic responsibility. Easy. Convenient. Sensible. Even more positive adjectives can be listed here…..but not for everybody. As unusual as it may be, some people are not in favor of recycling at all. Bring in the idea of recycling being mandatory, and you’ve got yourself a debate.
When the term “Recycling” is used, we generally think of plastics and aluminum being melted down and used to manufacture new items. But let’s not forget that recycling is also cycling used items through new people making that item new....to them!
When deciding how to dispose of things into the trash or as recycling, we usually turn things over and all around to find the triangle with a number inside of it denoting a recyclable item. But does everything that is recyclable have the number in a triangle? I used to think so. Which probably means that many more people probably think so too.