5500 tonnes of Lothians rubbish sent for recycling ends up in landfill
http://news.scotsman.com/scotlandsgreencampaigns/5500-tonnes-of-Lothians-rubbish.5064500.jp

‘Recycled’ waste dumped in landfill
http://women.timesonline.co.uk/tol/life_and_style/women/the_way_we_live/article1875550.ece

“The plastics industry wants people to understand that all plastics are recyclable,” said Davis. “That may be technically possible, but it’s not economically feasible. The high-tech sorting equipment costs half a million dollars apiece. That’s the part they don’t tell you.”
http://www.seacoastonline.com/articles/20090601-NEWS-906010325

Ellen, the numbers that are relevant to true Recyclers is the tonnage headed to the Landfill and the products brought home made from recycled goods. It is a two-way street or it doesn’t work. I see very little being done to support the buy recycled product coupons from Recycle Bank. Are we so arrogant to think that one source of filling recycle containers is the accomplishment while not filling the other source of buying goods made from recycled goods? How long will this extra garbage charge continue while Oak Ridgers and our own government will not buy recycled goods? Furthermore, I doubt we will see a lesser cost from landfill charges if anyone told Anderson County to reduce our garbage fees because we divert garbage via RecycleBank. RecycleBank is an incentive to cheat program, and Anderson County knows that RecycleBank has no bearing on how much to charge Oak Ridgers for landfill usage.

So nobody can get the amount of Garbage we send to the landfill; why does anyone think RecycleBank will reduce the amount of Garbage going into our landfill without those numbers?

The cost of our recycling program goes to infrastructure and jobs located in Knox County. How much do we need to recycle to cover the amount of raw materials used to build this program, and how much used was from recycled goods? Without the other end of this issue, Oak Ridgers will face even more costs of maintaining a recycling program while our landfill is continually filling with garbage that should be going to the multi-million dollar facility and trucks. More needs to be done; RecycleBank needs to provide more coupons for goods made from recycled materials, help by informing us of landfill tonnage from our community, show us how much RecycleBank throws away and why, show us how our work and payments have covered their costs since they have an oil and tree meter for Mother Naure showing how we have recovered what they use in raw materialfor our program, expand their program to include electronics, appliances, any metal from nails and screws to transportation parts used in our Central Services Complex.

I’m not against recycling, just showing how much we spend to do so little.

The Waste Connections folks assure us that everything they collect in the recycle carts goes to the materials recovery facility, and that it is still being sold. The good news in the last few days is that they say that prices for some recycle materials are beginning to inch back up.

http://www.knoxnews.com/news/2009/may/08/recycling-eyesore-to-neighbor/

http://www.oakridger.com/archive/x407219013/Trash-to-treasure-Oak-Ridge-Recycle-Program

During the recent economic mess, our local hauler, (Waste Connections) says that recycling costs them more than it used to because markets are soft. The company is absorbing these costs, not their contractual customers (like the City of Oak Ridge).

I would suspect all trash has dropped due to the economy, but garbage costs are expected to increase due to storage of recyclables. Next, if Waste Management chooses to dump these recyclables into Landfills, the tax must be paid resulting in a net loss for Waste Management. Then they have the option of dumping this waste in third world countries looking for a quick dollar for filling a hole in the ground, but that isn’t green. Yet it happens. A double edged sword our council has given its citizens while not looking into programs that help Oak Ridgers.

The best way for our city to recycle is to create and promote our own programs that reduce landfill refuse. No other program would return the benefits of recycling. Why isn’t Waste Management purchasing methane fueled Recycling Trucks? The landfills they dump at are major contributors to climate methane release. What is good for the Goose is even better for the Gander.

All RecycleBank is good for is to make people feel good while facing higher costs from Waste Management in all of their services. Sad to see Oak Ridge cannot find service for itself by itself. This is the mindset being held from Oak Ridge citizens by a select few who want to feel good. Next on the recycling list, a fine for not sorting your garbage to offset recycled goods storage. The double standard is alive and well in Oak Ridge.

There are both tangible and intangible benefits of this program. An important intangible benefit is simply developing a sustainability mindset within our community.

This is an interesting comment:

“The township I live in has an award winning recycling program which includes the pick up of pet food tins. The recycling program also helps to keep our taxes as low as possible.

If we diverted all of our pet food tins to the RecycleBank then that would result in a decrease of revenue for the township’s recycling contractor, and defeat the purpose of the program.”