Quote:
Originally Posted by freebeard
Look for this symbol and sort it out. The rest can be ground up and used for a paving amendment or something.
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That symbol has an interesting history. The chemical industry lobbied for laws requiring a recycling symbol on all plastic containers. Not so make it easy to recycle or because it could even be recycled but instead to give the people the idea that plastic is being recycled so they can feel good about using it. Just throw anything with a recycling symbol into the bin and boom - you as the consumer have done your part and that plastic will be recycled and return to you as new plastic. Of course that was not true - less than 10% of plastic is recycled and most plastic cannot be economically recycles but the symbol makes the customer feel OK about buying plastic.
However, even with plastics that can be easily recycled like HDPE it isn't just about the type of plastic - the shape also matters. What can and cannot be recycled depends on the recycling center in your area. Both the machines they use and the contracts they have to buy or at least take the collected material.
For example - in my area we can recycle HDPE containers and tubs but not the lids. The reason is because lids are flat and the machines don't pick them out so they continue on through the sort and end up baled with the paper. Same with cups smaller than 6 oz as they are too small to be machine sorted.
Quote:
Originally Posted by redpoint5
You're getting nearer to my argument, that it doesn't make sense for millions of people to be recycling experts and clean and sort the recyclables, only to have that effort thwarted by those who don't sort or clean their recyclables.
It should all be a single container, a single truck that comes through the neighborhood (maybe yard debris still needs to be a separate container), and trained professionals with proper equipment and robots sorts through everything and cleans it.
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That is basically what is happening today except homeowners are asked to discard the bulk of the trash before that sort starts. I work next to a recycling center and the trucks dump into a big pile, that material goes on to a belt and then machines and humans sort.