It seems that marijuana use is on the increase here in Florida, where we have legal medical marijuana stores, but not recreational.

The story that I'm getting is that the City (Altamonte Springs) can not find enough truck drivers who can pass the piss test, so no more Thursday morning recycle pickup.

Actually, I find it kind of liberating to be able to just toss everything into the trash bin.

I bet that driver job probably makes pretty decent money.

From what I have gathered here on the forum, very little of what was supposed to be recycled is actually recycled.

quote:

Originally posted by V-Tail:
Actually, I find it kind of liberating to be able to just toss everything into the trash bin.

Only reason I put stuff into recycling was because I ran out of trash bin space.

I've heard that recycling doesn't really happen much, as it's just not cost effective. Sure, we get the large blue recycling bins from the city and are asked to separate things. And they're picked up by different trucks or at least at different times than the black or green garbage bins. But I kind of wonder if it all ends up in the same pile in the same landfill.

quote:

Actually, I find it kind of liberating to be able to just toss everything into the trash bin.

So you're saying you're high on the idea of no recycling!

quote:

Originally posted by HRK:

quote:

Actually, I find it kind of liberating to be able to just toss everything into the trash bin.

So you're saying you're high on the idea of no recycling!

Life is just a little bit simpler now.

Somewhat related: A dude I was in the service with got out and got a job driving a garbage truck. Then invested in the stock market. He is now a millionaire. The name of his boat: Trash Money.

A surprisingly high percentage of steel is recycled. Depending on the report, between 47 and 69% of all steel is recycled in North America and as much as 93% of structural steel is recycled in the U.S.

This is more than all of the other recyclable materials combined.

Paper/cardboard is readily recyclable in some cases (depending on material type and proximity to paper/cardboard plants), but relatively little plastic and glass are. Unfortunately, that means, as some have suggested, that recyclables often end up in the landfill and that much of the sorting we do is just a feel-good measure with little real benefit.

quote:

Originally posted by Rick Lee:
I've heard that recycling doesn't really happen much, as it's just not cost effective. Sure, we get the large blue recycling bins from the city and are asked to separate things. And they're picked up by different trucks or at least at different times than the black or green garbage bins. But I kind of wonder if it all ends up in the same pile in the same landfill.

Depends upon the municipality, some areas, the waste disposal services are pretty thorough however, other locales its questionable, even when they say they sort. Not sure the economics but, I believe much of it depends on how they allocate budget from teh state level for statewide recycling.

My understanding, recyclables need to be free of any 'impurities', thus they need to go thru 3-4 sort processes, which equal labor intense...and those costs gets passed down to the 'customer'. For metal, I collect what cans i have and every other month head over to the container in the parking lot where they'll issue me a credit/cash.

There's more to it than just driver shortages. I read that a few years ago China and other countries were starting to refuse taking our recycling because it's just too costly to do and we can no longer do it here for the same reason; it costs more to recycle the material than would be made off of it.

I can see my trash guys pick up my bins from my kitchen window and a least half the time they show up with the regular trash truck and all bins, both trash and recycling go right in. The whole thing is a giant scam if you ask me.

As stated, the driver shortage is likely just the final straw and/or a convenient scapegoat for the city to shitcan a recycling system that is not cost effective.

A number of cities that collect "recycling" simply dump it in the landfill alongside the trash, since to actually have the recycling processed at a recycling facility would cost the city a lot of money, more than trashing it. They just keep up the facade of separate recycling collection in order to placate the treehuggers.

we do metal and corrugated cardboard. Rest in trash.

in most places required recycling is a scam to profit garbage collection services imho.

quote:

Originally posted by V-Tail:

Actually, I find it kind of liberating to be able to just toss everything into the trash bin.

It all ends up there anyway. You might as well cut out the middle man. Ironically, this will likely cut down on waste eliminating recycling.

China stopped allowing the import of recycling bales a few years ago. There is not much of a market for recycling materials anymore.

At best, it goes to a landfill with all the other trash, at worst it goes to a third world country where it is then unceremoniously dumped in the ocean.

That is a crazy story. The recycle truck drivers in my area don't even have to leave the truck as it has the arms that come out, grab the bin, toss the refuse in the container part of the truck and places the bin back on the ground. I don't know how they operate it in Altamonte though. I couldn't imagine a more cake job, for a driver position and it's sad to think no one wants to do it and would rather smoke dope.