Heh, my imagination is playing tricks on me again. I saw with my mind's
eye a bunch of little ant-size repair men working on a mixer.

As always we make things complicated and it can vary from one part of the
country to another.

We have three "toters", one gray for everything else, one blue for
recyclables, and one green for yard waste.

We can get in trouble for putting the wrong stuff in the blue or green cans,
but no penalty if we put everything in the gray can.  Except its kind of
small and it costs a lot to get a larger one.

They are very generous as to the blue can.  Its for cans (they wish) and
bottles, cardboard and plastic.  Anything that carries the recyclable symbol
that has to be printed or stamped on darn near everything.  But you don't
have to wash things out. Old pizza boxes with stuck on cheese are OK etc.
Have to remember that plastic bottles go in but not their caps.

Most larger businesses have learned that they can get paid for their waste
cardboard.

The penalty part is that the disposal company that picks up everything and
operates the landfills has a mandate that over 50% of what they collect has
to be recyclable.  They even have crews that pick over what comes in a bit
to get the bigger and more valuable stuff into the right section.

If they don't meet their mandate they are fined by the state.  Which might
be all well and good except that the fines are then passed on to their
customer base.  So we all have at least some incentive to do things right.

Aluminum cans are worth quite a bit so they usually don't make it as far as
the landfill.  Most everyone keeps them separate either to return for cash
or to turn over to some charity or other.  A few people even manage to make
a living going around and picking up any cans that might have been left at
the park or places like that.

Jo

We get given green bags by Cardiff Council which take all recyclables
jumbled together because the recycling unit can seperate them.
Apparently. So we can shove washed cans, glass, paper, plastic
cartons, cardboard, junk mail, newspapers all in the same bag. Then we
have a huge green composting bin which we put all garden and compost
waste in. They're taken every 2 weeks. Since I've been recycling and
using compostable cat litter, I probably have one black bag of trash a
week. It all helps. :)

My brother reports that in Stuttgart they are very strict. You get
fined or charged depending on what you throw away. Apparently
recycling in Germany is something like 70+%, but I'm sure Inge would
verify this.

Helen M

On Jul 3, 3:59 pm, "Christina Websell"
<spamf...@tinawebsell.wanadoo.co.uk> wrote:

States & municipalities vary, but here, we just have 1 trash bin on
wheels collected weekly. If I want
to recycle, I have to do it on my own and cart the stuff to Oklahoma
City.  With gasoline & time involved,
it's not practical to do that, unless we're going to the city anyway.
I try, but sometimes I get sick of the stuff
piled up in the garage.
Of course we do recycle the oil out of the vehicles. There's a pick-up
for that here at the auto parts store.
To be honest, I don't think forced recycling would go over here.
People would get angry at being "forced" to. They
wouldn't do it. It would be a nightmare to enforce. Only the people
who already have a shred of social
conscience about the planet would cooperate.
Want to hear my pet peeve? Styrofoam cups. And Wal-Mart sacks. People
throw them out the car windows on the road that runs in front of
our land. I get out there and pick them up myself, all the time. Even
glass beer bottles. I can't imagine what kind of person throws trash
out the car window.

Sherry

Sherry

Coming very late into the discussion, but just thought I'd describe the
system in Helsinki (and other Finnish towns - I don't know how well this
works in the countryside. We sort our waste on the island and then
transport everything in separate bags to waste stations with different
bins for the different waste). There's a 'waste room' in my building,
with separate bins for organic waste, paper, cardboard, and 'other
household waste'. The house association pays for the pick-up.

Most bottles and drink cans are recyclable according to a system where
you pay a deposit for the bottle/can when you buy the drink, then the
deposit is returned when you return the bottle/can to a shop. Then there
are 'waste stations' where you can deposit non-refundable glass items
and tins/cans etc in separate bins. So not everything is picked up from
your home, but my closest waste station is close enough that it's no
problem.

Our latest environmental law puts the responsibility for recycling
electronic waste on the seller. There's a small waste disposal fee
included in all electronics now, and when they break or you just want to
get rid of them, you can return them to the seller.

But the monarchy isn't running Britain...

Neither are we. Our so-called leader with the learning disability isn't
the one pulling the strings. He's about as much a leader as the British
monarchy, but with far less style. :-/

This is a good question... We used to have this thing called "separation
of powers", where different branches of the government held independent
power, so that no single branch could take over. But the folks who are
trying to destroy this government (and the country it governs) have managed
to strip away the power of the other branches, leaving the executive
branch with an inordinate amount of power. It's scary indeed.

Joyce