I'm curious if anyone has a problem with recyclers stealing copper pipe from buildings? It's turned into a huge problem here since scrap metal places will buy almost any metal scrap from anyone. This winter at least one house blew up when the recyclers took the copper pipe while the gas was still turned on. Others have had to evacuate their houses because natural gas was leaking from homes with the pipe stolen. Folks have even had aluminum siding stolen from their houses.

Kevin

Hi from Canberra. We get garbage collection once a week and recycling collection every second week. The old recycling depots are still there too if you have too much. The rubbish dump has a second-hand goods type place called Revolve and areas where you can leave things like oil. Next door is a place that sells soils, mulches and pebbles and also recycles green waste into compost. You have to deliver it there, unlike some towns where there is a third bin for collecting green waste, I think once a month. Methane from the garbage dump itself is used to generate electricity.

We get a weekly kerbside collection of paper (newspapers, phone books, junk mail, office paper) certain plastics, glass, cans, aluminium (e.g. food containers, milk bottle tops) used engine oil, shoes, textiles, old spectacles, mobile phones and books. Cardboard and garden waste are collected every two weeks. There are also recycling centres which take all those things plus old wood, left over paint, electrical goods, plastic bags and rubble. There is a charitable concern which collects and restores old furniture. And still we can only manage a fraction of the percentage of recycling which goes on in places like Germany. What does it take to get people to separate their rubbish? How much easier could it be made for them???

I am aware that other countries have other methods of recycling and I'm so pleased to see some represented here!
I would LOVE to have a "green" recycling center near here for soil, stone, and green mulch such as they have in Canberra.
The household fixtures center as mentioned by Dee in Conn. also sounds fun.
I live in a rural area in Pa. and it is amazing to me how recycling is voluntary rather than mandatory. Although I'm also pleased to see that our recycling facility is usually full. I think the problem in our area is finding a buyer for the recycled goods.

I also wanted to mention that our Lions Club takes our old glasses, and our library takes old books, videos, and cell phones.

My children crush and take aluminum cans to the scrap yard for cash (and any copper they can come across, although I'm certain they aren't stealing any from anyone! ;) )

Its interesting to find the different things recycled across the world.

BTW: its also interesting to note that incandescent lightbulbs are illegal now in Australia.

Well, as long as recycling and conservation are considered "personal virtues" by certain high federal government entities, I don't think we can expect much progress on a national level. :-( I am hopeful that the awakening of some key thought influencers will make "green" more than a fad or the province of those of us who believe it makes a real difference.

I think it's the old habit of thinking that you generate such a little, let everyone else go to the trouble. Multiply that by half the population of a county and you have the problem. Yes, if recyclables were more valuable to industry they'd be a hot commodity. That's why I think we need to hit industry with the incentive to use them through tax incentives or penalties.

Our local landfills are victims to out of state waste. It comes in by the tractor trailer load covered in canvas and unmarked. This is because we are rural and have land. The effect? It's raised our refuse rates because the landfill our community has used since my earliest memory quickly filled up from trash generated in major urban centers in other states due to our low fees on refuse disposal. The state authorities instituted hikes in the taxes for this service and most people fought it. In the long run, it was good for us, because we became less desirable as a dumping ground. As always, it's the short-sightedness of the idea cheap where we don't look past the immediate to the future.

"...What does it take to get people to separate their rubbish? How much easier could it be made for them???..."

Unfortunately, Flora, it seems like it's never easy enough. Just the other day I was at a buffet-type dinner in a hall. There was a garbage can, and right next to it, I'm talking six inches away, was a bag with a sign attached. The sign clearly said "CANS" - obviously the hosts were being conscientious and wanted to recycle all the soda cans there. When I went to throw my garbage away, I saw about five or six soda cans in the garbage can!!

I reached in and took out the cans (removing the tabs to send to the local penny-a-tab program) and placed them in the bag. I'm sure there were more buried beneath the garbage. My husband told me I was embarrassing him. I told him all the people who threw the cans in the garbage can when the recycling bag was six inches away should be embarrassed.

How much easier could it have been? Throw the can in the garbage, or move your hand six inches to the left and throw it in the recycling? I just don't get it...

Dee

Ooh, I just remembered. One of my co-workers today asked me to bring in any old shoes because there was a program (at her kids' school??) where they were collecting them. She said Nike is running some kind of program where they break down the shoes and use them for road surfacing or something like that. I didn't have time to discuss it with her, but I will see if I can find out more info. I'mthinking that if it is indeed Nike, the program would most likely be widespread. But road surfacing?? Again, I'll have to double check and post back. Obviously, I would only donate shoes which could not be re-used, but I will look into it.

Kevin, there are problems here with copper being stolen from construction sites. I haven't (yet) heard about any thefts from houses with people living in them. Yikes.

:)
Dee

Oh, my location showed up. It doesn't on some forums.

Scrappyjack, I should clarify that the green recycling place turns prunings and grass clippings into compost but it doesn't recycle the other landscaping supplies. Not sure where they are sourced from. Unwanted soil (clay around here) often ends up out the front of the block with a sign stuck atop it "clean fill" and you just turn up with your trailer and help yourself.

There are places that recycle builders waste like bricks and concrete and also items such as taps, handles, sinks, windows, etc.

There's a website with all the info about what happens in our area at www.nowaste.act.gov.au.

Incandescent light bulbs haven't been banned yet. The plan is to phase them out by 2010. Wonder what they'll do about all the people who have dimmers?

Dee, good on you!

Wonder what they'll do about all the people who have dimmers?

Certain compact fluorescent bulbs can be dimmed. I don't know if the dimmer required is any different from the ones used with incandescent bulbs.

Well, here's what I found about the Nike program. I wonder if this is the best use for this?

Dee

Here is a link that might be useful: Nike recycling

We have a recycling bin collection that takes paper and card, plastic bottle (no tubs) and metal cans. Glass is not collected so we take that to the bottle bank when we go shopping. We also collect aluminium foil and recycle that at the dump when we visit. Garden waste is composted in our garden.

We still however throw away a lot of plastic films and moulded sheets, as well as plastic tubs like those from margarine. Card juice packets can't be recycled here either. Worn out clothing, broken electrical items and furniture have to be throw in the normal waste or taken to the dump. We fortunately don't throw away too many of these things.

The potential to recycle around 50% of ordinary household waste is there, but a lot of people still don't recycle anything.

This is what I love about the internet. You don't have to take the word of some disinterested shop assistant or public servant when they say no, it's not available/possible/feasible/etc. This is a really good thread.

I'm from central NJ, we have curbside pick up every 2 weeks but the town dump is open 6 days a week. Being my town is only 1 square mile I just run my plastic and glass bottles down when needed. Junk mail and paper type stuff goes in to my cross shredder and then into my garden. It makes for a nice cover for the winter along with grass clippings and just about all food scraps that I can put in to it. Egg shells, Coffee grounds with filters. Vegetable scraps... Things like that. At the end and start of the season everything gets roto-tilled in..

mcsierra,

My tax return purchase was a cross shredder! I too bought it to be able to compose a lot of the scrap paper that gets accumulated in our house. (I've got kids in elementary school....LOTS of paper waste there!)

Macbirch,
Not only do I find this thread interesting to learn what is recycled in other parts of the world, but I find this whole forum interesting as well as informative!

Jackie McLaughlin (another "mc" ~ HAH!)

I'm a Sierra that Married a McGarry.. Our Domain name and login ID for most sites is the Mix of the two.. McSierra.. :-)

That's very cute!

I'm a Jacklyn that married a McLaughlin, how awful is that!

Jacklyn McLaughlin, Jacklyn McLaughlin, Jacklyn McLaughlin
sounds like a bad cough. Hee Hee

Here in Frederick County,Maryland we have facility for recycling of garbage, plastic, papers and tin cans as most of you have described above.In addition to this county provides two more facilities to dispose off heavy appliances, sofa etc., at one place, and for recycling the grass clippings,branches trimmed from shrubs and trees at another center where this grass clippings and wooden stuff is shreded into mulch by heavy machinary.This mulch is available free to every one.On two days in a week mulch is loaded free in the truck by county personnel

years ago [95?] the province of BC mandated a 50% reduction of material going into landfills ... our regional government got on the wagon fast and hard, setting up recycling collection bins for paper, all numbered plastics, cans glass and cardboard - in addition there's a deposit/refund program for all beverage containers [except plastic milk jugs, which go into the plastics bin] - also at the landfill, there is a dropoff area for yard waste, any type of scrap metal, furniture, appliances, batteries and hazardous chems and paint ... pretty well all covered, including a program to promote composting, complete with a demonstration garden where volunteers [we master composters] help folks figure out how to do it well

about 2 years ago, they also started a biosolids composting plant that mixes the sludge from the sewage treatment plant with ground up wood waste [including limb prunings from the public] and makes certified compost for sale to the public, mostly going to landscapers

any community can do it with some determined effort - there's even an outfit here started by a guy with good sense, that takes in scrap computers, refurbishes what's saveable for shipping overseas to needy countries, and sorts the rest for shipping to recycling plants where all the bits can be disposed of properly

Bill

Squeeze,

I am so pleased to see that someone has gotten the gumption to refurbish used computers. It is so sad that computers seem to become obsolete so fast, and that the easiest way to dispose of them is the landfill!

I read somewhere that the biggest contribution to our landfills now is "E-trash"...Unusable computer parts and components.

Jackie

I'm happy to see people talking about recycling. Once a month we take plastic, glass, metal cans, junk mail and newspapers to our recycling depot. Through the spring, summer and fall we also have household recycling once a month also. They take just about anything.

Believe it or not there are treasures to be had at household recycling. We brought home a set of almost new lawn furniture. Not plastic mind you but heavy black metal. There were 2 chairs and a love seat that rocks. They've sat outside all winter without a bit of rust. New I would say they cost about $1000 +. What a find. Now we are looking for new burners for our stove. Even if we don't have anything to recycle we go anyway just to see what is there.

My DH and I just spent 2 weeks in Florida. The island we stayed at didn't have any recycling. Which really amazed me. We felt so guilty just throwing everything in the trash.

I found a bunch of recycling centers in my area using this site

Here is a link that might be useful: recyclingcenters.org

Some neighborhoods in Houston (I'm not sure what percentage) have bi-weekly curbside recyling for paper, cardboard, metal and plastic. So few people are participating that the city is threatening to stop the program altogether for fiscal reasons. On our street alone, only 3-4 houses out of twenty ever put out recyclables. Even though we were Johnny-come-latelys, our household has really gotten with the program, but it is disheartening. There are three local collection spots that do take glass, but our son and DIL take our glass to a center with theirs, since they live in an apartment and can't do curbside. They come pick up our glass and we compost their kitchen waste for them in our compost pile! Sweet!

It's a shame that you can make recycling so easy for people to do and they still don't do it. :-(

Our city, which has curbside recycling, recently added corrugated cardboard to the list of things they take. You have to flatten it and tie it up like you do your newspapers.

I've been noticing on garbage/recycling days that there are folks who put out whole boxes with their trash. I don't know whether they mean for them to go with the garbage people or the recycling people (two different people). However, I've been rather heartened to notice, at the end of the day after both trucks have come through, that many times those boxes are still sitting there. So the recycling people won't take them because they are not knocked down, and the garbage people won't/don't take them, either because they think the homeowner meant them for recycling or - and this is what I'm hoping - they've been told *not* to take them. Hopefully the homeowners will get the message and break the boxes down for recycling.

So many people are so lazy and/or indifferent to environmental issues that they have to be forced to do things like this, and the way to force them is to not take recyclables in the garbage pick-up. Obviously bottles and cans can be slipped in, but the boxes are harder to hide in the trash.

Dee

We can now recycle the cardboard juice type packets. One of the reasonably local supermarkets has a collection bin in the car park, so we're saving them up for the few times we do shop there or pass by. I'm amazed how many we collect, it certainly didn't seem like that many when we where throwing them out.

bry84, do you mean the half-gallon, waxy cardboard cartons? I sure wish our recycling would take them!

Dee

Dee, the containers I mean are the ones made by tetrapak. The laminated card cartons that are filled with things like fruit juice and sauces.

The reason why they're harder to recycle is because they contain a thin plastic coating on the inside and sometimes an aluminium one too. However, they are very good for recycling as they are mostly made of high quality cardboard. It's a pity so few places take them for recycling.

I just read that in one area where there is tremendous beach erosion, they are using finely (very finely one hopes) ground up recycled glass to replace the sand that has been lost since they are the same mineral content. It is much cheaper. Awesome idea.

Thanks, bry84. I think I know what you mean. I don't think I've seen many of them around here, but Parmalat tomatoes spring to mind.

kittysmith, that *is* an interesting idea. I wonder how it would effect the ecosystem...

:)
Dee

Dee, any juice pack (Capri Sun, etc.) is a similar package, as are shelf-stable packages of milk or soup.

Tetrapak cartons are really popular here, they're about the only way to buy fruit juices, and many other products come in them. They're difficult to avoid if you can't recycle them.

However, the vast majority of fruit juice packaging is not needed. Most fruit juices are made from imported concentrate, and companies add water to them and put them in cartons, but consumers could buy the frozen concentrate itself and add tap water to it. The orange juice tastes the same. A few companies did market it here some years ago. It saved a lot of packing and energy during transport. It also saved customers money.

Wow! I cant believe this tread is still being picked up!

On the subject of juice cartons, I haven't seen any recycling for these in our area, but I do like the Motts juice and Juicy juice in the aluminum "pop" cans. (I suppose anyone out of NW Pa. probably calls it "soda" cans!) We are able to recycle aluminum cans at a scrap yard where they will buy them by the pound. I let my kids collect aluminum for extra cash.

Jackie

What a neat thread. These are the items we can recyle, weekly curb pickup:

Newspaper
Catalogs, magazines, glossy ad inserts
Office, computer, school paper
Shredded canceled checks, junk mail, shredded paper
Telephone books
Pages from books
Paperback books
Corrugated cardboard
Boxboard cardboard (cereal boxes, etc.)
Gift, shoe, and toy boxes
Greeting cards, giftwrap (no foil)
Glass bottles and jars (clear, green, brown)
Food and beverage cans
Metal lids
Plastic bottles and containers
Car batteries
Used motor oil
Computers and accessories
Computer ink cartridges (must be dropped off)
Technotrash (old CDs, DVDs, diskettes, audio and video tapes, cell phones, pagers, PDAs, digital cameras, and rechargable batteries)

Wow! That is all curbside??? How I wish we had magazine and boxboard recycling in our area. We actually lost our newspaper buyer so our center doesnt' recycle those anymore. School paper would be so nice too. With 2 kids and soon to be 3 in elementary school, A LOT of paper gets tossed in our house. Its unbelievable!!! Even the older kids say they'd rather do their homework by email. Why not give the kids a choice?

Shredded paper, and corrugated cardboard now go into my garden, along with newspaper for mulch. Paper back (and hardback) books and videos go to the library for their booksales. I keep shoeboxes for the kids school projects and to store craft projects. And cell phones and ink cartridges go to the Girl Scouts. They are able to turn them in for cash.

Another good idea for newspaper is to post it on freecycle. Anyone with a puppy or small critters can use it. Same with an overload of cardboard boxes, anyone moving or whatever will want them.

Jackie

Wow! That is all curbside???

Every week :) The night before trash pickup there are pick-up trucks that cruise for metals, which is, IMO. a good thing. I have watched furniture picked off the curb before the trucks come also ... doesn't take long for that to disappear. Have been known to "curbshop" myself. I picked up some wine crates off the curb last year and made a bookcase, in fact, you could say my house was "shabby before it became chic".

Wow, that IS a lot for cubside recycling! That's great!

What number plastics does your recycling program accept, ohiomom?

Dee

Dee

They started taking all plastics this year ... now I don't have to worry about checking the bottom of anything :) Although the only plastic we usually have is the pop bottles my son buys, and the plastic containers from fruit (ie: berries).

Wow, ohiomom - all plastics, huh? That's fantastic! It sounds like you have a really terrific recycling program.

I'm always checking the bottom of plastic containers when I buy stuff. Sometimes I have to buy, other times I put it back on the shelf when it's not #1 or #2. I've tried e-mailing/writing companies about using #1 & #2 since it is the most widely-accepted plastic in local recycling programs, but I usually only get a polite letter thanking me for my input, along with some coupons! They don't seem to understand that I wouldn't buy their product to begin with because it has un-recyclable containers. Oh well.

One thing that really gets me now is the baby food companies putting their food in plastic instead of glass. Great idea in theory, but if they really cared for babies as much as they say they do, they'd use #1 & #2 plastics. I was flabbergasted when I looked and saw a big ol' #5 on the bottom of some strained peas!

:)
Dee

In my area (rural part of SW PA), the 2 main waste pick up companies vary greatly in what they'll accept for recycling. One was very strict - wouldn't take anything but newspaper, white paper, alum cans, clear glass. I switched companies and now I can recycle plastic 1-7, paperback books, phone books, cardboard, all glass & much more. Enough so that I can fill 2 big trash cans for them to take.

They don't do garden waste yet so I am still composting as much as I can but would love if they took leaves etc for city composting because I just don't have enough time to take care of more compost piles.

Our city instituted an interesting program for yard waste. They have a time they pick up all leaves, grass clippings and in the winter Xmas trees. They then have a lot where all of it is taken, much like a super compost pile. Any city resident is then able to go to the lot and get what they want.

You do take your chances of getting weed seeds, but I do see many people taking advantage of the free mulch/compost.

I have curbside recycling of:

Newspaper, separate and tied.

Cardboard, flattened but you can stick a whole bunch of flattened boxes in one unflattened box and they'll take it.

All other mixed papers, bundled and tied.

Mixed glass, all plastic, steel cans and aluminum cans.

Yard waste in paper bags (this is composted and sold to landscapers, not made available to residents of the town, so I jealously guard my own leaves and don't let the town have them).

Twice a month there's pickup for large items, but god alone know what they do with them. The night before is a good time to curb shop, though.

I used to live on a small island at the very east end of long island, ny (Shelter Island). I think they had a great way of encouraging people to recycle...

There was no trash pick up, you had to take it to the dump yourself (it is a small island). Anything that could be recycled was free to dump, anything that couldn't be recycled had to be put in a particular type of bag that you bought at the grocery store. I think they ran something like $10 for a yard size bag, $6 for a kitchen size bag. Anyone caught dumping a different kind of bag was fined heavily. If you composted kitchen waste and recycled, then you could get away with a kitchen sized bag ever two weeks. By doing it this way, it made people realized EXACTLY how much true waste they were creating.

You could also bring any type of household stuff to give away - there was a place to store old furniture, working appliances, etc. Then people could rummage through and take what they wanted. Kind of like an on-going free garage sale.

Now that I live in Dallas, the best way to re-use anything is to put it out in bulk pickup. people with trucks drive around every morning on bulk pickup week to see what they can rummage. I got several boxes full of unique tiles (for mosaics) that way.

unfortunately, our recycling only picks up every other week and ours is always overflowing.

Here in Prince Edward Island, we have mandatory recycling. We also have mandatory composting. We have two 4 ft high wheeled garbage cans - black for waste, green for compost materials. They're picked up on alternating weeks. Recyclable are picked up once a month.

Stuff that will be picked up for recycle:
Newspapers, magazines, glossy paper (rest goes into compost)
Corrugated cardboard
Kitchen-size metal (as upposed to appliances and the like)
All glass
Plastic 1-5
Milk jugs
Juice cartons/boxes
Batteries

Waste is trucked out-of-province, I think. Compost goes to a government-owned compositing plant.

On top of that, all of our carbonated beverages, alcoholic or otherwise, and bottle-only; no cans can be sold on the Island (but people will bring them in if they go to the mainland for a while). We have our own soft drink bottling plant, and all supermarkets have automated bottle returns.

I live outside of city limits and cannot get trash pick up. It is amazing how much stuff can be composted under those circumstances.

I keep one compost for 'friendly' compost and another one just to get rid of stuff I don't want to carry away. For example the litter from 2 cats and all the paper garbage can be used to fill in the holes the dog and the moles leave me, and this naturally occurring crater in the back yard. It turns into plain old clay, because I don't use perfumed fancy litter. I try to get all natural clothes and compost them after they are done being rags. Usually, I only have to pull out the seams when its done composting. I use boxes as weed prevention between my veggies.

bry84 - could you name the supermarket that takes Tetrapacks please? I'd take ours there if we have one locally.

Here in Utah we are required to pay for a recycle bin with a weekly pick up, you would think that more people would use it. It is there, and you are paying for it, why not just put your recyclables in it!!!

Here is a link that might be useful: backyard farming

This website has a recycle center for everything in the Kansas City area, so it should be helpful in other areas. You type in your zipcode & what you want to recycle.

I called one place to recycle a TV & it will cost 17 cents a lb. This is a GE 32" regular TV & so heavy it took 2 to carry it.

This TV is like new & probably wouldn't cost near as much as a new TV of that size if anyone in our area would like to get it fixed. Free to a good home. :) NKC area.

In our immediate area (country), we have to take all our recyclables somewhere.

Here is a link that might be useful: Recycling Centers

our city recycling is crap. they only recycle #1&2 plastics and everything has to be put in clear plastic bags! No blue bins allowed. oh and they only pick up every other week.

I just signed up for our local curbside recycling program (privately run - the city can't afford to start one up, apparently). We used to take our newspapers to drop off points (what I'm not composting, anyways). Our bi-weekly pick-up starts next Wednesday, and our new bins (3) were dropped off on Monday.

Now we'll be recycling a bunch of stuff.

Paper bin: Newspaper, junk mail, catalogs, magazines, office-type papers, shredded paper.

Aluminum bin: Aluminum and steel cans. Does anyone know what the lids on frozen juice concentrate containers are made of?

Plastics bin: Any plastics with a screw-on lid. It used to be only #1 and #2, but she said they recently changed that, and now anything with a threaded top can be recycled (exciting, since that includes prescription bottles - I asked)!

They'll also take plastic grocery bags, but I don't ever have those around anymore. And they'll take corrogated cardboard, broken down. No boxboard, but I'm composting that anyways, as with most of my cardboard, but it's good to know they'll take broken down boxes if I need them too.

We don't have glass recycling yet, but the recycling company owner is trying to put enough money together to build a glass-crushing plant just outside our city. That would be great, I think. For now though, my mom takes our glass bottles - she has a kiln for her stained glass hobby, and she flattens the bottles into bread/cheese trays to sell at craft shows (with attached cheese spreaders). They work great as trivets too - I have several. :-)

Most recently I heard that the city is looking at a contract with our local gas company to possibly use the methane from the landfill to produce energy. A step in the right direction, I think...if it's going to be there, we might as well figure out how to use it for "good".

Between composting and recycling, the amount of stuff we actually throw into the "landfill" dumpster now is much less than it used to be (one 13 gallon bag per week, most of the time not even full).