Recycle
Today is Monday, garbage collection day in the neighborhood I live in. Two of my neighbors had both (regular garbage and recycle) bins out on the curb since yesterday afternoon. They probably were spending the night at their cabin and out on the river on their boat. Good for them.
At 06:30 AM I have set an alarm on my cell phone to take the dog out for his first walk of the day. On our way back one of my neighbors was putting her garbage and recycling bins out for collection. Mine were still in the garage. After a few seconds of small talk I started walking back to my garage to let the dog in and put out my bins. As I was heading home my next-door neighbor (popular and friendly neighborhood I live in) was putting his bins out. I overheard her asking the other “Do you believe in recycling?” He was very quick in answering in an affirmative voice, “Yes, of course I do”.
I continued with my chores thinking on the answer. Of course it is good and looks good to recycle. The issue that came out to mind was how good is it to actually recycle.
Lets take a few moments to think before answering such a loaded question. In general if technology is available to take some manufactured object now considered waste, and through a very inexpensive process reuse it for the same purpose or for some other in which it can be cycled at infinitum, then the answer is “Yes, I do believe in recycling”. The issue is that very few materials recycle well. One must first consider the cost and pollution it takes for a second truck (one for garbage and a second for recycling) to be driving around collecting the recycling materials. Most trucks use some type of carbon-based fuel. The only fuel that should be used is electricity generated by wind or solar power. We could skip all the side costs (i.e., additional bin, driver, truck, sorting plant, sorters, etc.) and profits involved in the recycle process and be at a point in which the material shows up at the recycling (not sorting) plant in which, for example used paper, is ready to be converted from waste to paper suitable for new cartons or new paper, or empty water bottles which will be converted into plastic pellets to be molded into new ones.
If these processes work, and they do to some extent, then all is well and we can feel that somehow we contributed to some (very small) extent to preserver our planet. For career politicians the impact is increased by an order of magnitude. Given all other things being equal, constituents would always vote for a politician that a support recycling as opposed to one that does not, no matter what.
Recycling is to some extent good. It is like a charity. Most Naive Americans support charities. The issue with most charities is how they process the funds they receive. The key with any charity is: Of each Dollar received which percentage directly is received by the intended people? For example, if I am watching TV and an ad for a charity to feed and educate children in Africa comes up, and I feel guilty and decide to donate a hundred Dollars ($100), how much of it will be used to feed and educate a child? The answer is a very small percentage, typically in the order of 10% or less ($10).
The same holds true for recycling. We fill our recycling bin with cardboard and plastic because most (if not all) products we purchase are over packaged. If 100% of the material gets recycled, then is the benefit savings in carbon not released to the atmosphere or space saved in a landfill? Given that energy savings are so small, then the goodness of recycling must be found in reducing the amount of waste not send to a landfill.
By the way, my wife and I throw away a bag or two (2) in the garbage bin every week. The recycling bin, which is collected every other week, is typically full with cardboard and plastics. Little can we do to reduce the packaging on the products we purchase? My wife and I do try to purchase products in bulk, which tend to incur in less waste and also cost less when compared to completely processed foods individually wrapped.
Just a though for career politicians that might read this blog. Perhaps the solution to recycling is not found in special bins, trucks, collection facilities for recycled materials, fines to the public for not complying, but encouraging companies to reduce packaging and educate consumers on purchasing products with less wrappers and using bio degradable packaging.
