Question about recycling

[bull]

Do those of you who have recycling programs in your towns have two trucks driving around (one to pick up garbage and the other to pick up the recycling) like we do here in the Portland area?

If so, I have to wonder if doubling the fuel consumption of these disposal companies by making two trips around town instead of one doesn't kind of offset all the good we're supposedly doing for the environment by recycling?

Just wondering.

[moparstuart]

we have two different trucks , but they are two different trash company's also .  Our regular trash company changes from year to year due to price .

[Shakey]

Do those of you who have recycling programs in your towns have two trucks driving around (one to pick up garbage and the other to pick up the recycling) like we do here in the Portland area?

If so, I have to wonder if doubling the fuel consumption of these disposal companies by making two trips around town instead of one doesn't kind of offset all the good we're supposedly doing for the environment by recycling?

Just wondering.

Good point!   

[PocketThunder]

But your helping provide jobs in your area with the second truck driving around.  Its the Patriotic thing to do Curtis.. 

[Chad L. Magee]

When I was living in Columbia, Mo., they had two types of dump trucks for that purpose around the residental areas of the town.  You were supposed to put recycleables in clear blue plastic bags that they distributed to you, but alot of times vagrents would raid the bags to get the aluminum cans before the trucks picked them up.  It was much worse when the city still had the 5 cent deposts on the cans, as it was common to see people rip open the regular trash bags just to see if there was any cans in it and dump the trash on the ground.  Of course, the trash men would not pick it up then until it was rebagged.... 

At my old apartment, there was a very large (heavy duty) dumpster outside just for recycling materials, and twice a week they would come by with a flat bed truck to pick it up/drop off a new one.  It was empty most of the time, so the city had to be wasting some serious $ during last summer picking it up again and again.....

[Charger_Fan]

Do those of you who have recycling programs in your towns have two trucks driving around (one to pick up garbage and the other to pick up the recycling) like we do here in the Portland area?

If so, I have to wonder if doubling the fuel consumption of these disposal companies by making two trips around town instead of one doesn't kind of offset all the good we're supposedly doing for the environment by recycling?

Just wondering.

Good point!   

[histoy]

We have 3 trucks that pick up trash in our town.  #1 picks up garbage that goes into the sanitary landfill.  #2 is for recycling (glass, #1&#2 plastic, metal cans, aluminum).  #3 picks up lawn waste, tree limbs, Christmas trees.

Landfills are terribly expensive to build & maintain, so recycling efforts reduce these costs.  As towns expand, finding suitable landfill sites gets even more costly.   

By recycling lawn waste, our town provides mulch & compost, to the residents and reduces the amount of material that goes into the sanitary landfill.

[mikepmcs]

You guys have people that pick up your trash?  How do you get any good stuff at the dump?

[rav440]

We have 3 trucks that pick up trash in our town.  #1 picks up garbage that goes into the sanitary landfill.  #2 is for recycling (glass, #1&#2 plastic, metal cans, aluminum).  #3 picks up lawn waste, tree limbs, Christmas trees.

Landfills are terribly expensive to build & maintain, so recycling efforts reduce these costs.  As towns expand, finding suitable landfill sites gets even more costly.   

By recycling lawn waste, our town provides mulch & compost, to the residents and reduces the amount of material that goes into the sanitary landfill.

we have the same thing here with the #1 #2 & #3 all from on garbage company . we used to have several different companys but the yuppies started crying about all the differant trucks comming on differant days of the week so about 4-5 years ago cranberry twp went with one company " im sure sombodys hand got greasesd on this deal  " anyway the company that was awarderd the contract was supposed to have thier trucks all painted white "  have yet to see that happen  .
and now if you have extra garbage you have to buy a tag for it . our old company that we used was great they would take anything that was at the end of the driveway we used to give those guys a $20.00 tip each at christmas.

the new company guys get nothing !!!

i was cleaning out my garage shotly after the new company took over . i had an olf 351M 2bbl cast iron intake with a new rebuilt carb on it , so i place it in the recycling can , and put the garbage out on the street . now these trucks got the arm that lifts the garbage can and dumps it in the truck so the driver never has to get out of the truck .

i come home from work on tuesday and goto take the cans to the back of the house , what is laying on the grass ? 
the 351M 2bbl cast iron intake with a new rebuilt carb on it  !!!  i thought to myself " WTF ? now we have to play this game ? " 

trust me its alot easier for me to pick up the 351M 2bbl cast iron intake with a new rebuilt carb on it it put it back in the recycling can , than it is for the driver to get out of her truck climb in the box , pick up the 351M 2bbl cast iron intake with a new rebuilt carb on it and toss it on the grass at the curb .

this game went on for 3 weeks .

i won . 

[SeattleCharger]

If the two trucks are full, then you need two trucks anyways, even if recycling and garbage are combined in some way.    If the trucks are both half empty, then ya, I agree with you, good point. 
 Bull, you are so "green" man, I am glad to know there are people out there that care and think about these kinds of things.   

[bull]

If the two trucks are full, then you need two trucks anyways, even if recycling and garbage are combined in some way.    If the trucks are both half empty, then ya, I agree with you, good point. 
 Bull, you are so "green" man, I am glad to know there are people out there that care and think about these kinds of things.   

I'm only green if I sit still long enough to grow Oregon moss.

[WingCharger]

Na. Live to far from town. We just recycle by having 8 hefty bags in our garage filled with beer cans. 

[Foreman72]

i have 2 bins w/ 2 separate trucks...

We have 3 trucks that pick up trash in our town.  #1 picks up garbage that goes into the sanitary landfill.  #2 is for recycling (glass, #1&#2 plastic, metal cans, aluminum).  #3 picks up lawn waste, tree limbs, Christmas trees.

that third truck seems kind pointless...how often does it come around

[Troy]

We have two here as well even though the same company does both.

Troy

[bull]

I just wonder if people even think about all this stuff before they act. There was a NY Times article I just read about some woman who decided her fridge was evil and decided to unplug it. Now she makes several more trips to the grocery store and stores items in a small freezer. So how much time and energy is wasted going to the store and back? How much more energy is being used by the freezer that's being opened and closed 50 times more per week than it was before? Same with stuff like the Prius. How are they going to dispose of those batteries properly and how much energy does that require? What about the process of making the battery in the first place? BTW, the thing still burns gas on top of all that. Where will it end? Are we supposed to go back to horse and buggy days eventually? If so how are you going to produce enough kerosene to light lamps for 300 million people? Who's going to produce enough food for the 200 million horses we're going to need? This whole green business is getting dumber every day. Spending a dollar to save a dime.

[Old Moparz]

I don't think by having 2 trucks it automatically doubles fuel consumption. Like SeattleChargerDog said, if they are half full, yes, but most places will simply extend the route & maximize the truck's capacity. The same amount is being hauled, but hopefully in full trucks. I would think that a private company will squeeze every penny they can from a contract. Municipal haulers may be less efficient, it seems to be typical of any government department, so maybe there's more wasted fuel.

We don't have municipal trash pick up in my town. I see a lot of different private sanitation companies, but not sure how they all operate. I do know that some of the trucks have separated compartments, one for trash, the others for recyclables. I've also seen 3 guys in a ratty old rack body with crap piled up & over the sides collecting trash. I bring my own trash & recycling to the transfer station once every 6 to 8 weeks for several reasons.

Cost is one, they charge a minimum for it to be picked up, & have a limit to how much you can put out before they charge more. There's only 3 of us in this house, so by separating recyclables, we cut way back on bagged trash. Food & other related trash goes in a compost pile my wife uses in the garden. Cans, bottles, plastic, etc., all go in bins & later into a dumpster at the transfer station. At the transfer station, it's $2 per bag. I get the equivelent of 3 kitchen bags into one large lawn & leaf bag. That costs me about $10 to $16 for 2 months worth of trash compared to $30 or more, each month from the sanitation company.

Another reason is because of where I am located. It's a dead end & a private drive, so sometimes people in cars screw up with their lack of driving skills. In trying to turn around, they'll either run over my lawn gouging it, hit the corner of my deck, or end up stuck hanging over the retaining wall. I'm not chancing a larger truck coming here once a week & wiping out my yard while the driver tries to maneuver into position to pick up a can.

The last reason is animals. There's 30+ wooded acres of private property around me that connect to even more acreage that's town & county parkland that's also wooded. I'd be cleaning up the mess from raccoons & other critters every week if I had to put out the cans. The trash is in sealed bags in metal cans in my basement, & with the food type stuff in the compost, there's no smell in the house.

[BB1]

What's re-byciling   

[histoy]

The #3 truck (for lawn waste, tree limbs, Christmas trees) comes around every week Spring thru Fall, and again during January.

[Silver R/T]

We have 3 trucks that pick up trash in our town.  #1 picks up garbage that goes into the sanitary landfill.  #2 is for recycling (glass, #1&#2 plastic, metal cans, aluminum).  #3 picks up lawn waste, tree limbs, Christmas trees.

Landfills are terribly expensive to build & maintain, so recycling efforts reduce these costs.  As towns expand, finding suitable landfill sites gets even more costly.   

By recycling lawn waste, our town provides mulch & compost, to the residents and reduces the amount of material that goes into the sanitary landfill.

That's why I bought a mulching mower, never any yard waste and have compost area by the garden.

[Silver R/T]

Do those of you who have recycling programs in your towns have two trucks driving around (one to pick up garbage and the other to pick up the recycling) like we do here in the Portland area?

If so, I have to wonder if doubling the fuel consumption of these disposal companies by making two trips around town instead of one doesn't kind of offset all the good we're supposedly doing for the environment by recycling?

Just wondering.

Same here in Spokane, WA. They're making money one way or another.

[dodgecharger-fan]

I thought that the more important reason for recycling is to keep the stuff out of the land fill - not so much to reduce pollution and energy consumption.

If that were the case, then factor in the cost of converting the recycled items back in to raw materials to be used in the manufacturing process, and I would guess that it comes pretty close to a wash if not more energy consumed than compared to going back to the source of the raw materials again.. (I am just guessing here - but it's based on the idea that recycling started long before the hard core "green" movement and the reasons given were, "Our forests can not be sustained or renew themselves fast enough to meet demand..." Remember the first thing we started recycling was paper.)

To answer the question though, we do have at least 2 trucks making the rounds on garbage day here. That's the case now, but we did have 3 at one point.
What kills me though is there have been times, recently,  where one truck took everything - all in the same hopper, too: garbage, food waste, and recycling - but another truck came by later on and ended up just driving by because there was nothing to collect....

I've also heard stories of the recycling trucks following the garbage trucks to the land fill and emptying there.

I'm sure there are explanations but it doesn't make sorting my own garbage any more enjoyable. Maybe if I could start charging back my time to the city... 

[69bronzeT5]

We have two different trucks. The municipality for the garage and a private company for recycling.

[bull]

I thought that the more important reason for recycling is to keep the stuff out of the land fill - not so much to reduce pollution and energy consumption.

If that were the case, then factor in the cost of converting the recycled items back in to raw materials to be used in the manufacturing process, and I would guess that it comes pretty close to a wash if not more energy consumed than compared to going back to the source of the raw materials again.. (I am just guessing here - but it's based on the idea that recycling started long before the hard core "green" movement and the reasons given were, "Our forests can not be sustained or renew themselves fast enough to meet demand..." Remember the first thing we started recycling was paper.)

There's a point in there I'm trying to make and you sort of made it for me. My opinion on this green business is that it's based largely on folly because there's virtually nothing humans can do (short of going extinct) to limit making what they've coined the "carbon footprint." You want an electric car or a Prius that gets 50 mpg gallon? That means you have to use an earth-killing technology to make nickle batteries. You want to limit the amount of junk in landfills? That means you have to send three diesel-burning trucks that get 8 mpg to each neighborhood once a week. You want to save trees? That means you have to endorse strip mining so they can build steel frame materials. You want wind power or solar panels, more resources used again (glass, steel, plastic, wood, etc.) Seems to me it's all on a big scale where saving resources in one area uses more resources in another. It's an exercise in futility.

[rav440]

I thought that the more important reason for recycling is to keep the stuff out of the land fill - not so much to reduce pollution and energy consumption.

If that were the case, then factor in the cost of converting the recycled items back in to raw materials to be used in the manufacturing process, and I would guess that it comes pretty close to a wash if not more energy consumed than compared to going back to the source of the raw materials again.. (I am just guessing here - but it's based on the idea that recycling started long before the hard core "green" movement and the reasons given were, "Our forests can not be sustained or renew themselves fast enough to meet demand..." Remember the first thing we started recycling was paper.)

There's a point in there I'm trying to make and you sort of made it for me. My opinion on this green business is that it's based largely on folly because there's virtually nothing humans can do (short of going extinct) to limit making what they've coined the "carbon footprint." You want an electric car or a Prius that gets 50 mpg gallon? That means you have to use an earth-killing technology to make nickle batteries. You want to limit the amount of junk in landfills? That means you have to send three diesel-burning trucks that get 8 mpg to each neighborhood once a week. You want to save trees? That means you have to endorse strip mining so they can build steel frame materials. You want wind power or solar panels, more resources used again (glass, steel, plastic, wood, etc.) Seems to me it's all on a big scale where saving resources in one area uses more resources in another. It's an exercise in futility.

EXACTAMONDO  that what you get with these ENVIROMENTAL WACKOS .
the building im working on now is one of those so called GREEN BUILDINGS  you should see the waste thats going into the land fills from this thing espicialy the cut offs from 3" X 4' X 8' styro foam and rubber membrane that goes underneath of that . 

[dodgecharger-fan]

I thought that the more important reason for recycling is to keep the stuff out of the land fill - not so much to reduce pollution and energy consumption.

If that were the case, then factor in the cost of converting the recycled items back in to raw materials to be used in the manufacturing process, and I would guess that it comes pretty close to a wash if not more energy consumed than compared to going back to the source of the raw materials again.. (I am just guessing here - but it's based on the idea that recycling started long before the hard core "green" movement and the reasons given were, "Our forests can not be sustained or renew themselves fast enough to meet demand..." Remember the first thing we started recycling was paper.)

There's a point in there I'm trying to make and you sort of made it for me. My opinion on this green business is that it's based largely on folly because there's virtually nothing humans can do (short of going extinct) to limit making what they've coined the "carbon footprint." You want an electric car or a Prius that gets 50 mpg gallon? That means you have to use an earth-killing technology to make nickle batteries. You want to limit the amount of junk in landfills? That means you have to send three diesel-burning trucks that get 8 mpg to each neighborhood once a week. You want to save trees? That means you have to endorse strip mining so they can build steel frame materials. You want wind power or solar panels, more resources used again (glass, steel, plastic, wood, etc.) Seems to me it's all on a big scale where saving resources in one area uses more resources in another. It's an exercise in futility.

Oh, I think that we are definitely on the same page.

I think that recycling is more about green money than it is about green Earth.

Land fills cost a lot to run properly - more so now with that many more rules and regulations than in the past. (I'm not saying the rules are right or wrong. I'm just saying there are more and it costs more to operate within them.)
Getting the land in the first place is a pain in the ass. Even if you find an available and suitable piece of land, someone will find a reason to not allow a land fill, and you get to pay to fight it out.
Anyway, if you've got a contract to provide a land fill to a municipality, region, whatever, you'd be smart to contract or develop your own recycling program to divert as much fill away from the land fill as possible, thereby extending the life of the site - and your contract.
Money made.

Now, if you do the recycling program right, you make money by selling the collected materials back to the manufacturers.
There IS money to made. Less right now than before as the prices fluctuate like other commodities, but still worth the effort. There was a recent news piece locally about how the region was warehousing collected recyclables, waiting for the prices to go back up - they had the space to stockpile, so they did.. as it got to full, they sold off to gain space, hoping to average up if and when prices started to climb.

So, if you know what you're going to make and you know what your costs are, rolling extra trucks might be a drop in the bucket compared to what you make - especially since rolling the trucks is an operating expense and can help out with taxes.. Enregy consumption and pollution be damned.

Given all that, why would an individual bother to sort their trash every week?
To keep property taxes down. Money saved.

So that's a story of green money in relation to recycling.

What's the story of green Earth in relation to recycling: well, I think that's the point that you are making.... and with good reason.

[bull]

Right. Unless it makes money for the people running the businesses (real money, not phony govt. funding) and it saves us money somehow no one is going to go for it. Being green is all about the green in our wallets or it ain't going to happen for long.

[Neal_J]

I have no need for recycling.  I either drop my trash into the handy garbage can outside the local liquor store or chuck it over the back fence after dark when the neighbors aren't home. 

In general, I try not to overthink things....

[squeakfinder]

I have no need for recycling.  I either drop my trash into the handy garbage can outside the local liquor store or chuck it over the back fence after dark when the neighbors aren't home. 

In general, I try not to overthink things....

So your the reason some city's have laws that require residents to have garbage service!

[Mean 318]

We have two here but sometimes you see the garbage trucks come and pick up everything Sucks cuz they cut the a few cops due to money...  they gave a bunch to the recycling!

[BigRed66]

I know a guy who works for a very liberal city here in NE Ohio that is adamant about recycling, re-purposing, yada, yada, yada....he told me that it's all horseshit, because the city (as well as numerous adjoining communities) pays a subcontractor consisting of our South-of-the-Border friends, sans green cards, to go to the dump and pick the recycleables out for the city. I haven't recycled ever, nor will I, and my philosophy always was, and is, "If they want this stuff so bad, they can go get it themselves." When my buddy told me about the Mexicans in the dump, it just cemented my resolve to not do it. If I hear the terms "Green" or "Global Warming" anymore, I'll puke. Rest assured that the government profits from the local level on up on all this recycling crap. The earth has been fine for how many millions of years by incorporating waste into it's crust? Plenty. The earth is just fine. And will continue to be.

Incidentally, my brother, a Master's Degree holder in Climatology and Meteorological Studies, firmly believes "Global Warming" (there; I just barfed) is a myth, perpetuated by the government to keep us all fearful of what could (but won't) happen to us if we continue on our "reckless, irresponsible" path. He lives in Grand Forks, ND, where that molten core keeps it at -25 degrees from December through February.

The moral of the story? Recycling is garbage. Literally. Don't believe the hype.