Wasted effort: Current recycling process does nothing good for the environment

[rebewranger]

Wasted effort: Current recycling process does nothing good for the environment
06/06/2022 / By Mary Villareal


Jonathan Miltimore of the Foundation for Economic Education (FEE) believes the current recycling process is not doing any good for the environment. He said abandoning the way that recycling is being done now will more likely benefit people and the environment.

The recycling craze came from a single incident in 1987, in which a barge filled with garbage from New York was prevented from unloading into landfills in different locations due to a rumor that it was carrying toxic waste.

This had two big effects: First, the media reporting the incident managed to convince Americans that they were running out of landfill space to dispose of trash; and second, it convinced authorities that the solution was recycling – with Greenpeace hanging a banner to that effect on the barge when it eventually had to bring the trash back to New York.

Within a few years, cities established their own recycling programs, with some coercing their citizens into participating.

https://www.climate.news/2022-06-06-current-recycling-process-does-nothing-for-environment.html

[IsailedawayfromFR]

It is a feel-good exercise for the weak-minded.

[Hoodat]

My own suburban Atlanta city has a recycling program run by a private entity.  Regardless of what they do with the recyclable waste they collect, the bottom line is that it doesn't cost taxpayers a dime.  And that is something I can 'feel' good about.

Ironically, the left-wing City of Atlanta has no recycling program.  All their liberal metal, glass, and plastic waste ends up in the same landfill with the rest of the garbage.

[The_Reader_David]

Unless it is economically viable (as in the case of non-ferrous metals), recycling is pointless.  It can be economically viable even if making new materials by recycling waste is not cheaper than producing them from new feedstock (metal ores in the case of non-ferrous metals), provided the subsidy needed to encourage actual recycling is less than the cost of putting the material in a landfill.

The recycling of plastics by shipping the waste for processing to low-wage countries not merely does nothing good for the environement, it is actually harmful:  such countries often dump waste into rivers, and a great deal of what is sent for recycling isn't (too dirty to clean even in a low wage setting, or otherwise unsuitable for recycling).  This, not folks tossing plastics overboard from cruise ships or leaving litter on beaches, is the source of the plastic gyres in the middle of the oceans. (Okay, the latter two source contribute a little, but they alone would not amount to enough to be noticed from space.)

[IsailedawayfromFR]

My own suburban Atlanta city has a recycling program run by a private entity.  Regardless of what they do with the recyclable waste they collect, the bottom line is that it doesn't cost taxpayers a dime.  And that is something I can 'feel' good about.

Ironically, the left-wing City of Atlanta has no recycling program.  All their liberal metal, glass, and plastic waste ends up in the same landfill with the rest of the garbage.

Well, somewhere, somehow you are paying for it.  Biden is seeing to that, even if your own area is not paying, you most certainly are for others.  It is fundamentally what is wrong with federal authorities intruding into local decision making bodies.  Your own town can feel good about being responsible and helping itself, but you are now being forced to involuntarily to help others.

The Bipartisan Infrastructure Law: Transforming the U.S. Recycling and Waste Management
The Bipartisan Infrastructure Law is an historic investment in the health, equity, and resilience of American communities. With unprecedented funding to support local waste management infrastructure and recycling programs, EPA will improve people’s health and safety and help establish and increase recycling programs nationwide.

Under the Bipartisan Infrastructure Law, EPA is developing three new waste prevention, reuse, and recycling programs:

Solid Waste Infrastructure for Recycling Grant Program.
Recycling Education and Outreach Grant Program, Model Recycling Program Toolkit and School Curriculum.
Battery Collection Best Practices and Voluntary Battery Labeling Guidelines.
 https://www.epa.gov/rcra/bipartisan-infrastructure-law-transforming-us-recycling-and-waste-management