Humm ... well ... ????? I'm not quite sure what to think.
I really don't think of Maine as being all that far forward but i'm starting to wonder. Recycling here is so common place that it's just taken for granted.
You know how it is ... you live in your own little world at the end of the earth and you're completely oblivious to what's going on in other parts of the country ? You just take it for granted that everyone else does the same ?
You guys raised a lot of good points. If it's okay i'll offer some some solutions that have been in place for quite some time.
For MSM: True enough ... we're a wealthy country and generate more than our fair share of waste. We have a consumer & service driven economy. We really should look into rebuilding our manufacturing base and taking all those American jobs that were exported to the East back where they belong. See ... you need raw materials for manufacturing. Recycled materials are perfect for that kind of thing. The Chinese needed our recycled materials to support the growth of their manufacturing sector. That's why we exported to them. It's all about the money.
For Jim, Sir S. , 520, & 406 R: There really isn't all that much need to landfill anymore. We've had a waste to energy plant in operation since 1988. It's well proven to work in the real world and has reduced the need to landfill by about 90%. There are no perfect solutions but it's a fairly good one. Here's the link: PERC | Penobscot Energy Recovery Company
HG: Fair point on packaging.
Again, no perfect solutions, but we introduced the Maine Bottle Bill here back in 1976. It's been in operation for over 40 years. Best figures suggest that we're recycling 85 - 90% of our beverage containers now. It's proven to work.
Nationwide we're landfilling somewhere around 20 billion containers a year. A nationwide bottle bill would create conformity and make a pretty significant dent in that number. It would create lots of scrapping jobs all up and down the chain.
Our company has also recently gone to bio-degradable packaging for our meats, produce, and coffee station. The packaging is made from plant based products so there's not much petroleum being used.
We also have a plastic store shopping bag recycling program in place. Some of the local gals knit them into women's handbags & other useful products. It's a nice little cottage industry that brings a bit of extra money into the household.
Good point on labor & sorting HF: A lot of the labor involved with sorting here is provided by the consumers themselves.
They feed the redeemable beverage containers into a Tomra reverse vending machine and get a slip that they can turn in for money. Quite a few poor folks bring back truckloads of bottles and then go to the store to buy their groceries. If not for the bottle returns ... they might not eat very well that night.
Our transfer station ( aka: town dump) has all kinds of truck sized roll away containers for cardboard,glass, metal, and the different grades of plastic. Recycling and sorting is strictly voluntary but a lot of people participate. It makes them feel like they're doing their part.
Anyway, it's said that "crisis" is also the same word for "opportunity" in one or more of the languages ?
Why not look for ways to exploit this opportunity, make a few dollars, and build a more sustainable future for ourselves ?
The heck with the Chinese !
Bookmarks