Are they really recycling?

[missbossy]

Double check that your condo is really recycling the stuff you put in your recycling bins and not just throwing it out!

Some condos set up recycling arrangement years ago that have lapsed and they just keep the bins there to placate people. If you are really interested in recycling, find out what your condo really does with the stuff in the recycling bins!

[Mary Hatch Bailey]

Hi Missy,

We used to carefully separate all our cans, plastics and glass when we lived off 6th Avenue. Then one day we happen to be watching when the trash guys collected it -- and threw it right in the back of the truck with all the other trash. So I have my doubts about the whole system.

At our new place they don't collect recycling at all. It's a shame really. Not even the newspaper truck comes by. Makes it very hard to do the right thing.

MHB

[micknlea]

Must admit this really confuses me too.

Supposedly our recycling bin is emptied every Wednesday, which we only found out by asking the neighbours but thats all they knew, they weren't sure what you were supposed to put in it.

Then just recently we have been reminded (by a small note in letterbox) to keep them under cover and out of the rain so that no mosquitoes breed in them and that if we don't do this the bins will be taken away (fair enough).

Like MHB I noticed that they are taken away by the same rubbish bin men, but on seeing it every week I have noticed that it is a separate truck at a different time of day (sometimes not until the next day), but it is still a big muncher type truck.

What happens to it after this is a bit of a mystery...and trying to find out anything about recycling your household stuff is near on impossible. Neither the NEA nor the SEC have anything that is particularly helpful on their websites.

Does anyone know what really happens to this stuff? I mean is it really worth separating it all or are we just kidding ourselves?

[k1w1]

We have a re-cycling bin for our whole block (10 floors, four units each floor), and it is emptied once a week, I think. So not a lot of recycling going on, I would say. The side of the bin says you can put newspapers, cardboard, tins, cans and used clothes and toys (!) in there. It's frustrating, but honestly, I feel bad chucking my cans and old newspapers down the rubbish chute...

Just out of interest, what do your hometowns do to recycle? We have compulsory green bins (up to two per household are given to residents) and every week the recycling truck comes and there are people inside the truck who seperate it all into areas inside the truck (paper, green plastic, clear plastic etc etc). Mind you, Christchurch is a pretty small town by international standards (NZ's 2nd largest city, though) of only 5-600,000. I guess that makes it a bit easier.

[sundaymorningstaple]

Then just recently we have been reminded (by a small note in letterbox) to keep them under cover and out of the rain so that no mosquitoes breed in them and that if we don't do this the bins will be taken away (fair enough).

They took ours away as well due to mosquito breeding. But it was probably a good thing anyway as I live in an HDB Flat where social conciousness is something they have to look up in the dictionary. Anything and everything was being thrown into all the bins without regard to what was the colour of the bins or the labels on the outsides.

[yoongf]

http://app.nea.gov.sg/cms/htdocs/catego ... asp?cid=77

http://www.fmeonyx.com.sg/recycling.htm ... nformation

[micknlea]

K1W1, back in Melbourne we had to sort everything, all the time, and the way it was done made you do it because you just didn't have room in your normal bin, and if that bin was overflowing you ran the chance of being fined.

The council supply three bins. We had one wee, small wheelie bin for domestic refuse, which was only collected once a week. Another great big wheelie purely for garden refuse, collected once a fortnight and taken to the garden recycling centre (mulch etc), and then we had yet another big wheelie bin solely for recycling of plastic, glass and newspaper etc on the alternate fortnight.

I realise this is simply impractical here, and changing peoples attitudes takes a long time, just like the plastic bag bit, but I hate not doing it now and just want to do my little bit.

Thanks yoongf for the links...

[Global Citizen]

The council supply three bins. We had one wee, small wheelie bin for domestic refuse, which was only collected once a week. Another great big wheelie purely for garden refuse, collected once a fortnight and taken to the garden recycling centre (mulch etc), and then we had yet another big wheelie bin solely for recycling of plastic, glass and newspaper etc on the alternate fortnight.

I realise this is simply impractical here, and changing peoples attitudes takes a long time, just like the plastic bag bit, but I hate not doing it now and just want to do my little bit.

I read your post re. the plastic bags and I have to tell you that while in Canada, I've never ever seen any paper bags either (while grocery shopping) and this is a country that's supposedly big on recycling. Any trip to the grocery store always results in lots of bags as the cashier sorts out soft groceries (fruits and veggies), meat (in another bag) and cans and hard items (different bag again). I easily bring home about 9 to 10 bags depending on the amount of shopping I've done but I recycle them again by using them in waste receptacles around the house. I find this pretty handy and also a lot easier to carry in groceries by the handles on the plastic bags versus paper bags.

Paper products go in one recyling bin while plastic goes in another and is collected alternately once a week. Garbage is collected once a week, same time as whatever blue recycling box is due on that week by the same garbage truck.

The only time I've ever been offered a choice between paper and plastic at the grocery store is in the US, but I can't say if this is still true at present as I haven't been there recently.

If anyone's interested, I have a tip on how I store the myriad platic bags in my kitchen to keep them organised and tidy. You can get one of those plastic thingies at Ikea which I screw into place under the kitchen sink cabinet and I put all my bags in the holes designed into this and it's great as you can easily store about 15 or more bags into it.

[missbossy]

Yes but most grocery stores in Canada encourage you to recycle by chargin a few cents for the bags they supply. If you bring your own bags you avoid this charge. I noticed many people showing up with plastic bags from earlier shopping sessions and re-using them. It's something anyone could do here... but imagine the face of the cashier at Cold Storage if you tried to get her to use your old bags!

[Global Citizen]

Yes but most grocery stores in Canada encourage you to recycle by chargin a few cents for the bags they supply. If you bring your own bags you avoid this charge. I noticed many people showing up with plastic bags from earlier shopping sessions and re-using them. It's something anyone could do here... but imagine the face of the cashier at Cold Storage if you tried to get her to use your old bags!

Sorry have to disagree with most. Only Food Basics comes to mind and the other Costco (which is only open to members and more like a warehouse format) and the other major supermarket chains that I can think of only use plastic.

If recycling is a concern and it's always good to do our bit, I would suggest using a shopping basket usually made of plastic but much hardier and lasts quite a while or something similar made of fabric perhaps. I can recall my mother using a shopping basket when she went marketing way back when I was a child and when plastic bags weren't as easily available.

[missbossy]

OK then I'll repharase: Every major grocery store chain in Ontario encourages the use of used plastic bags in this way including Loeb, Costco, Loblaws, No Frills, Valumart, The Real Canadian Superstore, A&P and Your Independant Grocer

I didn't say they don't use plastic - they all use plastic. They simply encourage you to re-use your plastic bags.

[micknlea]

Well, can just say that I watched the recycle guys just now...and they were in a super orange truck with "recycle with us" written down the side. It gives me more hope that all my chastising of family members etc to put the right things in the right places might just be worth the effort.

Perhaps I should look up the contractors site to find out more info since I can't get anything from the govt sites at all. Doh, why didn't I think of that before???

Quickly on the plastic bag issue, as discussed on another thread I am trying really hard to remember to take my "green bags" (you know the fabric ones) with me when I go shopping. I notice that the checkout girls/guys at my local supermarket are looking a little less confused now when I ask them to use them, but I have to be quick or they have already started filling the plastic ones. It all depends on the supermarket you go to what reaction you get!