Houston, we have a problem.
Sadly, our country has a long way to go with recycling. I'd actually thought that we were starting to do okay with commmon household items like glass and paper. I know that electronics recycling is just starting to catch on. But I was pretty dismayed to read today that the city of Houston, the fourth largest city in our country, basically refuses to do so. It's due to a combination of factors that you can read about here:
NY Times article
I've begun to think that the future holds for a few things:
1. Our landfills are growing ever more filled with with what will one day be an easily accessible source for things things like plastics and metals. Someone will surely figure out a way to dig up, sort, and collect these materials for a profit.
2. At some point, the cost of manufacturing from new materials will simply be too high and previously mined or processed materials will be more financially logical.
3. Fuel will cost so much that it will be more cost effective for people to not only buy locally, but also items with less packaging.
In the mean time here's a few things that I'm doing to encourage some kind of conservation in my little world:
- I use pretty much only cold water for cleaning laundry or dishes. We still use our dishwashing machine though. And we take hot showers. But do my dishes really get that much cleaner with hot water when getting rinsed before going into the dishwasher?
- I look at the food products I buy for a few things: how far from me it was produced, whether it is organic, and whether the packaging is recyclable or made from recycled materials. I do look at cost, of course, but I will buy more expensive products if they are more earth-friendly.
- I recycle as much as I can of the things that NYC will recycle. Unfortunately, not many people in my building do, so I'm certain that most of our bags of intended recycling probably end up in landfills.
- I use re-usable bags for grocery shopping. Whole Foods now gives you 10 cents off per bag. Sure it's not much, but it's something. I also refuse any rubber bands or tape or hot/cold bags they try to give me. And if I do have to use their paper bags, I take only one (they almost always double them up) and use them at home to take out the recycling.
- I'm trying to turn off any devices that use standby power, like our printer, when aren't home. Ditto for the TV and stereo devices when we are away for an extended time.
- We buy pretty much only disposable products, such as diapers and toilet paper, that are made from non-bleached, recycled materials. And our cleaning products are all non-toxic.
- Instead of using plastic wrap for storing food in the refrigerator, we're trying to use plastic containers. So far, for things like durable vegetables it works great. Haven't tried it yet for cheese. We so rarely eat meat that it doesn't enter the picture.
- I've started keeping at least a little of the packing materials we get in things we get delivered. This only really works out well if we have a lot of things we are also mailing out, which lately we have been. And we don't have much closet space, so we can't keep much. But if I can avoid giving Staples any more of my money for things like boxes or styrofoam peanuts then I'll take up a corner of a closet.
- I'm using Freecycle, Craigslist, and ebay to get rid of anything I can without throwing it away.
I think that's the extent of it. Oh, I guess I'm also going to raise my child to these things too, so that's something.
NY Times article
I've begun to think that the future holds for a few things:
1. Our landfills are growing ever more filled with with what will one day be an easily accessible source for things things like plastics and metals. Someone will surely figure out a way to dig up, sort, and collect these materials for a profit.
2. At some point, the cost of manufacturing from new materials will simply be too high and previously mined or processed materials will be more financially logical.
3. Fuel will cost so much that it will be more cost effective for people to not only buy locally, but also items with less packaging.
In the mean time here's a few things that I'm doing to encourage some kind of conservation in my little world:
- I use pretty much only cold water for cleaning laundry or dishes. We still use our dishwashing machine though. And we take hot showers. But do my dishes really get that much cleaner with hot water when getting rinsed before going into the dishwasher?
- I look at the food products I buy for a few things: how far from me it was produced, whether it is organic, and whether the packaging is recyclable or made from recycled materials. I do look at cost, of course, but I will buy more expensive products if they are more earth-friendly.
- I recycle as much as I can of the things that NYC will recycle. Unfortunately, not many people in my building do, so I'm certain that most of our bags of intended recycling probably end up in landfills.
- I use re-usable bags for grocery shopping. Whole Foods now gives you 10 cents off per bag. Sure it's not much, but it's something. I also refuse any rubber bands or tape or hot/cold bags they try to give me. And if I do have to use their paper bags, I take only one (they almost always double them up) and use them at home to take out the recycling.
- I'm trying to turn off any devices that use standby power, like our printer, when aren't home. Ditto for the TV and stereo devices when we are away for an extended time.
- We buy pretty much only disposable products, such as diapers and toilet paper, that are made from non-bleached, recycled materials. And our cleaning products are all non-toxic.
- Instead of using plastic wrap for storing food in the refrigerator, we're trying to use plastic containers. So far, for things like durable vegetables it works great. Haven't tried it yet for cheese. We so rarely eat meat that it doesn't enter the picture.
- I've started keeping at least a little of the packing materials we get in things we get delivered. This only really works out well if we have a lot of things we are also mailing out, which lately we have been. And we don't have much closet space, so we can't keep much. But if I can avoid giving Staples any more of my money for things like boxes or styrofoam peanuts then I'll take up a corner of a closet.
- I'm using Freecycle, Craigslist, and ebay to get rid of anything I can without throwing it away.
I think that's the extent of it. Oh, I guess I'm also going to raise my child to these things too, so that's something.
Plastic containers work fine for cheese.
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So my idea for using plastic containers instead of plastic wrap isn't new? I'm so bummed.
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Perfect plan.
So, you can be a complete consumer and still feel good about yourself.
I wonder when the yuppies will catch on.
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But seriously, one of the nice things about living in a house vs an apartment in California is that WM recycles almost everything and we don't have to sort it at all. We usually throw out one half filled kitchen garbage bag, and all the rest of our waste is recycleable. I do thing we need to start thinking about plastic the way we think about fuel, as another way in which we enrich Dubai at the expense of our security and former prosperity.
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Our WM only recycles 1s and 2s, which is annoying. Tam's parents' trash service recycles more numbers, though, so we send those plastics to them. I keep meaning to call WM to ask more about why it is the way it is. I also keep wondering if there are any locally-owned trash companies around here, but then WM has been pretty good to me. It's a conundrum.
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NYC also only recycles 1's and 2's. What I can't understand is that why no one has passed legislation requiring people who want to sell their products in this city to use packaging consistent with the city's recycling program. It can't be that hard. If they can get restaurants to stop using trans fats, I should think they could get the big box retailers to nudge their suppliers into using approved recyclables in their products.
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Oh, and from what I know there really isn't any other trash company in the world other than WM. Even if the truck says something else, it's really under WM's control. And they are totally mob run.
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The whole individuals sorting things makes most recycling irrelevant. I'm so certain that most of my coop's recycling ends up in the trash since in NYC if the bag of recycling has any one item that is not recyclable, the whole thing gets thrown out. I can't tell you how much crap gets puts into the recycle bin that is so not recyclable here. There's even an instructing poster right next to the bin, yet everyday there's styrofoam and wire hangers and mirrors in there. Not to mention all sorts of clearly regular trash. I don't know why I even bother. But it does speak to the fact that the only way to make recycling really work is have professionals do it. Hell, why not have this be something prisoners do?
But there is no reason why virtually all plastic can't be recycled. I can't believe it's not more on the topic of foreign oil like gas prices constantly are. There's a ridiculous amount of plastic used in packaging things. It just has to amount to a stupid amount of oil used. Especially considering the vast array of alternative materials that could be used for much of the packaging that is now plastic. Stuff that is renewable like bamboo for instance.
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What killed me was when the PO started packaging stamps with one sheet on a pieces of oversized shrinkwrapped cardboard. I wrote a bunch of letters over that one, and I refuse to buy packaged stamps. I mean, I understand that I was slow to learn to love self-adhesive stamps and maybe that I'm a little conservative when it comes to my postal services, but come on.
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