Is Recycling Dead ?
 

One town that I know has done away with separating ordinary trash with cardboard plastic trash

Metals. Construction debris. Leaves. Brush. Appliances, etc. are still separated.

What is going on in your town.

Recycling. Dual stream. Or single stream with everything.

Seems to depend if it's private or public trash...
 

...In Bedford and Meredith, we have private trash companies. Recycling is optional with both companies. Neither one is single stream. The Meredith guy picks up all of the recyclables each week. The Bedford guy alternates paper/cardboard and glass/cans/plastic each week. We definitely put out more recyclables than actual trash.

By contrast, my in-laws town in MA has public trash pick up, and recycling is required. That town also requires people to use the town trash bags, which is a total pain in the ___ according to the in-laws.

“Glass is trash” here in Laconia. Also, “when in doubt throw it out”


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If you go to the Meredith Dump they are very strict as to recycling.

recyclables use to be sent cheaply to china. they no long allow that so prices to towns for recycling has gone up dramatically . Some towns in the country have stopped . Some still do it and others have raised the price of trash . i remember when Moultonboro required you to separate out into many bins even the color of glass. i few ago then went to one bin .

Glass is Sand...Except Out Front?
 

Too "seasoned" today for opening a business, I would be normally interested in a "startup"—and I'd collect all the green glass available.

I bumped into someone on a Caribbean island forum who complained about the salt and heat making it impossible to grow a proper grassy lawn. So he broke up all the green glass he could collect, loaded it into a $300 portable concrete mixer, threw in some sand, and made "beach glass".

Being a nice dark green, he spread the resulting "beach glass" over his yard, and aside from occasional weeding, the yard looks beautiful.
:look:

Here's "Beach Glass":
https://i.etsystatic.com/8775019/r/i...92485_1tr7.jpg

Tuftonboro is still recycling glass, and will resume other recycling when buildings are allowed to reopen

Many cities around the country are stopping or limiting recycling because there is no market for most of it and the cost is prohibitive. I read a few weeks ago about one place that was still running the recycling truck routes but just dumping it in the landfill. They claim because they wanted to keep people feeling good and keep them in the habit of recycling. lunacy.

I think the only thing that remains economically viable is aluminum cans.

Here are some tips.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hd_uVqEBrSk

Very true! My business has two dumpsters, one of them is strictly for recyclable cardboard...Driver of the truck told me it goes to the same place as regular waste (local landfill)!!

Dan

Alton Transfer Station
 

Alton Transfer Station recycles tin cans, aluminium cans, glass containers.

Cardboard is trash, started after COVID-19. Other paper like newspaper, cereal box type paper, etc, in trash before COVID-19. Plastic in trash, no market, since before COVID-19.

Still recycling appliances, construction debris, metal, and can drop off leaves and brush. When in doubt, call the transfer station.

Dave

Recycling
 

Wolfeboro separates into several categories: all glass; tin cans; aluminum cans; corrugated cardboard; paper (newspaper, plain paper, etc) general trash; plastics (but, temporarily tossed in general trash). Besides some considerations to COVID-19 precautions, it seems that the market to sell recyclables has a lot to do with what is recycled or not, and whether or not dump-goers have to pay. Some of the items that the Town has to pay to have hauled away are subsequently a cost to the resident. Somebody posted that when in doubt, call your local landfill - excellent idea.

In Gilmanton, it's been suspended "until further notice" due to COVID-19

Recycling
 

The biggest problem is those folks who care less. 'Recycle and trash ends up in the same place so why separate?' Is the response of one resident.

Many recycling plants no longer accept materials as they are 'dirty'. i.e. non-recyclable materials are mixed in. So the 'tipping' rate becomes higher than actual trash!

My association once tried to save money by adding a recycle bin. We could save $100 a ton if used properly. Cassellas practiced single streaming. The drivers would quickly check the containers for containment. If bad they would charge us the normal rate. Residents were sent mail and email notification of what is to be recycled and what to be trash. Instead of recycling materials properly, it only take a few seconds, certain residents would throw the recyclables in with the trash! It's funny we can tell who they are by the shipping labels on the boxes!

Laconia has the same problem. They would find recyclables in the trash and vice versa.

Gilford, Plymouth, Hooksett requires residents to bring the recyclables to the dump. That way they can watch what is being thrown out. They have very good success. Unfortunately the trash/recycle ration is not favorable so very little money is saved.

Oh the advantages and disadvantages of living in a free country. We are running out of places to store our trash!

Moultonborough has done the same....no single stream recycling until further notice.

Been a resident of Hooksett for the past 20+ years.

Hooksett does NOT require you to bring recyclables to the transfer station although they will take them AND their grandiose idea of forcing everyone in town to recycle ended in an EPIC fail a couple years after it started with about a million or so of taxpayers money spent on special trucks, cans and who knows what else. Why? It was costing the town a small fortune to recycle - far cry from the "cash cow" those pushing it at the time promised. Instead of paying for itself in a year or two turns out was in the hole hundreds of thousands of dollars in just "operating costs".

Certain metals and glass are good candidates for recycling, paper products are not the process is toxic to the environment.

I don't think I have ever seen a straight line accounting of the costs to recycle both financially and environmentally. Aside from the money involved I very much doubt there is any net gain for the planet after running multiple truck routes with tires, wear and tear and diesel; how many pound of extra pollution for that. Then the extra energy to move the stuff around, forklifts, loaders, conveyors, crush it transport it. I think it's 95% virtue signaling

I think there are situations where recycling makes sense and others where it simply does not.

obviously, but where's the math so we know when? Seriously. How many btus are used and how much carbon and fuel and chemicals to make a ton of cardboard vs all the cost of recycling and then making a ton of cardboard from waste. It's simple arithmetic if you have access to the numbers, which I don't.

I would bet a clam plate the numbers don't make sense most of the time

We use to send all our crap to China but they are mad at us so they want us to die in our own filth now. :D

Ahhhh, The Forum!
 

You learn things!

vir·tue sig·nal·ing
noun
noun: virtue signalling; noun: virtue signaling

The action or practice of publicly expressing opinions or sentiments intended to demonstrate one's good character or the moral correctness of one's position on a particular issue.
"it's noticeable how often virtue signaling consists of saying you hate things"

I really like this phrase! Seems a bit like a euphemism!

Cool! :)

Strict?
 

I was at the Meredith transfer station last year and threw some bottles in the bin. A gentleman working there was shoveling the bottles from the bin and putting them in the contained dumpster behind him. Another person that worked there pulled up on his bobcat front loader , , opened the end door to the dumpster and drove the bobcat in. He brought two loads of bottles and dumped them into the construction dumpster. So why have someone shoveling bottles into a dumpster? I could of just gone to the construction dumpster and thrown them in there.

i see Moultonboro stopped recycling at least for now

Moultonborough should STOP recycling even after the COVID crisis is over UNLESS the BOS can prove to taxpayers that the new future contract rates with the recycling revenues are a significant cash flow positive for the town. The current stop in recycling was a surprise, as I do not recall anything being discussed in a public meeting, even though the announcement came out on a day when the Transfer Station was closed and just 4 hours before a BOS meeting. Wonder how and why?? The BOS needs to direct the TA to do his job and provide a solid financial analysis over the next 3 years of the waste contracts...not just a one year snap shot. This can and should be done NOW while things are on idle. If the gains are marginal, stop the process. Seems other towns have already concluded it is not economical.

I don't think recycling is dead. Gilford recently spent $1,350,000 to build a new recycling center. It opened January 2nd and is expected to generate revenue for the town.

According to Richard Grenier, chairman of the Gilford Board of Selectmen.The town’s new transfer station has the potential to produce substantial revenues to offset future taxation.

I haven't seen any numbers reported but I hope it is true.

A tad off-topic...sorry 🤨
 

Moultonborough’s T.A. should be worrying about a lot more than recycling. As far as we can tell, with greatly reduced services because of the pandemic, nobody has been furloughed, and library and town employees are being paid for their 40 hour week. There is no sign of anyone on unemployment compensation, although taxpayers pay into it. With expenses the same or increased over the next year, and revenues down, guess what’s going to happen, and who will foot the bill?

There is recycling and there is recycling.

I viewed my town years ago. Take all of the newspapers/magazines in a large pallet - forklift over to the regular ordinary garbage - and dump it.

But beyond all of this.

How many actually know where this recycled stuff goes. Does it really get recycled into new products?

Frontline television. Recently. Only 10% of all recycled plastics get recycled. The rest goes into a landfill someplace. Plastics are not the same. Different chemical compositions. 10% recycled into new products. The rest of the plastics go into the ground. Into a landfill.

Then there was the television news show that went to a fancy town. That town was doing away with trash pickup by municipal employees. Contract out trash pickup. The contract stated quite clearly - that the recycled items would actually be recycled.

So the TV people followed the recycling trucks. To a port. Where this recycled stuff was dumped onto the ground. Then picked up and placed into larger trucks - and those trucks went to a large open hull ship. The TV crew followed the ship. The ship went from the East coast to . . . wait for it . . . the Philippines. This recycled material was then transported to a large outdoor landfill in the Philippines. Where children were rummaging through this landfill picking out the aluminum cans. In the Philippines.

This private recycling company. The TV crew interviewed the CEO of the recycling company. And that CEO swore that all item were actually recycled. Absolute proof positive that all recycles were recycled. Yet everything ended up in the Philippines.

In these towns that still mandate separating recycle material. Does it actually get recycled? Or just transported to a secondary point - then onto a landfill someplace? Does anyone know?

Does anyone actually know?

I cannot speak for every funny story, but there is a fundamental economic point that would seem to prevent these recycling efforts being dumped in landfills. Towns are paid for materials to be recycled. The only way the recycling company gets paid back is if somebody pays it for the materials it bought from the town. So I'm going to go way out on a limb, and assert that the vast majority of stuff that is paid for actually is recycled.

Time to bring back the local incinerator. Using today’s technology I believe this is a better choice then world wide land fills. Maybe we should be paying more attention to how each item we purchase adds to the pile of waste.


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Just make sure you don’t ask for a plastic straw! :rolleye2::rolleye2:

Dan

Sometimes you need one
 

We stopped at Sawyer's for ice cream so we could go out to Lincoln Park to eat the ice cream and enjoy the view. Quite windy but some boats ventured out of Glendale.

Anyway, as I was trying to figure out what I wanted, I saw Frappe. I don't know when the last time was that I had one, so the decision was made. Chocolate frappe with chocolate ice cream. Mmmmmmmmm good.

Oh, yeah, plastic straws. It came with a plastic straw that had one end cut on an angle to make it easier to get all that goodness from the bottom of the cup. Never saw one before, from decades ago.

Dave

A guess. Nothing wrong with guessing.

"vast majority of stuff that is paid for" - what does that mean?

The cities/towns pay for trash to be taken away. Trash that may be in a bin that the town states is a "recycle" bin. Some company comes and takes it away. Where does that go?

It is now cheaper for the private trash collector to just put the recycles into a landfill someplace. Presently it costs more to attempt to actually recycle. Any towns pay more for this?

Simple economics.

Or simply put. Who cares?

https://www.laconiadailysun.com/news...48ef46f75.html

“The commodity value of recycled materials has really just fallen away to the point where it is a cost negative to be disposing of recyclable materials,” Myers said. “Right now we are paying more to get rid of recyclables on a per ton basis than if it all went into the trash.”

It's a sad situation as we are awash in our own trash. It will haunt our children and grand children in the future.
But I understand that these towns have to do what is best to save money.
Hopefully our new "space force" will figure out a way to ship our trash to another planet. :laugh::laugh:

I should have been more clear. Recycling has financial benefits for the town as some waste such as glass and corrugated cardboard are purchased by recyclers, and other stuff is hauled away at a lower cost than the general trash. I don't deny our penpals' tales of some "recycled" stuff not actually being recycled for one reason or another. But in general, these economic deals where a recycler is paying for the material or hauling at a lower price have an obvious enforcement mechanism.

Here's an excerpt from Tuftonboro's 2019 annual report--the $152K cited plus the haulers' other expenses is the amount that the haulers would need to get paid from the companies doing the recycling itself to recover what they paid to Tuftonboro. If they just throw the stuff away, they've thrown away the $152K they gave to Tuftonboro. So the haulers care quite a bit.

Our direct revenue generated, which includes collecting fees for disposal of certain items, added up to a
record high of approximately $118,405 for 2019. “Avoided costs” are areas where we keep items out of
the waste stream by recycling or finding an alternate disposal method that saves money from disposing
of that item in the normal waste stream. This savings is on paper, and not actual revenue into the facility,
and is called an “avoided cost.”
A method to calculate the true net worth of the transfer station operation is done by adding the actual
revenue in ($118,405) and the avoided costs ($33,771) for a total worth of $152,185 for 2019. Well
done to all!! Let’s continue improving our recycling numbers in order to keep our tax rates as low as
possible.

This is a little bit off topic, but not much. Florida opened up our beaches and within three days, Cocoa Beach was strewn with 13,000 pounds of trash!

People are just so self entitled these days they don’t care about anyone or anything, including the environment. The fact that all these discarded plastics will end up in the ocean and we will see pictures of turtles with straws up their nose and dolphins whose bellies are full of plastic because there’s nothing to eat anymore. The whole thing just makes me sick.

We've had major issues with trash at the natural areas in my town—so much so, that there's a movement to get them classified as town member use only.

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They are going to start giving out $250 fines for someone that is seen littering. That’s the keyword the police actually have to see them littering. I can envision an entire pile of trash around every group on the beach, but because the cops did not see them litter with their own eyes, then they just leave it behind.

The way recycled materials are being handled reminds me of this.

………………… ………...

"... “Avoided costs” are areas where we keep items out of
the waste stream by recycling or finding an alternate disposal method"

Wonder what that means in regular English.

Or finding an alternate disposal method. What's that?

How much income did the town receive in actual recycled material.

Just sayin'. Why that town has to word all of this in that way.

Making progress on the Gilmanton front,

"Great news! The town now officially has a buyer for recycling! So once it is safe to re-open based on the current guidelines for Covid 19 they will let us know"

In regular English--Some recycled stuff is not valuable enough for the haulers to cut a check to the transfer stations. On those items, the towns still have to pay for the stuff to be taken away, but the price they pay per ton is lower than the price they pay to haul away trash. That difference is avoided cost. It's real money.

So the avoided cost recycled trash just goes to a different landfill ?

No, the landfill is avoided, and economics "forces" the stuff back into use--the hauler brings the low value stuff to a recycler who pays him for it. In this equation--the town saves money because it pays very little to dispose of the stuff, the hauler gets a revenue stream from both ends, and the recycler sells the stuff on the back end to somebody using it for new products. All 3 come out ahead, and less goes into landfills