do you HAVE to recycle?

Question

like is it against the law? or do you have a choice to recycle or not to?

Answer 1

No you have a choice to recycle. It actually costs the state money to implement recycling programs. You are not however, allowed to litter. That is against the law. You should recycle though, it's just the right thing to do :) We're killing the earth you know.

Answer 2

Depends on where you live.... some cities require you to divide your trash up between their recycle bins. These are usually the cities that have really hit a crunch on their landfill space.

In our area, its a choice, with a trailer set in town to drop off recyclables at. If your waste management company has the recycle bins for you to use, ask them if it's required in your area, they would know. If you do not get a recylce bin from your waste company, then its most likely a choice.

It never hurts to recycle. You can even get some cash for some things... like aluminum cans...they go for about 50 cents a pound here. Lots of things CAN be recycled... paper, most plastic containers, metals, etc...

For those odds and ends youre ready to toss but are still useful... you might try an organization like Freecylce.com...there are freecycle groups all over the place now, where you can offer up unwanted items, and someone who can use it, will come and get it. You both benefit that way...and it doesnt end up in the landfill, hehehe

Have Fun!

Answer 3

A lot of people, here, with ready answers. A LOT depends on your state. Some items are almost universally required to recycle because allowing them in the landfill is either costly or dangerous.

Some states, for instance require tires and batteries be, either recycled by the consumer, or turned into authorized recyclers (often the garage installing the product.) Other states, or municipalities either require recycling, or price trash refuse cans by the volume to encourage recycling.

Check with your own city and state for your answer. DON'T simply accept everything you read here.

Not even my answer.

Answer 4

I live in Taiwan where we are required to seperate all of our garbage into recyclables or food waste. Garbage is a different system here. The garbage trucks play a song, similiar to the ice cream truck, and when it is in your neighborhood, you grab your garbage and run out of your house. So the garbage men see you and hold you responsible for what you throw into their truck. Sometimes they even open the garbage bags and inspect them. If they catch you throwing away something that should be recycled, they hand you a bill for about $40.
So yes, I have to recycle.

Answer 5

You do not have to recycle and, in fact, when you recycle, you are actually HURTING the environment. Recycling as a noble civilian endeavor is one of the biggest myths purported by our government.

Throw away the green and blue bags and forget those trips to return bottles — recycling household waste is a load of, well, rubbish, say leading environmentalists and waste campaigners.

In a reversal of decades-old wisdom, they argue that burning cardboard, plastics and food leftovers is better for the environment and the economy than recycling.

They dismiss household trash separation — a practice encouraged by the green lobby — as a waste of time and money.

The assertions, likely to horrify many environmentalists, are made by five campaigners from Sweden, a country renowned for its concern for the environment and advanced approach to waste.

They include Valfrid Paulsson, a former director-general of the government's environmental protection agency; Soren Norrby, the former campaign manager for Keep Sweden Tidy, and the former managing directors of three waste-collection companies.

The Swedes' views are shared by many British local authorities, who have drawn up plans to build up to 50 incinerators in an attempt to tackle a growing waste mountain and cut the amount of garbage going to landfills.

"For years, recycling has been held up as the best way to deal with waste. It's time that myth was exploded," said one deputy council leader in southern England.

A spokesman for East Sussex County Council, which plans to build an incinerator, said, "It's idealistic to think that everything can be recycled. It's just not possible. Incineration has an important role to play."

The Swedish group said that the "vision of a recycling market booming by 2010 was a dream 40 years ago and is still just a dream."

The use of incineration to burn household waste — including packaging and food — "is best for the environment, the economy and the management of natural resources," they wrote in an article for the newspaper Dagens Nyheter.

Technological improvements have made incineration cleaner, the article said, and the process could be used to generate electricity, cutting dependency on oil.

Mr. Paulsson and his co-campaigners said that collecting household cartons was "very unprofitable."

Recycled bottles cost glass companies twice as much as the raw materials, and recycling plastics was uneconomical, they said. "Plastics are made from oil and can quite simply be incinerated."

The Swedes stressed that the collection of dangerous waste, such as batteries, electrical appliances, medicines, paint and chemicals "must be further improved."

They added, "Protection of the environment can mean economic sacrifices, but to maintain the credibility of environmental politics the environmental gains must be worth the sacrifice."

The Environmental Services Association, representing the British waste industry, agreed that the benefits of incineration had been largely ignored.

Andrew Ainsworth, its senior policy executive, said, "This is a debate that we need to have in this country. Recycled products have got to compete in a global market, and sometimes recycling will not be economically viable or environmentally sustainable."

A spokesman for the government's Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs said incineration was "way down the list" because "it causes dangerous emissions, raises public concern and sends out a negative message about reuse."

Answer 6

New York City is the only municipality which will fine you for NOT recycling.

Answer 7

everyone on earth actually recycles whether they realize it or not... Just think about that statement, and you should understand.
BUT for your question, every town that I am aware of, is required to recycle, and if your caught you indeed are fined!

Answer 8

In the state of Pennsylvania it's a law, although I don't know if or how they try to enforce it. While it is sometimes a pain, it is worth it to reduce the natural resources we take and can't always replace (or replace at the same rate it's being used).

Answer 9

1

Answer 10

it is a choice of morals... we need to start reusing what we are tossing away... its not a law but in some cities it is frowned upon not to recycle.....