why cant recycling be mandatory?

Answer 1

I have been asking the same question...
There's a lot of hype about pollution & recycling & not to mention global warming.
My husband & I have been recycling for as long as I can remember.
Our recycling company only takes plastics #1...Therefore we have to drive 140 mile round trip to recycle the rest...We only do this once a year,on our way out of town for our anniversary, to cut down on the driving.
I have often wondered why they don't use the millions of dollars they are spending on the landfills to offer a refuns on recycling plastics, paper, cardboard, etc., like they do steel & aluminum cans. Wouldn't that make more sense? You would DEFINATELY have more people recycling if they were getting cash for it. You never really hear them complain about the money spent taking stuff to the land fill, only that there is too much garbage in the landfill. They really ought to consider "recycling" the cash the spend on hauling that crap to the landfill, and reuse the cash to pay Americans for recycling...It just makes more sense to me.
People now a days, do anything for money...Just like the people who are running our country...They are all about the money & could care less about how we live...

I think I just blew a head-gasket...I get hot over situations like these. We really need someone in office who cares about something other than money.

Answer 2

For those who are against mandatory recycling why don't you turn your front yard into landfill. It will come to that if we don't all recycle. In the North East US, where my Husband is from, they were required to recycle or they were fined. And the recycling bins were just as large as the garbage cans. Unfortunately this isn't the case where I live now.

Answer 3

Actually, many areas were mandated to reduce materials hauled to landfills. In California, for instance, cities had to reduce material by up to 50% or face fines of up to $10,000 per day.

To accomplish this goal, some cities provided recycling bins to trash customers. Other cities simply hired a company to sort through the trash before it was trucked to landfills.

I've noticed a much greater effort to recycle across the board. But there has to be a market for recycled goods, so we as consumers have got to try to support using products manufactured out of recycled materials.

Answer 4

Where I live recycling is mandatory. If the trash collectors see recyclables in the regular trash they will not take it.

You can also get a fine for repeatedly trying to throw recyclables into the trash.

Take care,
Troy

Answer 5

Yes we are throwing away more trash than we can get rid of
We need laws that would put the same fine on people who do not recycle as there are foer those throwing trash on the highway.

And we could save labor by having those caught who do not recycle and fine them with working a weekend at the recycle plant fo every time they do not recycle properly

Answer 6

Two major reasons:

1. Who's going to police this? I don't think any community has the money to hire people to enforce this sort of law (I hope that no community would use tax dollars to hire people to check, door-by-door).

2. Many communities don't have big enough facilities to handle more recycling. Until they build better facilities there's not much more room, in some places, for more recycleable material.

Answer 7

Here's the reason... You can't enforce it. Think about it... how can you possibly make sure that EVERYONE puts their recycling in a specific can and their garbage in another? We have an excellent recycling program in our city, one can for garbage, one for recycling (including almost all plastic containers) and one for yard waste (grass clippings, small branches, leaves, etc.). But, unfortunately, not everyone uses the other cans. And even if they do, there is still SO much that can be recycled sitting in their trash cans. Sad, but true.

Answer 8

it can and should be mandatory. its up to the people in your state to push the politicians to pass the laws. townships dont realize on how much money they are loosing out on. also each town get recycling credits and therefore getting state grants (more money) to run their recycling efforts.

Answer 9

If the majority of people in our democracy want it to be so, then it will be. If not, then it won't. I for one would rather live in a democratic country without recycling than in a dictatorship that recycles.

I recall visiting the German city of Dachau and the concentration camp museum there. It was the prettiest, cleanest little storybook town you ever saw. No litter or graffiti or anything. Do we really want the kind of government that built that concentration camp just to get increased recycling? I don't.

Answer 10

Wouldn't that be great? I read an article that says that recycling one glass jar will save enough energy to power your tv for 3 hours.