The city's recycling center dumps all the recyclables at the landfill instead of shipping them to be recycled:

Question

I'm wondering what we could do as a city (or indaviduals) to get the recycling center to ship all the stuff to a recycling hub where they actually recycle stuff instead of put it in the landfill. Our city recycles a fair bit of stuff (about 1,000 tons of recyclables each year), so we're (the citizens of the city) think that the recycling center is only open for money instead of environmentalism (they get money based on how much material you bring in and drop off (by pounds)). Any ideas? This is a REAL problem because people are starting to stop recycling because it's all just going to the dump anyways.

Answer 1

The recycling center probably has a contract with the city or a mandate from the city council to insure that the materials are recycled. Check the city records department for any contracts that they have with the center. The information should be public record.

If you find it and believe that they are in violation of the contract, you can contact a city representative, or the newspaper and disclose what you have found. If you can't get the government to enforce it's own contracts, the newspapers are likely to make enough of a stink about it (pardon the pun) to cause the city to pull the contract.

Nice to see somebody who is interested in being environmentally responsible. good luck!

Answer 2

This is a crazy scenario but a real one...

There is a limited market for recyclables . . . in part because the supply of recyclable materials is limited because of the lack of recycling programs so it is not economical to set up big plants that actually process the recyclable materials into useful items.

So, many governmental authorities (I am not sure if it is a federal or state regulation) MANDATED by law that localities are required to establish recycling programs that separate potentially recyclable materials from the garbage that goes into a landfill. They did this to ensure that a adequate supply of recyclable materials is available for recycling so that there would be investment and development of recycling technologies.

However, until companies invest in recycling technologies to make a recyling stream cost effective to reuse/recycle that recycle stream is dumped in a landfill..

Now.. many items are being made from recycled materials ... at least from the items that are easy to process (milk jugs, paper, certain plastics, some metals, etc)
However, the rest of the recycle stream (which is a very large fraction of the materials that are picked up as recyclable) is essentially worthless so it goes to a landfill. Further, sometimes it is too expensive to sort and ship the "worthwhile" recycleables to a market so . . . that also goes into a landfill.. (the idea is that hopefully that will only be temporary)

Yes it is a conundrum but that is my understanding of what is going on...

Answer 3

3 main reasons it makes sense to recycle: 1) Saves money on fees the landfill charges by the ton for all trash delivered. Why not sell the "trash" to recyclers instead of paying to dump it ? 2)Most recyclable products are not biodegradable or take many years to break down, thus they would clog and fill-up the landfill forceing it to close eventually. By diverting more of the waste stream to recycling, you extend the life and usefullness of landfills. 3) It is certainly more effecient, environmentaly helpful and politically correct to recycle. Aluminum, paper, cardboard, and many plastics can be effectively reused again and again reducing the new manufactured products impact on the environment and preserving limited natural resources.

Answer 4

If your city is collecting recyclables, and then dumping them into the landfill, I would get some pictures, and go talk to the local muckraker at the TV station in your town. I would go to your city's City Council meeting and ask them why this happens. Have a friend running an audio recorder so you'll have their answer saved. Seems like somethings not right in your city. There's money in trash !

Answer 5

Wow. I find that amazing! Is it possibly going to a different part of the dump??? Not that it really matters... JW!

First, I would make 100% sure that you are right about what is happening to the recycled goods. Call the recycling center and schedule a time to speak with the head of operations either on the phone or in person.

I would attend a city council meeting right away. Talk to some influential people in your community about this problem. Ask them to accompany you to a meeting. Or ask them to write a letter.

Second.... don't forget to follow through with your actions! Attend as many meetings as needed until something happens, or until something starts to happen.

Answer 6

make it more cost efficient to recycle the stuff than to dump it.

Money will win.

When it pays to recycle scrap iron... scrap iron gets recycled.

When it costs more to ship the scrap iron than what is saved by recycling... scrap iron gets added to the landfill.

Of course the recycling program is driven by the economics. Or do you want the average household to pay $500 a month for trash disposal?

Answer 7

I'd bet they actually do ship t to the hub. I would ask city official. I'd talk to the news media, they'd be happy to drop the bomb on that. I'd talk to the city council members about why they are spending tax dollars to have seperate pic up and not generating revenue. They are losing thousands of dollars by not getting funds back and may be jeopardizing state and federal funds.

Answer 8

The are different and sometimes - very strict rules - on what can - economically be recycled etc.

Can you imagine, trying to seperate bits of - paper, plastic bottles, cans, electronics and batteries ..etc. Alot of this is sent to china.

Get businesses, Retail, Manufacturers to take some responsibilities also..etc

Answer 9

I didn't know they did that! Maybe we can write a letter to our governer about it? I mean,we have to get someone to listen and make the rec. co. step up about this. That's what they're there for, so they need to do their job! I'm relativly new to this so that's about all I know to do....

Answer 10

sometimes it is more expensive to transport it than what you get for it so they bury it until the price gets better then they dig it up and sell it. a lot of the same is easy to recover.