Why don't the land fill companies collect all the plastic and recycle it?

Answer 1

Many do. But there's a lot of trash and labor is expensive to sort through it. When the value of the recycled material is high enough, then the companies do look for that material.

Answer 2

I guess the reason that they don't is because there is so much trash that's not recycleable to go through. The individuals should be the ones to sort it out and do their part of keeping useable items out of the landfills. Try starting a community wide recycling project. Put the kids in charge and let them use the money for school supplies or community parks. But I believe the cost to pay someone would be way to much. We all need to do our part.
I have seen several years ago that it takes 7 years or more for a disposable diaper to disintegrate. We, the ones with babies could help by using cloth diapers. I also seen on public TV that plastic drink bottles are used to make carpet. I reuse one plastic jug and make my own laundry detergent and another for homemade fabric softener. I do this to cut cost and I don't throw away a bunch of plastic jugs. I suppose just about all plastic and aluminum and glass can be recycled so purchase 3 large trash cans to sort your recyclables from your trash. Hope this helps answer your question. Thanks and have a great day in the Lord Jesus.

Answer 3

There are a lot of recycling companies out there which sort out materials to recycle via human, and machine methods, but the equiptment and personnal are expensive and the workers have to be protected from injury and infection. The bigger picture is that we should not wait around for someone else to do it for us.

The first thing we should do is contact our local government, City Hall/Public Works, and make an inquirery regarding local recycling programs. We discovered our local program, here in Goodlettsville, TN, about 6 years ago, and it has grown and improved over that time. They are now constructing new buildings and I will be interested in what is in store for us next. Right now in one container they accept tin (rince your food cans first), aluminium, and #1/#2 plastic (no separating); another container takes brown, clear and green glass (a separate bin for each); another container is for all paper; another container takes all cardboard; and they have a large open container for metal items such as appliances, scrap metal from construction, etc. The city of Goodlettsville makes enough money from this operation to keep our property taxes down. While the facility is busy, I know many people do not know about it, or else do not take the time to recycle. We have all our containers and the trash can in one spot, so it is just a matter of which container I use for the objects I am throwing out. Publix grocery stores recycles the plastic shopping bags and #6 styrofoam. So every few weeks we make a recycle sweep and we are done in about 30 minutes. Our weekly trash is very small compared to our neighbor's. And don't forget donating books to libraries, and usable clothing and other items to charities.

There are various online sources for people who wish to use cloth diapers, even sites that offer patterns and materials with which to make your own diapers.

Answer 4

Think about what any company in any industry is stiving for. Return on investment is a phrase that comes up often in this category at YA. But ROI pertains to many topics, and what a company needs to make it a viable profit maker is ROI.

If they did their research, would these entities, most of which are parts of or contractors for local governments, find any ROI from what you are advising them to do?

Doubtful. And we cannot expect them to be the working manifestation of our social conscience, either. Each person and each household and each community must make the decision to get it done.

However, I read once that Japan burns combustible trash and uses the ashes as part of its recipe for cinderblocks. Is this true? And is it profitable? Perhaps we could follow suit if it is.

Answer 5

You are supposed to separate your recyclable plastics at the source.

You shouldn't be putting good plastic in your trash and sending it to the landfill.

Answer 6

Because it is too much trouble to comb through mountains of stinking garbage and pick out all the plastic. That job can only be done by hand. Hundreds of minimum wage workers picking through hundreds of tons of garbage costs too much, even at minimum wage. And what a horrible job that would be!

Answer 7

And the metals too. I've been wondering about that too. The land fill companies are sitting on a goldmine with all the stuff they have. For some reason they prefer to just leave it in the ground.
The Chinese are much more resourceful and they are importing our junk to extract the metals.

Answer 8

Almost all of them do, and not just plastic, but wood and metal as well.

Answer 9

It usually comes down to economics.

Answer 10

Way too expensive to do that.