There was an interesting column in the New York Times last week that asked…
— are we really doing anything with all this recycling besides feeling better about the stuff we buy?
here’s another excerpt…
“Recycling “is good civic behavior,” said Samantha MacBride, an assistant professor of public affairs at Baruch College, City University of New York, but it’s oversold as a panacea to a whole host of environmental ills, from overflowing landfills to global warming. “I wouldn’t say that people who do recycling feel they’ve done everything they can by participating, but they think there’s a lot more being achieved than there actually is.”
Reduce, reuse, recycle – in that order.
Agreed. Reduce is first. Use less paper. Use less plastic, Use less styrofoam. Use less gas.
However, there are times when this is not particularly practical, and that is when one tries to reuse. Can that printed paper be used for something else? Can that plastic be washed and used again?
Then, if all else fails … can it be recycled?
I don’t know that recycling is making us feel that we’re doing enough for the environment, but I do think that recycling is easier to think about and talk about and therefore gets for air time.
Recycling presents a lesson in supply & demand. One of the richest women in China – Yan Cheung – made her fortune buying recycled paper and paperboard here and shipping it to China for re-prosessing, to be sold again in the world markets as newsprint, corregated, etc. The recycled paper was readily available as all the Newtons in America collected them, the costs of which were offset by the market price for the commodity, and the shipment back to China was cheap because there were all these empty containers that had just unloaded clothing, electronics, etc. and needed to get back to China to be re-filled. All good, until the worldwide recession. Lower demand all around. Fewer containers coming to America. Lower demand for paper products, falling prices for recycled goods.
See NY Times piece: http://www.nytimes.com/2012/10/23/business/global/chinas-slowing-economy-puts-pressure-on-american-exporters.html?pagewanted=all
At what point is it uneconomic for Newton to continue to collect our recycled waste? Reduce and reuse. Recycle is the last resort.
Wow. Max that is an eye opening fact. Thanks.