Recycling

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MA_PE said it best. It's not about making money, it's about saving landfill capacity and conservation of materials. Any article or discussion that fails to factor in the costs associated with landfilling and the production of new raw materials, as well as the intangibles, is not a balanced view at all.

 
^for me it’s about trashcan capacity conservation. If I did not separate out my recyclables, there is no way all my trash would fit in that one can.....

My wife and I have noticed that we seem to produce a disproportionate amount of trash. The two of us, with our one dog, consistently produce the most trash on the block, even though there are families of 4 or 5 with dogs in our area... I don't know how we do it. we must be especially trashy!

 
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^for me it's about trashcan capacity conservation. If I did not separate out my recyclables, there is no way all my trash would fit in that one can.....

My wife and I have noticed that we seem to produce a disproportionate amount of trash. The two of us, with our one dog, consistently produce the most trash on the block, even though there are families of 4 or 5 with dogs in our area... I don't know how we do it. we must be especially trashy!
maybe you buy more premade convience type stuff and your neighboors make from scratch?

 
^for me it's about trashcan capacity conservation. If I did not separate out my recyclables, there is no way all my trash would fit in that one can.....

My wife and I have noticed that we seem to produce a disproportionate amount of trash. The two of us, with our one dog, consistently produce the most trash on the block, even though there are families of 4 or 5 with dogs in our area... I don't know how we do it. we must be especially trashy!

My wife and I are the exact opposite. In one week we typically won't even fill up a standard kitchen trash bag. Our neighbors on the other hand typically have garbage overflowing their 50 gallon trash bins on trash pick up day. I think the amount of preprocessed/prepared food is a big part of that. My wife and I eat very little that we don't prepare ourselves. My wifes sister on the other hand only eats items that are prepared and can be microwaved and ready in 2 minutes (her freezer contains more bagel bites then you would find at the grocery store). Those items typically come with a lot of packaging and thusly produce a lot of trash. She has to empty her trash daily, and she is only one person.

Not saying that is why you fill up your trash can, but it is something to consider.

 
^for me it’s about trashcan capacity conservation. If I did not separate out my recyclables, there is no way all my trash would fit in that one can.....
sounds like you need a big can. More junk in the trunk.

 
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My wife and I fall squarely into the low trash output. We have two of the large (90 gallon maybe?) trash cans and we only have to put out one every other week.

 
We generally put two 33 gallon bags in the herbie curby and a recycles box full of plastic water bottles.

 
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^for me it's about trashcan capacity conservation. If I did not separate out my recyclables, there is no way all my trash would fit in that one can.....

My wife and I have noticed that we seem to produce a disproportionate amount of trash. The two of us, with our one dog, consistently produce the most trash on the block, even though there are families of 4 or 5 with dogs in our area... I don't know how we do it. we must be especially trashy!

My wife and I are the exact opposite. In one week we typically won't even fill up a standard kitchen trash bag. Our neighbors on the other hand typically have garbage overflowing their 50 gallon trash bins on trash pick up day. I think the amount of preprocessed/prepared food is a big part of that. My wife and I eat very little that we don't prepare ourselves. My wifes sister on the other hand only eats items that are prepared and can be microwaved and ready in 2 minutes (her freezer contains more bagel bites then you would find at the grocery store). Those items typically come with a lot of packaging and thusly produce a lot of trash. She has to empty her trash daily, and she is only one person.

Not saying that is why you fill up your trash can, but it is something to consider.

beer bottles take up alot of space...?

you are correct, the from-scratch-cooking is done about once or twice weekly at our house. Lastnight was pesto from home grown basil.... mmmmmmmmmmm......

 
We typically fill our 50 gallon street bin about 1/4-1/3 full for a typical week. We only use plastic grocery bags for trash bags and we typically fill up a bag every 2 days. We also usually fill up a 13 gallon trash bag with recyclables although it could be more than one depending on how much beer I decide to drink over the w/e!

 
We typically fill our 50 gallon street bin about 1/4-1/3 full for a typical week. We only use plastic grocery bags for trash bags and we typically fill up a bag every 2 days. We also usually fill up a 13 gallon trash bag with recyclables although it could be more than one depending on how much beer I decide to drink over the w/e!
what about the diapers?

 
We typically fill our 50 gallon street bin about 1/4-1/3 full for a typical week. We only use plastic grocery bags for trash bags and we typically fill up a bag every 2 days. We also usually fill up a 13 gallon trash bag with recyclables although it could be more than one depending on how much beer I decide to drink over the w/e!
what about the diapers?
Those go in the diaper genie and that gets emptied once a week. Some of the diapers that aren't stinky are sometimes thrown out in the regular trash bags if I don't want to go downstairs to put it in the genie.

 
Back to the recycling issue, one factor that needs to be taken into account is the energy that is saved by using recyclables (specifically aluminum, steel and glass).

Production of aluminum consumes extremely large quantities of electricity (20-40% of the cost of aluminum comes from the electricity cost to produce it). Recycled aluminum however simply has to be melted down and recast.

One ton of virgin steel requires 1.25 tons of iron ore, half a ton of coal and several rounds of slagging and alloying ingredients thrown in. Recycled steel (melted down in an EAF and recast) requires a fraction of the energy (mostly electricity for powering the furnaces) and one round of alloying to produce most common grades of steel.

 
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