Glass not being taken as recyclable anymore

[Rmay635703]

We have close to 100 acres of old CRTS stacked waiting for recycling that will never happen as the last recycler that tried to do it the right way has been bankrupted by lawsuits .

We have very little common sense when it comes to cradle to grave calculations .

Plastics 2,4,5,6 can be easily converted into sulphur free diesel for $0.50 a gallon, zero pollution.

Or we can recycle it which emits a lot of dangerous chemicals and costs more than virgin plastic.

 

[PandaBear]

We still take ours but our recycling facility is next to sewage treatment plant, so maybe they clean them very well and has customers for them, even tetrapak juice boxes.

They do warn people not to recycle black plastic and clamshells plastic boxes, or paper egg cartons.

 

[PandaBear]

I don’t know what is going on with the recycling market but I know a few things about the recycling industry. Everything is market driven, when they “stop recycling” materials it is caused by economics. That’s why polystyrene isn’t recycled much. It is very easy to recycle but it it costs more to handle the used material than it is worth.
Glass is one of the few 100% recyclable materials and it is very desirable to use recycled glass (cullet) in making new glass. It is less energy intensive to re-melt glass rather than create new glass from silica and processing glass with cullet requires less heat. Aluminum recycling economics is very similar to glass. That’s why glass and aluminum were commonly recycled long before other materials.
“Operation National Sword” put a damper on recycling sent to China but the market has adapted and other places have stepped up their processing. Waste plastic is worth about half of what it was paying in 2016 and they are much more strict about how “clean” the materials are.

True. In the US oil is so cheap it is easier to make virgin plastic (and sometimes virgin glass) because of economy. Yes energy wise it is more intense but they don't need to worry about contamination, and it cost a lot of money to decontaminate residential recycle stuff.

I am sure they still recycle industrial waste as they are cleaner and easier to recycle in scale.

 

[53' Stude]

We still take ours but our recycling facility is next to sewage treatment plant, so maybe they clean them very well and has customers for them, even tetrapak juice boxes.

They do warn people not to recycle black plastic and clamshells plastic boxes, or paper egg cartons.

Girlfriend and I watched something about the “plastic ocean”. Made me real angry and disgusted. When will people truly wake the heck up?

I’m barely middle class, yeah I cut apart old oil filters, filters in general and like doing the right thing. Even if oil is truly cheap; gas ain’t depending on your state. Rant over

 

[Kestas]

I make my own jam. Instead of buying mason jars for canning, my mother taught me to use empty glass jars from store bought food. The lids are usually good for sealing a number of times.

I've read stories where there is no market for recyclables and many places simply have a well-sorted landfill.

 

[53' Stude]

I make my own jam. Instead of buying mason jars for canning, my mother taught me to use empty glass jars from store bought food. The lids are usually good for sealing a number of times.

I've read stories where there is no market for recyclables and many places simply have a well-sorted landfill.

well, face reality: sooner rather than later landfill space will run out kinda like coal was/is

 

[simple_gifts]

The Clearbrook, VA rest area on I-81S has a concete type floor that has recycled glass in it.

It is termed a "recycled glass terrozo floor"

http://www.virginiadot.org/travel/resources/ClearBrookGrandOpening.wmv

 

[PimTac]

Girlfriend and I watched something about the “plastic ocean”. Made me real angry and disgusted. When will people truly wake the heck up?

I’m barely middle class, yeah I cut apart old oil filters, filters in general and like doing the right thing. Even if oil is truly cheap; gas ain’t depending on your state. Rant over

The biggest blame for that plastic ocean is Southeast Asia and South Asia. I’ve been there. Thin plastic bags ( they call them cellophane) are used for foods and other things. Remember, most stuff bought at the markets is not wrapped. Generations of people use the rivers or just toss these bags into the open when they are done. During the monsoon seasons the rivers flood and the result is a sea of plastic garbage. I have seen entire bays filled with garbage after a flood.

It is getting better with bag bans etc but it won’t go away overnight.

Another thing to think about is the massive amount of garbage that was deposited into the oceans with the 2004 Boxing Day Tsunami and the 2011 Great East Japan Earthquake. We are still having items wash up on the WA and OR coasts from that one. Those cannot be avoided.

 

[53' Stude]

Good info sir PimTac, Thank You

 

[PandaBear]

well, face reality: sooner rather than later landfill space will run out kinda like coal was/is

Depends on what it means to be a "landfill" and "run out".

People have been making new land with landfill into the ocean, and people have been digging out less than ideal land for landfill. I think we will still have landfill in large nations centuries to come, and old landfills will be back in business once "settlement" is done with. Still, it is not the best way to deal with trash IMO, I like incineration better if they can get the dioxin under control and capture the energy.

I like that municipal are starting to force people to sort out trash, even if it means some end up in landfill and others in incineration, and food into compost. It really reduce the landfill usage and air pollution when they are sorted first.

 

[53' Stude]

Panda bear: sorry to come off harsh, was thinking out loud sir. We have a few “waste to power generation plants” near me that use all sorts of waste for fuel

 

[Hillbilly Deluxe]

Glass hasn’t been “recycled” for 8-10 years. It’s just whoever has been taking it has been lying. In fact, most of the crap you put in your cute recycle bin goes to the landfill eventually.
Aluminum, some vegetable cans, some plastic is recycled. 10% of the paper in most areas.
The rest gets loaded in a dumpster and goes to the landfill.

 

[zzyzzx]

It's not economical to recycle glass. And then there is this:

 

[Rmay635703]

Glass hasn’t been “recycled” for 8-10 years. It’s just whoever has been taking it has been lying. In fact, most of the crap you put in your cute recycle bin goes to the landfill eventually.
Aluminum, some vegetable cans, some plastic is recycled. 10% of the paper in most areas.
The rest gets loaded in a dumpster and goes to the landfill.

Good reason to keep coal fired plants to convert to bio generators that burn up trash so we can keep hundreds of square miles of garbage dumps empty

(Dioxin) Also would be a good reason to ban certain composite packaging, certain plastic #’s and setup plastic to gas pyrolysis stacks

AKA Dioxin is fully preventable, most comes from incinerating vinyl hospital waste, which even in that case can be eliminated with a calcium pile and water wash of the exhaust

 

[Snagglefoot]

Our glass recycling bin at our waste transfer station will be shut at year end. Now it goes into the waste bin. It was actually a farce for quite some time. It was being dumped into a corner of a landfill in the hopes someday it could be mined.

 

[tom slick]

True. In the US oil is so cheap it is easier to make virgin plastic (and sometimes virgin glass) because of economy. Yes energy wise it is more intense but they don't need to worry about contamination, and it cost a lot of money to decontaminate residential recycle stuff.

I am sure they still recycle industrial waste as they are cleaner and easier to recycle in scale.

Very true, the commingled MRF process itself makes their glass less desirable. Recycled plastics process very differently than virgin and usually can’t be used in food grade packaging.

 

[tcp71]

Every bottle, carton and juice box in Alberta has a deposit you pay upon purchase and receive back when you return it to the depot. Water bottles have an additional, non refundable, environmental fee. Everyone returns their containers or gives them to charity groups for their “bottle drives”.

 

[M56959]

Folks please stay on topic. If I need to remove another political post , this will be locked.

 

[dlundblad]

It’s been my understanding that glass hasn’t been worth it for a while. Colored glass like a beer bottle even less so and just gets thrown away.

 

[DuckRyder]

Yep, no glass recycling here anymore.