What is Digg?197 Comments
- diggityk8, on 11/20/2008, -4/+66Well done California!
- PGPirate, on 11/21/2008, -4/+40KRAMER: That's Michigan. In Michigan you get ten cents.
NEWMAN: Ten cents!?
KRAMER: Yeah.
NEWMAN: Wait a minute. You mean you get five cents here, and ten cents
there. You could round up bottles here and run 'em out to Michigan for the
difference.
KRAMER: No, it doesn't work.
NEWMAN: What d'you mean it doesn't work? You get enough bottles
together...
KRAMER: Yeah, you overload your inventory and you blow your margins on
gasoline. Trust me, it doesn't work.
JERRY: (re-entering) Hey, you're not talking that Michigan deposit
bottle scam again, are you?
KRAMER: No, no, I'm off that.
NEWMAN: You tried it?
KRAMER: Oh yeah. Every which way. Couldn't crunch the numbers. It drove
me crazy. - jaybol, on 11/20/2008, -3/+37I recycle because I only have two trashcans, one for trash and one for recycling. I would really have to try hard not to recycle, because stuff would just spill out all over my garage. I wish I could remember to get the bottle deposits, I really do.
- Jason, Proud California Recycler - liquisoft, on 11/21/2008, -1/+29Californians don't recycle because of the monetary incentive. At least not in full.
We recycle because of the stigma placed on non-recyclers. I don't know why, but our state really really frowns upon people who don't recycle. Maybe it's because the population here defines itself upon the environment it lives in. It's hard to say why it exists (this stigma), but I can tell you it does. - protonone, on 11/21/2008, -0/+26Why don't they mention Michigan's rate of recycling? With a 10 cent deposit here, I hardly know anyone who doesn't at least try and recycle every chance they get.
- suzaku, on 11/21/2008, -1/+22Nice selective quoting there. Here are the next three paragraphs.
"Other major cities watched closely to see how New York was faring with its scaled back program (the city never discontinued paper recycling), ready to perhaps jump on the bandwagon.
But in the meantime, New York City closed its last landfill, and private out-of-state landfills raised prices due to the increased workload of hauling away and disposing of New York’s trash.
As a result, the benefits of recycling glass and plastic increased and glass and plastic recycling became economically viable for the city again. New York reinstated the recycling program accordingly, with a more efficient system and with more reputable service providers than it had used previously." - lukemit, on 11/21/2008, -1/+20Yeah, CA is so far ahead of everyone else. They've already given the right to marry to gays AND taken it away.
- inactive, on 11/21/2008, -8/+27Oh yeah I am sure all the recycle bins in Compton are just jam packed with empty 40s
- hiPpymIck, on 11/21/2008, -0/+16this months popular mechanics quotes a guy who says all recycling is less energy intensive
http://www.popularmechanics.com/home_journal/how_y ...
FTA
recycled glass uses only about 21 percent less energy—but it still comes out ahead
Overall, he found, it takes 10.4 million Btu to manufacture products from a ton of recyclables, compared to 23.3 million Btu for virgin materials. And all of the collecting, hauling and processing of those recyclables adds just 0.9 million Btu. - BigManOnCampus, on 11/21/2008, -6/+19We do have a lot of homeless people in CA taking care of that. Hell, I'll bet most of the community of Berkeley depends on recycling income.
- AriaStar, on 11/21/2008, -3/+15"YOU'RE", dammit. It's a contraction of "you are." Take out the A and replace it with an apostrophe. It's really not that ***** hard!!
- MattB123, on 11/21/2008, -0/+11I used to cruise Michigan Stadium after U of M games to get the returnables and make $50-$75 in a couple of hours which was awesome as a kid and it being the 80's when that seemed like more money.
Bottle deposits definitely work, and as an added bonus it gives the homeless a "job" that keeps the place clean and gives them money.
Win-win.
I wish Colorado would follow suit but I'm not holding my breath. - bigsteve, on 11/21/2008, -1/+12Maybe I've been misinformed, but isn't recycling glass the most energy-inefficient recycling process of them all? I mean, you can reduce glass down to the sand it's made of by simply smashing it and grinding/pulverizing it. Isn't that all they do anyway?
I do most of my glass recycling in my own home, as in, reusing glass bottles as long as I can, for months if possible. Snapple bottles have a wide mouth and lend to very easy cleaning for reuse. Maybe another point of misinformation, but I also have been lead to believe that reusing plastic bottles in this fashion leads to the plastic leeching into whatever liquid you store in it.
Anyone more knowledgeable care to shed some light? - jdames1980, on 11/21/2008, -0/+10Exactly, I was wondering the same thing. There has been a 10 cent deposit here my entire life (I'm 28) and recycling bottles has always seemed like the normal thing to do. I can't imagine throwing them in the trash and I think that most people here feel that way.
- whatever01, on 11/21/2008, -2/+12Landfilling things costs money. Digging stuff out of the ground, melting it and refining it costs money and makes a mess. Taking personal responsibility for your consumption isn't a bad thing, either.
- AriaStar, on 11/21/2008, -1/+10We recycle. If it's got to go out anyway, why not just put it in its own separate bag and drop it in the right spot when you take the trash out. It takes an extra three seconds to open the bag and no extra time to hold it while you're carrying the garbage.
People who don't recycle should be smacked.
And it would help if deposits were raised, BUT!! there were FAR more centers to get it back. What happened to the days when every grocery story had a buzzer at the back somewhere where an employee would count your bottles and give yo a ticket for money at the register? That was convenient and made people recycle more. It's been a couple years since I've seen a place to take them. - mnemy, on 11/21/2008, -0/+9Uhh, yeah. I usually don't get a dime from recycling. I just throw my bottles/cans in the blue trash can that the city picks up. The city gets the money. Make it easy for people to recycle, and they will do it, whether or not money is involved.
Ohh, and we have a ton of bums in So Cal. They definitely help finding all those waterbottles and soda cans in public trash cans. - Ecochick, on 11/21/2008, -1/+10haha, I LOVE a good 40 oz now and then. Let's show the 40's some well-deserved love for cheap buzzes. And I love recycling them too :)
- rafe101, on 11/21/2008, -0/+9You just described Michigan's system, except it is a dime.
- SnapETom, on 11/21/2008, -1/+10I agree 100% I was a life-long Californian and moved to NJ about 3 years ago (don't ask) and am still appalled at the lack of recycling here. I like to tell New Jerseyians that in CA, some cities (Davis, I'm looking at you) gives houses a huge, 5 foot-tall bin for curbside recycling and a much smaller bin no bigger than a kitchen trash can for non-recyclables. Like a holier-than-thou *****, my favorite hobby here in NJ is to yell out, "Where the *****'s the recycling?" at bus-yourself restaurants.
- Soave, on 11/21/2008, -0/+8I'm from California and I agree. I'm not sure exactly what it is. I'm not obsessed with recycling, it just comes naturally and easy. And frankly I get really annoyed when I find my roommate's recyclables in the trash can, especially when it's just as easy to put it in the recycling bins, which are right by the trash cans.
- vondrak, on 11/21/2008, -0/+8CA also has a CRV tax which puts an extra tax anytime you buy a glass or aluminum container. You're supposed to get this back when you recycle the container, but it never seems to add up for me.
I recycled in WI without reward, but now I feel like I have to otherwise I'm getting charged more. - strangewill, on 11/21/2008, -0/+8Plus, it's more about keeping it out of ever growing landfills, and to help conserve resources.
- tman84, on 11/21/2008, -0/+7I though Berkeley was dependent on income from converting all that smug to energy.
- xsecretfiles, on 11/21/2008, -1/+8well hurry up Californians bring that up to 100% ok
- directedition, on 11/21/2008, -2/+9Why do we recycle glass? Do we foresee a global shortage of sand? Seriously, I'm sure someone has a reason, but I can't think of what it is.
- IneedaSN, on 11/21/2008, -0/+6dugg, just cause its true and makes no sense
and before this decade is over it will prolly go back the other way one more time - ChromaVita, on 11/21/2008, -0/+6***** Florida laws... Stores aren't allowed to sell beer/malt liquor in bottles larger than 32oz
40oz = Fourties
32oz = Flordies - AriaStar, on 11/21/2008, -4/+10Um, there's another point of recycling. Landfills. You know, keeping the crap out of them that won't decompose. So the trade-off to energy consumption is less space needed for landfills.
- Sneezyx, on 11/21/2008, -0/+6One time I saved up a ***** of plastic and glass bottles and brought it to a recycling place, but was paid so little that the time and effort it took wasn't even close to being worth it. So now I just put it out on the curb for recycling by the city (Berkeley, Calif.) every week, but the shopping-cart vultures always steal it first. Oh well, in any case it does get recycled.
- ShiftyBizniss, on 11/21/2008, -0/+6I can tell you why the stigma exists... because recycling in most cities is the single most effortless thing you can do to help the environment.. not doing it just suggests laziness.
- inactive, on 11/21/2008, -0/+6The problem with bottle deposits is no one can agree on what should have a deposit on it. When I lived in Oregon (which has had a bottle deposit for as long as I can remember) there was a bill to expand the list of items that required bottle deposits. Currently soda and beer bottle/cans have deposits. The new bottle bill was going to include wine and liquor bottles and everybody got bent out of shape that you could turn in a Jack Daniels bottle for a nickel but not a baby food jar and that was immoral or some kind of ***** like that.
The initiative failed and the baby food buyers smiled smugly as though they had made some kind of huge democratic victory. - FriedTurkey, on 11/21/2008, -2/+8Yeah it was using outdated info and was debunked.
- coyote1284, on 11/21/2008, -0/+6@kosan
Many go thru that stage. It starts with mild annoyance at poor grammar. Once that annoyance builds to the boiling point it errupts into Grammar Nazi-ism. Eventually, after enough steam has blown off or a valve breaks from over-pressure, it settles into acceptance as long as the message is clear. - gitboxgreg, on 11/21/2008, -1/+7Honestly how hard is it to recycle? You put the stuff that isn't recyclable material into one bin and the rest into the one that says recycle! They even make it easier for you by putting a symbol on everything that is recyclable!
- moo083, on 11/21/2008, -0/+5Of course, reality then hits and you realize that typically people start collecting empty bottles AFTER they get homeless, meaning, people have no job because they got laid off, not because they figured they could live the sweet bottle collecting life.
That and the fact that, after a while of living on the streets, some people probably aren't even capable anymore of leading a normal life. So if they do something like collect bottles, at least they are doing something responsible. Maybe it'll even lead to a job if they are starting to learn about responsibility. - spectre_25gt, on 11/21/2008, -0/+5California also recently put something in place where they'll consider returned deposits as income on state tax returns.
- 80hd, on 11/21/2008, -2/+7After your done with the beer, the local homeless turn the bottles into heroin!
- FriedTurkey, on 11/21/2008, -3/+8Somebody watched the incorrect ***** episode on recycling. That stuff was debunked earlier on Digg. Do a search dumbass.
- rolf, on 11/21/2008, -0/+5I like the European (or German?) system best. Each store selling drinks takes a deposit (at least a quarter, not this nickel or dime stuff). And you can go to any store selling drinks and get your money back. People there buy their 1 liter drinks in crates of 12 usually, and just bring back the whole crate with glass bottles to the store when it's used up although you are free just to buy one drink.
No fuss, no seperate recycling centers to go to or that other stupid stuff. It doesn't cost extra gas to collect really, because the delivery truck dropping off drinks can pick up the crates of used stock at the same time.
I wish they did it with batteries and CFLs and what not everywhere too. Make the stores that sell them take them back. Even if it's with a universal deposit program. - Hedonopoly, on 11/21/2008, -1/+5Wrong, I think, though I'd be happy to be corrected. For every tree cut down, a new one is planted by the paper industry in the United States, and they aren't pulling down 100 year old trees, they're using trees planted specifically for the purpose of making paper.
Aluminum cans are probably the most win-win. A truly limited resource, minimal energy costs to recycle it, and easy methods of extracting them from other garbage. Glass bottles, on the other hand, are kind of dumb to recycle. Not like we're running out of sand or anything. - Treshnell, on 11/21/2008, -0/+4But they're getting better at recycling methods for things like plastics and glass.
- spyd3rweb, on 11/21/2008, -1/+5Some areas don't have curbside recycling, some areas charge YOU to recycle, some areas require you to sort out your recyclables by type, and areas with deposits require you to DRIVE to a store to return your bottles and cans. For some people it is not economical to recycle.
- ShiftyBizniss, on 11/22/2008, -0/+4I'm no expert, but I'm pretty sure that reusing more and consuming less helps...
- wrenchone, on 11/21/2008, -1/+5Because no one cares about Michigan when compared to California unfortunately.
- Someguy101, on 02/19/2009, -1/+5http://letmegooglethatforyou.com/?q=benefits+of+re ...
- Tiak, on 11/21/2008, -0/+4landfilling costs money...
Digging stuff up, melting it, and refining it costs money...
Collecting, sorting by color to specifications that would make it usable, grinding, and then re-melting costs more money than either of those oddly enough... - IneedaSN, on 11/21/2008, -0/+4if only all the cities in the world could have so many homeless as the ones in CA
global recycling would double.
I think with the housing market the way it is, we can look forward to many years of recycling in CA. - retawd, on 11/21/2008, -0/+4Forget glass. How many film themes does CA recycle? I'm guessing 99%+
All the SNL alumni. There is your heartwarming story about recycling. - linoth, on 11/21/2008, -0/+3New York uses the same system. Retailers are encouraged to participate because while the deposit collected from customers is only $0.05/bottle or can, the retailers collect $0.065 for everything they return.
Deposits don't work though. I recall most of my peers just throwing things away, while I'd keep mine aside to recycle. That's how I was raised, so it's what I do. -
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