recycling

[mella l]

Just a couple of thoughts on recycling.
In our county in CA there is no curbside recycling, although there are paper drives, cardboard container collection points, container collections for aluminum cans in shopping centers. All the garbage picked up from residents is sent to a central location where it is run on a conveyor with 4 operators all dressed up who sort the garbage for glass, paper, metal and such. The refuse is then sent to a land fill to digest. Also green garden clippings and shrubs less than 2 inch in diameter go to an electric generating plant to us in the production of electricity. So people are working on it here. Also the county offices, the Sewage company, museums, police have PV solar collectors. The most solar per capita in the entire state.

My husband is a Portland OR native, when we lived in Portland for two years I was very impressed with their curbside recycling. General garbage, glass, and cans were separated into bins by each resident, cardboard was flattened and folded and set between the small plastic bins, green garden clipping had their own bin. The refuse was collected twice a week, bottles, cans and garbage on one day, and cardboard, paper and garden recyclables on another. It was really a slick set up and everyone was involved and participating!

mella l

[Carey]

Mella, we were from west suburban Chicago. Chicago also had the sorter system, and there are pros & cons, for this system. Recyclables are more easily contaminates, and more material is missed than with an active consumer system, if everyone is onboard. Problem with most curbsides is that ir is hard to get people to fully utilize the system , unless it is extremely economically easier. Our county had curbside bins, and recycling was for free, but waste hauling was per bag/small container, and more for larger containers. Any non-recyclables in a recycle container caused no pickup for the entire bin, and a bill was sent to the costumer. Taught us how to efficently recycle & to really look at our waste stream, esp. when it was costing $$ for throwing out stuff, but they only had an estimated 70%-80% recovery. Some folks didn't even participate in recycling! The county had to institute these measures when all of its' landfills closed (some many years earlier than planned, due to the excessive waste production by residents). Hawaii county is nearing this situation (east side is already there). It will be interesting to see what happens with the waste issues in the next few years....
Exporting garbage is expensive, one bag pickup was nearing $3 last year (plus the property tax for refuse service), and that was from Northern Illinois to Wisconsin. Wonder what the cost will be from Hawaii to anywhere else.
Aloha, Carey

[KeithLee]

Not sure if dropping stuff at Goodwill is part of this topic.
We had a few boxes of stuff sitting around for months ear marked for Goodwill.
Given this stuff wasn't all things that had any real value, however in my experience Salvation Army and Goodwill took whatever you brought in assuming it wasn't complete garbage.
So...I took my boxes of stuff to Goodwill in Hilo. When I finally got a worker to pay attention to me they basically started "cherry picking" through the first box. Only 2 or 3 items where "acceptable".
Ok...given these places know what will sell and not, they pay for the trash hauling service on the stuff that is garbage, etc.
After the first box I said forget it I may as well just toss these at the dump. That's what almost happened, however, the dump garage sale actually took the stuff without cherry picking.
My point is that we live in a throw away society. So much stuff that thrift stores don't even want it. Amazing.
Needless to say the next box of "stuff" I get rid of is earmarked for the Keaau "Garage Sale".
Even thought about just giving the stuff to some of the flea market vendors. Someone may as well make a buck on my "junk".

Worthless Movie Quote:
"I'll be takin' these Huggies, and, uh, whatever cash you got." - Raising Arizona

[JerryCarr]

I have encountered the same thing at Goodwill both here and in Atlanta. They wanted to cherry pick my offerings despite the fact that nothing was broken. On another visit they refused to accept a perfectly good set of weights with bench because it was bit dusty. Not caked in mud, mind you, just needed dusting. I didn't want to go to the dump again that day, so I dusted it in front of them. You should have seen the perplexed look on the guys' faces. It never occurred to them to do it themselves. Needless to say, they accepted the weight set.

In the not-too-distant past, Goodwill trained people to fix things. I guess they don't do that anymore because it now costs a lot more to fix a most things than to buy new. It all comes back to the throw-away society we live in.

Aloha,
Jerry

[mella l]

Carrie, the part about the sort deal was that a lot of people were given entry level jobs and learned the responsibilities of employment like being there and on time. Most recycle themselves after proving to themselves that they have what it takes to hold a job and offer themselves up to new employement opportunities. Just a beginning you know. Well Mr. Mella L has a dust and goodwill story too that is so funny hope HE shares it! LOL

You know reycyling has taught me a lot about eating fresh and I do this all I can as it is better for us, more economical using our farmers market, supports and encourages our local markets here. So when and if we are able to relocate I'm sure I'll meet you all down at one farmers market or another and hopefully one day will have some fun products to share. Aloha, Mella

mella l

[Carey]

This is open to the public:

eWaste Recycling
Saturday, October 28, 2006, 9:00am to 3:00pm

@ Behind Theater Parking Lot

Join Apple Computer in helping to remove eWaste from our landfills.

Apple and UH have joined forces to collect and dispose of electronic waste for the education community and the general public. We know recycling works. On October 28, 2006 Apple and UH are Sponsoring a free eWaste recycling event for the public.

Time and Locations for eWaste Recycling
Drop off time on Saturday, October 28 will be from 9:00am - 3:00pm. This public drop off day is designated for individual residents to recycle their eWaste; commercial businesses are ineligible for participation. Event staff will be present at each location to unload items from vehicles. Maps for the six drop off locations may be accessed from the drop down list on the webpage.

http://www.hawaii.edu/ewaste/

This event is being sponsored by Apple and hosted by UH because of their many locations across the state.]
The web site has a list of items that they can and cannot accept. Time to clean out the house!
Aloha, Carey

[Guest]

On the mainland in many locations they have curbside recycling that is paid for by the CITY and/or COUNTY!

Todays Article in the Tribune states:

Although Hawaii County would have to determine some way of paying for an islandwide curbside recycling program, LeMay said the money would likely come from property tax revenue.

Why should property tax revenue be used to implement this program?

We already are paying $.06 per bottle/can that is supposed to be used to curb the trash.

So why should property owners have to absorb this tax?


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[janeadams]

Come on, Damon...

Only place we've ever lived that had free trash disposal is here. It doesn't cost to take stuff to the transfer station unless you're a commercial enterprise. Where we've lived in the past, curb-side recycling was only available in Sunnyvale (Bay Area), as part of the regular city trash service, for which you pay a monthly charge of around $35. You could take your recyclables to the transfer station and get paid for them as with here, so many did that. If you want to by-pass the trash service, you have to pay to take your trash to the transfer station, other than the twice-yearly free weekdends, for which there were long lines.

In the Northwest, we lived out in the boonies, so no trash service. Dump runs cost $$ per pickup load. We took recyclables to a place that paid us for them. Otherwise, you pay to have them disposed of at the dump. In Maui, the trash service fee was $70 per year, and people bitched when it went up to that from $35 -- for up to 6 cans a week. Really cheap.. No curbside -- but the recycle stations were free. That was before HI 5 was passed.

We should not expect to get something for nothing. The revenue the county will make from curbside recycling in larger populated areas will only pay a portion of the cost. The main reason for curb-side recycling is to encourage people to put their recyclable trash to some better purpose, separated from regular trash for easy processing. Additionally, all those states we lived in also had fees per bottle/can.

Nobody is getting rich off the recycling revenues that I'm aware of. It costs $$ to pick up, process, and dispose of trash. BTW, the day curbside recycling happens in our way-out-in-the-woods place, I'll be amazed. Populated areas or larger subdivisions, yes, but with so much area, the transportation costs will be very high. As long as the transfer stations are free and accessible, we have no justification to complain, other than about those who don't avail themselves of the service.

Jane

[Guest]

Janeadams,

I'm not against curbside recycling. What I am against is the State double dipping and charging us twice for things.

According to this file the unredeemed deposits are suppose to pay for the recycling program.

There are many "Property Owners" that don't even live on the land and/or live in there houses. Why should the Owners be stuck with the bill from the recycling that there "Tenants" generated?

Why should we pay $.06 per bottle for a recycling program...and then get charged again in Property Taxes?

I have nothing against recycling, however, the way that the State is Running this program seems very wishy washy.

And as far as the statement that no one is getting rich off of this, well truth be in told, the Recycling Centers are getting very rich off of this.



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[Guest]

quote:

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Originally posted by janeadams

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Nobody is getting rich off the recycling revenues that I'm aware of.....................

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This has been in the back of my head so I had to look a bit further.

Since the recycling program's inception, the state has collected $76.7 million and spent $48 million, Lau said. Of the $28.7 million remaining, $9.4 million is already earmarked, including $3 million awarded in April to seven companies for adding new redemption centers or improving existing ones, he said.

28.7 Million Remaining minus 9.4 million Benchmarked, I see someone has profited 19.3 Million somewhere? [!]

According to a SB Article that ran last year.

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