Timothy wrote:
I can only imagine that the margins on recycling are slim at the best of times?
Things I've read suggest it's a loss with rare exception.
C. Letellier wrote:
The only thing they make money on is typically Aluminum cans.
and John F. wrote:
We ran aluminum cans.
My sister's city has a blue box program. The drink cans there don't have a refund on them. They're the only thing in the box that generates any profit, and garbage pickers come along early in the morning and take all the cans out of the blue boxes.
My province has a user fee on all drink containers and we have recycling centers where you can take them to get most of your money back. It definitely keeps our road verges cleaner! Even if the user doesn't care and tosses their empty, I see seniors out for morning walks carrying a bag and picking up the empties for the cash they can get for them!
John F. wrote:
Electronics recycling is very tricky.
And frequently toxic. It needs to be done right, but when it is, cradle to grave, the rare metals recovered are worth it. The trouble is that most mining operations are subsidized by gov't, so if the recycling efforts aren't similarly subsidized, they can't compete.
I've read in many places that the whole recycling concept is a scam to make people feel better. We don't mind the over-packaging because "it's being recycled", when in fact, most of it, in most places, isn't.
Three key solutions: 1. buy less, particularly less over packaged stuff. (Drink water, not pop! Make your own wine/beer!)
2. encourage the development of genuine upcycling uses for the material.
3. encourage genuinely compostable packaging wherever possible.
