Do you recycle?

[WotAnAtti2d]

The other day it was gorgeous out... almost 80 degrees. I call these Spring days, "teaser days". It felt so good, it drove me to clean out my garage. I had a lot of big cardboard boxes, junk mail flyers, and plastic bottles. It's pretty much me transferring from my car to the garage, then filing it under, "forget it". I cut up all of the boxes, except for the largest one, and put the cardboard pieces and paper into it. I rinsed out the plastic bottles and put them in a clear bag, per our recycling rules. On the large box, one side was white, I put in black Sharpie in large letters,"Recycle! Paper and cardboard!" Then I lugged everything to the curb. The whole endeavor took at least an hour, if not more.

That night, I hear the garbage truck come on its first route. It's supposed to pick up recyclables first, then garbage/trash, so one doesn't contaminate the other. Our dumbass city stopped recycling glass... probably no money in it, I assume. I hear the glass being thrown in the truck, I go to the window, and I see them throwing everything into the truck! I wanted to go out and beat that kid's ass! I used to work for our city's refuse department as a temporary job while I was going to school. It's hard work and not for the lazy, but now it appears that it is... argh.

April 22 is Earth Day. This planet is the only one we have and it does not have infinite resources.

[Payshince]

I would contact the City and try to get in touch with a superior and file a complaint for some CLOWN not following proper rules.

Thats not cool. Especially for your sake of spending valuable time trying to do the Right thing, and for many others who take the time to properly recycle.

That fool should be written up for being a negligent turd. Lol

[mivanqua]

Silly Wot! Earth Day is for weed smokin' hippie types who need an excuse to go see Ratdog and Dave Matthews in the park and pick up some patchouli drenched dreadlock havin' wench for the night! Don't you knooooow? Just kidding. Just wanted to say hi and I hope you're well, my friend. I perchanced to notice this post and had to reply. I still have some of that Baik bali you sent me (holy cow!) which will probably last until the last bomb goes off, at which point I can justify using that leaf of the Gods.

[WotAnAtti2d]

Well, Earth Day is kind of a big deal for me, not only because I'm a tree hugger, but it's my bday too! Yeah, that Baik Bali is some good stuff. My state is now taking its turn at making kratom Schedule I. There's no way I'm throwing out that Baik. I'm already thinking up "alternate storage", lol.

I hope you're doing well in your neck of the woods, too! Have a happy Easter!

[mivanqua]

Well happy birthday one day early!
If they decide to make kratom schedule I in my state, I'm not throwing away SHIT! I'll just cut down and dose in the morning before I leave for work and at night when I get home. Cutting down can't be bad and as far as it being illegal because its dangerous in any way, I'm going to have to beg to differ and will fight TOOTH AND NAIL to stop it. Ive already told my boss. If they start talking that shit, I'm going to be missing some days because it will be MY turn to be "that guy" trying to speak for all of the people who are afraid to do so for whatever reason. I'm not letting them do that without at least hearing what I have to say. It saved my life and sobriety on more occasions than I can count and that should be taken into account. And happy Easter to you as well. Jesus rises from his tomb and the next day Wot is born...(at least this year and every seven (?) years since and after this one (if I did that math right...) Everything out my way has calmed down substantially, which is good.

You're a tree hugger? NO WAY! good luck finding your wench at the Phish show, my friend!
Also, I'm a bit of a tree hugger myself so PLEASE don't take offense. I'm just kidding around. Sometimes sarcasm is hard to detect in this type of setting but trust me. Just joking.

[Thekid1420]

Depends where u are but some places have a "single stream" system where it all gets sorted out anyway. Supposedly in the long run that is more cost effective for the trash company. But I've heard many contradicting things about recycling so I'm not sure. I've even heard that since China stopped taking our recyclables a couple years ago that most of the stuff we think gets recycled is just getting dumped into a landfill.

[Pete2000]

I've even heard that since China stopped taking our recyclables a couple years ago that most of the stuff we think gets recycled is just getting dumped into a landfill.

I really hope that's not the case. Been dutifully separating recyclables, rinsing bottles and jars, and placing them in the big recycle bin for years.

And Happy Birthday Wot!!! Hope you have a great day!!!

[beathappening]

I recycle plastics and glass. I rarely have metals/cans so if it's just one I'll toss it in a normal bag. I use reused Walmart bags for trash and only use one per week, so there's not much to recycle in the first place. I don't have recycle bins of my own (if I did maybe I'd be more meticulous,) they're on the first floor of my building and I'm on the 4th so I have to walk down all my recycling, it's a little inconvenient.

[herbalhippie]

Happy Birthday, Wot

[e_poison]

The current estimates are something like 12 years from now permanent damage will be done if we don't change our ways. Look at pictures of Antarctica from the early 1900s compared to today. The difference is absolutely insane and I cannot believe people still deny climate change.

The Earth over time will go through much worse than what we are doing to it though. If you want an existential crisis - https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Timeline_ ... far_future

It's hard to believe that someday in the distant future our planet will be nothing more than a dead ice rock floating in the cosmos. Our sun has limited fuel and will burn out someday. Considering this is still a few billion years off (a long time to us, but merely a blink of an eye in cosmic terms), humans will either have wiped themselves out by then or have colonized other planets.

[WotAnAtti2d]

Thanks for all of the well wishes!

Yeah e_, I think you mean instead of colonizing other planets, you mean beginning to wreck other planets, right?

I just don't think there's enough humans on this planet that care enough to do anything about the damage that we've already wreaked upon it. Just driving up my street on garbage night is disappointing enough. I swear I'm the only one that recycles for a good mile of bags. Hell, some people in my own complex are too lazy to even go out to the curb! They throw the bags from their porch, and if they don't land near the curb, they just leave it there and let the refuse department get it.

My city had a "recycling initiative" one year. They took a percentage of the funds that they made from recycling and bought kids' playground equipment that was made from recycled plastic, then they would build parks around the city. Win/win you would think, right? Well, they built three playgrounds in a row, in the lower city. People from the upper neighborhoods bitched because historically, people that live in the lower city just don't recycle/care. However, almost everyone recycles in the upper city. But now, you want to take away their free stuff, heads will roll. It was a big mess. The city built a nice playground in the upper city, then killed the project. The people from the lower city bitched because they thought that fourth one should have been theirs, too. People screw up everything.

[e_poison]

Yeah e_, I think you mean instead of colonizing other planets, you mean beginning to wreck other planets, right?

After destroying our home planet, I would hope we would learn our lessons for any future worlds. But, you never know.

It’s crazy to think that if humanity is still around literal billions of years from now, Earth will most likely be nothing more than a long forgotten cautionary tale in the footnote of a history book.

[Cj3]

I literally only recycle when my garbage can is too full. The gain from recycling after you figure in the trucks and machinery required to process it is nil. Also, where I live, it recently came out that all of the recycling stuff was just getting dumped in the land full anyway.