this post was submitted on 26 Jul 2023

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No Stupid Questions

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In all that is wrong with recycling to begin with, do I even need to put cardboard and paper into recycling; or does it just break down easily in all the garbage? (self.nostupidquestions)

submitted 1 year ago* (last edited 1 year ago) by Tigerfishy to c/nostupidquestions

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Edit to say - I'm really glad I asked my stupid question. I was so jaded by the con artists in recycling I forgot that when done right there's so much good - and still loads of consequences to not finding a place to reuse the paper products. I'm not huge with using packaging - and thanks for all the thoughtful answers :))

I found myself wondering this as I got annoyed at the plastics industry and their stupid propaganda, as I do everytime I go to recycle something. But anyway, I had been thinking I'd heard something about people going to 'mine' landfills for metal because people weren't recycling and it's 'bad for the environment' and 'filling up 'landfills'

Bitch Please. I can see the dollar symbols on your pupils from here.

So it made me think, paper and the such breaks down quickly. Food too. The huge drives for community composting efforts and cardboard drives for schools etc - It's really all a matter of the fact we can re-use it all easily. Metal is worth money, used again and again, as it was straight from the earth. Just that plastic. Which is all but unrecyclable, save some clear/semi-clear containers.

But without the cardboard, my bin is pretty empty. It's like recycling exists just to pretend plastic can be.

Edit - I should add in my area if the recycling the plant receives is tainted in anyway they just toss it. The whole load. So unrecyclable plastic? Dirty? Wrong material? Gone.

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[–] [email protected] 9 points 1 year ago (3 children)

Here's the hierarchy of recycling.

aluminum cans, recycle at pretty much any cost. Recycling aluminum is so much cheaper than smelting new aluminum, companies will happily pay you for aluminum.
corrugated cardboard, recycle if it didn't touch food, it's a bit overly restrictive, but contaminated cardboard causes lots of cardboard to be thrown away. Cardboard is super recyclable and profitable for companies. Ideally cardboard used with food goes to industrial composting.
other paper products that are recyclable, it's generally down cycled, but still a pretty good deal.
glass, only if it's perfectly clean or trivial to clean it. When in doubt toss it. Glass doesn't recycle well because it's more difficult to process into new glass, also color have their own chemicals that don't mix for recycling. Glass is better for a reuse target as recycling is at best breaking even economically.
plastic, put it in the trash. Maybe if you are next to a recycling bin and the plastic is perfectly clean then recycle, but even then trash is probably better. Developed countries waste management systems will keep that plastic out of the water and it won't contaminate other materials.

[–] Tigerfishy 2 points 1 year ago

This is awesome thank you

[–] [email protected] 2 points 1 year ago* (last edited 1 year ago)

There are some countries where you can reclaim a few cents if you return your plastic PET bootles on a specialized container.

On this particular case, since the plastic isn't mixed with other incompatible plastics, the recyclability is actually really good, as good as paper/cardboard.

[–] [email protected] 2 points 1 year ago

sources? I want to read more