Recycling project

[Ricky Moore]

I wish there was a project that would show what would happen if EVERYONE recycled and another where NOONE recycle to how that would change our way of life.
I work at a trash site where people bring in trash and we have a 40 yard container where you but thing to recycle. Part of my job is to try and get folks to recycle and you would not believe the reasons people use for not recycling!

[Mumps]

Here in Milwaukee recycling is mandatory. But not enforced. And, as of the recent budget crunch, no longer even funded by the government.

Still, every house has a city provided garbage can, and an equal sized can for "co-mingled recyclables." Although, trash is collected weekly and recyclables only every 3 weeks. Still, I do everything I can to "do the right thing" and encourage others as well.

I used to drive by one of our larger local landfills on the way to work most mornings. Didn't take it too long for the pile to get high enough that the huge earth-movers grading the surface looked like match-box cars way up top there. :) Talk was that mound would be converted into a Ski-hill/Rec area once the methane was bled off sufficiently.

EDIT: Additionally, anything that contains "electronic components" can't go in the trash which ends up in the landfill. It must be sent to a recycling location. So that old non-functional DVD Player has to be taken to a special drop off point. As does that battery powered stapler. ;)

[Ricky Moore]

As of July 1st North Carolina has banned TV's and Computer items from the landfill. However, the county I work in has not made anyplace for people to take them. Therefore if they can people put the items in a black bag so we can't seem them and dump them into the household trash. Other ewaste like VCR's and things still go into the trash.

[Crazybob]

Although I recycle everything I can, I also burn whatever paper and cardboard during the winter in my fireplace for additional heat, so I'm not as environmentally freindly as I could be. I do only throw out 1 small waste container bag worth of garbage a week. The rest is all in the recycle bin, which is one of those large square deals. There are a few places around me that will take electronic parts including where I work they have a gaylord that they dump electronics in and that's where I scavange parts from:)

[DrPop]

I wish there was a project that would show what would happen if EVERYONE recycled and another where NOONE recycle to how that would change our way of life.I work at a trash site where people bring in trash and we have a 40 yard container where you but thing to recycle. Part of my job is to try and get folks to recycle and you would not believe the reasons people use for not recycling! Hmmm...you mean a BOINC project about this? Do they have simple data models following how much% is currently recycled and/or what the savings in landfill tonnage has been over a 5 or 10 year span? I would think it would just be simple math extrapolation from there, and you could see the difference for every % increase and how it would positively affect the environment. Good idea, I like it. Not sure if it would take long enough to calculate, to have a big project on it, though?

[Ricky Moore]

I would think the program would have to take into account the number of people on Earth. The % of people old enough to take part and things like that. It would also have to figure on the % of deaths.
The program may even run 2 Earths where on one everybody recycles and on the other no one recycles (they just put everything in the landfill). This would give an idea on what effects recycling would or would not have on the Earth.