Recyclable paper sorting things, or plans for them?
Dan Birchall
including several varieties of paper products... which they tend to want
sorted out:
- Brown paper bags
- Corrugated cardboard
- Magazines/Catalogs/Glossy Paper
- White Office Paper
- Mixed office paper (white, pastel, fax, manila)
- Newsprint
I think I'm out of luck as far as non-corrugated cardboard (cereal boxes, etc)
is concerned.
Anyway, I'm wondering whether anyone knows of sorting thing with 6 (slots,
trays, whatever you want to think of them as) for different kinds of paper;
something that can sit at home for sorting, then be tossed in the car and
taken to the recycling dropoff. It'd be a plus if the 6 paper-holding spaces
are detachable, since one might fill up sooner than the others. Plans for
building one would be fine, too.
--
Dan Birchall, Hilo HI - http://dan.birchalls.net/ - images, words, technology
Tracey
them. However, we can only include: corrugated cardboard, newspaper, metal
cans, glass cans/bottles and plastic #1 and #2.
If I needed to separate all the different categories of paper that you need
to sort, I'd most likely use a big box containing brown paper bags with each
sort of thing in its own separate brown paper bag. When full, grab the bag
and go.
"Dan Birchall" <nob...@imaginary-host.birchalls.net> wrote in message
news:slrncbi72v...@malasada.lava.net...
Frogleg
nob...@imaginary-host.birchalls.net (Dan Birchall) wrote:
>There are recycling drop-offs near me for a bunch of different things,
>including several varieties of paper products... which they tend to want
>sorted out:
>
>- Brown paper bags
>- Corrugated cardboard
>- Magazines/Catalogs/Glossy Paper
>- White Office Paper
>- Mixed office paper (white, pastel, fax, manila)
>- Newsprint
Maybe you can hold off buying or making special storage 'til your area
catches up with recycling practices. Like Tracey, my city picks up(!)
bins of all the recyclables she mentions. The city also has periodic
Tours de Trash so you see where everything goes.
Shawn Hearn
nob...@imaginary-host.birchalls.net (Dan Birchall) wrote:
Check with the recycling service. They probably get this question all the
tiem. Than again, if it were me, I would just set aside a paper grocery
bag for each type of paper. When the paper bags get full, you know its
time to drop them off at the recycling center.
The Real Bev
I'm amazed that people put up with that, especially since they're paying
the recycling company to haul the stuff away. We have one big bin for
all metal, glass, paper and plastic. If I had to sort it out by type,
it would all go into the trash instead of the recycling bin.
Dan, have you ever figured out if there was a net energy saving or loss
because you (and everybody else) have to drop the stuff off at the
center? Gotta be close...
--
Cheers,
Bev
*********************************************
Not all cultures are equal. If they were, we
would have a lot more cannibal restaurants.
Dan Birchall
> Frogleg wrote:
> > Maybe you can hold off buying or making special storage 'til your area
> > catches up with recycling practices. Like Tracey, my city picks up(!)
> > bins of all the recyclables she mentions. The city also has periodic
> > Tours de Trash so you see where everything goes.
>
> I'm amazed that people put up with that, especially since they're paying
> the recycling company to haul the stuff away. We have one big bin for
> all metal, glass, paper and plastic. If I had to sort it out by type,
> it would all go into the trash instead of the recycling bin.
My area isn't going to "catch up" I think... it's not a big city, and the
tax base wouldn't support adding a recycling service. That said, the
trials they've done of recycling-reuse centers have exceeded expectations,
so those are going to become more common.
(The -reuse part is very important; basically, we can take stuff we no
longer need that's still good there, and other people who need it can get
it - free, I think. MCF-L might approve. :)
> Dan, have you ever figured out if there was a net energy saving or loss
> because you (and everybody else) have to drop the stuff off at the
> center? Gotta be close...
It really depends, Bev - how far out of the way is it? In my case, the
recycling-reuse center is right on the way to my daughter's school, so
that's very convenient; I can stop there after dropping her off in the
morning, or on the way to pick her up in the afternoon, and it only "costs"
me a few hundred feet of additional driving and a few minutes of time.
Now, if the center were somewhere else entirely, somewhere I didn't go on
any kind of regular basis, it might be more inconvenient.
I've actually been pondering the cost-benefit comparison between recycling
paper and composting it, though.
-Dan
Pete C
nob...@imaginary-host.birchalls.net (Dan Birchall) wrote:
Hi,
How about 3 boxes, and just put 2 items in to each box but on opposite
sides of each box.
I just stuff everything in one bag but keep similar stuff together.
cheers,
Pete.
The Real Bev
>
> bas...@myrealbox.com (The Real Bev) wrote:
> > Frogleg wrote:
> > > Maybe you can hold off buying or making special storage 'til your area
> > > catches up with recycling practices. Like Tracey, my city picks up(!)
> > > bins of all the recyclables she mentions. The city also has periodic
> > > Tours de Trash so you see where everything goes.
> >
> > I'm amazed that people put up with that, especially since they're paying
> > the recycling company to haul the stuff away. We have one big bin for
> > all metal, glass, paper and plastic. If I had to sort it out by type,
> > it would all go into the trash instead of the recycling bin.
>
> My area isn't going to "catch up" I think... it's not a big city, and the
> tax base wouldn't support adding a recycling service. That said, the
> trials they've done of recycling-reuse centers have exceeded expectations,
> so those are going to become more common.
I'm glad to hear that. We see pictures in the newspaper every once in a
while of gloved/robed/masked sorters dealing with a conveyor belt full
of stuff. I often suspect that these people are just pulling out the
aluminum cans and consigning the rest of the stuff to trucks that leave
in the dead of night for parts unknown. Moi? Cynical?
> (The -reuse part is very important; basically, we can take stuff we no
> longer need that's still good there, and other people who need it can get
> it - free, I think. MCF-L might approve. :)
An excellent idea, sort of like the old
put-the-good-stuff-next-to-the-road dumping convention which still (I
hope) exists in Ridgecrest, Calif.
> > Dan, have you ever figured out if there was a net energy saving or loss
> > because you (and everybody else) have to drop the stuff off at the
> > center? Gotta be close...
>
> It really depends, Bev - how far out of the way is it? In my case, the
> recycling-reuse center is right on the way to my daughter's school, so
> that's very convenient; I can stop there after dropping her off in the
> morning, or on the way to pick her up in the afternoon, and it only "costs"
> me a few hundred feet of additional driving and a few minutes of time.
>
> Now, if the center were somewhere else entirely, somewhere I didn't go on
> any kind of regular basis, it might be more inconvenient.
The closest general recycling center is maybe 8 miles away and I can't
remember the last time I drove there. They pay more for aluminum cans
than the little kiosk behind the supermarket, and I have a
short-bed-pickup-full of squashed cans to recycle, but I just haven't
gotten around to it. Maybe if I wait long enough they'll increase the
price again. So far my stash has doubled in value...
> I've actually been pondering the cost-benefit comparison between recycling
> paper and composting it, though.
Are there any actual paper-recycling facilities in HI or do they have to
ship it to the mainland?
--
Cheers,
Bev
===============================================
Last night I played a blank tape at full blast.
The mime next door went nuts!
Frogleg
nob...@imaginary-host.birchalls.net (Dan Birchall) wrote:
>My area isn't going to "catch up" I think... it's not a big city, and the
>tax base wouldn't support adding a recycling service. That said, the
>trials they've done of recycling-reuse centers have exceeded expectations,
>so those are going to become more common.
>
>(The -reuse part is very important; basically, we can take stuff we no
>longer need that's still good there, and other people who need it can get
>it - free, I think.
Our free-cycling consists of putting bulk items at the curb for pickup
by the Big Truck with a Claw. There *are* free-cycling sites on the
web. I believe Yahoo groups maintain a collection of them.
Good to hear voluntary recycling is doing well in your community.
Waste is awfully anti-frugal.
mike
>
> I'm glad to hear that. We see pictures in the newspaper every once in a
> while of gloved/robed/masked sorters dealing with a conveyor belt full
> of stuff. I often suspect that these people are just pulling out the
> aluminum cans and consigning the rest of the stuff to trucks that leave
> in the dead of night for parts unknown. Moi? Cynical?
since they raised the CRV, ive noticed a lot more people at the recycling
center, and theyre bringing in more "PETE" plastics (water bottles, soda
bottles, etc).
The Real Bev
And the neighbors complain about the number of ill-smelling homeless
guys with bottles in paper bags hanging around the recycling centers.
Nobody is ever happy.
--
Cheers, Bev
==================================================================
"Don't sweat it -- it's not real life. It's only ones and zeroes."
-- spaf (1988?)