okay, I’ve just about had it with having to put my newspapers in PLASTIC BAGS to be recycled. I know people who occasionally don’t take their reusable bags shopping because they need to “stock up” on plastic so they can put their newspapers out. I don’t know, something just doesn’t gel here. There has to be another way. Maybe I’m just jaded from being raised as part of the anti-plastic generation, but I don’t see the point of recycling if it’s just going to be half assed.
—ready to give up the newspaper
This article appears in Sep 17-23, 2009.
The plastic bag is also recyclable. And useful. It is not evil.
there are way too many regulations on sorting recyclables for curb side pickup. more people will opt to the much easier and convenient garbage bag instead.
Plus by using plastic grocery bags to hold the newspapers you are reusing them. I believe reuse is also one of the three r’s.
Don’t forget the first R: Reduce. Why even bother buying newspapers and magazines when you can get the vast majority of them for free and without all that horrible paper online? The Coast, for example.
Like Miles said, plastic bags are not evil. Despite what certain grocery stores would try to make us believe. They’re recyclable and reusable. Besides, what would you have us put our newspapers in that will keep the rain off the paper? If the paper gets wet, they can’t recycle it.
I don’t think there are too many regulations at all, but maybe it’s because I took the time to read them.
I dunno, to do it right you need at least 4 different bags…. Its a lot if you don’t care about the enviroment as much as I do. Most people just throw it all in the garbage.
FYI, even if you do throw everything in the garbage, it is all sorted by people on a big long conveyor belt and recycled / composted accordingly anyway.
I wonder what the computer you’re using is made of… Whatever, I heat my house by burning styrofoam..
Is that true that they sort the garbage? I find that REALLY hard to believe. Don’t they just take it to Otter Lake and dump it in?
I see the OP’s point. A lot of other countries just have you tie up newspaper bundles with string or twine or whatever. I don’t see why we shouldn’t, either.
The bulk of my paper garbage consists of tiny pieces of paper (at least, compared to newspaper size). So considering that, I think plastic bags is an ok solution for now.
Although I guess a paper bag might be an idea…see, now I’m thinking… 😛
The city does employ trash sorters, but they can’t do everything, especially when the garbage comes all crushed. That’s where we come in. What’s one plastic bag that gets recycled anyways?
Most of my paper is small as none of it is newspapers and a lot of it is shredded paper, so not much good loose on the side of the road with a string under the rain. I think it should go in a recyclable plastic bag, for lack of a perfect solution. Possibly a better solution would be a mini plastic blue bin with a closed lid to be put out on the curb?
I hope eventually we go full circle and we just end up throwing all our trash out together without having to separate. Down in Perth Australia (a city with far more politically correct greenies & greenie wannabes than Halifax could ever hope to have) that’s what they do. Apparently there’s some sort of facility that uses seawater to separate everything. If only we weren’t so damn broke…
the plastic bag is to protect from rain.