Pssst! Don't tell anyone, but we do the same in the US.

Didn't Penn & Teller do a BullS*#t episode about this?

I've toured the MRF in my town. Recycling is quite real here in Ohio. It is an amazing process.

RocketRod: Didn't Penn & Teller do a BullS*#t episode about this?

Yes.

Recycling is BS, except for aluminum cans.

RocketRod: Didn't Penn & Teller do a BullS*#t episode about this?

They seemed to be on the level until they defended Wal-Mart. Now I'm not sure how trustworthy their criticism of recycling is.

Here is the general rule about recycling. If companies will pay you for it, and they don't require government subsidies, it is worth recycling. Aluminum cans (I sell them for $.45 per pound), Lead wheel weights (I buy them for $.40 per pound for bullet casting), copper, some kinds of steel, etc fall into this category.

Most paper and plastic simply isn't worth recycling both environmentally and economically.

Awe, that makes throwing biohazard material (bloody stuff, etc) into the recycle bin less fulfilling.

Ever since I saw a show on Discovery Science about the extensive recycling that Waste Management (who provide my trash service) do at their facilities via high-tech machinery, I no longer go through the hassle of doing the work for them.

Bill Brasky uses old newspapers as toilet paper and bread bags as condoms.

That's why I always crap in my recycle bins. It saves me on my water bill.

In 2006 I worked for Allied Waste Metro, in Oregon City, Oregon.

First, yes, we go through your shiatty construction waste and household waste and rip metal, paper, and more out, because it's profitable. Whether we were actually subsidized by the local or state government, I can't say.

Second, I found more perfect great stuff and money of all types there than I will ever see again in one place. It was truly a job I enjoyed getting up for.

Robin Hoodie: Bill Brasky uses old newspapers as toilet paper and bread bags as condoms.

I knew a guy in high school who wanted to use aluminum foil as a condom. His girlfriend dumped his sorry ass for trying it. Basically, she was going to take his virginity, they didn't have a condom, so he tried to improvise and wrapped some aluminum foil around his dick. She thought he was joking until he actually wanted tried to get inside of her with it. I hope he's still a virgin, stupidity of that level shouldn't reproduce.

Paper ESPECIALLY is stupid to recycle. 99.99% of paper is made from trees that were planted for the sole purpose of being cut down to make paper. Deforestation happens because of land development, not because the lumber is being used. Saying using paper will kill off trees is the same as saying eating potatoes will kill off all the potato plants in the world (that line was from the P&T:BS episode. It's my favorite)

We need to stop treating trees like some sort of sacred resource that will never come back. They're a crop just like any other plant we use. Not to mention that recycling paper creates way more pollution and uses more resources than making new paper.

I agree the old growth forests should be preserved, and for hte most part they are, simply because the forests in our national parks, and in most of the country, aren't owned by lumber companies, so any deforestation in those areas is not due to lumber/paper.

As for plastic, yes it is more expensive to recycle plastic than to make new plastic. But I still say we should recycle it since it doesn't biodegrade and uses oil to make, which is pretty scarce, so there is a reasonable resource conservation side to it. So for me, plastic and metals go into the recycling, paper is always thrown away

The "Bullshiat" episode was based on outdated information.

In some areas one item in every eight put out for recycling ends up being sent for landfill or incinerated.

Oh noes! Only 87.5% of the recycling stuff ends up being recycled! Recycling is a sham!

Until we're allowed to napalm the landfills and send all that waste up in smoke (new window), or dump landfill garbage to be melted in volcanoes and hot lava (new window), this is pretty much what we've got. So enjoy.

King Something: RocketRod: Didn't Penn & Teller do a BullS*#t episode about this?

Yes.

Recycling is BS, except for aluminum cans.

this!

I came in here to say the exact same thing. All recycling produces more pollution in the end, except for the recycling of aluminum cans. It seems that the mallibility of aluminum has something to do with it, I am sure. Everything else requires more energy to recycle. We save on the materials, yes, but we lose for the "greenhouse gas battle"

/David Suzuki can choke on one.

I think we should all crap in the_chief's recycle bins. Then he can save even more on his water bill.

the_chief: That's why I always crap in my recycle bins. It saves me on my water bill.

LOLCOMPOST

RTFA. For one, it's about England, not the U.S. And what's it's saying, in a bassackwards way, is that seven-eighths of everything put out on the curb there gets recycled. The only exceptions are things that people don't clean properly, making it not cost-effective to recycle them.

Subby's snarky take on the article, which he apparently did not read, is that it all gets landfilled.

metal and glass are clearly worth more than paper and plastic in the Bay Area... because homeless people come around and sort those out of your trash before the recycling trucks come.

I'm not surprised. Most of the good stuff in my recycling bin gets stolen by the homeless hippies hours before the city truck shows up.

Twigz221: Paper ESPECIALLY is stupid to recycle be made out of trees instead of industrial hemp, a much cheaper and more quickly grown resource.
FIFY

My first simulpost!

Remember, either recycling is a total panacea that will even blow you in the middle of the night with its girlfriends, or its a sharp-kneed whiny biatch that will try to get knocked up just to tie you down for the rest of your life. There is NO in-between.

dangelder: In 2006 I worked for Allied Waste Metro, in Oregon City, Oregon.

First, yes, we go through your shiatty construction waste and household waste and rip metal, paper, and more out, because it's profitable. Whether we were actually subsidized by the local or state government, I can't say.

Second, I found more perfect great stuff and money of all types there than I will ever see again in one place. It was truly a job I enjoyed getting up for.

That was in Oregon City. Try Los Angeles or Denver. Or New Orleans. I'm sure they're tired as hell from having to pick through things, fill the landfill anyway, and make citizens garbage cops, and fine them when they don't play along.

Waste Management is a huge racket. Just ask Naples, Italy.

SomeoneDumb: Most of the good stuff in my recycling bin gets stolen by the homeless hippies hours before the city truck shows up

Well obviously that's one more reason why you should just crap in it. I've heard it saves on your water bill, too.

RocketRod: Didn't Penn & Teller do a BullS*#t episode about this?

Love that show and came here to post exactly that.

Great episode.

/puts on recycled tinfoil hat

Crosshair: Here is the general rule about recycling. If companies will pay you for it, and they don't require government subsidies, it is worth recycling. Aluminum cans (I sell them for $.45 per pound), Lead wheel weights (I buy them for $.40 per pound for bullet casting), copper, some kinds of steel, etc fall into this category.

Most paper and plastic simply isn't worth recycling both environmentally and economically.

What a load of crap.

Seriously, some people just don't get it.

Neighbor_John: The only exceptions are things that people don't clean properly crap on, making it not cost-effective to recycle them

FTFY

pet peeve

Somacandra:
Well obviously that's one more reason why you should just crap in it. I've heard it saves on your water bill, too.

Saves on those mounting BB costs, too!

FTA: Shadow Local Government Secretary Eric Pickles

Oh noes!

RocketRod: Didn't Penn & Teller do a BullS*#t episode about this?

Yep. The only episodes that equaled the recycling ones, were the PETA & bottled water episodes.

That being said, SaniPac (local garbage service) provides their customers with a huge blue plastic roll can (wheelie bin for you Brits) & all recycling goes into the one can. Gone are the days of removing labels, flattening cans, etc. They believe that simplifing recycling will induce more people to do so. Instead, other tenants in the apartment building where I live dump garbage not only in the dumpster, but in the recycling can.

Every time I put a homeless person in my recycling bin, they just end up dumping them into a landfill.

Crosshair:
Most paper and plastic simply isn't worth recycling both environmentally and economically.


What do you mean it isn't worth recycling environmentally? That makes no sense. So there is an environmental downside to recycling?

Economically.. I could see that. But the whole point isn't to make money off recycling it's to save our resources.

Bathia_Mapes 2008-03-02 02:28:46 AM

Instead, other tenants in the apartment building where I live dump garbage not only in the dumpster, but in the recycling can.


There are some farking retards in our condo complex that do the same thing. Farking douchebag motherfarkers.....when they do that, our garbage/recycling fees go up, and our condo dues go up as well.

/My dues are now $200 per month.

Or it all gets stacked neatly along the river and then the floods come and carry it all out to sea.

I don't recycle.
My neighbor uses the separate recycling bin for plastic and glass.
The dumptruck then comes and dumps it all in the same place.
This amuses me.

The_Sponge: Bathia_Mapes 2008-03-02 02:28:46 AM

Instead, other tenants in the apartment building where I live dump garbage not only in the dumpster, but in the recycling can.


There are some farking retards in our condo complex that do the same thing. Farking douchebag motherfarkers.....when they do that, our garbage/recycling fees go up, and our condo dues go up as well.

/My dues are now $200 per month.

That farking sucks. We don't pay for garbage or water, but it's still annoying to know that some people are too lazy to take a few extra steps over to the dumpster (which is about 3 feet from the recycling bins) & put their garbage where it belongs.

N. S. Radieaux: RocketRod: Didn't Penn & Teller do a BullS*#t episode about this?

They seemed to be on the level until they defended Wal-Mart. Now I'm not sure how trustworthy their criticism of recycling is.

Translation:

They disagreed with me on one issue, called me on some of the bullshiat I took into my head without evaluating very critically, and now I'm upset at them.

Wal-Mart is just like any other retail company. Cheap, profitable, and selfish. Your little local store would be identical to Wal-Mart if they could do so.

It's working for them so they feel no pressure to alter their behavior. It doesn't make any of the leadership of Wal-Mart EVIL, it makes them normal, mediocre little small-hearted bastards just like the rest of us. Altruism is not normal because it's not profitable, and your granny wants a 12 percent return in her 401(k) so she can retire.

SCREW you all for making me google the penn and teller episode myself.
HERE IT IS (new window). Enjoy

mypalmike: Oh noes! Only 87.5% of the recycling stuff ends up being recycled! Recycling is a sham!

Show me how recycling has caused less deforestation and i'll agree it's not a scam. Basically just sorting things for them so they save money on raw goods, they're still cutting down more and more trees each year, recycling has had no effect at all on the world, didn't even slow the harvesting of raw materials.

/but it makes people feel good
//and that's what counts
///not really

i used to recycle until i watched the sanitation engineer throw the bin in with the rest of the trash one morning. now i just make sure to throw all the empty beer cans in a clear plastic garbage bag so the local entrepreneurs can find them easily.

Recycling is like speed limits. It's just used to fine people and add to a communties revenue.

Generally speaking, unless you yourself take your stuff in to the recycler, or unless your community has its own recycling trucks that pick up your designated recycling bins, there's no real guarantee the stuff you put out in your recycling cannisters makes it to the recyclers.

And anyway, the problem of garbage in the landfills isn't so much the plastic bottles, aluminum cans and newspapers. It's the furniture, computers, clothing, glassware, nonrecylable plastics and all the other crap that can't be recycled anyway.

N. S. Radieaux: RocketRod: Didn't Penn & Teller do a BullS*#t episode about this?

They seemed to be on the level until they defended Wal-Mart. Now I'm not sure how trustworthy their criticism of recycling is.

Our city paid for a farking "stop Walmart" lawyer, and pissed away hundreds of thousands of dollars because the nearest one was an hour away.
It's not "defending Walmart" so much as attacking the farking "OMG itz teh ebil OMG" douchebags.

/Which frankly appears to be you

King Something
Recycling is BS, except for aluminum cans.

Double and triple THIS

It costs more using fossil fuel and man-hours to recycle (except for Aluminum) than to just throw it out.

N. S. Radieaux: RocketRod: Didn't Penn & Teller do a BullS*#t episode about this?

They seemed to be on the level until they defended Wal-Mart. Now I'm not sure how trustworthy their criticism of recycling is.

Watch the episode. They make clear that they're opposing the irrational hatred of all things Wal-Mart, not saying that Wal-Mart never does anything bad.

Churchill2004: N. S. Radieaux: RocketRod: Didn't Penn & Teller do a BullS*#t episode about this?

They seemed to be on the level until they defended Wal-Mart. Now I'm not sure how trustworthy their criticism of recycling is.

Watch the episode. They make clear that they're opposing the irrational hatred of all things Wal-Mart, not saying that Wal-Mart never does anything bad.

You're going to have to put a couple more "Fark capitalism" and "Death to the American Empire"s in there before he'll read it.