Americans are slowly beginning to take more responsibility for the impact we have been un-wittingly making upon the world around us. Recycling our paper, plastic, and aluminum waste is a good start, but is only a start. Our recycling system is in dire need of some drastic improvements. National councils and regulations need to be formed to develop a more effective system for widespread recycling and waste reduction that can be enacted in every state.
In some green-minded American cities like Ashland, Oregon, recycling is as simple as taking out the trash! Actually, the recycling is placed into separate bins located near the trash, and is collected by a specially compartmented truck and hauled to mass recycling facilities.
Our society is evolving, and fast! Technology is also evolving, changing quickly with the needs of society, and that translates to a ton of obsolete electronic garbage! The time requires an adaptation of thinking to meet the demands of our quality of living. E-cycling can be a valuable resource for recovering precious metals used in outdated electronics. Also many electronics, especially TV’s and computers, contain toxic materials that must be kept out of our landfills.
I want to know what it takes to recycle/e-cycle in your area? Please comment, e-mail, and let me know!
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Carson City, Nevada residents are provided three plastic bins by Waste Management to recycle their aluminum, newspapers, and glass. The bins are placed on the curb weekly and collected on the resident’s scheduled pick-up day. While there are a lot of folks that participate in this service there are also a lot of folks that do not and tons of recycleables end up in the landfill. Perhaps if people were charged by the pound to pick up their trash more people would choose to recycle.
Our city practices basic recycling — aluminum, paper, plastic. I was pretty shocked when I went to Japan, however, over how comprehensive their recycling system is. It made quite an impact on me and now I make sure to sort my recycling and everything in our household that CAN be recycled GETS recycled, even if it means I have to go through our trash tomake sure! Great article.
[...] article is inspired by a recent comment made by Shiira on “recycling made easy”, stating that her experiences in Japan have had a major impact on the way she thinks about [...]