Do cities only recycle too save room in the landfills?

Question

They require the ctity residents, that do not pay for trash pickup to recycle so they have more room in the landfill for the people that do pay. The plackers on the city trash trucks read RECYCLE OR ELSE it should read recycle or the city looses money! The privatly owened recycling center closed because the city would not provide them with any trash.

Answer 1

cities recycle  to save volume and weight of garbage they shift to landfills, because landfills tend to fill up, and new landfills are farther away and more expensive to transport to, so by saving volume and reducing the amount of materials that do not decompose quickly they maintain landfills open for a long time.

most cities also recycle water, instead of dumping it.

Answer 2

its all down to money.

the more a city/town recycles the more money the government gives them.

which means the more they recycle the bigger the cash incentive is for the local councillors i.e a bigger end of year bonus in their pocket and more cash to blow on diggin up the road for no reason at all and building more offices that are not needed.

Answer 3

To help prevent the earth from becoming a methane gas bomb and poisoning the atmosphere, killing the human race off. Recycle centers still exist and must be thriving because they are still around.

Answer 4

They recyle to keep things out of landfill, Duh, they also recyle because the earths natural resources are runing out.  That city the first response talked of, is very real    I'm from a town called Wakefield in the UK   we have 5 different bins (boxes) that we hve to put outside for recycleing (one for jars/plastic bottles/tin one for garden waste one for paper one for household) a wagon comes round every 1-2 weeks to empty these

Answer 5

My city in South Carolina recycles from a "rescue" point of view. Why "trash" if it can saved, recycled, or reused? Our area has a fragile environment and we are trying to maintain that delicate balance between nature and man. We do have several recycling centers throughout the county for common items such as glass, bottles, newspapers and the like. Many of our residents here and the surrounding areas go a step further and are very active in Freecycle, a networking grassroots organization. I personally, take great pride in knowing that I have had a significant impact in keeping tons of reusable "trash" out of our landfill, simply by virtue of rescue. Visit the source I provided and put in your city and state to see if there is a Freecycle in your area of the country.

Answer 6

Actually no.  They do it to be politically correct.  I know a City where they put out all the recycling barrels so citizens can sort out glass plastic ect.  They send out recycling trucks to pick it up.  Then haul of it to the landfill.  It's generally not cost effective to recycle paper plastic and glass.  And its too much of a political problem to admit that.

If they were a private company doing the same thing it would be called fraud.

Answer 7

They recycle to make money from waste.  This means they do so through the most profitable route rather than the most ecologically sound route.  For instance, our local authority doesn't accept cardboard, aluminium foil or plastic, but almost all of our waste is cardboard or plastic.  I know these can be recycled because i used to work for an environmental charity which recycled all of these.

What they should do is charge for recycling, charge more for non-recyclable rubbish disposal, thereby discouraging people from producing waste in the first place.  Once something needs to be recycled, it's too late anyway.

Answer 8

3 main reasons it makes sense to recycle:

1) Saves money on fees the landfill charges by the ton for all trash delivered.  Why not sell the "trash" to recyclers instead of paying to dump it ?

2)Most recyclable products are not biodegradable or take many years to break down, thus they would clog and fill-up the landfill forceing it to close eventually.  By diverting more of the waste stream to recycling, you extend the life and usefullness of landfills.

3) It is certainly more effecient, environmentaly helpful and politically correct to recycle.  Aluminum, paper, cardboard, and many plastics can be effectively reused again and again reducing the new manufactured products impact on the environment and preserving limited natural resources.

Answer 9

Sounds true, LOL. But I want my trash service so let the other slobs do the work.

Answer 10

I am not sure why. maybe for politics, as paper and glass are not cost effective to recycle YET. aluminum, and metals, yea.

but the more they can divert, the more time they have with a landfill. a landfill farther away costs more to dump into.

Answer 11

yes they do only recycle to save room in owe landfills