Question for people who think recycling SHOULD NOT be mandatory?

Question

what are some reasons why u think recycling shouldnt be mandatory? and if possible tell me if u recycle?

Answer 1

1- This is a democracy, you can't and shouldn't regulate everything.  Leave room for personal accountablity.  If you force people to do something they don't believe in, they resent it and waste other resources out of spite.

2- The government would have to roll out a huge program that would cost a huge amount of money to manage and we know all the red tape that is involved already in all of our 'necessary programs'.

3- You cannot get extreme about anything.  Do your best to not waste and help out where you can, and for goodness sake use some common sense-which doesn't seem to be so common anymore.

Recycler

-Nicole

Answer 2

It is the municipalities who should be responsible for recycling, not the individuals.  We already make the needed action every day.  That is, we take out our trash.  The municipality picks it up and takes it wherever.  All of that precious methane emitting garbage is then just buried.  The democrats have been in office for 18 months yet somehow everything is still Bush's fault according to the media and the idiots that refuse to remember their civics lessons from middle school.  We have yet to see the "secret plan" that Pelosi was talking about.  I am not ranting, I am simply stating that we need real options and true leadership to solve the issue of our energy and pollution problem.  True leadership that we are not going to get from having men who have a vested interest in oil in the white house.  We need an inpartial outsider.  Partisan politics will get us no where.  Get together both liberals and conservatives an make a list of alternatives.  Don't just do a few - do them ALL and let future technology and the free market decide who wins.  

   Back to garbage - rather than the democratic congress idiotically used FOOD (corn) for fuel causing a global food shortage - because animals eat corn in feed. Newsflash:  sweet-grass can make ethanol too.  Unfortunately, Iowa is both a corn and caucus swing  state.  So politics are the reason that you pay more at the grocery store and that tens of thousands of Africans will die this year of famine.

   We should use garbage to make Methanol.  Methanol is cheap to make.  Every refuse dump and sewage plant makes it.  It is clean and actually works as a cleaning agent for the engines that run it. It is cheap to produce.  Some people estimate $1.50 per gallon if done on a large scale.  It can be made any where that has a sewage plant or dump.  Contrary to popular belief it does not smell.  The source it comes from is what smells.  Methanol is methane in liquid form and the liquid form has no scent.  It will not explode in a car wreck like dangerous hydrogen would.  DUH!  Hello!  Ever heard of the hydrogen bomb?  Not to mention that hydrogen must be compressed or it will boil at room temperature.  Let's see.  Hydrogen is used to make rockets take off.  And we need to compress it and send everyone flying at 80mph cutting people off and driving like idiots with a bomb in their tank.  Not a good idea.   It releases very little emissions when burned.  Methanol safe and is eternally renewable because the supply is as perpetual as every citizen flushing their toilet and throwing away banana peels every day.  This stuff is made naturally from our waste.  Now it is just wasted, usually burnt off in chimneys.  Methanol can run in vehicles now because it's almost identical mass to gasoline does not require a vehicles injection system computer to be reprogrammed - where as ethanol does.  Essentially you could use gas until you find an methanol station with no detrimental effect at all.  

   In summation, the most perfect solution would be to burn nothing.  However, that is not an option until we solve some of the problems related to 100% eelectric vehicles.  As the population grows Methanol can actually be over abundant with the supply greatly surpassing the need of our population.  Such surplus would even further lower prices and allow us to provide developing nation who lack the technology to create their own with our surplus.  This could be a form of foreign aide to help poor countries become more mobile and develop.  Some thing that will now never happen with current oil prices.  Because as much as we are suffering at the pump, Americans have it better than any one else in the world at the pump.  Imagine being a poor Bolivian father who has to get his farm goods to the market 50 miles away but has to let his children go without new shoes so he can fill up.  Remember that next time you complain.  And remember that next time you head to the voting polls.

Answer 3

I do recycle just about all that I consume and when it comes to  the materials that we usually recycle, that isn't much. What I try to do is REUSE everything that can be recycled. and I try to do so as much as possible. Really, you only need to alternate between 2 water bottles: 1 to drink out of and the other to be cleaned. Then you can simply refill them and clean them every 2 or 3 days and you'll never need to recycle. If you need to refill them on the go, bring a gallon jug. Re-using is the key to the solution, not just consuming more and then recycling more.

I would prefer it not to be for the possibility of a situation in which the government would have to subsidize the recycling process which will undoubtedly increase too rapidly for the market's current capacity, thus the recycling business would be losing more money by entering a a stage of negative profits called "diseconomies of scale".

What would then happen is capacity would increase thanks to the government incentives (subsidization, although most of the business is controlled by local municipalities already). As production levels expand, the costs of recycling declines and recyclable goods become cheaper thanks to a less expensive process. As they decline in price, people begin to purchase more.

Purchasing more is the environmental problem here. There are many cases, such as bottled water, where recycling the product is almost as harmful as producing it. The main difference is the impact of going out and finding more materials, but this is only marginal. Point is we would be emitting more because of the increase in frequency of recycling.

This is not to say that recycling is bad. It is better to avoid the environmental (and economical) cost of finding and making new bottles, even if the cost is marginal. But the only real solution is to reduce both production and recycling by 1) decreasing consumption of 16 floz. water bottles and 2) reuse and the bottles as frequently as possible while cleaning them whenever necessary. Our goal should be to eliminate production of the bottles and then gradually reduce recycling.

Answer 4

Have you ever read 1984? Do you want Big Brother to get into our recycling bins?

Answer 5

If something is made mandatory, then it is enforced by law.  Imagine people being placed in jail just because they put things in the wrong bin.  Don't we have too many victimless criminals in jail already?  And you want to place MORE in jail?  Shame on you.

I hire a trash company that sorts my trash so I don't have to do it.  They in turn sell the reclaimed trash for a profit.  Capitalism is a great thing for the environment, isn't it?

Answer 6

My daughter did a research paper in college about recycling and found out that the process used to recycle many items actually puts harmful chemicals into the air causing more problems that the garbage itself.  She discovered that the only item worth recycling without hurting the environment is aluminum!  I do not think that people should be forced to recycle....I do; however, think that corporations should be required to minimize packaging materials, use environmentally safe containers, etc.  Let's get rid of the trash at the beginning...not try to remake it at the end!

Answer 7

I ONLY RECYCLE ALUMINUM FOR MONEY AND YOU-ALL RECYCLE OTHER ITEMS AND YOU PAY TO DO THIS AND THE GARBAGE COMPANIES TURN AROUND AND SELL WHAT YOU PAY TO RECYCLE.

Answer 8

i recycle. i don't necessarily think re-cycling itself ought to be mandatory, as there are several issues this raises which are problematic, as already mentioned by your other respondents.

what i think does need to happen is what was suggested in leonardo dicrapio's documentary, the 11th hour. it is the rights of the earth, of what is left of our natural resources, which should somehow be formulated and enshrined in law. i guess that would be fairly complicated as a process but the crisis is so severe, it merits the effort.

we do need to radically change the way we think, before we can change the way we live. i think every architect and designer student should learn new eco-friendly methods (they exist and are viable) at university or college. that would be a step in the right direction (maybe too little too late). still, anything we can do to increase awareness is a good thing.

Answer 9

I do recycle but my family doesn't really. I have to older brothers 18 and 19 and they could care less of what happens to the environment. I really care and it bothers that people like my brothers couldn't care if the earth is going to die. In my opinion people should try just a little bit to help. I'm 13 and that's my way of thinking.=)