Why do I get the feeling more people discourage recycling than encourage it?

Question

And why this negative attitude amongst the nay sayers of recycling?

Answer 1

Depends which aspect of recycling you are referring to . I will often go round to the council collection area and see what other people put out onto their verges for collection. Few years ago , if I tell my older members of middle class family , they will frown on me ....collecting someone elses rubbish to use ? It would sound low class to them. If you are referring to using recycle bins ,ie, those that throw out the rubbish , then it's a matter of education and getting use to the idea that this is the way to go .

Answer 2

I am 'Mrs Green' when it comes to recycling and have encouraged many friends to be the same, but having just returned from Dubai, where they are single-handedly warming up about 3 universes, somtimes I have to wonder what its all about, not to mention new runways at Heathrow that will service another 900 planes a day.

Answer 3

A lot of time it just comes down to rebellion. HAH! most states regulate recycling and people think it is dumb to recycle. They are being MADE to do it and as such it's just another non-freedom that they can stand against. It's time consuming and they don't want to take time out and the biggest issue is lack of educations about recycling and the law governing recycling. The public doesn't see the + to it. As sad as it is it starts in school. In NJ 80% of the schools were NOT recycling or doing very little recycling. (76% don't recycle even paper!!!) Even many colleges don't even encourage recycling. They don't allott budget money for it and they don't encourage it. Then they make the excuse that no one will recycle so why waste the money on containers.  If the older generation doesn't agree and doesn't push it, then the younger generation only can learn so much through demonstration and can only do so much given the resources. It seem that the older generations don't see the point and the younger generations are making a stand now. I'm sure in the next 10 years things will turn around. We just have to be that person to encourage it.

~We must be the Change we wish to see in the World~

    Ghandi

Answer 4

We live in a throw away society.  If something breaks, it is cheaper to go buy another one than get it fixed.  Why spend $150 to fix a television when you can buy a new one for $200?  We have been very blessed to live in a country where "possessions" are easily accessible.  I know that there are many people who don't have the disposable income to splurge on things, but there are a lot of people who do.  

We use to have to dispose of our trash by burning it in big barrels behind the garage/barn.  Now, you just toss it in a bin and someone comes  and takes it away.  You don't have to worry about where it goes from there, how long it takes to decompose (if it does), how full the landfills are, is there enough room , how much garbage anyone else contributes to the landfills, etc.  It has become so easy to be a throw away society.

Our town is mandated by the state to recycle a certain % of our garbage by a certain time or we will face stiff fines.  We recently got a blue recycle bin to put all our recyclable materials in.  It is so much easier now to recycle!  My "trash" bin is hardly ever full because my recyclable materials all go into a separate container.  We have a green waste can that our lawn clippings and tree trimmings go into.  (We actually have 2 green waste cans)  It was expensive to start up this program, but now the savings are tremendous for our town.

There have always been people who have been concerned about the enviroment.  But now society has decided that this is a worthy cause and the media has jumped in.  It has come to the forefront and slowly society is buying into it.  It may take a while, but there will come a day when it is second nature to recycle.

Answer 5

because they feel its a hassle or pointless and thst it does nothing

Answer 6

Why do people think it's a middle class thing? Why do some people think they are the only ones in the world with problems? I suppose the same answer to both.

Many people are just too lazy to find out and open their minds. It does not make sense to waste things, and in the past it was the working classes who could not afford to waste things. I remember many times having to reuse things we could not afford to throw away, old clothes were made into  smaller ones, dolly clothes or if not any good then dish cloths. Blown light bulbs were covered in paper mache and made into percussion instruments at school, newspaper used to light the fire and many other numerous jobs! Including soaking up the condensation on the window sills when the ice on the inside of it melted!

I could go on... maybe many people don't see that wasting things is wasteful? Maybe being "better off" means being able to throw these things away?

Answer 7

because I fell that I hate it when upper class/ middle class people try to tell me to recycle , when I'm busy trying to live pay check to pay check , and not get shot i my neighborhood Oakland California. Recycling is for rich people who don't have any problems of their own to deal with , I got my own S*** to take care of right now. so go hug a tree.

Answer 8

This is not a class thing, but a conscious thing. I am a single grandmother raising 2 grandchildren on a d**n limited income! I am not rich or upper class. I live in an ethnically mixed neighborhood with working class folks who for the most part are good people living day to day. I recycle because I care about the Earth and the future, not just for myself and family, but even for those who do not give a d**n

Answer 9

You better ask this question in china. People are recycling even with water. They will take their children outside to pee and to poo so that they can save water in their home(lol) Is that encouraging or discouraging recycling?

Answer 10

exactly 2recycle that's what I do plus at work we required our vender's switch to cardboard only packing material which goes to a separate dumpster for recycling and reduced our disposal cost by 481% last year

Answer 11

Most people think that recycled materials are of sub-standard quality.  For instance, if you were told that the water you consume came from "treated or purified" sewage, you might probably not feel inclined to drink it, whereas it is purer than water from most other sources. It's just in the mind, and has to do with attitude.  Also, people prefer not to be bothered with doing their own waste segregation, rather tending to simply lump all waste types together and leave it to the waste disposal agencies to sort.  These agencies can only do so much.  At the end of the day, with diminishing resources staring us in the face, we would be forced to accept recycling.