http://www.good.is/post/picture-show-waste-management/

my critique :

(in a mostly cap free environment)

1. single stream recycling often makes the material too messed up to use and so cuts down on the actual material that can be recycled, especially paper and plastic. but it is more convenient and so people appear to be recycling more because more goes through the process, but more simply goes back to the landfill.

2.how long does it take for plastic to decompose? will everyone find a different answer if you look in different resources. the truth is that anything, even an apple can take hundreds of years to decompose if compressed into and airtight sack and left untouched by the elements. which pretty much describes the landfill environment. plastic, however, is a different story.

it doesn't break down in the normal sense of biodegrade. it's chemical structure doesn't change, it can only get physically smaller and smaller and eventually the plastic pieces are eaten or choke the unfortunate animal trying to eat it. in a landfill where there is no sun to photodegrade it, its life is really inestimable.

to get to the heart of the matter, recycling is a great idea, but in the case of plastic i feel that it legitimizes that which shouldn't even be. according to the EPA, from Elizabeth Royte's Garbage Land, "the production of plastic emits the toxins trichloroethane, acetone, methylene chloride, methyl ethyl ketone, styrene, toluene, ...sulfur oxides, nitrous oxides, methanol, ethylene oxide, and volatice organic compounds. Plastic manufacturers use copious quantities of benzene and vinyl chloride, which are known to cause cancer in humans... In an EPA ranking of the twenty chemicals whose production generates the most total hazardous waste, five of the top six are chemicals comonly used in the plastics industry. "

when you wear polar fleece, the plastic will abrade and eventually particulates will be released into the environment. when our children are swimming with those cute floatation devices, their shrunken skin is particularly vulnerable to the pvc that is being abraided into it. when we eat out of styrofoam or plastic utensiles, styrene is easily leached into our food.