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.

guilty as charged

I am very excited to announce that I have applied to be a board member of HVME, a non-profit organization dedicated to removing reusables from the waste stream. I have decided to do this because I needed some concrete action to follow up on my convictions and rantings. I highly recommend that anyone who needs arts and crafts materials, building materials, and or, anything in between. Really I recommend that you just visit the next time you go by- there are so many cool things. It also is a great resource for teachers. It is located in the trailers behind the New Paltz recycling center.

I am so happy that I went to visit the operation because I realized a few things. The first is that New Paltz recycling center takes electronics- even though you have to pay to have it taken care of (I don’t know how much). The second thing that I realized was that this resource is here (though newly relocated from Stewart Airport) and I have never taken advantage of it. I realized with dismay that I have never used this great resource.

There are so many more ecologically friendly things that I could do and I wonder why I have resistance to doing many of them.

In my defense, and hopefully to inspire, I do drive a hybrid, reuse and recycle when I can. For our remodeling jobs I have chosen bamboo and marmoleum for the flooring, I even get my milk from payne’s farm in New Paltz with glass ball jars. We put in a fuel efficient wood stove this past winter to cut down on our fuel oil use. I almost never throw food scraps away as we have dogs, a goat and chickens.

Yet there always seems so much more to be done. What I can do better: I buy lots of stuff new and don’t always take the time to consult a green buying handbook, or search for good used ones. I also don’t always buy bulk because I don’t think I can use my glass containers at the health food store, but I haven’t even asked. I drive lots, I throw tons of garbage away, and I, I, I, don’t know, but I feel trapped in a lifestyle that forces me to purchase and discard, purchase and discard. Lather, rinse and repeat....

Some of it is me, things I can change just by being more aware of it. For example, at a friend’s house the other day, I found out that rather than recycling, the paper went into a reuse pile so that the other side could be used. This itself was interesting. I didn’t do this, I just recycled. I tried using the other side for stuff, and occasionally do, but was put off of doing this because of, well, fashion, is one way to put it, or perhaps, one could say peer pressure. I never saw anyone else but one friend other of mine that did it, years ago. I didn’t want to be seen as weird or my papers as “dirty.” I do it for notes and art with little ones, but nothing professional.

A huge part of this is social reality. If we all help each other with hints and support for living ecologically correctly, then it will be easier to build a movement. The flip side of this is that there is a social perception problem here. Poor people reuse, rich people buy new. It is a status thing. What are the best ways for changing this? I would love to hear some ideas...