BS: Less garbage

Subject: RE: BS: Less garbage
From: GUEST,Eliza
Date: 27 Jan 11 - 12:08 PM

People fly-tip quite a bit round here. It costs a lot for the council to take it away from the hedgerows. I think the local tip should accept anything at all, then this wouldn't happen so much. I've noticed a lot of fly-tipping very near the local tip, and I wonder if they've been turned away for various reasons. (eg only ONE door is allowed, ONE plastic bag of fibreglass insulation, ONE tyre etc. per week. People get miffed and just chuck it anywhere as they head for home. Very naughty in my opinion!) Chongo Chimp, whatever do you mean??

Subject: RE: BS: Less garbage
From: GUEST,Chongo Chimp
Date: 27 Jan 11 - 10:07 AM

Fly tipping??? Geez, talk about weird ways of havin' fun! I've heard of cow tipping, but fly tipping is a new one on me. Seems to me that it would be kind of hard to sneak up on a fly that way. And what would you use to tip the fly, assumin' you managed to sneak up on it? A toothpick?

- Chongo

Subject: RE: BS: Less garbage
From: GUEST,Patsy
Date: 27 Jan 11 - 08:05 AM

On the whole I think things have improved in regards to unecessary packaging which has reduced the amount of waste considerably. One of the problems here is 'Fly Tipping' which seems to be on the increase and a real thorne in the side.

Subject: RE: BS: Less garbage
From: GUEST,Eliza
Date: 26 Jan 11 - 03:45 PM

I try to go to a traditional 'family butcher', where you select from meat set out on his counter. The butcher weighs it and wraps it up in clean white paper. He'll also prepare any special cuts you may want. You pay the cashier who sits in state in a little glass box. In the fifties, all butchers were like this, no plastic in sight! There's a super one in Aylsham, Norfolk. It's like a time-warp, and it goes like a fair. Sometimes, I feel like unwrapping supermarket produce after going through the checkout and leaving all the plastic for them to deal with!

Subject: RE: BS: Less garbage
From: Q (Frank Staplin)
Date: 26 Jan 11 - 03:33 PM

Many peelings, cores, rinds seeds, rejected vegetable parts, bread heels go into our 'rockery'. Cold enough here that decomposition is slow with little or no stink, and the squirrels, magpies and other birds, mice, eat a good bit of it. The rest becomes 'compost' as it decomposes.
Our home is detached, lots are 60-90 feet wide, so we don't have the problems of crowded city centers.
So far, our Calgary city recycling is doing a pretty good job, even in city center, as noted above. The weekly schedule is being adhered to. Back alleys behind cafes, etc., are free of smelly stuff.

It is true that plastic wrap on meats generally ends up in garbage, but packaged meats let the customer pick out the size and particular cut or kind, without requiring employees to treat with it. But the convenience and low cost keep the customer happy.

Subject: RE: BS: Less garbage
From: maeve
Date: 26 Jan 11 - 07:25 AM

Even here with endless composting possibilities, it's a challenge to deal with food wastes in the winter. The minute these indoor composters become affordable I'd like one of these: http://www.naturemill.com/howItWorks.html

Subject: RE: BS: Less garbage
From: GUEST,Eliza
Date: 26 Jan 11 - 07:23 AM

Aaaaaagh! Here in the UK the Bin Gestapo would come after you with a big fine (even one old man of ninety!) if they found anything incorrectly put in the wrong bin, eg a small plastic shampoo bottle in with the non-recyclables. Some Authorities have even SECRETLY attached digital ID cards to the bottom of people's bins to see what how much each house is chucking away. We're all terrified of the Bin Gestapo.

Subject: RE: BS: Less garbage
From: GUEST,Patsy
Date: 26 Jan 11 - 07:19 AM

In Bristol UK it is not so much the recycling, the problem here is how long rotting rubbish is having to be left in bins before eventually being taken away. It can be well over a fortnight before most of them are cleared which to my mind must be a health risk. This is especially bad near the many cafes, wine bars and restaurants all along the city's streets. Talking of 'rats' they are thriving and doing well here.

Subject: RE: BS: Less garbage
From: Q (Frank Staplin)
Date: 25 Jan 11 - 05:18 PM

A big city recycling truck comes down our alley once a week. We were given a large, wheeled bin. The result is that our garbage is mostly kitcken refuse.
The Boy Scouts (and others) collect all liquor bottles, soft drink and beer cans, milk containers, etc.- they receive 5 cents for each item.

What is amazing is that some people still put their cardboard and paper and bottles in their garbage even though the recycling trucks pass their house or alley.

Subject: RE: BS: Less garbage
From: GUEST,leeneia
Date: 25 Jan 11 - 05:07 PM

Well, naturally, Slag. Illegal dumping usually happens in poor neighborhoods or out-of-way places such as woods in the park. Littering occurs where anybody, even the middle or upper classes, are exposed to the horror of it.

Subject: RE: BS: Less garbage
From: Slag
Date: 25 Jan 11 - 05:01 PM

Once ownership of the item is transferred then all responsibility other than intrinsic liability transfers with the object. Maybe they should ID the buyers, fingerprint them and do a retinal scan. Forensic specialists ( I hear there is an over abundance of them due to CSI snd similar programs ) can work up the crime scene, ID the litterer and bring him or her up on charges. Silly? Fine for littering in California is posted at $1000. Move over Billy the Kid.

Oddly enough, illegal dumping is only a $500 fine.

Subject: RE: BS: Less garbage
From: saulgoldie
Date: 25 Jan 11 - 02:39 PM

7-11 will fill ANY commuter mug with coffee for a buck. Starbucks gives you 10 cent discount. I keep one in my car, always. I also don't buy those nasty bottles of water.

Saul

Subject: RE: BS: Less garbage
From: Wesley S
Date: 25 Jan 11 - 02:27 PM

Most coffee places I know allow you to bring in a cup of your own and fill it instead of one of theirs.

Subject: RE: BS: Less garbage
From: Seayaker
Date: 25 Jan 11 - 02:10 PM

They should charge £1 for each supermarket plastic bag (money to go to charity) It's not rocket science to use reusable bags.

Subject: RE: BS: Less garbage
From: Dorothy Parshall
Date: 25 Jan 11 - 01:00 PM

The recycling depot near Pottstown PA took almost everything, including styrofoam. Had a book sale trailer and a second hand shop, gardeners could pick up vast qualtities of used plastic plantin pots and flats. IT is wonderful!

Subject: RE: BS: Less garbage
From: WalkaboutsVerse
Date: 25 Jan 11 - 12:59 PM

In my shoulder bag I keep 2 durable plastic bags, that probably get re-used at least a 100 times, before disposal/replacement.

Subject: RE: BS: Less garbage
From: GUEST,Eliza
Date: 25 Jan 11 - 12:54 PM

Seayaker, you're quite right, they need to get organised. After all, the Local Authority must make a few bob from the recycled stuff. We're not too bad here in Breckland, Norfolk. But in the summer, after two weeks, the bin smells awful no matter what you do. The Recycling Dept. actually suggested I put some of it in my freezer until Bin Day! We'd all love a freezer full of old refuse!! I can always take it to the local tip in my car, but it's a long way and defeats the idea of cutting down on pollution. Supermarkets must stop wrapping everything three times over.

Subject: RE: BS: Less garbage
From: maeve
Date: 25 Jan 11 - 12:46 PM

In our village we can recycle mixed paper, corrugated cardboard, newsprint, books, and magazines; "natural" #2 plastic, colored #2 plastic, most food wrap and container plastic, and rigid plastic; brown, clear, and green glass; food cans, lids, and foil; drink containers with deposits may also be dropped off to benefit various local organizations.

Computers, monitors, and televisions can be left for recycling as well. The Swap Shop allows us to leave useful items in good condition as well as take home the same, as needed.

Subject: RE: BS: Less garbage
From: Dave MacKenzie
Date: 25 Jan 11 - 12:44 PM

Here in Chester they do take Tetra cartons for recycling, but not with the collection. When I lived in Kingston, Surrey, I had to go the neighbouring borough of Richmond for a recycling point.

Subject: RE: BS: Less garbage
From: Seayaker
Date: 25 Jan 11 - 12:07 PM

Guest, Eliza; here in my neck of the Midlands (UK) they take tetra packs for recyling but I can't get rid of aluminum foil. Where my sister lives in Hampshire the council don't take glass.

The whole recycling policy in the UK is a complete dogs breakfast that needs some sort of a national stratergy.

Subject: RE: BS: Less garbage
From: GUEST,leeneia
Date: 25 Jan 11 - 09:55 AM

To get back to Raptor and the trash from Tim Horton's: Raptor, I sympathize with your disgust at all those trash coffee cups polluting your scenery.

The best way to prevent that is to make it worth someone's while to not throw away the cups. But that doesn't seem very practical. I assume that the litterers are low order persons, too selfish to respond to the appeal for a better environment. And how can Horton's make a profit on a simple cup of coffee if the container is expensive enough to keep?

Then I had an idea. Make a sign that says this:

               ROYAL CANADIAN MOUNTED POLICE

                   Random DNA Test Site.

            Making Canada Safer through Science.

Post the sign on the road leading away from the Tim Horton's. I'm pretty sure that the amount of discarded litter will simply plummet.

It's up to you whether you want to put a silhouette of a mountie on it or not.

Subject: RE: BS: Less garbage
From: GUEST,Eliza
Date: 25 Jan 11 - 09:10 AM

I understand that Tetra packs for eg milk and juice etc are not recyclable. Their inventor, whose name escapes me, has made millions from them. Perhaps he should put his mind to re-inventing them in a recyclable form.

Subject: RE: BS: Less garbage
From: Desert Dancer
Date: 24 Jan 11 - 11:28 PM

Jeez, I've never lived anywhere where plastic bags (with or without zips) were recyclable...

Subject: RE: BS: Less garbage
From: Janie
Date: 24 Jan 11 - 10:53 PM

I did not know that JiK.

Subject: RE: BS: Less garbage
From: GUEST,Guest from Sanity
Date: 24 Jan 11 - 10:07 PM

I knew I could count on ya', ol' Bobert!

GfS

Subject: RE: BS: Less garbage
From: Bobert
Date: 24 Jan 11 - 09:20 PM

I'm like that the Northwest Mountie, GfinS...

Always there to oblige...

B:~)

Subject: RE: BS: Less garbage
From: JohnInKansas
Date: 24 Jan 11 - 08:50 PM

Once again:

ZIpLock bags ARE NOT RECYCLABLE in most areas, since the "zipper" has to be made of a different composition than the bag, and the mixed plastic is of two inseperable different contaminations.

They should be BANNED EVERYWHERE.

*Bill D has already replied.*

John

Subject: RE: BS: Less garbage
From: Dorothy Parshall
Date: 24 Jan 11 - 07:14 PM

Some of those places will fill your own mug or thermos. One could make it a point to patronize those sorts.

Subject: RE: BS: Less garbage
From: GUEST,Guest from Sanity
Date: 24 Jan 11 - 06:49 PM

Laughing my Ass off!...and I thought I'd put that in, just in case some nitpicking lunatic, would show up, and point out that I forgot the Senate!!!....and by golly, there you are!

GfS

Subject: RE: BS: Less garbage
From: Dave MacKenzie
Date: 24 Jan 11 - 06:47 PM

I'm just reading 'Waste' by Tristram Stuart. Facinating (and horrifying), and this is the stuff inside the packaging!

Subject: RE: BS: Less garbage
From: Bobert
Date: 24 Jan 11 - 06:22 PM

The Senate is part of Congress, GfinS...

Think it might be time for another drug test, fir ya'...

B~

Subject: RE: BS: Less garbage
From: GUEST,Guest from Sanity
Date: 24 Jan 11 - 06:04 PM

Ohh, ...and the Senate, too?

Gfs

Subject: RE: BS: Less garbage
From: GUEST,Guest from sanity
Date: 24 Jan 11 - 06:03 PM

Less garbage?? Is Congress and the White House on vacation???

GfS

Subject: RE: BS: Less garbage
From: Ed T
Date: 24 Jan 11 - 03:54 PM

Howz about the styrofoam wrapped around meat and other products at grocery stores. It takes about 500 years to break down styrofoam in a landfill.

Subject: RE: BS: Less garbage
From: gnu
Date: 24 Jan 11 - 03:52 PM

Yeah right. Like the service isn't slow enough at Tim's now. I say we should put snipers out to shoot people who discard their Tim's cups. That would bring down the unemployent rate too.

Subject: RE: BS: Less garbage
From: Q (Frank Staplin)
Date: 24 Jan 11 - 03:43 PM

These damn people who have children- why don't they raise dogs instead?
The little monsters (children, that is) are let out of school and go to the Dairy Queen in our little mall and get those containers of drink, cardboard with plastic bubble-like top, and leave the empties all up and down the streets, alleys and on the lawns.
Also hats and gloves and other spoor of these little ones.

Dogs and cats are much less trouble and the leavings fertilize the lawn.

Subject: RE: BS: Less garbage
From: GUEST,mg
Date: 24 Jan 11 - 03:26 PM

The trouble is that people would keep absolutely filthy cups in their cars, bring them in, set them on the counter, either the health people would complain or other customers...I think unless there was some sort of heavy duty steam cleaner device there would be problems in a high volume place..neighborhood coffee house perhaps not...

And we need to find a way to put some of that trash into biofuels...what is better for burning than waxed cardboard? Although it has various additives etc..they could be removed. mg

Subject: RE: BS: Less garbage
From: Uncle_DaveO
Date: 24 Jan 11 - 02:37 PM

How do you follow an act like that?

Subject: RE: BS: Less garbage
From: GUEST,Blind DRunk in Blind River
Date: 24 Jan 11 - 02:28 PM

Hey, man, lay off! I been using them discarted cups to, like, keep change in and for my drinks, eh? There ain't no reason why a paper cup can't be used, like, 15 or 20 times before it wears out, eh? I pick 'em up anytime off the street and I take 'em home. (I do that with half-smoked cigs too.) There are at least 50 of the flippin' things on the kichen cownter right now, eh? The paper cups, I mean. Not the cigs. I smoked them right down to the filter. Kinda strong, but you get a good buzz.

I gotta thank all them good people out there that are throwin' stuff away on the street, cos it means Don and me never gotta buy any glasses or mugs. We get ours free! And it has cut costs on the smokes too.

- Shane

Subject: RE: BS: Less garbage
From: Georgiansilver
Date: 24 Jan 11 - 01:14 PM

Also KFC boxes and pizza boxes.......

Subject: BS: Less garbage
From: Raptor
Date: 24 Jan 11 - 12:54 PM

I bet if we started fining companies like Tim Horton's for each discarded coffee cup on the street they'd soon switch over to refillable environmental friendly cups as the only way to drink their product