On 3/1/2015 7:47 PM, wrote:
> On Sun, 01 Mar 2015 18:33:48 -0500, Nancy Young
> > wrote:

>> Where I live, just about everything is mandatory recycling, at least
>> it seems that way. Cardboard, mixed paper (which is everything from
>> junk mail to magazines to tissue boxes). Plastic bottles, buckets,
>> glass, aluminum. Metal, electronics, newspaper. Leaves. It's too
>> expensive to send all that stuff to the landfills and we actually
>> save money by recycling.

> My city actually started basic recycling in the early 80s when there
> wasn't much talk about it. Now, if you are doing it right, only real
> garbage goes in the green bag. There are compostables, cardboard,
> paperboard, paper, bottles, plastics you name it, all have to be
> separated.

We had a similar trajectory. In the 80s there were drop off
points for cans and bottles, and you could bring newspapers to
the recycle yard. Wasn't mandatory at first. I would save newspapers
to bring but the place is on the other side of my (large) town. If
I didn't have a reason to be near there, it seemed counter-productive
to burn gas to save the environment.

We've gotten to the point where we have good compliance because
they pick up most everything twice a month. What a treat compared
to how they used to pick up. Comingled recyclables, it's separated
at some plant somewhere. They can't make it much easier.

> Some people in houses still fling everything in the green bags and
> they are talking of making clear bags mandatory so they cannot do it
> anymore, they will be fined.

Some people just refuse to get with the program. No pun intended.
(laugh) Refuse, get it?

> Electronics have to be delivered to
> special collection points, paints to another etc etc.

Exactly the same here.

> Not complaining, personally I feel better about it.

I try to do my part, for what it's worth.

nancy

On 3/2/2015 6:39 AM, wrote:
> On Sun, 01 Mar 2015 20:07:08 -0500, Nancy Young
> > wrote:

>> I try to do my part, for what it's worth.

> Someone said we fool ourselves about recycling - I don't think so.

Well, I've reduced, I try to reuse, but still there's cardboard
(true even if you shop in a store), and I'm not giving up my
newspapers and magazines. So unless someone who's whining
about us fooling ourselves has some workable solution, my town
makes money selling the stuff I recycle. Or they don't spend so
much to dispose of it.

> More of us here do it and that meant the city had to smarten up and
> cope and find places to send it all. If the city wasn't really
> serious, it sure came back to bite them

It must be working as they have been expanding the scope of the
project every year. Perhaps the story is different in places that
have an abundance of landfill space.

> We have sorters of blue bags too, quite an industry employing some
> otherwise rather unemployable people, so that's a good thing too.

I watched a show that went behind the scenes at one of those places.
San Francisco, I think. It really was astonishing.

nancy

"Nancy Young" > wrote in message
...
> On 3/2/2015 6:39 AM, wrote:
>> On Sun, 01 Mar 2015 20:07:08 -0500, Nancy Young
>> > wrote:
>
>>> I try to do my part, for what it's worth.
>
>> Someone said we fool ourselves about recycling - I don't think so.
>
> Well, I've reduced, I try to reuse, but still there's cardboard
> (true even if you shop in a store), and I'm not giving up my
> newspapers and magazines. So unless someone who's whining
> about us fooling ourselves has some workable solution, my town
> makes money selling the stuff I recycle. Or they don't spend so
> much to dispose of it.
>
>> More of us here do it and that meant the city had to smarten up and
>> cope and find places to send it all. If the city wasn't really
>> serious, it sure came back to bite them
>
> It must be working as they have been expanding the scope of the
> project every year. Perhaps the story is different in places that
> have an abundance of landfill space.
>
>> We have sorters of blue bags too, quite an industry employing some
>> otherwise rather unemployable people, so that's a good thing too.
>
> I watched a show that went behind the scenes at one of those places.
> San Francisco, I think. It really was astonishing.

We have to pay for those plastic bags that supermarkets used to give free.
10p each I think. I rarely go without my own shopping bags anyway so it
hasn't affected me yet.

--
http://www.helpforheroes.org.uk/shop/

On 3/2/2015 10:50 AM, Ophelia wrote:
>
>
> "Nancy Young" > wrote

>> Well, I've reduced, I try to reuse, but still there's cardboard
>> (true even if you shop in a store), and I'm not giving up my
>> newspapers and magazines.

> We have to pay for those plastic bags that supermarkets used to give
> free. 10p each I think. I rarely go without my own shopping bags anyway
> so it hasn't affected me yet.

I reuse those and if I wind up with too many, the supermarkets are
required to take them back for recycling. I don't know how
worthwhile that is in the scheme of things.

Of course, it would be nice if I'd bring a couple of reusable
bags to cut down on the quantity I use. I'm off and on with that.

nancy

"Nancy Young" > wrote in message
...
> On 3/2/2015 10:50 AM, Ophelia wrote:
>>
>>
>> "Nancy Young" > wrote
>
>>> Well, I've reduced, I try to reuse, but still there's cardboard
>>> (true even if you shop in a store), and I'm not giving up my
>>> newspapers and magazines.
>
>> We have to pay for those plastic bags that supermarkets used to give
>> free. 10p each I think. I rarely go without my own shopping bags anyway
>> so it hasn't affected me yet.
>
> I reuse those and if I wind up with too many, the supermarkets are
> required to take them back for recycling. I don't know how
> worthwhile that is in the scheme of things.
>
> Of course, it would be nice if I'd bring a couple of reusable
> bags to cut down on the quantity I use. I'm off and on with that.

Do you have to pay for them?


--
http://www.helpforheroes.org.uk/shop/

On 3/2/2015 11:32 AM, Ophelia wrote:
>
>
> "Nancy Young" > wrote

>> Of course, it would be nice if I'd bring a couple of reusable
>> bags to cut down on the quantity I use. I'm off and on with that.
>
> Do you have to pay for them?

Not where I live, no. Plastic or paper are still free.
Some stores give you money for each reusable bag you bring,
so in a sense, getting a store bag costs you.

nancy

"Nancy Young" > wrote in message
...
> On 3/2/2015 11:32 AM, Ophelia wrote:
>>
>>
>> "Nancy Young" > wrote
>
>>> Of course, it would be nice if I'd bring a couple of reusable
>>> bags to cut down on the quantity I use. I'm off and on with that.
>>
>> Do you have to pay for them?
>
> Not where I live, no. Plastic or paper are still free.
> Some stores give you money for each reusable bag you bring,
> so in a sense, getting a store bag costs you.

This is a fairly new thing for us. We do get store points for each of our
own bags we use but that isn't new.


--
http://www.helpforheroes.org.uk/shop/

On 2015-03-02 12:14 PM, Nancy Young wrote:
> On 3/2/2015 11:32 AM, Ophelia wrote:
>>
>>
>> "Nancy Young" > wrote
>
>>> Of course, it would be nice if I'd bring a couple of reusable
>>> bags to cut down on the quantity I use. I'm off and on with that.
>>
>> Do you have to pay for them?
>
> Not where I live, no. Plastic or paper are still free.
> Some stores give you money for each reusable bag you bring,
> so in a sense, getting a store bag costs you.
>

A number of years ago the city of Toronto imposed a 5 cent per bag
charge and it sort of spread across the province unofficial. Stores
everywhere else followed suit. The started selling reusable bags cheap.
From what I understand, the city dropped the requirement but stores
kept charging... until recently. A couple local grocery stores had free
bags but the chains charged. I prefer the reusable bags. I can get a lot
more in one of them than on those skimpy plastic things so I can usually
get all my purchases in to 2-3 of them rather than a dozen smaller bags.

On Mon, 02 Mar 2015 12:14:01 -0500, Nancy Young
> wrote:

>On 3/2/2015 11:32 AM, Ophelia wrote:
>>
>>
>> "Nancy Young" > wrote
>
>>> Of course, it would be nice if I'd bring a couple of reusable
>>> bags to cut down on the quantity I use. I'm off and on with that.
>>
>> Do you have to pay for them?
>
>Not where I live, no. Plastic or paper are still free.
>Some stores give you money for each reusable bag you bring,
>so in a sense, getting a store bag costs you.

Here the stores give paper or plastic, no charge... they'd have a hard
time charging since each is printed with their advertising, having to
pay for their advertising adds insult to injury. I reuse the plastic
bags; cat litter. Since I don't get nearly enough from shopping I
buy those bags in cartons of 1,000 for about $9 at BJs... I double and
triple the bags, I don't need the bottom to drop out.

"Ophelia" > wrote in message
...
>
>
> "Nancy Young" > wrote in message
> ...
>> On 3/2/2015 10:50 AM, Ophelia wrote:
>>>
>>>
>>> "Nancy Young" > wrote
>>
>>>> Well, I've reduced, I try to reuse, but still there's cardboard
>>>> (true even if you shop in a store), and I'm not giving up my
>>>> newspapers and magazines.
>>
>>> We have to pay for those plastic bags that supermarkets used to give
>>> free. 10p each I think. I rarely go without my own shopping bags anyway
>>> so it hasn't affected me yet.
>>
>> I reuse those and if I wind up with too many, the supermarkets are
>> required to take them back for recycling. I don't know how
>> worthwhile that is in the scheme of things.
>>
>> Of course, it would be nice if I'd bring a couple of reusable
>> bags to cut down on the quantity I use. I'm off and on with that.
>
> Do you have to pay for them?

Our stores here will sometimes have a promotion where you can get a free
bag. If you played your cards right when Fred Meyer was giving them away,
you probably could have gotten a lot of them if you had been willing to go
back, again and again, buying only one bag's worth of stuff at once. I did
get one free bag but they are not my favorite kind. They are the cheap
fabric ones that can't feasibly be washed very often because they will fall
apart when you try. I prefer the sturdy, plastic ones that can be hosed out
in the sink.

Albertson's once had a "Pay it forward" campaign where they asked each
shopper to buy a bag for the person behind them. The person ahead of me did
buy me a bag which they tried to force me to take. I did not want the bag.
I told them to give it to the person behind me. They still tried to force
me to take the bag and buy another for the person behind me. Again, not the
kind of bag that I liked and I already had plenty of that kind.

But... Many of the stores will give you a discount for bringing your own
bags. Most give you 5 cents per bag. One store used to give back 30 cents
per bag or at least that is how some would ring it up. Now they have
changed and give you 30 cents back no matter how few or many bags you use.