The Observation Deck

Recently, we got a card showing what we could and could not recycle, and it has drastically cut our recycling. We'll still do it and still put it out every other week, but if we waited to fill the blue bin, it would be once a month (except for holiday weeks). I get it that the city no longer has ways to dispose of much of what we used to recycle, but it raises the question whether it is still worthwhile for the city to do. Delicate question for some, but ... really?

Clamshells!

Produce, egg, and takeout plastic clamshells are usually marked 1. Those are recyclable but now Lakewood isn’t taking them?

I was also surprised at what they do NOT take. It’s changed my weekly trash/recycle ratio.

If you really cared for the environment you would stop recycling. It's much more environmentally friendly to bury plastics in a landfill.

https://www.forbes.com/sites/amywesterv ... d7b4ef3bec

The oceans don't contain billions of tons of plastic because you used a straw at McDonalds.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CP4y-1WEh7Q

I'm not 100% sure of the timeline but some time back China stopped accepting the "mixed" recycled material we were shipping over there. And earlier this year they stopped accepting plastic altogether. From what I read, plastics are piling up. Or ending up in the oceans....

If we really cared about the environment, Bill, we would change our lifestyles dramatically, swimming against overwhelming currents created by the unbridled profiteers. Not that any regulator or serious political entity has a vision to do this, but the fact is that so much about day to day life ... beginning with single use plastic ... ought to be illegal.

We all got that card in the mail, and I found it infuriating. Recycling has always been kind of a feeble, better-than-nothing solution. We really need to not create, buy, and use all that eternally polluting waste. And now we see it is just a fraction of our plastic containers that can actually be put to another eventual use.

I don't blame Lakewood. This is a way bigger issue than this little burg and our place in the waste economy.

michael gill wrote:I don't blame Lakewood. This is a way bigger issue than this little burg and our place in the waste economy.

I agree. I called Lakewood's Recycling Center shortly after receiving 'the card', and was told that all the cities in Cuyahoga County received the same card. It was an agreement within the county to change what is and is not accepted for recycling.

michael gill wrote:We really need to not create, buy, and use all that eternally polluting waste. And now we see it is just a fraction of our plastic containers that can actually be put to another eventual use.

I agree. For one thing.... all those plastic bottles of water. All those many, many plastic bottles of water.
For what it's worth, I always have my own reusable mug either in my car or in my tote, for when I want a beverage.

Something I like about Lucky's Market, is that the meat/fish department always wraps their items in paper. Not shrink wrapped over a styrofoam tray.

Some time ago, I dramatically reduced my usage of plastic wrap, by using and reusing Rubbermaid (or whatever brand) containers to save leftovers.
I also carry a container for when eating out at a restaurant, in the event of not finishing my meal, and having leftovers to take home.

But..... my way of doing things requires forethought, as well as being willing to clean the containers.
I keep trying to reduce my trash, but the food stores need to return to paper wrapping, whenever possible.

Can the city break even on the recycling program as it stands?

Personally I think whether the city breaks even on recycling is not the issue.

I think we ... and of course not just Lakewood ... need to clean up after ourselves.

Better yet, don't make such a mess.

It's probably going to cost money. Whether that means bigger investment in waste management or replacement of (to start) single use plastic, I think we should spend it.

There is no proposal on the table. But for world wide disposable society, the chickens are coming home to roost.

But if what I read in Mark Kindt's posts is correct, and I'm sure it is, the city is in dire economic straits that the present administration will not admit. When the next administration comes in, they likely will have to choose between good-to-do/nice-to-do/important-to-do and must-do in making budgetary decisions. Where does recycling fall in that spectrum?

If done correctly and within the parameters of market economics recycling should stand apart from the budgetary process. Dan, I- like you was very perplexed at the apparent decade decline in recyclable standards as per the recent City publication. We should be PROGRESSING with an invigorated hospital; 21st century environmental procedures. Why is the current administration and associate Council Members dragging us backwards?
Stan Austin

To recycle this topic, here is a current article from The New York Times:
As Costs Skyrocket, More U.S. Cities Stop Recycling
https://www.nytimes.com/2019/03/16/busi ... costs.html

Again I question the cost/benefit of Lakewood's recycling program when so little can be recycled (besides the topic).

Over a week ago I came across this article: Your Recycling May Be Poisoning Poor Communities (click here). The article, and this thread, prompted me to send the email below….

-------- Original Message --------
Subject: recycled material, where does it go?
From: <tim@########.com>
Date: Thu, March 07, 2019 3:24 pm
To: refuse@lakewoodoh.net

Hello....

I've read where China no longer takes recycled material from the U.S. It makes me wonder, what happens to the material which Lakewood collects from the blue bins every week? It goes somewhere. Where? Is it sorted and recycled? Is it burned? I'd like to know. These days I can't help but wonder if the material I put in my blue bin should really just be regarded as ordinary trash and go to a landfill.

Thank you in advance for the information....

Tim Liston
1101 Forest Road

I did not get a bounce back from that email address. But I have yet to receive a response.

Interesting article. Makes you wonder if you should even bother recycling.

https://www.cleveland.com/metro/2018/06 ... wrong.html

Bridget Conant wrote:Interesting article. Makes you wonder if you should even bother recycling.

https://www.cleveland.com/metro/2018/06 ... wrong.html

Bridget


I really believe a lot of cities, did this as a feel good effort for millennials. If you went and saw presort, there was no way it was headed to recycling. I believe many offloaded it to a contractor that promised recycling, but did not. This allowed a city to say, we recycle, and get the community involved.

For decades there was talk of chinese frieghters bringing good to America, heading back with garbage to recycle that would show up on Chinese docks empty ready for another load of TVs to take to America. All the while the island of garbage in the pacific grew at an amazing rate. The size of Hawaii, no Massachusetts, no Iowa, no Texas, and so on.

This might be a good thing, forcing us to deal with petro chemical products, and get rid of them.

.

My impression is, Lakewood's recycling program is more sophisticated than others but that means it's also more costly. As the cost-benefit deteriorates, and other economic issues encroach, at what point do we say we can no longer afford a "feel-good" program?

Then what do we do to contribute in a meaningful way to a solution to a very real global environmental catastrophe?