Ideal Bite

Couple things to comment on. First to reply to Barbara I can tell you that the recycling facility I take my paper to has asked that all glasine windows be removed because they can not be recycled. I was also wondering if anyone else knows about milk cartons. In the tip today it says to recycle with your paper which is what I have always done, but the latest update from the recycler says it should go in with the plastics. Any idea?

Milk cartons are a problem once the material gets to the paper mill, but I think this is going to depend on the process the mill uses for reclaiming paper fibers. My understanding is that once they've managed to separate the waxy moisture barrier in the slurry, there's little useful paper pulp long enough in fiber to make decent paper. So, our program doesn't take them. However... we accept envelopes w/ glassine windows, and spiral notebooks. There are so-called allowable limits on 'contamination' with the folks who handle our post-consumer paper, and they'll allow up to a certain amount of plastic residue, metal contamination, and some glass particulates. Now, the paper that is being reclaimed from single-stream programs, where one tosses all their materials into the same container, that stuff is barely fit for milling, and some of the paper mills are refusing it because of the high levels of contamination, and the extra processing necessary to remove the contaminants. I've observed some programs that accept those aseptic pouches, and those are a real nightmare to process. Plastic layered with aluminum with more plastic, with paper, and then more plastic. Even if you slurry that, you're wasting resources to claim inconsequential paper fiber and minuscule aluminum. Our program begrudgingly takes plastic bottles, but residents throw everything else plastic in, too. The bulk of my job focuses on re-educating residents on why their wide-mouth plastic containers and films are not recyclable.

I live in the boonies, more or less--- Rockford, WA --- which doesn't have a recycling program at all. I imagine it wouldn't be the hardest thing in the world to organize in a town with less than 1000 people, but instead I have to drive my cans, newspapers, etc. into Spokane. While it's less than 30 minutes to the place I go to (one that pays for cans, cardboard and newspaper), sometimes I wish I could set some of it out with my garbage and save myself the trip.

I feel very fortunate that our community recycling program makes it so easy to recycle! We have a huge mixed recycling bin that we can toss in mixed paper, flattened cardboard, rinsed food cans, plastic bottles, metal beer tops, and other things. There is even a separate bin for glass, batteries, motor oil, and latex paint! They are picked up curbside every other week. That allows us to have just a 13 gal. trash can that gets picked up weekly and is rarely full. And we're a family of five! I'm just hoping our bottle bill is soon updated to include water and other plastic bottles. THANK YOU to all the others out there that do their best to recycle!!

- i've gotten extra recycle bins from the county website which i've searched around for on the net. usually you just type in your address (or call) and they send you another.

Regarding Iraq and the burning of plastics over there, I can also tell you that our contractors in Iraq (i.e., the people getting richer by the minute) are also dumping raw sewage from tanker trucks on open fields in Iraq. The environment will probably never recover over there and people will be getting diseases and sicknesses for years to come. If you don't believe it rent the DVD of The War Tapes where soldiers were given video cameras to document their lives in Iraq.

I disagree about with the comment about the US Military in Germany. Recycling is a HUGH thing for the military. Yes they do pay fines, WHEN a recycling container is contaminated with the wrong items. The fines that DOD pays is for the extra work that will go into seperating the items at the recycling center. DOD does not like this and even goes so far as to having soldiers and their spouses take a class about recycling in order to receive our "Gelbe sacks" for free at the self-help store. They encourage us to recycle and yes, I do know people that were fined because they were caught putting items in the wrong trash bins! "Gelbe sacks" are made from recycled waste. They are used for disposal of ALL plastic including the lids, ALL stryo, chip board (ie cereal boxes) and mixed materials(ie wax coated containers, aluminium, wax paper, etc.) I had 5 containers under my sink for "trash" as we were responsible for seperating our own. I had to have one for Bio., glass, metal, gelbe sack, and non bio. Cardboard was also a seperate catagory and newspaper got tied with twine and set to the side on trash day. We were responsible for taking our glass and metal to the drop off containers. There you could not just dump a bag in, you had to deposit it piece by piece into the small opening. Yes, we are required to seperate glass by color. By our building in housing, we had 3 containers. Our Bio container would not be picked up if their was any non bio in it. Same with our geble sacks. On our Post the building would get a notice if they had a violation, and the residents would be reponsible for correcting the offense. When we returned to the States, I had a culture shock. After living overseas, recycling becomes very much a part of your life. I do think that the United States could learn from Germany's recycling program. As for the military in Iraq, I do not know the answer to that one. WAR is WAR! And I do not see taking soldiers from their jobs to escort trash to planes to ship it home. However, I will ask my husband what his unit the next time I hear from him. Sorry for such a long post, but this really got to me!

Maggie...I'd add a fourth "R" -- Restore. Reduce, Reuse and Recycle are great...but they're just ways to be a little less bad, rather than actually good. There's a world of difference between those perspectives, and we're now living in the 3-R and feeling the consequences!

Currently, MUDD and some folks from the UM are researching the idea of purchasing a glass pulverizer for Missoula county. Bozeman can learn much from the research they've done. The main thing needed is to create a local use for the cullet created from the crushed glass. There are several suggestions such as: -roadbed material -filter for septic systems -sidewalk/driveway additive -backfill -drainage medium -landscape material According to the MontPIRG report, Grand Canyon National Park uses cullet for daily landfill cover, pipe bedding, and is added to soft clay soil as a base for it's maintenance roads and is also used as an underlay for the parks walking trails. The DOT in 15 states currently uses cullet as an aggregate base in road construction projects. Dialog in Bozeman and with the state is needed to get things going. A good site too learn more is www.recyclemt.org click on the MontPIRG report.

RIMA - Recycling containers, I got one (for free) for my work at bottlesandcans.com ; it has a hole at the top which encourages recycling. Of course, most of what gets deposited there is plastic. Now I am considering putting a "No Plastic Please" sign on it...