http://www.care2.com/greenliving/pay-as-you-throw.html
Pay As You Throw
Dear Annie,
I am a ho-hum recycler and need some inspiration. Ideas?
–Kate, MI
Dear Kate,
How is saving green by being green for inspiration? Many municipalities, both large and small, are initiating a pay-as-you-throw (PAYT) program, just charging residents a fee for each bag or can of waste they generate. You just pay for what you use. Some communities are begging to be able to bill residents on the weight of their trash instead. The more you recycle and compost, the less you spend on your garbage.
Here is my idea for you (and I am inspired by it, too): Why not save money, recycle more, and join the PAYT trend that is changing landfills? The United States is responsible for one-third of the world’s garbage, and PAYT is a plan that is resulting in reducing that embarrassing number. You can recycle 75 to 90 percent of your waste, and you can also compost and find specific drop off centers (for electronics, for example) for much of the rest.
What do you bet that we’ll watch what you purchase when you know you have to throw away packaging? Clamshell “wrap rage” may just reach a new level.
Here’s another inspiration, however, that I found in the book by David Bach, Go Green, Live Rich, and that is that the aluminum cans we throw away each year use up the equivalent of 16 million barrels of oil, enough to fuel a million cars for a year.
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add your comment »Where we used to live the city put a 2 bag per week garbage limit. If you had more than 2 you could buy tags to put on the extra bags for $1. A complete failure. All that happened was that people dumped their extra trash in the dumpsters of businesses and in the ditches along the road. Where I live now we have a 2 bag limit plus a curbside compost pickup and we are getting a recycling pickup system. Works great. Cities have to make garbage, composting and recycling easy otherwise the majority will not participate. Right now we create one bag of garbage per month. The rest of everything we use is composted and recycled. The only things in the garbage are plastic wrap bags and plastic wrap because we cannot recycle them. Yet. We don't use plastic shopping bags.
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Kate, if you need some inspiration, DO SOME RESEARCH! Annie B. Bond cant tell you anything because she hasn't done the research. If she had, then she would tell you this. "Kate, I would actually highly urge you NOT to recycle anything but aluminium. Recycling anything else, and your actually hurting the environment." Then she would go on to say, "but you dont have to listen to me, go figure it out for yourself." And to that I would say "good one Annie B Bond!"
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I was luke warm about recycling for quite some time, recently, I challenged myself to recycle more than I throw in the trash and it's become a game of sorts...I find myself recycling all the time now...a trip to the landfill can help...our local landfill charges for trash but takes in all kinds of recycle materials free that I didn't realize they'd take..I used to put it all out in the trash, now I recycle everything from old air conditioners, miscellaneous metals, plastics, fabrics, appliances...you name it, most of it finds a home in the recycling side of the landfill rather than the trash...education goes a long way to making a difference. (I NEVER thought I'd be this in to it...) I've been cleaning out the clutter in my home and recycling and donating has made it a much better experience...not to mention how much "lighter and cleaner" my home feels with each trip to charity and/or recycling center. ~~Be the change you want to see in the world.~~
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I'd rather be paid to recycle rather than pay for the rubbish i throw away. The old fashioned getting the deposit back on things worked well in the past and i know we would all be encouraged to recycle if we got money back on our empties.
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