News-Record.com

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Brilliant!

Now I suppose, Don, you have created a garbage truck scale that will automatically and accurately calculate the weight of each toter's contents, tabulate the results and calculate the fee for each household.

And I know you have figured out how to keep ne'er-do-wells from dumping heavy items elsewhere ... such as in their neighbor's toters.

You just keep on thinkin' there Don. Soon, you'll be "Big Brother" enough to run for government office!

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The beatings will continue until morale improves.

"If it hit their pocketbooks, a great many people might take the few extra minutes necessary to fill up their green recycle containers with the heaviest plastic and glass. Imagine that."

It's neat to see what type of managers people are from their LTEs. Too much stick, not enough carrot.

"If recycling _filled_ their pocketbooks..." Of course it won't since it can't and creation of the recycling programs is based on emotional news stories and driven by the collective despair of seeing trash barges once every few years, but it makes someone money. But, unlike minerals and jewelry, oil and gas, or most other actual markets not created and maintained by government legislation, the people providing the raw product can't be motivated by money ("pocketbooks" above) since there's not much money in it. They can, however, as the LTE noted, be punished.

Remember, if full curbside recycling made economic sense at any level at all, companies would be calling to offer you money for your trash. Or at least to remove it from your property for free. Instead they charge you to collect their raw materials. And laws are written requiring it, and, as the LTE notes, you can be punished as encouragement.

What a scam. I hope some day I can figure out a way to take advantage of folks and convince them it's for their own good. Then all that would be left was overcoming the bad tasting moral aspect of it. Politics, school boards, or high level government administration at least, here I come.

Heck, now that I think about it, I'd settle for inventing a reliable software-based IP filter to sell to the N&R to use in the forums.

Roger

Onboard truck scales have been around for several years, are fast and quite accurate.

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"Onboard truck scales" calculate the total load on the truck axles for purposes of avoiding "overload" penalties and "underload" inefficiencies. They don't "automatically and accurately calculate the weight of each toter's contents, tabulate the results and calculate the fee for each household."

Poetry is a fine and honorable profession, Billy. Stick to it.

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Donald said:
One way to “incent” people to recycle is to set garbage collection rates based on how much is produced by a household. The heavier the load, the more expensive.

Would this work as well for the sewer system?
Perhaps the city and county could pick up extra monies from the "overloaders".

Yet another person proposing punishing people in order to get what he wants rather than offering them a real incentive, yet another proposal that would negatively invoke the Law of Unintended Consequences. Jack Armstrong says:

"And I know you have figured out how to keep ne'er-do-wells from dumping heavy items elsewhere ... such as in their neighbor's toters."

Right. Or more likely, they'd simply start dumping trash along the roadways or burning it, which would pollute the air more.

"Let me define the difference between economic power and political power: economic power is exercised by means of a positive, by offering men a reward, an incentive, a payment, a value; political power is exercised by means of a negative, by the threat of punishment, injury, imprisonment, destruction. The businessman's tool is values; the bureaucrat's tool is fear."
-- Ayn Rand

" ... if full curbside recycling made economic sense at any level at all, companies would be calling to offer you money for your trash ... "

The only reason it doesn't make economic sense is because we do not have a sustainable culture mentality ... it is easier to harvest new than pay attention to the throw away ..,

Ever seen fine furniture with a 30" board? I have. Can you get a new piece of wood like that these days? Good Luck - there might be a dozen available world wide where as 200 years ago everyone had access to as many as they were willing to saw.

What happened? The nice boards were taken long ago and not replaced - not sustained - .. 'cause heck we can glue 'em together or substitute plastic.

One other example: Find out where NYC trash goes.

"One way to “incent” people to recycle is to set garbage collection rates based on how much is produced by a household."

How unfair to those of lesser means Mr Shaw. Imagine an older retired couple with lots of dough producing a minimal amount of trash versus a single mom making 8 bucks/hour with 4 kids, two of whom are in diapers.

Just a real world example, I don't want my garbage weighed, but basically your idea, pardon the pun, STINKS.

... Uhh Dan .. If you really mean "How unfair" .. then you are are promoting wealth redistribution from "the older retired couple with lots of dough producing a minimal amount of trash [to] a single mom making 8 bucks/hour with 4 kids, two of whom are in diapers".

That's exactly what I meant to do JDR and you got it. Congrats.

J.D.R.,

They weren't replaced/sustained because people realized there were ways to get similar things for less cost ($ and physical). I'd argue that "easier" has less to do with our mentality than "cheaper" does. They just happen to coincide. And, with most recycling, it's neither cheap nor easy. But we've created a market that can't exist without municipal duct tape and government 2x4s holding it up from underneath.

I found a link that said "Most of the trash is trucked to landfills upstate, or to Pennsylvania, Ohio or Virginia."

I also found a site that said how useful the money is that NY pays to dump it in a VA county in '99:

"So far, the landfill has been an economic boon for the county, funding a public K-12 school and enabling the county to lower property taxes."
http://wasteage.com/mag/waste_virginia_county_misses/

Two sides to every coin. And we might've found a way to get our ever-repeating school bonds reduced.

And yeah, I've seen some nice old furniture. There are a couple of antique stores south of the tracks downtown that have some great old stuff. I go with my probably future son-in-law to find reusable flooring and trim for him to incorporate in his "green" home building business.

But we're getting off-point, even though I think I see your point. Georgia won't tell the public where that strangely unstricken chestnut grove is because someone will figure out a way to sneak in and back out. Live for today, selfishness, etc, which could lead into a nature vs. nurture discussion.

Now I'll give one to you- Find out how much green glass, per ton, brings on the recycling market. Not this year, necessarily, but any time in the last 5-10. You can choose. Here's a hint. There is no market anywhere, not in the entire world, for green glass. And yet we dutifully use fuel and manpower picking it up, transporting it, and recycling it. Why are we not waiting until we have the technology and the need to use it as a resource? Because, like anything else, if it costs more to get it than what it's worth to have it, it's shouldn't be called a resource. I am, as always, happy to be shown I'm wrong. We the public have been convinced that -all- recycling is good and helps the planet, but the fact remains that if recycling (not counting the type that I always encourage, eg metals and the like, which are efficient) had value, someone would pay you to do it. Or at least not make you pay to have it removed.

The ultimate solution for our trash problem: Sell all of our trash to China. They can sort it to get what they need, but they have to take it all. Commingling, isn't it?

That was mostly sarcasm. And heck, NYC has it made compared to China.
http://www.china.org.cn/english/environment/206018.htm

Roger

"Right. Or more likely, they'd simply start dumping trash along the roadways or burning it, which would pollute the air more.".....................

don't many N.Carolinians already do this ? i know for sure they do in the Randleman/Level Cross area !

as far as burning goes (and its resultant pollution) - who do we get mad at for all the (humongous) wild fires we've experienced over the recent years?