Second, what are the steps?
I know the company that picks up the trash does recycling too. Who should I contact first? I don't know who's actually %26quot;in charge%26quot; of the neighborhood. Should I call the Home Owner's Association? I HAVE NO CLUE. Help, please!
Also, I'm in high school and my mother keeps telling me it isn't worth it, but I want to make a difference and I feel like, even if it's just a small neighborhood, it might be worth it.
Also, how much does it cost to have someone come pick up recycling?How do I set up a recycling program?
If there is already a company hired to do recycling in your neighborhood, why would you want to duplicate and harm the cost-structure of the bid they probably presented to the city/district? If you start removing aluminum cans, for instance, from their income stream, you would lower their income and make it necessary for them to raise their rates.
Also, keep in mind that during recessions especially, there are no buyers for many of the items you would collect for recycling. For example, China used to buy a great deal of our recycled paper -- but now with the recession I understand that many cities have trouble getting rid of the paper they collect. So it goes into landfills or gets incinerated. (And for that reason, it becomes even more wasteful because of the gasoline consumed by the collection trucks and all of the labor costs of operating a redundant trash collection system.)
Most recycling programs make no sense economically or environmentally. (Detailed studies have in many cases concluded that recycling programs have far more to do with political expediencies than any sort of environmental advantage. Politicians tend to favor any program that grows the size and power of local government. And if city employees must be added, they like the expansion of payrolls and the unions which contribute to their election campaigns.)
Sometimes and some types of recyling makes good sense.And much of the time it doesn't. (Aluminum can recycling is clearly advantageous. Much of the paper and glass recycling isn't. And the economic cycle dictates whether or not many items get purchased by some industry. After all, there is little point in recycling if the end result is ignored and the items must go to landfills or get incinerated. Can anyone guarantee that some company -- often one that is overseas, so don't forget transportation and pollution costs -- will want to buy or haul away what is recycled? During this recession: not necessarily.
