Also very important points to bring up, Moegreche. To answer myself from above. What if you got some sort of tax break or rebate for recycling "x" per amount each year. Then have less strict laws on recycling. Would that possibly work?
Ahh, but it was a tax deduction or rebate based on how much you recycle what would stop some corporate big wigs from buying a few metric tonnes of recyclable material from over seas for cheap and just recycling it through a business they own?
Well, we are speaking about individuals, not businesses. But if I think someone is going to take the time to gather up more recyclables in order to just get a larger rebate, then by all means do it! It is only helping out.
I don't think there would be anything wrong with rebates like that. Even if big business bought recyclables from overseas and recycled them here, that's not a bad thing. That would have to be crazy cheap for it to work, but if it did it would be no different than industries buying carbon-offsets from other companies because they cannot meet emissions standards. I suppose the only catch is how do you regulate and record that process? Would your trash get weighed and recorded every time it was picked up?
That could be possible to do, but probably difficult and expensive. It could change to simply participation in the recycling program and you could fall into set categories of recycling and get a rebate accordingly.
That would make it much more logistically possible. I like the rebate idea, as it seems that people are more likely to do what they're supposed to do if they're rewarded for doing it, rather than punished for not doing it.
Asherlee, why is it expensive to recycle where you live?
I fortunately live in a very active and eco-friendly community. I always know I am home when I see 5 hybrids in a row driving by... lol. But I think that if there was a law mandating some of the things that my community does by choice, that it would help people to recycle more.
For example, if by law they provided people with recycle bins for their home or apartment. It is very simple, and it may sound like a stupid suggestion, but we were provided a recycle bin for inside our apartment when we moved in and we use it all the time. Also, if complexes were forced to have different types of recycling option available. I lived in Hawaii last summer, and the complex I was in did not make it easy to recycle. The place I live in right now however, has a bunch of different bins for all different kinds of recycling.
I do not think that people should necessarily get fined for not recycling (although it isn't a bad idea), but I do think that it should be made easier for people.
rebates on bottles and cans could be widened to all states. ohio doesn't have a rebate program right now but several states do. i have friends in oregon and michigan who save beer cans for weeks and months then use the money to buy more beer! you could expand these programs to other recyclable materials as well. my town has free recycling, so its easy for me to do. i would pay more attention to it if i could get paid though! plus bums could pick up trash for money and keep the cities cleaner for free! people are more apt to do things for money.
I didn't realize that only some states did that. We do it here in California, but it is kind of a hassle (and we don't drink much soda), so we don't actually go in and get the rebates. But we still do recycle.
Well I live in Mississippi right now. That could explain enough. But it's hard to recycle here because first it costs to get the tiny bin to recycle in, then you have to go drop it off 30 minutes outside of our town which is a college town! The drive alone with gas is worth 2 dime bags...no one has hybrids here. It's the deep south and if you don't drive a truck you like the homosexuals. Feel me?
I think that it is needed that there be more chances to recyle. My school doesn't recycle, so I bring all my bottles home every day. I also think that companies should have the chance to recycle. I think that a law is unnessasary, but rewarding and making recylcling more easy than trash would be enough.
Recycling is one of the most wonderful human advancements, and we need to use it or all our resources, aquatic nature, other animals, and ultimatly humans will pay a huge price.
Turtles end up eating clear plastic bags that do not get recycled properly, and they look like jellyfish to them. It ends up blocking their stomachs and they starve to death... its really quite sad. That is why I try to use re-usable bags that some of the grocery stores put out now.
If the hole world recycled, then there would be alot of trees, which means alot more oxygen, but too much oxygen can make bugs grow huge, and by huge i mean like the size of our head.
