Chris Owens wrote:

Check to see what they do with the paper first. Many communities
take stuff from the recycling boxes straight to the local
landfill.


That's a myth.

While I won't say there has never been a community that has ever dumped
certain materials when the market dipped, many states have laws that put
caps on the amount of "recycled" materials that can be sent to the
landfill, and that cap is usually barely enough for legitimately spoiled
items.

If "recycled" goods could just be dumped into the landfill with no
controls, there would be no resistance from the cities when people ask
for additional materials to be collected. You don't hear: "Scrap wood?
Sure! We'll add it to the list! After all, we'll just turn around and
dump it anyway!" What you do hear is: "Scrap wood? Sorry, but there
currently is no market, we don't have the storage space to keep it until
there is a market, nor do we have the money to pay someone to recycle it
into something."

Essentially you can file the myth of recycling goods going straight to
the landfill right next to the myth that hospitals declare organ donors
dead sooner than others so they can harvest more organs. Just more scare
stories spread by people who can't stand it when someone else does
something good.

--
Warren H.

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