Do Recycle. Don’t Relax

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I have two quick things to say about recycling, and these are narrowly focused comments, but please feel free to discuss the issue more broadly in the comments, because I’m writing something more detailed and you can possibly influence that.

1) Do recycle. We have seen a handful of recent reports on authoritative (supposedly) media (like public radio) explaining how the entire recycling industry has collapsed and all the recycling goes into the trash, so YOU should therefore put your recycling in the trash as well. This is INCORRECT at several levels. More on that later. The short version: Let the recycling company decide what gets put in the trash. Your information will never be accurate or up to date compared to theirs.

2) Don’t feel too good about recycling, even if you do it all the time. It isn’t enough to save the planet. Do more. Now. More than that even.

Have you read the breakthrough novel of the year? When you are done with that, try:

In Search of Sungudogo by Greg Laden, now in Kindle or Paperback
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8 thoughts on “Do Recycle. Don’t Relax

  1. What the hell happened to this blog? Where did everyone go? Wow? Desertphile? Cosmicomics? John Mashey?

    1. Sadly, it’s not just here. Deltoid, Greenfyre, Eli’s, Sou’s – a lot of the voices have been quiet or silenced. I’m much quieter myself, in part because I have work and a property to maintain, food to grow, and kids…

      And a realisation that we’re headed for a hard landing, that at best we can only soften it slightly, and my energy is now best spent acting locally because that’ll make the biggest difference to my community and family.

  2. Greg, a thousand times this! There are rumblings that NY and other states have already started looking at how to incentivize new recycling programs and providers. My wife and I are actually starting to recycle more things like chip bags and other foil lined packaging, its a bit more work because they have to be collected and mailed somewhere but I think it’ll get easier over time. I am also looking for a good way to recycle bicycle tires and tubes.

  3. This is a more important post than many might realise, and worth repeating, so…

    Recycle, do more – much more – and do it yesterday.

    Anything less is not good enough.

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