NJ Statewide plastic bag ban

km1125 said:
It's crazy that the bags are SO thin that you can't put more than a couple items in any one of them, so you need 4x as many bags just to get the groceries. On top of that, for anything even SLIGHTLY heavy you have to double-bag them so they don't rip open.
Click to expand...
I hate 'em!
 
tdschafer said:
We already have the plastic bag ban here in NY. What really gets me is when you go to Dunkin or Starbucks to get an Iced Cappuccino and it comes in a huge plastic cup & lid but with a lousy paper straw that turns to mush in minutes. We only recycle #1 & #2 plastics in my town so of course the cups are usually #5......makes no sense to me.
Click to expand...
You must be in Suffolk, like me. The paper straws are awful. But my local DD started using a compostable straw made from corn that doesn't dissolve right away.

My town stopped taking #5's for about 3 years, but started up again.
 
TBH, since the plastic bag "ban" (ok, more like charging $.05 per bag) there is a lot less litter. My wife and I regularly do trash walks and pick up the garbage asshole throw out their windows in our neighborhood. We used to see a lot of those plastic .05 mil bags in the bushes, trees, etc. Not so much now.

But I certainly do miss being able to reuse them for trash cans at home.
 
b_arrington said:
You must be in Suffolk, like me. The paper straws are awful. But my local DD started using a compostable straw made from corn that doesn't dissolve right away.

My town stopped taking #5's for about 3 years, but started up again.
Click to expand...
Yes, I am right up the road from you in Miller Place. I miss using those bags for trash cans as well! So now I buy plastic bags for our trash cans and the environment loses again....
 
tdschafer said:
Yes, I am right up the road from you in Miller Place. I miss using those bags for trash cans as well! So now I buy plastic bags for our trash cans and the environment loses again....
Click to expand...
We probably go to the same Stop and Shop in Miller Place - I'm in Mount Sinai near the border of MP.

I guess the consolation of buying the plastic liners is that they are less likely to be blowing out in the wind. And it eventually gets turned in the energy. 100% of residential garbage collected by Town of Brookhaven goes to a waste to energy facility in Westbury. Then the ash is landfilled. There's probably a complete lifecycle analysis to be done on the cost of buying the bag, trucking it to Westbury, burning it, and trucking back the ash. But it seems to have net environmental impacts as a solid waste management strategy.
 
b_arrington said:
We probably go to the same Stop and Shop in Miller Place - I'm in Mount Sinai near the border of MP.

I guess the consolation of buying the plastic liners is that they are less likely to be blowing out in the wind. And it eventually gets turned in the energy. 100% of residential garbage collected by Town of Brookhaven goes to a waste to energy facility in Westbury. Then the ash is landfilled. There's probably a complete lifecycle analysis to be done on the cost of buying the bag, trucking it to Westbury, burning it, and trucking back the ash. But it seems to have net environmental impacts as a solid waste management strategy.
Click to expand...
…or they are just being woke
 
Blueone said:
…or they are just being woke
Click to expand...
No, I don't think the waste to energy as part of a solid waste energy plan is "woke" They've been doing it for like 15-20 years, far longer that "woke" has been a term.

Partly it was a money saving measure. The landfill is a major source of revenue for the town and only has so much space. If they were still landfilling raw garbage it would have been closed years ago. The ash takes up way less space, so it will remain in operation until 2024. After that, town garbage (or the ash) has to be trucked off Long Island. At that time waste management for the town will go from a net revenue generator to a net expense.

I'm all for a good solid waste management plan. It facilitates generally clean and litter-free waterways on which to boat. I look at areas like Haiti, Brazil, Indonesia, or African nations with tons of refuse in their water. It's horrid, and stems from in effective or non-existent solid waste plans.
 
Njlarry said:
All plastic bags are reusable. I reuse all of mine for trash and kitty litter. Now I will buy more plastic bags. Its not about the enviroment it is about power. The montgomery county md bag tax goes to the cronies of the politicians not the trees.
Click to expand...
There was a study and consumers buying more plastic bags was indeed the result…
 
Banning plastic bags is a joke…. Not unlike straws…give me a break…. And don’t give me the recycle story it’s a front as well…. For example in Indiana or my section of it you have to pay to recycle…. No one pays on my street but me…. And I swear they dump it anyway…with me paying why aren’t they telling me all the wonderful things they are doing with my beer cans so I keep paying?….. in 15 years not a peep
 
Blueone said:
Banning plastic bags is a joke…. Not unlike straws…give me a break…. And don’t give me the recycle story it’s a front as well…. For example in Indiana or my section of it you have to pay to recycle…. No one pays on my street but me…. And I swear they dump it anyway…with me paying why aren’t they telling me all the wonderful things they are doing with my beer cans so I keep paying?….. in 15 years not a peep
Click to expand...

The truth is very little post consumer waste gets recycled. You may have heard this logic before but if what was being recycled was financially worth recycling it would at least be free or you would get payed to do it. Otherwise you are paying to recycle some of your waste…

I read a study, now long buried because it doesn’t fit the narrative, that if you account for the recycling truck, the employees, and the entire recycling footprint, the recycling of post consumer waste caused more pollution than it saved…
 
Blueone said:
For example in Indiana or my section of it you have to pay to recycle…. No one pays on my street but me…. And I swear they dump it anyway…with me paying why aren’t they telling me all the wonderful things they are doing with my beer cans so I keep paying?….. in 15 years not a peep
Click to expand...
Blue, why are you the only one on your street who pays?
 
MonacoMike said:
The truth is very little post consumer waste gets recycled. You may have heard this logic before but if what was being recycled was financially worth recycling it would at least be free or you would get payed to do it. Otherwise you are paying to recycle some of your waste…

I read a study, now long buried because it doesn’t fit the narrative, that if you account for the recycling truck, the employees, and the entire recycling footprint, the recycling of post consumer waste caused more pollution than it saved…
Click to expand...
Exactly….. I create a ton of cardboard at work…to me it’s a shame to throw it in the dumpster …plus it fills up the dumpster with no weight…. I have looked at it both ways….. compact it and put it in a land fill or bail it and recycle… investment is a compactor or a bailer plus floor space for the bailer…. factor in labor and the compactor wins because no one is paying anything for bailed cardboard.

good example of where are the green people….. why aren’t they subsidizing cardboard recyclers ….creating jobs and helping the environment….. it’s a joke
 
Blueone said:
Exactly….. I create a ton of cardboard at work…to me it’s a shame to throw it in the dumpster …plus it fills up the dumpster with no weight…. I have looked at it both ways….. compact it and put it in a land fill or bail it and recycle… investment is a compactor or a bailer plus floor space for the bailer…. factor in labor and the compactor wins because no one is paying anything for bailed cardboard.

good example of where are the green people….. why aren’t they subsidizing cardboard recyclers ….creating jobs and helping the environment….. it’s a joke
Click to expand...
As an aside, we added a recycling container this year for that reason. It was killing me to throw away good cardboard into a landfill. It costs a few dollars extra and we don't fill the container each week -- probably every two weeks, but at least it gets reused. It also handles the phonebook sized paper cataloge we seem to get every month. :)

Now I just need to find someone to take our non-standard material skids.
 
Some of the problems with cardboard are the included contamination. Certain inks and finishes can ruin a bale, as can staples and tape.
 
We don't have a recycle program where we live but the local trash disposal company has taken it upon itself to put about 10 large box-type containers in a parking lot near us that collect only cardboard. It's amazing how quickly they fill and need to be emptied.

Thanks Amazon for all those cardboard boxes.
 
I have a rather large collection of Amazon cardboard boxes of all sizes, Don't really know why I keep them, I guess they're too nice and square to throw away. I use them in my shop to lose things in.....when I sell all my excess on ebay, I'm all Set :]

They send me an item the size of a quarter, in a 12x24 box....I get nervous the box is empty till I find it.

A stellar green company in its own mind......
 
We have 3 garbage trucks come by on Mondays. Regular garbage, yard waste (about 9 months a year) and recycling (plastic, cardboard and paper). I use the garbage and recycling weekly and yard waste about once a month because I mulch grass clippings and I can blow my leaves into a unmowed tree area behind my house. Just took out the recycle and garbage bins.
 
I don’t think recycling is just about the pollution in the air. It’s mostly about filling landfills imo. And it’s not necessarily a money making business, the fee is make up the difference and make it worth the time for the waste companies to pick up the recycle on the second trip.
MonacoMike said:
The truth is very little post consumer waste gets recycled. You may have heard this logic before but if what was being recycled was financially worth recycling it would at least be free or you would get payed to do it. Otherwise you are paying to recycle some of your waste…

I read a study, now long buried because it doesn’t fit the narrative, that if you account for the recycling truck, the employees, and the entire recycling footprint, the recycling of post consumer waste caused more pollution than it saved…
Click to expand...
 
You must log in or register to reply here.

Forum statistics

Threads
113,272
Messages
1,429,748
Members
61,146
Latest member
bmel
Back
Top