this post was submitted on 20 Jan 2024
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[–] skyspydude1@lemmy.world 2 points 10 months ago (1 children)

Do poorer people have to just not have their bins collected? Or make a choice about whether things get recycled?!

Yup. As always, it's very expensive to be poor, and you wind up having to haul stuff to the dump yourself, taking the time, fuel, etc to do it.

I didn't pay for recycling with Waste Management, because I knew that 95% of it would go to landfill anyway, so why bother? It's literally just a way for people to greenwash their disposable lifestyle and WM profits off it.

If you take it to a refuse & recycling centre yourself (I assume those exist with public access), do you have to pay for that too?!

Yes. Even in my town, there's still an additional fee for taking certain things to the disposal/recycling center. It's only a couple of dollars, but it's also mostly for stuff that's hazmat.

[–] Zoboomafoo@slrpnk.net 3 points 10 months ago (1 children)

I understand not feeling like it's worth the bother to pay for recycling, but aluminum cans and glass are infinitely recyclable.

It's a real shame that plastic makes the whole process seem worthless

[–] skyspydude1@lemmy.world 2 points 10 months ago* (last edited 10 months ago) (1 children)

Fortunately, my state of Michigan has a seperate program for bottles and cans, and I make damn sure those never go to landfill. Something like 97% of those are recycled here. The only other "recyclable" waste we really had would have been plastics, so like you said there was really no reason. I had a seperate bin for non-returnable glass/steel/aluminum that I'd bring over to a community recycling center every once in a while, so it's not like I was throwing everything out. I still tried my best, but it just really made no sense to pay that much per month for a bin that we'd manage to fill maybe twice a year.

I put in far, far more effort than most to minimize my waste, but there's always a point where it's just not worth it unfortunately.

[–] Zoboomafoo@slrpnk.net 1 points 10 months ago (2 children)

You mean you save bottles and cans for that sweet, sweet 10 cent deposit?

And good on you for doing what you can.

[–] skyspydude1@lemmy.world 2 points 10 months ago

Absolutely. If I drink something returnable, I'm holding onto it for dear life. I'll be damned if I'm giving them to my company

[–] Trainguyrom@reddthat.com 1 points 10 months ago

Iowa and Illinois also do that. I live in rural Wisconsin but I know people who will collect their bottles and cans until they have gigantic bins full and drive them to a neighboring state to redeem them (usually as part of trip to a larger city for shopping)