Plastic Recycling - Futile? (Greenville, Greenwood: neighborhood, buying, contractor)

[grannynancy]

I dutifully rinse and save my 1 and 2 plastics for recycling in the Greenville county bins and re-use as much of the other plastics as I can but everything I am seeing says...........honestly..........it still just winds up in the landfill. Greenville county takes all plastic containers but I gather nobody actually recycles polypropylene 5.

It is pretty hard to avoid buying a lot of things in plastics anymore but if it is just being landfilled, the water to rinse and the gas to drive to the convenience center is a total waste. I am wondering if it is even worth it.

Aluminum cans - ok fire departments
Cardboard-Ok convenience center
Glass-I gather that is maybe in Piedmont
Plastic? What is the true story.

Sadly I remember as a kid collecting glass bottles is how the pre-teen set made their money. 2 cents a bottle and we used the money to buy candy and comic books. Many years ago when they reused them. Back when milk came in glass bottles, then in paper cartons later and our lunches were in wax paper bags which at least you could re-use to make the sliding board real fast.

[UpstateJohn]

Originally Posted by grannynancy

I dutifully rinse and save my 1 and 2 plastics for recycling in the Greenville county bins and re-use as much of the other plastics as I can but everything I am seeing says...........honestly..........it still just winds up in the landfill. Greenville county takes all plastic containers but I gather nobody actually recycles polypropylene 5.

It is pretty hard to avoid buying a lot of things in plastics anymore but if it is just being landfilled, the water to rinse and the gas to drive to the convenience center is a total waste. I am wondering if it is even worth it.

Aluminum cans - ok fire departments
Cardboard-Ok convenience center
Glass-I gather that is maybe in Piedmont
Plastic? What is the true story.

Sadly I remember as a kid collecting glass bottles is how the pre-teen set made their money. 2 cents a bottle and we used the money to buy candy and comic books. Many years ago when they reused them. Back when milk came in glass bottles, then in paper cartons later and our lunches were in wax paper bags which at least you could re-use to make the sliding board real fast.

In all honesty its not unless its on a large scale. One problem is that its cost more to recycle plastics than to use virgin materials in a lot of cases. Not to mention the plastics that arent recyclable. That saran wrap in your drawer, closet or wherever, Nope. Well , sorta. It requires expensive air scrubbers and cleaners to be recycled. The wrap stores wrap meats with, some of the bags used for bread, I could go on but you get the point.

[heavymind]

I don't live in your area, but have the same sentiments and concerns. Unfortunately I think most recycling programs in the US are just masquerades to cover the truth which the OP stated in their first paragraph. "Greenwashing" is everywhere.
My small rural town waste management started with the blue recycling bins for some residential areas, because our city is "green", as marketed on the city website and endless tourism materials. The bins get dumped into the same trucks that pick up trash, supposedly into a separated part of the truck where it will be transported to a sorting facility someday, somewhere. Unlikely. It all gets dumped together and crushed for disposal in a distant landfill out of state.

Even China doesn't want our plastic waste anymore.

[Adam Cain]

I’ve been in a MRF and can confirm that curbside plastics are indeed sorted for shipment to a reprocessing facility.

Here’s a bale of polypropylene (someone was done with their blu-ray cases).

[wrat]

If you want recycles picked up in our town you PAY, in the trash it goes

[vistatiger]

I know Greenville stopped picking up the little blue curbside recycle totes by manpower in my area several years ago. That had to be timely and expensive to have someone pick up those little totes and manually dump them in the truck.

Greenwood county has the blue rolling curb containers and they are picked up separately every other week by a recycle truck with an automated arm. Totally separate from the trash pick up every week. Pretty sure it's included in the waste fee on your property tax and no extra charge. I have seen them in action in my Dad's neighborhood and it's fast and efficient with that automated truck arm.

[USNRET04]

Where is the recycling facility in Greenville County? I've had ours picked up for years by our private contractor. They have a special truck just for recycling but didn't know where they take this stuff to.