Your 7-step Guide to Plastics Recycling

As the following pagarraph from the Organic Trade Association( a reputable organization) notes, reducing our carbon footprint can include a lot more than simply recycling. In addition to what the OTA suggests I include a few of my personal favorites: don't buy products that come in plastic containers, choose glass instead; buy a good, reusable water bottle, buy reusable produce bags, buy in bulk, try to limit purchasing convenience food that is heavily processed and overpackage, say no to a fancy bag from a Mall store, try to limit trips to fast food places as they are HUGE contributors to climate change beginning with how their food is raised, ride your bike more, and lastly, vote with your dollar! Educate yourself on companies who have ideas and values that are akin to your own and support them. Climate Change News of the WeekWashington Post Reports Meat Eating is Huge Contributor' to Climate ChangeLast week, the Washington Post summarized a number of recent reports indicating that one of the best things you can do to reduce your carbon footprint or greenhouse gas pollution is to reduce your meat consumption. Here are some quick highlights:-A Carnegie Melon study found that the average American would benefit the planet more by being vegetarian one day per week than by switching to a totally local diet (heck, why not do both?).-A University of Chicago study found that switching to a vegan diet would have a bigger impact than trading your gas guzzler for a Prius.-The head of the United Nations Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change, recommended that people give up meat one day a week to take pressure off the atmosphere.-According to a 2006 United Nations report, livestock accounts for 18 percent of worldwide greenhouse gas emissions.Although we've reported similar studies in Organic Bytes over the years, it's refreshing to see a mainstream media outlet finally bring attention to the topic. Americans seem okay being told they should recycle, drive less, and weatherize their homes, but something short-circuits when you ask them to reduce their meat consumption.

Eric,The council sucelssfucly carries out millions, literally millions, of transactions every year. It also makes many mistakes as you might expect. As a councillor doing casework on behalf of residents I am often confronted by these mistakes and it is easy to fall into the mindset that everything the council does is crap when in fact the council does a lot of things very well a most of the time. I have been trying to record my direct experience of council services under the “customer services” heading to ensure that I keep some contact with reality. I am very happy to record negative experiences as they arise but also I want to record the many ordinary things that go right too. I am not complacent and I have lots of challenging conversations with officers demanding more and better for residents. It's called balance Eric. I will respond to your list in a posting later.

Good summary but I think we kid ourselves if we think recycling is the answer to environmental sustainability. We often forget the two "R" which always preceded recycling. First you reduce, then reuse, and lastly you recycle. Not the other way around. Recycling is only slightly better throwing stuff in the landfill. Some would argue than its even worse (ie "downcycling"). Recycled plastics are often of lower quality than virgin feedstocks - for instance, what if you have a mix of different colors but you want to produce a clear bottle. Also, the polymer chains of recycled plastics are shorter which results in lower output quality. There is no magic bullet here.