Really how well does being eco-friendly work with the masses?

[Mr Slugger]

Just curious on what you all think on this issue.

Now here's the deal there's the ultra environmental people, who recycle everything and try everything they can to reduce their carbon footprint. Then there's the people that don't give a crap, and then there's people like me. I try and will do what I can, but I won't bend over backward to be eco-friendly.

I sort my plastic, cardboard and paper. They go in the recycle bin every week. I don't recycle glass because my town doesn't want to pick it up, and I don't have the time or desire to take it to the dump. I recycle what I can, but once the recycle bin is full it goes in the trash.... because my town will only pick up the recyclables if it's in the recycle bin, and to get another one they want to charge me $20. So once it's full it all goes in the trash. I'd actually recycle more if they'd just take it in a cardboard box, which they'd recycle, but they don't take it take way. What's worse though is one of the town's I work in though actually charges you to recycle
I'd take the computers I strip to the dump, but they want to charge me $30 to drop them off there, which is what it costs me to have a 8 yard dumpster picked up from our store, which I could throw maybe 50+ computers into before it would be full. So they do there, because I throw maybe 1 a month away, and in reality there's no electronics left, just metal.
Then there's are those bulbs. Those wonderful energy saving bulbs that take about a half hour to brighten up before you can see nicely, so you end up leaving them on far longer than you would the old fashion bulbs. And then there's the mercury that's in those new bulbs, which are haz mat. So you're supposed to take them to the dump to be disposed of. Of course here the haz mat stuff isn't handled by the local dump, you have to go to the transfer station, which is a couple town over on the one day a month they handle the haz mat stuff. So in reality they end up in the trash.
Now I mean I'm not all bad of course. I do use the energy saver bulbs, but I wonder whether the fact that I leave the bulbs on longer and then fact that I toss the mercury bulbs into the trash does more damage to the environment than the damage done to create the extra energy to power an older bulb?
And as I said I toss computer shell in the trash. I strip the parts. The parts are usually used to make frankenstein computers, and they're sent back into service. I'd give the shells to people, but scrapers don't want them because they're worthless. The electronics I get rid of in one way or another so I'd say maybe 10% of the computer actually hits the dump. But charging people $30 to get rid of it usually means it'll end up in a dumpster, or on the side of the road. Either way it ends up 100% in the dump.
And I know people that create way more recyclables than I do that end up in the trash as well, because of town's rules, etc.

So I'm just curious on your thoughts? I mean like I'll be honest. I'd love to throw recycle everything if I could curbside. I'd throw solar panels on my root if my $25,000 investment would do more than cut my electric bill by $25-40 a month. I'd drive a hybrid if I didn't have to spend $8,000 more to get a car that could handle what my regular car can do (I carry lots of weight in my car)

[kiwi]

I will always go with an eco friendly product over a conventional providing the cost isn't prohibitive and the quality is comparible.

Our household lives in an area that recycles almost everything except for waxed cardboard so we don't buy anything in it. Glass, plastic (even bags), news papers/flyers, tetrapak containers and tins are curbside once a week. Anything you buy with a deposit you can return to a depot and get your money back on.

When I get my own garden I will compost but I seriously want one of these for christmas indoor composter. I grew my own food a lot in Auckland because our growing season is so long and my mum loved vege patch food. I had a compost there and it really makes me upset to see organic matter going in the garbage.
There isn't a lot we can do while we are renting but when we finally build our house we are going completely off grid, its long been an ambition of mine to be self sufficient.

When we were up north we tried out those cfl bulbs but they would cut out after a month or so, our apartment is only 40 metres away from a train track and dollar store lightbulbs lasted much longer than the cfl's at $5 a pop.

[Fryk]

It almost sounds like the town in OP's area are setting up these programs to fail by tacking on ridiculous, meaningless rules to recycling. That way, when people get fed up with the recycling program, they can say "Well, we tried, but no one here wants to recycle."

[protege]

Damn. That sounds like my borough's recycling program. Several years back, they took everything--glass, aluminum cans, plastic, newspapers, etc. Then they decided that because they weren't making a "profit" on the newspaper...they'd quit collecting it. Now they turn around and bitch about the newspapers that occasionally litter the sidewalks

As for me, I actually throw out very little. All of the plastic bottles, cans, and paper gets recycled. Since the borough no longer takes paper, it all gets taken to one of the local charities. They've put up paper dumpsters across town--if they want my paper, cardboard, and catalogs...they can have them.

When I scrap a computer, it's broken down into its various component--the motherboard, drives, RAM, hard drives, etc. What I can reuse, gets put into more deserving causes. Complete "refurbished" machines, are given away to charity. What I can't reuse, gets scrapped. Those parts get broken down further--the aluminum and plastic bits (cases, buttons, etc.) go into the recycling bin. All wiring usually gets reused, along with the mounting hardware.

I don't have solar panels on the roof, but my house is pretty efficient. When I'm not home, the A/C is off (windows opened), and the furnace is set around 62 F. I don't get cold to begin with, so I can't see why running the climate control units when I'm not home...or curled up in bed under the blankets.

Speaking of that, when I had my furnace replaced, I chose to upgrade it. I now have a very efficient unit! Along those lines, I've fitted those swirly bulbs into all of my light fixtures. Say what you will about them, but after putting them in...I saw my electric bill literally drop! 3 years on, only one of those bulbs has failed.

As for hybrid vehicles, the Toyota Prius is an interesting idea. However, I'd never buy one. Too expensive, at least locally. They still list for well over the price of a fully-loaded Corolla, and in some places, a base-model Camry. Why, exactly, would I pay more for a vehicle that despite claims, doesn't get that much better mileage than a Corolla to begin with? Plus, no matter what they claim, you'll never "save" money on it, until the car is paid off. Also, those things are expensive to maintain--think about it, instead of one engine, you have two. As such, many shops refuse to work on those cars, forcing you to visit a dealer.

Along those lines, some of you know that I've 'recycled' another car. That is, I've put my 1969 MGB GT back on the road. Sure, I've had to deal with the "envirowackjobs" about it. They all think that old = bad and/or poor fuel economy. Yes, the car is 40 years old. But, it gets much better mileage than you'd think--about 25/30. Not bad at all. Oh, and when the engine was rebuilt, I had it fitted with an "unleaded" cylinder head. No leaded gasoline used here, folks!

I should mention that the emissions controls have been deactivated. Well, most of them--I still have the fuel tank canister (to trap stray gas vapors) in place--but the underhood stuff (charcoal cylinder and its associated hoses) have been yanked. Nothing I can really say, is that most of those parts simply aren't available...and because the car isn't driven 24/7, any pollution increase is rather tiny.

Of course, when I mention how that building a new car eats up a crapload of energy (plus the pollution involved), they can't really answer that one. They can't figure out that the energy involved putting the MG together was accounted for years ago...and if I'd scrap it, more would get used up in scrapping it, as well as making its replacement.

Getting back on topic here, I always try to find a "eco-friendly" solution. But, some of the alternatives just suck. I'm speaking about those "water based" cleaning solutions. They simply aren't as good as the older varieties, yet are more expensive because of the "enviro" factor. Sorry, but if it takes multiple applications to remove grease spots on my stove, forcing to buy more (and dispose of more empty containers!) how is that environmentally friendly?

[AFPheonix]

It almost sounds like the town in OP's area are setting up these programs to fail by tacking on ridiculous, meaningless rules to recycling. That way, when people get fed up with the recycling program, they can say "Well, we tried, but no one here wants to recycle."

That's just it. To make the masses become eco-friendly, social programs have to make it worth your average citizen's while to do so. This includes good planning of roads, making it safe for pedestrians and bicyclists, changing how we zone property so people don't have to drive far or at all to get to the grocery store, etc.
Portland has done this really well. I'm lucky to live around a city that really does think about this sort of thing.