RE: [GreenYes] NYC Recycling -- plastic

[Helena Meryman <meryman@rsapc.com>]

NYC goes to some great and ridiculous lengths to help us identify what
plastics are recyclable by describing individual items. e.g. salad bar
containers like this drawing are , like this drawing are not.  (obviously
there's a lot left to interpretation, wonder and bewilderment)

My personal informal polling and impromptu quizzes (holding container, is it
? or isn't it?) has shown that the general public has no idea which are ,
which are not.

The big question is : why doesn't NYC just say " we recycle #1 & #2 and
everything else should be thrown away because it just fouls up the waste
stream." ??  Nearly everything is stamped with the triangle and number,
those that aren't I think (not sure) are 7.

I wonder if the inflated recycling rates as measured by collection tonnage
(this was brought up by the glass discussion) is the motivation behind this
ridiculous and needlessly complicated public information scheme.

Helena
******************************************
To post to the greenyes list,
email to: greenyes@grrn.org

Subscription information for
this list is available here:
http://www.grrn.org/general/greenyes.html
******************************************