Re: [greenyes] Decomposition in Landfills

[OrionCA <orionca@no.address>]

On Tue, 27 Apr 2004 11:40:29 -0600, you wrote:

>And not only do they guard the dumpster at their sites, they have locally
>threatened litigation if the material is scavenged once it hits the big hole
>in the ground we call the landfill. The standard response from the Wal Marts
>of the world is that they believe donating these goods will engender
>unwanted competition and missed sales opportunities.
>

The "official reason" is that allowing people to scavenge from their
dumpsters and the landfills creates a liability issue for the owners.
If you fall and break your neck pulling a lamp out of my dumpster,
your family sues me.  Part of it is the competition concern, too.

>The fact that they are willing to bury these dollars further points to the
>most basic problem with the mega-retailer, they sell junk....engineered
>obsolescence.....my favorite example: a dish drying rack for $2.99 (what a
>deal) that you will replace in six months when it falls apart, so you buy
>another, and another, and another because it was only $2.99!

"planned obsolescence", yes.

>Lowest Prices means one thing to me, cheapest goods.
>
>All y'all out there on this list should be outraged not because they
>landfill unsold merchandise, but because everything they sell is guaranteed
>to be landfilled soon after purchase. The business model of the mega
>retailer is based on this very practice....you have to keep the people
>coming back for more....how do you bring them back....sell them junk in the
>first place and make the buyer feel all warm and fuzzy because they got such
>a great deal and they will be satisfied with pitching it six months later.
>
>And how about Plastic Bag Recycling? You are truly fortunate if your local
>discount chain accomplishes this seemingly impossible task. Maybe I have
>been living in the few places where they bury all the bags they collect, or
>maybe the recycling of them is the anomaly, but I have yet to find a store
>who accepts the bags out front who isn't sending them straight to the
>compactor out back.
>
>I have many issues with the ubiquitous discount chains; from bull dozing
>local zoning and land use regs to the complete disregard for resource
>responsibility.....outrage can be born of almost everything they do, so
>really do not be surprised when the junk they didn't sell ends up
>buried.....at least they're not passing the disposal cost onto the people
>who can afford it the least!

You have to learn to how to apply the WIIFM principle:  "What's In It
For Me?"  There's no point in asking a major corporation to do
something nice for the sake of doing something nice - even if the
board is made up of saints they have to answer to their stockholders
who are usually more concerned with quarterly dividends than saving
the environment and they'll be kicked out in favor of less
environmentally-friendly board members if they can't show how it helps
the bottom line.  

Take the TDP plant in Carthage, MMO.  It converts 200T/day of turkey
offal and other sewage from ConAgra's  Butterball Turkey Plant there
into biodiesel and fertilizer.  ConAgra sells the idea to its
shareholders because not only are they making a small profit from the
sale of the oil to a local power plant they're not paying landfill
fees on the garbage anymore.  If it cost them more to run than they
are saving they'd probably shut it down and go back to the old method.
--
I'm on a journey in search of myself.
If I get back first, let me know that I'm 
looking for myself and don't let me leave.