Thursday, September 25, 2008

Will monitoring make people live green?

I've been reading that some places with large recylcing programs and garbage separation have bylaws to regulate how much recyclable waste can be included in regular garbage. SOme are as low as 5%. Apparently, if you put too many recyclables in the garbage you could get a fine. I also read about "Eco-towns" in the U.K. having everything monitored to ensure it is being eco-friendly.

All this monitoring and regulation makes me wonder if people would be more apt to particpate or will everyone just be compelled and scared into it without thinking. Frankly, I'm getting tired of recycling and separating recyclables. I hardly buy packaged stuff but I seem to have no shortage of recyclables to be put in the appropriate bin. I'd rather see more thought be put into the front-end of the production stream and less focus on waste recovery.

3 comments:

Adelaide said...

great post!

BBC said...

Monitoring will always be required to make people recycle properly.

Unless you want to just dump everything into one container and let them sort it out at their end.

That can be done, but it's very expensive for all the machines and extra help. So how much more are you willing to pay for that?

I'd rather see more thought be put into the front-end of the production stream and less focus on waste recovery.

What in the heck are you buying? The neighbor and I share one 60 can and it gets emptied once a month and we have trouble filling it.

I buy stuff I'm going to use, not throw away, can't avoid the cans and such though, but here is a thought.

When you buy something, take it out of the packaging at the store and let them deal with with getting rid of it.

And then go get drunk and get laid, it won't fix the world but it will make you feel better.

Toxic World Blog said...

I'm talking about packaging and product design in general. I think we'll both agree that the majority of people are engaged in blind consumption without any thought. Since most rules and regulations are out there to protect people from themselves changing product design and packaging requirements up front would minimize our garbage/recycling problem later.