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Post by Clipper on Feb 13, 2013 18:27:33 GMT -5
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Post by dave on Feb 13, 2013 23:02:01 GMT -5
Yeah, but can you imagine the size of the pile of those used containers must be for the entire city of New York? And one doesn't have to be an environmentalist to appreciate that styrofoam boxes don't go away like paper and cardboard. Pretty soon they'll have to start reserving more land (or ocean bottom) just for styrofoam.
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Post by Clipper on Feb 13, 2013 23:47:48 GMT -5
They need to check out Burrow's Paper Company in Little Falls. When I used to haul paper and wet recycled paper pulp west to Ohio and Iowa, the plants that we hauled it to made it into a styrofoam like product that was used to make the clam shell packaging for Big Macs and other fast food. It is made using recycled paper and cornstarch among other things, and is biodegradable. There was a time when I hated hauling the wet pulp in winter. It would freeze to the floor of the trailer and when they took it off with a fork lift, the trailer floor would be covered with the frozen residue. They issued each driver and ice chopper/scraper and paid us $60 as a cleanout fee for scraping out the trailer. I found a truckstop that would rent me a salamander heater for $30. I would light the heater, pull the doors almost closed on the trailer, get in my bunk and take a two hour nap while the heater thawed the frozen pulp. Two hours later I would wake up well rested, open the doors and spend about 15 minutes sweeping the wet pulp into a pile and shoveling it into a dumpster with a grain scoop shovel. Couldn't beat that sort of work. I pretty much got paid $30 for taking a nap. LOL I only told one other driver about my secret for cleaning out the trailers.   |
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Post by Clipper on Feb 13, 2013 23:50:19 GMT -5
Yeah, but can you imagine the size of the pile of those used containers must be for the entire city of New York? And one doesn't have to be an environmentalist to appreciate that styrofoam boxes don't go away like paper and cardboard. Pretty soon they'll have to start reserving more land (or ocean bottom) just for styrofoam. Would they really have to reserve more land? I thought that was what New Jersey and Staten Island were created for.  |
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Post by clarencebunsen on Feb 14, 2013 6:29:39 GMT -5
Although I don't care much for Mayor Bloomberg but he does have a point. Expanded polystyrene is a problem in the waste stream. It doesn't break down in landfills. There aren't a lot of places that actually recycle it (the closest I could find to here is in NJ) and most require it to be clean of food residue.
I don't know of any viable alternatives however. I don't want one which will leak gravy on my car carpet and even I am not crazy enough to bring my own reusable containers to a restaurant. (Well I might be but my wife wouldn't let me.)
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Post by dave on Feb 14, 2013 10:57:55 GMT -5
CB, I wonder if the restaurant would use a container brought from home. I'm thinking health laws and all that.
And liability. If you got sick the next day, was it the restaurant's fault or your container? A restaurant owner might be concerned with that.
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Post by Clipper on Feb 14, 2013 11:49:52 GMT -5
Kathy already carries a small container or a zip loc in her purse for our Buffy. Before we eat our entree we have to cut up a little piece of our meat or fish and put it in the take home container for "her poodleness" ROFL.
I wonder what they would say when I arrived at the Chinese Buffet with my 10 gallon rubbermaid tote from Kmart and a small shovel for loading. They charge by weight. Do ya think my tote would fit on the little scale on the cashiers counter?
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Post by virgilgal on Feb 14, 2013 16:31:02 GMT -5
I hate to see more things legislated but truly the trash has to stop somewhere. I know I am no better than anyone else. I carry my cloth bags to the grocery store and forget to bring them in. In Ithaca people can bring empty shampoo bottles to fill from a big jug, their own glass jars to fill with peanut butter or honey and their own egg cartons for their eggs. Some folks have started carrying their own left over containers in earnest. I totally applaud this. Not sure how the concept of using your own for take out will go but where there's a will there's a way. In many states there is still no mandatory recycling. It makes me crazy that in 10 years my daughter has not recycled a single piece of paper, a can or a bottle but there isn't even a center near her. The other one that needs to be addressed is disposable diapers and, yes, even feminine products. Cost of disposable diapers for average 2 1/2 years until a baby is potty trained is about $2600.00 and the weight of those diapers in a landfill is estimated to be 2500#...Not sure about the mass but it must be pretty large. Cost of re-usable diapers, either washed at home or a diaper service is $400-700 less per year on average with no landfill waste. I know this may hurt some folks sensibilities to discuss it but while the output is considerably less per year in weight and volume for women's "hygiene" products, they are used for an average of 35-40 years per woman and that's a phenomenal cost and landfill space. There are a lot of re-usable products around for these too. At one time before they were much available I invested in a half dozen re-usables for about $50. I used them for about 4 years. I find some estimates online estimates of $200/year per woman for disposable products. Most disposable diapers and pads or tampons have some pretty toxic materials in them and I think there is a real health issue to consider even in their use alone.
It is unimaginable how much trash per year is getting packed away under the surface of the earth and vented for safety or burned or whatever. We really do need to get creative about it and do a better job.
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Post by Clipper on Feb 14, 2013 17:47:52 GMT -5
We don't have mandatory recycling here in Tennessee. We recycle but we have to take our own recyclables to a site about three miles away and put them in dumpsters provided for that purpose. Aluminum cans can be sold to a metal recycling place for scrap weight.
I recycle all our newspaper and cardboard, all of our plastic bottles, and metal cans. Aluminum cans I give to can drives to benefit charity. I simply got used to it after living in Utica for a while. At least by doing my own recycling, I don't have some trash hauler contract clown dumping the container on my lawn because I made a mistake and put something in the bucket that didn't belong there.
I doubt that you will ever see a move away from disposable diapers VG. Mother's now go into shock if you even suggest that they might use something like that. The same goes for sterilizing bottles. Heck, the young mothers today would think they were killed if they had to boil and sterilize glass bottles on the stove top. I remember spending an hour or more, washing, sterilizing, mixing the formula, and filling bottles each evening when our boys were young. Playtex nursers with the plastic bags were a godsend when they came along.
God, I would not want to be a parent going back to the days of rinsing poopy diapers in the john and washing a whole diaper pail full of ammonia emitting dirties.
It is hard to even find cloth diapers any more. I bought a package at Christmas while shopping at Babies R Us for my grand daughter's present, to be used to polish my truck. I always used to use them to polish my car years ago.
When and if they go back to using reusable feminine products, I will never use a public laundromat again. I will be using a laundromat while Kathy is in the hospital later in the month, but I would wash clothes by hand in a motel bathtub before I would put my clothes in a washer that some strange unknown woman had washed her feminine goodies in.
I can't even envision the amount of styrofoam generated by NYC in a day. They have enough trash problems with ALL their trash. I know that they send some of it by train all the way to the Carolina's for disposal. Years ago we used to end up with it on flat bed trucks for a back haul when we delivered a load in the NYC and New Jersey area. They used to bale the stinking stuff and we would be forced to haul it to western Pennsylvania to a dump. It was rotten and they loaded it on rodent infested places in Jersey.
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Post by clarencebunsen on Feb 14, 2013 19:34:17 GMT -5
It turns out my wife is fine with not using foam take away containers. However she says that rather than my Tupperware suggestion she wants her leftovers in aluminum foil folded into a swan. It's possible she is kidding me.
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Post by Clipper on Feb 15, 2013 0:15:21 GMT -5
It was not that many years ago when foil wrapped left overs and a doggy bag were standard. As long as it is not acid based food like tomato sauce I would not object to using foil for take out.
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Post by dave on Feb 19, 2013 22:18:23 GMT -5
Wow, Clip, I'm surprised VG didn't come back on your laundromat comment and ask you why you thought a woman's excretions were any worse than your shorts. Hahahaha!
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Post by Clipper on Feb 20, 2013 1:48:00 GMT -5
I think the biggest difference is that my shorts don't go in the wash with any "excretions" in them. I try my damnedest not to "excrete" in my shorts, LOL.  |
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Post by clarencebunsen on Feb 24, 2013 16:55:15 GMT -5
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Post by Clipper on Feb 24, 2013 18:36:10 GMT -5
I think that the city hall snack bar and vending area should put a limit of 3 inches in diameter for a bagel, and only 1 oz of lox or cream cheese allowed.
Does this liberal asswipe have nothing better to do in a city the size of NY than to limit portion sizes and take out containers? Geez, get a life Bloomy!
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