Reasons Our Recycling System Is Broken And Crappy | Cracked.com
Materials and Waste 📍
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The Plastic Myth and the Misunderstood Triangle
The myth created around plastic recycling has been one of simplicity. We look for the familiar triangle arrows, then pop the waste in the recycling bin so it can be reused.
But the true purpose of those triangles has been misunderstood by the general public ever since their invention in the 1980s.
These triangles were actually created by the plastics industry and, according to a report provided to them in July 1993, were creating "unrealistic expectations" about what could be recycled. But they decided to keep using the codes.
COVID-19 trashed the recycling dream
he coronavirus pandemic has sparked a rush for plastic.
From Wuhan to New York, demand for face shields, gloves, takeaway food containers and bubble wrap for online shopping has surged. Since most of that cannot be recycled, so has the waste.
But there is another consequence. The pandemic has intensified a price war between recycled and new plastic, made by the oil industry. It’s a war recyclers worldwide are losing, price data and interviews with more than two dozen businesses across five continents show.
Melting Cans With The Mini Metal Foundry
For as long as I can remember, I've been intrigued by the idea of melting metal and making things with it. The problem has always been that it was out of reach or required really expensive equipment.
In this project I experimented with 10 different prototypes, to develop a reusable backyard foundry that melts aluminum soda cans easily and safely. I tested different refractory recipes, different containers, different setting for blowing air, and different types of makeshift crucibles.
I tried various ratios of portland cement, sand, perlite, plaster of paris, water, and even kitty litter. For containers, I experimented with clay pots, plastic buckets, no container, cinderblocks, and a galvanized steel pail.
Hidden cameras and secret trackers reveal where Amazon returns end up | CBC News
It's safe to say that online shoppers like the promise of easy — and even better, free — returns. But it may surprise consumers to learn what can actually happen to all those unwanted items.
A Marketplace investigation into Amazon Canada has found that perfectly good items are being liquidated by the truckload — and even destroyed or sent to landfill. Experts say hundreds of thousands of returns don't end up back on the e-commerce giant's website for resale, as customers might think.
Marketplace journalists posing as potential new clients went undercover for a tour at a Toronto e-waste recycling and product destruction facility with hidden cameras. During that meeting, a representative revealed they get "tons and tons of Amazon returns," and that every week their facility breaks apart and shreds at least one tractor-trailer load of Amazon returns, sometimes even up to three to five truckloads.