Solid Waste

Replacing plastic for glass and metal is a bad idea

There are some who want to replace single use plastics with single use aluminum or glass containers, noting the greater recycablity of both materials. But I think it’s a bad idea:

  • Glass and metal, once produced last forever in the environment.
  • A glass or metal object doesn’t just rot, it also doesn’t doesn’t burn. A discarded plastic bottle may be incinerated, burned in a burn barrel or campfire or be destroyed by a wildfire
  • Plastics, especially outside of a landfill have a much shorter life than metals or glass thanks to the combustible nature of hydrocarbons
  • Metals and glass discarded can lead to cuts in children and adults when they step on the glass, are working in the woods or swimming in the creek
  • Metals and glass discarded can puncture car tires both on and off the road
  • Metals and glass discarded can get into pasture and cause painful death from hardware disease in cows and other livestock
  • Traditional deposit for recycling programs do increase recycling rates but still don’t eliminate litter or even ensure most of the material is recycled
  • Recycling is great but even with glass and metal which is said to be 100% recyclable, material is lost when the metals and glass are melted down for reprocessing
  • Glass and metal makes a lot more sense with true rewash and reuse programs – like milk delivered by a milk man
  • Milk in glass is colder and purer
  • As would be other beverages such as soda or beer produced and distributed in reused growlers

Old Unopened Beer Car

Mill Seat Landfill, 1995 vs 2020

Mill Seat Landfill is owned by Monroe County and operated by Waste Management of New York, LLC. The facility is located on the western edge of Monroe County in the Town of Riga. Mill Seat Landfill was permitted in 1991 and began operation in 1993. In 2002, Monroe County partnered with Waste Management to operate the site. Waste Management is proud to partner with the towns of Riga and Bergen, the villages of Churchville and Bergen, as well as Monroe County.

Notable is how much of this landfill is surrounded by regulated wetlands, as shown in green and yellow on this map.

LEFT - Circa 1995, a few years after opening
RIGHT - Circa 2020, a contemporary aerial photo

Food Waste Composting Facilities In New York State

Nearby the state's population centers in upstate, there are several composting facilities for food waste, mostly from institutional generators like cafeterias and prisons. This year's state budget, contained language requiring food waste composting for large generators of waste, where facilities exist nearby.

Data Source: Composting - Solid Waste Management Facilities Map. https://data.ny.gov/Energy-Environment/Composting-Solid-Waste-Management-Facilities-Map/y4ic-kfv6

It Burns

Probably everybody should recycle.

This picture is inside a burning barrel from a farm not too far from where I live. While these people are truly nice people, as you can see they don't recycle. But can you blame them?

By burning they are reducing their waste down to almost nothing. And it's a pain to store and haul all these consumeristic extras to the landfill every couple of weeks.

Taken on Wednesday December 27, 2006 at Trash.