Hundreds of US cities are killing or scaling back their recycling programs | Hacker News Reader

Hundreds of US cities are killing or scaling back their recycling programs

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18 pointshoward9419 comments

Honestly, in terms of house hold waste, aluminum is the material that makes sense to recycle.

I often wonder about that. We recycle as much as we can, but I would like to know more about which things I put in the recycle bin are easily recycled. I've always assumed that I can feel less guilty about the metal I put in the bin than the plastic. What about cardboard? What about cardboard cartons like milk and juice? What is the best packaging to get meat in?

Read recently only about 30% of aluminum can sheet aluminum is from recycled aluminum cans. So recycled cans are piling up waiting for prices to go back up.

Aluminum has more applications than cans. How many cans are recycled into aircraft or cars?

That’s the thing, aircraft mfgs (and possibly car) prefer new aluminum to Al made from recycled cans (maybe getting impurities out is too expensive?)

Aluminum cans are poor quality metal. The tabs to open them however, are much better. DIY people that melt down metals avoid aluminum cans because of all the slag produced when melting.

I doubt there's anything wrong with the metal; the problem with cans is that they have a coating on the inside to keep the liquid out of contact with bare aluminum. Obviously, it's pretty hard to separate the two without melting the can completely.

The outside of the can, of course, has paint on it.

The tabs are pure aluminum without any protective coating or paint.

This will sound like it’s made up but it’s not. When I lived in Seattle a couple years ago (Belltown), my apartment building had a policy of no recyclables or things that are harmful to the environment in the trash.

It was somehow enforced by the city. I didn’t think too much of it until they fined all the tenants because someone was putting stuff in the trash they weren’t supposed to. The city actually hired people to dig in the trash and figure out where it came from.

I lived in Seattle. I know they did this when composting became required, and if they saw recyclables or compost materials through your trash bag they could fine you. They were not supposed to be opening your trash bags though.

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