Looney Labs EcoFluxx Mailing list Archive

[Eco] Re: Questioning Paper Recycling

  • Frommadlab.rabbit.krishaven@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxx
  • DateSun, 28 Jan 2007 10:29:55 +0900
Okay, I'll step up to the plate on this one and get the discussion rolling.

My credentials, such as they are:

* Member of the Western Australian Greens party for a year a couple
  of years back.
* Subscriber to ReNew magazine, by the Alternative Technology
  Association.  http://www.ata.org.au
* Subscriber to "NaturalPower" (at 100%) from the local power provider
http://www.synergyenergy.com.au/Residential_Segment/Green_Energy/NaturalPower.html
* And going back a bit; In primary school, I created "World Preservers",
  a pro-environment group for kids.

The first thing I'll do is agree that recycling is the least desirable
of Reduce, Reuse and Recycle.  You're better off to buy reusable
shopping bags like http://www.onyabags.com.au/ (I have half a dozen) and
use them over and over, than to bring your bags back to the
supermarket's recycling box.  And if you do end up with plastic shopping
bags, you're also better to reuse them yourself, either for moving
things around or as a bin liner or whatever than, again, to have them
recycled.

But there are several reasons to recycle rather than just throw things out:

* Not all countries have space for landfill.  While the US (and
Australia) have plenty of land, many European (and Asian) counties do
not.  Obviously, recycling is necessary for them.
* While recycling generally isn't currently economically sustainable,
ongoing investment is needed to bring the costs down.  You can't just
start an industry with everything fully evolved and highly efficient.
Solar cells didn't just spring into being at 20% efficiency.
* "Renewable" comes in shades.  Monocrop horticulture is notorious for
leaching all the goodness out of soil.  Also, with increasing
population, productive land is increasingly needed for food crops.
There may not always be land for trees just to be turned into paper.

So, that's my opening salvo.

Yours, Chris J.

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