ABC News broke a neat investigative story just now. They used Apple AirTag trackers to figure out how well retail plastic bag recycling is going. The news wasn't great. WPVI TV (Philadelphia) link
I love the way both retailers, contacted to comment on the fact that the bags they accepted for "recycling" went with the trash, made comments like "Our intention is to make it easy for our guests to recycle clean and empty plastic bags and packaging in our stores." and "Walmart offers in-store recycling bins for plastic bags as an option for customers who may not have access to curbside recycling." It is exactly like the air trip I took once, where the plane had clearly been reconfigured at some point, and a bulkhead that had an EXIT sign and arrow on it had been moved to a row that was nowhere near an exit. I pointed this out to one of the cabin crew on my way off the plane, and she explained to me that the sign needed to be there, so passengers would know where the exit was.
Bad waste disposal .... in 'SOME' areas (remaining nameless) - old tv CRT's - motor & tranny fluids - fluorescent lights, bent smoke detectors etc still go straight to the land fill ... much less your glass & paper. .
We've got it good with FAA regs. I was once on a short-hop flight within Indonesia and I'm amazed we lived to tell the tale. Highlights included the barefoot A&P guy wearing only cutoff shorts, on a ladder correcting ...something in the left main gear bay with very obvious sledge and chisel soundtrack. <PING PING PING> Later, the same technician ready with wheeled fire extinguisher standing by during engine start, making "RCA dog" head motions before shrugging and wheeling the bottle away. The broken baggage compartment door, allowing us all a full-time view of the flight deck (Fokker F27, baggage area at front of fuselage between FD & cabin) ...This was great when the captain reached back to get one of the big old Jeppesen map cases and used it as a ram to beat something on the instrument panel into checklist compliance... But somehow we lived to learn about bad bag recycling.
plastic grocery bags are disappearing here. paper bags for 10 cents, but ultimately bring your own reusable. most recycling is a farce unfortunately. we need to eliminate packaging to the greatest extent possible
I recall the big packs of 20-24 AA batteries. All spread out with a form fit plastic clamshell around them. I then found, at 'Batteries Plus', a rectangular cardboard box of 24 AA name brand batteries. Less packaging made out of material easier to recycle as well as easier to deal with for the customer. That is what I call a win.
I often look for the "procell" brand; we use them extensively at work and one of the best features is no-nonsense paperboard packing.
Costco's BAD for packaging: wee bitty items encased in plastic bubbles, spaced out on massive cardboard billboards. Near impossible to separate the plastic from cardboard. Dangerous too: the plastic is hard, you need to attack it with exacto knives or what have you, and either a slip of the knife or the jagged plastic edge can ruin your day. We joined about 15 years back for the tires, packed it in about 5 years back; don't miss it.
