Recycling Plastic Rethought

Storm Shelter
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I have always been a maniacal recycler. My recycle bin is usually full every week for pick up. Since my home on Santa Rosa Sound has a nice white beach comprised of quartz sand washed down from the Appalachians by rivers emptying into the Gulf Mexico, I try to keep the beach in pristine condition which involves collecting litter strewn by horrible humans who contaminate some of the most pristine waters in the State.

I also save copper, brass and aluminum which I take regularly to the recycling plants. I despise cigarette buts which are strewn on our beach which was recently named the best beach in the United State. It may not be the best but it is nevertheless very beautiful. The development of our beach is fortunately constrained by National Parks on both sides which limits building walls of high rises as been the case in neighboring Perdido Key and Orange Beach and Gulf Shores Alabama. It’s just a stone’s through from my home to the gates of Fort Pickens, a ten mile stretch of beach that remains totally undeveloped, just sand dunes, wild oaks, and the permanents of a Civil War Ford guarding the Pensacola Bay Pass. By the way, Pensacola has one of the best natural, deep waster harbors in Florida. An air craft carrier can enter the Gulf from NAS Mainside in just 15 minutes time while it takes two hours to move one out of Mobile Bay which must be constantly dredged.

Back to recycling. Here’s an interesting article about the economics on recycling plastics. I find the article interesting, but I still think humans should engage in recycling rather than burying refuse in landfills, but economics suggest recycling may be asinine.

Interesting article.from my favorite magazine–The City Journal

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Really? That’s awesome. By whom?

Tierney is fun. He’s been the same for years, a professional contrarian who likes to take what’s widely accepted as good, and call it bad for the benefit of large corporations and those who think, like John, that climate change would be great for the economy and should be sought out. He’s always fun to read, though. He has some good, though rather tongue in cheek, points in here.

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What to do with plastic is a huge problem, and the article does a poor job of discussing how it isn’t bio-degradable. But the other points are mostly valid. The recycling of plastic has been a generational scam that was exposed a few years ago. It blew my mind when I first discovered it.

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There’s a guy named Alex Epstein who does a lot of writing and debating about oil and plastics.

I haven’t listened to or read him in years but I remember hearing some really novel concepts from him on these issues that made me think hard.

I’d encourage you to listen to him bikki. You can find his materials on YouTube. It’s a very interesting perspective that he has.