Science Forums 2

[Cedars]

Yes I recycle all of the items you mentioned and more. Locally, our garbage collects paper, plastic, clothes, cardboard, and cans (aluminum and steel) for recycling. Its not perfect of course, not everyone feels they should take the little effort to seperate items, but having an opportunity to do so is used by many people and every little bit helps. I have had neighbors comment on how good I am about recycling. People do notice such things around here.

There are also many free drop off points for motor oil, batteries, antifreeze, and other stuff that escapes me now. Our counties have banded together and have household hazardous waste collection points 2 times a year for paint, thinners, stains, insecticides, greases, pretty much anything you can imagine that shouldnt be put in a landfill.
The way they make this work is to offer collection points for free. We all pay a piece of tax to cover the costs, and you can go to the main warehouse and buy the paints, thinners, etc that others have discarded.

My state also helps fund tire recycling programs which encourage people to bring their tires in. Its amazing the variations in what is being charged for tire recycling via garages and such. The cheapest legitimate places I have found are Walmart at .70 per tire, but you have to buy tires there, and one local tire recycling business which charges .80 per tire, on or off rim. There are also drop off points for tvs, electronics, dryers, washers, fridges, etc. A small tv is $5, a large TV $10. I think the most expensive thing is big freezers/fridges for $17. Oh, and those old propane barbacue tanks can be dropped off for like $3 to $5 at the collections. Which is really reasonable. I have seen that listed as high as $100 per tank.

It has reduced the roadside dumping remarkably. I wish they would come up with a program like this for couches and mattresses. Those are the most common dumped items I see now.

As far as a law? No. An added charge to each person who is not recycling each month. The recycling / garbage industry is an interesting business. They kinda got a bad deal in the early 70s during the environmental movement. It was easy to blame all these little guys for the pollution while the really big polluters slipped by unseen.