[Turtle]

I recently moved into a new house & now I have gone through 2 weekly garbage collection cycles. Of the 6 other homes who put out their waste at my same spot, not one of them recycles in spite of the service availability.
The local company supplies the bins for free & distributes brochures on how to separate waste, and I have assiduously followed them for 20 years now. Not only do I trust I reduce the landfill load, if I didn't separate recyclables I would have to pay for a regular trash can twice the size of my normal one (32gallons). The amount of recyclables is not limited either.
So, do you recycle? Is it offered where you live? Is recycling good? Bad? Should it be required by law? That last one is my most recent reflex reaction to my neighbors apparent apathy. Perhaps I'll add a poll if there is enough interest, or not if it's a waste of time.

[Racoon]

YES!!
I recycle religiously!

Paper, Cans, Bottles, Cardboard, Plastics, Metal when they can accept it!

Food Scraps and food waste goes into the Compost I later use for Gardening.

I know the system you speak of Turtle-san.
Waste Management I believe is based in Dallas, and they do a good bit of business around here.

Perhaps put up some signs, or talk to the neighbors, like a good neighbor, about recycling.

Its very important to the Long-Standing landfill and waste problems!

Good for you for bringing it up.

[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.

[Celeste]

Yes, most definetly. Utah distributes free 96 gallon recycle carts to each household.
We also have numberous places to drop off oils, batteries, paints etc., and 2 yearly city cleanups for larger items like furniture, tree's, clothing, and even appliances.
It takes such little effort and helps so much, I have a hard time understanding why everyone doesn't do it.

[Jay-qu]

recycling is a must here - the bins for rubbish are half the size of the recycling ones, so to get throught the week you have to sort it so it fits

[Turtle]

It's a relief to me to hear that communities have good programs & especially that other folks use them; I never quite know which practices I follow derive from symptomatic obsession.
I probably overstated making it a law to recycle, but I mainly meant to implement some type of workable incentive(s). Cedars idea of a charge for non-recyclers works for me.
Thanks JayQ for the Aussie view as always. Is it not an option to pay for a bigger can there? Is it a national program or by city or counties (do ya have counties is Australia? )
Racoon you have prompted me to start composting my vegetable kitchen waste. Of course you know I have no intention to talk to my neighbors.
Celeste I didn't recall you lived in Utah if you ever even said. Maybe you can join the Hypography Frappr & get on the map!? Every member who hasn't for that matter. So anyway, 96 gallons is a big cart Celeste, and it's interesting that the state has set it up.
The Recycling is just one of the three R's of course, so we add Reduce & Reuse to the list. As the fourth R that I am (Recluse), I don't go out much so I don't bring much home; oh that my housemates learned by example.
Finally, I took one of the old-style 10 gallon propane tanks Cedars mentioned & made it into a bell. An old piece of closet pole is the clapper & a coffee can lid the wind sail & countereighted with old lead fishing weights. As soon as I hang it I'll post up a photo. That is all.
PS Here is Frappr link:
http://www.frappr.com/hypography