We waste a lot of really good stuff, and sometimes local governments actually encourage it. My own county runs a pretty clean and efficient land fill. By efficient, I mean they make throwing stuff away very easy. For years I voluntarily recycled all of my plastics, metal cans, glass, cardboard and newspaper. I also hauled my own trash to the County run convienence center. Granted, I'm not sure if my recycling cancelled out the carbon emmision from the trip, but hey, I was trying. I had a real incentive to recycle as much as possible, as in minimized what went into the "dirty, smelly" trash, which meant I could minimze the number of trips to the convienence center. During the winter, when nature refridgerated my trash, I could go a month between hauls. During the heat of summer, I went once a week, for obvious reasons. While there, I deposited all of my recycled items in the bins provided.
This went on for years. Then the County decided to impose a land fill tax. Well, that's cool, there is no free lunch. Except they decided to charge people who used a trash service less tax then those who hauled there own trash. Now understand, the only way to recycle here, is to haul it there yourself. The folks who use a trash service generally just pile everything into the can, and off to the land fill it goes.
This pissed me off. The lower tax combined with the savings on my time and gas, offset much of the cost of hiring a trash service. I said screw it, and hired a trash service. Now all I have to do his roll my can out to the curb once a week, and presto, my trash is gone. Of course, now all these valuable commodities are being buried in the ground, taking up landfill space. It makes me wonder what type of influence the Waste Management Industry has on local Governments
I have considered going back to my old routine, but it is cheaper for me and so much more convienent to do it this way.
