[EQAB-list] Proposed Recycling Changes

[Robert G Kennedy III, PE]

All,

I agree that simply having the big blue rolling can that can take more  
stuff will encourage those who already recycle to recycle more - i.e.  
put more kinds of recyclables in the can. That's great, and it's going  
to save quite a bit of fuel used by people like myself who go to the  
recycling center once in a while with a trunk full of cardboard. It  
might even eliminate a safety hazard (fire) at home - giant heaps of  
cardboard and mixed paper piling up until there's enough to be worth  
going to the recycle center.

However, I think the program is really about bringing in the  
"marginal" (in the economists' sense of the word) participant. That  
is, the people who don't recycle now, because it's too much trouble or  
not worth their while. Chinese money a la S&H Green Stamps will do  
that, and avoids all the regulatory issues (taxes, reporting)  
associated with handling real money. In the engineering world, it is  
rare to improve a system's key metrics by a semi-order of magnitude  
with just one measure. This consortium (trash hauler -  
processor/separator - recycle bank), according to the figures does  
just that: diversion inc. 3X from ~10% to 33%, participation inc. ~4X  
from 20% to 80%.

Also do not underestimate the class of penny-pinching people like me  
who get into this stuff as a sort of reality game. I point you to the  
growing phenomenon of "hypermilers" - folks who go to [some would say]  
absurd lengths to get the best mileage out of their vehicles. Some  
folks have managed 100+ mpg out of a Prius! It is a fact in human  
factors engineering that a feedback loop dramatically changes the  
users' behavior. For example, those real-time mileage indicators on  
dashboards kick in to change behavior amazingly fast, I am here to  
tell you. Even after the game gets boring (OK, I got as much mileage  
as this buggy is ever going to get) you still feel guilty when your  
mileage gets crappy again. You may backslide a little, but not a lot.

This system will help the City, and our world. Kudos to the folks who  
thought it up. They are more than welcome to whatever money they make  
out of the deal - you don't expect them to work for nothing, do you?  
It benefits us all in the long run.

Robert

I will address Fred's question in a separate post.

-- 
Robert G Kennedy III, PE
www.ultimax.com


Quoting Pat Fain <patfain at juno.com>:

> I kept thinking about green stamps.... shades of 1955.... they were a hit
> then however.... I am not sure that OR actually needs this incentive to
> recycle... I bet that just having the big can and the single stream will
> get just about as much of a boost in "stuff"....  Pat