[EQAB-list] Proposed Recycling Changes

[Joan Nelson]

My 30 year-old daughter heard a news story on NPR about the Recycle Bank and
she was so excited and wishing we could have something like that.  Now that
we can-she is ready for it.  The younger people may really find this an
attractive program.                     Joan

On Sat, Aug 9, 2008 at 8:38 PM, Robert G Kennedy III, PE
<robot at ultimax.com>wrote:

> 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
>>
>
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