Do you think Recycling should be compulsory?

It's hard when the majority are not doing it, so easy to fall back into old habits. Australia has been recycling for years. We are a funny lot, you know if we were to see someone not doing it, they'd get an earful for not doing the right thing! LOL. And recycling is now quite big business so once the business side is set up and lucrative then everything else falls into place. There is a guy who set up the bottle and plastic transfer station here, he is doing veerrry well indeed!

Developing a business to help the environment is a great idea.I too have seen some websites built around recycling that are doing very well.

Thanks michelle, is it impossible because there is no collection, or insufficient bins? I had the urge to post this thread after watching a news item on Japan and, well of course they can be obsessive about somethings, but their recycling was fantastic. Hopefully if people start jumping up and down they can demand recycling as a normal part of the council's function. Would be interesting to know where the problem is.

The reason it is impossible to recycle most things is because they aren't made of materials that are able to be recycled.

Hmmmmm, well that is a big problem. Are manufacturers changing this do you know? Mind you I know that in Australia where recycling has been going on for a long time, there are still some plastics that are not recyclable - not good! But 95% of bottles, cans and plastics are recyclable. Australia had a campaign which started decades ago called Clean Up Australia. A day is set aside in March each year where communities and organisations get together and clean a patch of their town - could be the creek, park, side of the highway. The motto of the campaign to not litter Australia is Do The Right Thing. It filtered into all areas, meaning schools, businesses, manufacturers. It's to a point now where you feel guilty for not doing the right thing, which I think is a great.

I've heard the initial set up is costly but once it gets going there is no problem. Recycling is big business. I think in counties it's a matter of structuring a system that will work for all. Allotting council land for a transfer station is a good start where monthly collections could be done in case it is too costly to transport weekly - that sort of thing. Thanks for your input.

It's a mammoth task in large cities but only in the set-up stages. For a city such as New York or London to have a recycling system would be a massive benefit to the planet. I'm not sure what New York is doing about their waste disposal, I know London is changing as we speak. Humans don't like change and are creatures of habit, so if recycling becomes a habit we are all laughing!

The 3 R's, such a positive from what you are saying. There is a town in Victoria Australia (I can't remember the name, eek) who changed all their street lighting to energy efficient light globes. They did it in the name of helping the environment and it cut their town's energy costs dramatically. Money which could be spent on other things. Week by week I changed mine so it wasn't too much of a cost all at once. Thanks psyche for your response.

Education is part of the process. Strong encouragement wouldn't go astray at this point in our history. Municipalities, country councils and the like need implement facilities to enable residents to recycle effectively without it becoming a chore. School teachers do their best to educate children in the benefits of recycling, they pass this onto parents, but if the parents are not doing it then it sends a bad message. But if the facility is not available then residents are not encouraged to do it.

Very true barehugs, it is serious and education is getting much better in this field. Thank you for responding.