Disposable America

[Poboy kartman]

Well....another thread got me to thinking....about "Disposable America ".

You know...as a kid...glass bottles were worth money...Coke bottles were worth like two cents in the sixties...that's like $100 today....JK... but close enough...for a kid. To be a little closer....gas was probably a dime a gallon and cigarettes about a quarter a pack.

Anyway....while aluminum cans are worth a pittance of money....and are everywhere...most wind up in landfills...but back then...almost NOBODY threw away a Coke bottle. And all the company had to do was rinse, wash,sterilize, and refill and cap!

Sooo...enter the new age of aluminum cans and PLASTIC BOTTLES! Yep! Greatest thing since sliced bread....no deposit....no return! And the people bought it hook, line, and sinker. HEY! Cokes in the plastic bottles are five cents cheaper than the ones in glass....and we don't have to get off our lazy butts to return them!

Then came the end of trash cans....you must use non-biodegradable plastic trash bags instead of a reusable galvanized can that will last a decade.....

Then....OMG! We have an oil crisis! (Not really...but...whatever...) ....even if it were true...how many petroleum reserves could have been saved by simply sticking with galvanized 33 gal trash cans?

Then with automobiles....ugghh...I can't even bring myself to get there....but they are now designed as single use vehicles.....

Paper or plastic? Oh...I'll take plastic...and SAVE A TREE! Really? Trees are a sustainable resource that only takes a few years to replace....fossil fuels....millions of years...and a definitely limited resource!

So....now you got green minded tree huggers with their reusable cloth shopping bags....and they put their plastic bottles in recycle bins at the curb....but I say ....too little....too late....this Country went in the garbage a long time ago.

 

[Hellion]

I'm a Gen X'er but I got a taste of the fix-and-repair era before things got really bad.

I take my garbage to the dump meself and wince at all the perfectly good appliances and what-not in the scrap metal area. Weight machines, bicycles, a steel garden cart with a flat tire, all in near pristine condition. Back in the day, this stuff would have been used-up, worn-out and rusted through before disposal--not to mention scavenged for all useful parts.

As far as environmental concerns and hysteria goes, I think the key to the whole mess was looking too long at the screwballs living in the Turd World where there's no similar EPA overwatch and...the whole "Green Energy" and man-made Global Warming scam propagated by millionaires, greedy politicians and control freaks. Big money to be made in that area. . .

 

[mckutzy]

In our area... We can return almost any drink container for deposit metal plastic paper... Except ones containing milk products.
Tetrapac for juice boxes and others are also a big return now...
.

 

[Hellion]

Hawai'i was the same when I lived there. Was nice getting some coin back from my empties....

 

[pRoFiT]

Just wait until the new Electric car boom gets real crazy and everyone needs to figure out how to dispose of these huge lithium ion batteries. I would expect they are not human consumable

Plus we just give all our money to china buy purchasing them. America doesn't make batteries. Bolivia, Argentina, Chile, Australia and China, etc. they have the resources that make these batteries.

---------- Post added at 05:29 PM ---------- Previous post was at 05:25 PM ----------

I do like the paper bag comment. lets just put tons of plastic into the environment and stop cutting down trees!

Whats ironic is we say save the trees and then nature says screw you and burns it all down on us. just a couple years ago Yosemite burned 200,000 acres. http://abcnews.go.com/ABC_Univision/infographic-tracking-yosemite-wildfire/story?id=20119414

If only we cut some trees down first so that it couldn't spread so much!

 

[chancer]

Then....OMG! We have an oil crisis! (Not really...but...whatever...) ....even if it were true...

fossil fuels....millions of years...and a definitely limited resource!

So which is it?
Right now through HARMLESS Fracking Technology we are sitting on more oil and Gas reserves than Saudi Arabia!

Plastic bags are made from plastic which is a byproduct of refining crude oil in gas, diesel and Motor oil. We do not waste Fossil fuels to make plastic bags!

Nobody I know would dare throw away an aluminum can or plastic bottle. They all get turned in for 5 cent refunds.
and... both can be recycled infinitely.

What is disgusting is the hug a "tree fools" that bring in their Dirty Nasty Used reuseable bags into the Grocery store.
Imagine yesterdays grocery trip leaked chicken and Beef juices into the cloth... then the bag goes in the warm dark car trunk to grow more bacteria.
Today "tree hugger" takes that filthy bag back to the store and places it in her cart. then hands it across the checkstand for the bagger to place in the bagging area and refill with today's purchases.

She has now contaminated her new purchases, and the shopping kart and the checkstand and the bagging area! and there you are in line behind her with your fresh Veggies!

Or she is not a hippie just a sucker like you that buys the govt lies about global warming!

 

[Poboy kartman]

Global warming is not a lie. Al Gore invented it and it's on the internet....so it must be true! WAIT a minute! !!! Who was it that invented the internet? Good ol' Al wouldn't lie , would he?

 

[OzFab]

I'm a Gen X'er but I got a taste of the fix-and-repair era before things got really bad.

I take my garbage to the dump meself and wince at all the perfectly good appliances and what-not in the scrap metal area. Weight machines, bicycles, a steel garden cart with a flat tire, all in near pristine condition. Back in the day, this stuff would have been used-up, worn-out and rusted through before disposal--not to mention scavenged for all useful parts.

Back in the day, that was a feasable alternative over here; I remember, as a kid, doing a dump run about once a month but, these days, it's simply not financially viable when you consider even garden waste costs in the realm of $50 per ton to dump at a waste management centre... & that's the cheapest category...

As for "usable scrap", some of you may remember I used to volunteer with a community group teaching teenagers how to repair bicycles; at the time, I had reason to do a dump run & noticed the insane number of repairable bicycles sitting waiting to be scrapped...

I contacted management of the centre, explained my position & enquired as to whether the group could "liberate" some of the bicycles for a good cause; their response was "No. Once items are delivered to the waste management centre, they must be disposed of in the proper manner as set out by "the company's" policies"... which translates as "we can sell them for scrap & make more money (because we already made money on them by charging dumb morons to dump them) so, why would we give them away"...

 

[Poboy kartman]

Waste management "dumps" have always had that policy...which is a shame...because if able...without getting in the way...I could have had just ONE HOUR a day...scavenging ....I would be at LEAST a millionaire now.

But fortunes are buried in American landfills. It's almost like it was done by robots....nobody ever looked at what was being thrown away....besides...by the time it hit the landfill...it had taken a ride with spoiled baby diapers and seafood.

 

[ML-TOYS]

Ok, electric cars. People talk about their carbon footprint on society. Now you get yourself an electric car and so do many many more. The hybrid uses fuel which causes exhaust pollutants but think about the power plant that is supplying electric to charge the cars.
If all cars were full electric or hybrid the amount of pollutants from the plant are worse than your emmision controlled car.
And yes then there is the battery disposal afterwards.

Thats my 2 cent opinion.

 

[Poboy kartman]

Ok, electric cars. People talk about their carbon footprint on society. Now you get yourself an electric car and so do many many more. The hybrid uses fuel which causes exhaust pollutants but think about the power plant that is supplying electric to charge the cars.
If all cars were full electric or hybrid the amount of pollutants from the plant are worse than your emmision controlled car.
And yes then there is the battery disposal afterwards.

Thats my 2 cent opinion.

I'm with ya bro! Total electric home? In Texas?????????

Seriously....that's PAFR. First ...they ignore the fact Texas is like the BIRTPLACE of natural gas....that then you burn it to create heat...to make electricity...to make heat...SAY WHAT?

Sounds simple enough to explain the stupidity...why don't people get it?

 

[chancer]

Ok, electric cars. People talk about their carbon footprint on society. Now you get yourself an electric car and so do many many more. The hybrid uses fuel which causes exhaust pollutants but think about the power plant that is supplying electric to charge the cars.
If all cars were full electric or hybrid the amount of pollutants from the plant are worse than your emmision controlled car.
And yes then there is the battery disposal afterwards.

Thats my 2 cent opinion.

You are 100% Correct.
For Example a Hummer H1 Verses a Prius.
Say Both are scrapped at 100,000.
The Prius has the TWICE the Carbon Footprint of The Hummer.
Why?
Well lifetime Footprint. Includes Manufacture and disposal of the Lithium Ion batteries. And that is a real mess. Plus the plug in charge is Coal or Gas generated Electric power. and Hybrids still use Gasoline.
Compared to the standard Manufacture and Disposal of a Hummer.

Any Pretentious self righteous, tree huggin, granola munchin, knuckle draggin, cave dwelling, Prius owner is actually just a Giant Hypocrite and selfish and cheap trying to save a buck on Gas! Or they actually drank the Koolaid and think they are doing their part. Morons! Wake up!

 

[Poboy kartman]

You are 100% Correct.
For Example a Hummer H1 Verses a Prius.
Say Both are scrapped at 100,000.
The Prius has the TWICE the Carbon Footprint of The Hummer.
Why?
Well lifetime Footprint. Includes Manufacture and disposal of the Lithium Ion batteries. And that is a real mess. Plus the plug in charge is Coal or Gas generated Electric power. and Hybrids still use Gasoline.
Compared to the standard Manufacture and Disposal of a Hummer.

Any Pretentious self righteous, tree huggin, granola munchin, knuckle draggin, cave dwelling, Prius owner is actually just a Giant Hypocrite and selfish and cheap trying to save a buck on Gas! Or they actually drank the Koolaid and think they are doing their part. Morons! Wake up!

Do you still want to buy my used Prius or not?

 

[chancer]

Do you still want to buy my used Prius or not?

Another good point...(NO. BTW) The last guy to own the car is stuck with the bill to properly dispose of the Batteries! Some salvage yards refuse to even take a Prius.
Hey do you know what Prius means?... Pre us. Like that car is gonna leave this planet as clean and green as before people! Hah! That is some Hootspah!

 

[bob58o]

I think last time I filled a 50gal bag with crushed cans I got $8 from the recycling place near me.

When we had large organized parties at college, we were only allowed to have cans of beer.
You would have to bring cases of beer for you and your guests in advance and get tickets in exchange. At the party, you give a ticket, you get a beer. Everyone buys the cheapest beer cause you won't get the beer you purchased.

We'd probably have like 500 30 packs of Busch.

There was no need to clean up. Like clockwork, the following morning, a team of homeless guys would come around and pick up every friggin can.

 

[The Professor]

...HARMLESS Fracking Technology...

I don't really care to wade into this topic, but I will dip a toe in. Hydraulic fracturing is not harmless. I think the most obvious example would be earthquakes. The U.S. Midwest is not known for earthquake activity, but in and around areas where fracking is done there have been numerous earthquakes where there had never been any before.

 

[Poboy kartman]

Chancer and I are both aware of the consequences of fracking. He was being facetious which is why he capitalized harmless.

I can walk to a gas site.

 

[ezcome-ezgo]

Anytime you disturb the soil you'll have consequences, even if you pull a weed. Its a matter of scale.

 

[ML-TOYS]

I belonged to a mustang forum at one point and one of the younger new drlver members asked what to do about a situation. Apparently he was a responsible respectful kid about 17 years old.
He tripped and dumped 5 quarts of oil that he drained out of his car onto the lawn in a puddle.

I suggested he grab a shovel and buckets or wheelbarrel and dig it up till it was clean dirt, oil free.
90% of the other members young and old told him to just throw some kitty litter on it then rake it up and cover with new dirt and sod.
Now this happened right here on long island where the water supply for many is right below us.

I cannot and will not ever understand the complete disregard, disrespect and absolute stupidity people have towards nature or rather the earth and air we depend on to survive.

Once again a small rant by ML

 

[Poboy kartman]

I do it it all the time....it makes the pasta taste funny....but it doesn't stick together! JK.

WAIT....WHAT???? I thought oil and water don't mix? Again....JK.