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Old 11-13-2017, 04:34 PM   #1
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When at campsites

When camping are there any organic recycling containers or just the usual cans/paper?
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Old 11-13-2017, 04:54 PM   #2
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Depends

Depends on the campground and the managing agencies commitment to recycling. And to the services provided by their sanitation contractor. Some places are pretty much full
service with separation barrels for about everything including a dumping spot for
Expired propane one pounders, helium cylinders from birthday parties etc. Other places just
throw it all in one overflowing lidless raccoon dwelling er I mean dumpster. Michigan state parks can be a skunk o rama.
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Old 11-13-2017, 05:30 PM   #3
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What entitles one to have an organic recycling container? I have not heard of the term before.
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Old 11-13-2017, 05:49 PM   #4
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What entitles one to have an organic recycling container? I have not heard of the term before.
Always something new to learn...
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Old 11-13-2017, 06:01 PM   #5
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What entitles one to have an organic recycling container? I have not heard of the term before.
You don't have compost bins? We have them at home for any organic waste, both the type in our back yard as well as one the city picks up (where you can put any organics at all from plate scraps to dog poo), though have not seen anything at campgrounds, but it would be a good idea.

I saw lots of campgrounds in the US in the past without recycling bins either, but I think they are becoming more common.
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Old 11-13-2017, 06:06 PM   #6
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I agree that it's hit and miss. We've camped in several places that have a compost bin, but the vast majority are just a dumpster containing everything.

If I ran a campground I would certainly have an organic waste bin and encourage the campers to use it. Compost sure comes in handy.

It also reminds me that we try to not use disposable plastic when we camp. We either use plates, cups, etc that we can wash and reuse, or we will sometimes use paper products. Imagine how much landfill space could be saved if most folks opted for biodegradables.
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Old 11-13-2017, 06:22 PM   #7
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What entitles one to have an organic recycling container? I have not heard of the term before.
The term doesn't really make sense, because what is put into it is not recycled, in the way that metal, paper, and plastic materials are broken down and used in another cycle of products. Organic waste containers are used to collect organic material (which means primarily food waste and soiled paper) for composting; this keeps material out of landfills, and the resulting material is fertilizer.

Edmonton runs a large mechanical composting facility which takes a substantial fraction of the city's waste material, and other municipalities use more traditional composting methods - like a home compost pile, but on an industrial scale.

Between recycling and composting, only a tiny fraction of my home waste goes to a landfill. It is disappointing to be unable to do that while travelling. Most municipalities send more to landfill than here, and even where there are recycling and organic waste composting for residential customers, institutional customers (businesses, apartment buildings... and campgrounds) often must make their own arrangements and usually just have everything hauled to a landfill.
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Old 11-13-2017, 06:27 PM   #8
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It also reminds me that we try to not use disposable plastic when we camp. We either use plates, cups, etc that we can wash and reuse, or we will sometimes use paper products. Imagine how much landfill space could be saved if most folks opted for biodegradables.
We are on the same page. It is so easy to wash up good dishes when doing other dishes. So much better to use, and no waste.
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Old 11-13-2017, 06:44 PM   #9
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What entitles one to have an organic recycling container? I have not heard of the term before.
Good grief and I thought that we were the cowboys out here on the edge of civilization. We not only recycle organic waste but "clean green". Up till we got our new dedicated organic carts a few weeks ago we had two separate bins for the two categories. Didn't make much sense then since the same garbage truck collected both.

What's disappointing is that there's still nothing approaching 100% buy-in in the neighborhood. Some folks don't ever seem to put out any organics, just their regular garbage dumpster. Oh well, these things take time.

The campsites that I've seen that are more likely to have full recycling are municipally run ones.

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Old 11-13-2017, 06:53 PM   #10
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Okay, yes I have compost where I use my grass/leaves mixed with food waste. I have a regular container next to the sink, empty about every 3 days. I make about 6 cu/yd of compost/year. The missus would go out and buy top soil and we were throwing away yard waste. So with 4 large compost bins, we make our own dirt. We use raised gardens due to the ground around the house bing poisoned from termite treatment 10 years ago, so our gardens are small but healthy. That said, I have never seen grey tank waste receptacles at any cg, lucky to find can/glass recycling out side of home.
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Old 11-13-2017, 06:54 PM   #11
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Good grief and I thought that we were the cowboys out here on the edge of civilization. We not only recycle organic waste but "clean green". Up till we got our new dedicated organic carts a few weeks ago we had two separate bins for the two categories. Didn't make much sense then since the same garbage truck collected both.

What's disappointing is that there's still nothing approaching 100% buy-in in the neighborhood. Some folks don't ever seem to put out any organics, just their regular garbage dumpster. Oh well, these things take time.

The campsites that I've seen that are more likely to have full recycling are municipally run ones.

Ron
All of Calgary is now using an organic waste bin. We were part of a pilot project starting 4 years ago. From this they determined that they would only collect garbage every 2 weeks, as the amount dropped off so much.

I hear you on those not buying in. I think most do, but a good friends daughter who is one heck of a prissy girl (about 40) thinks it is so gross handling that kind of kitchen waste and insists it goes into the garburator....... sheesh. Those things should be banned as far as I am concerned, they waste lots of good compost and the waste has to then be treated at the waste treatment site. So much stuff can be composted with heat the way the City does.
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Old 11-13-2017, 07:12 PM   #12
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Up till we got our new dedicated organic carts a few weeks ago we had two separate bins for the two categories. Didn't make much sense then since the same garbage truck collected both.
They use one truck here, but it has two compartments so it keeps the two waste streams separate. Currently in Strathcona County, material for recycling is bagged, and only one of the streams which goes in bins (one for organics to compost, one for other waste to landfill) is collected at a time... so the truck only needs to be able to dump bins into one compartment.

Who would have thought garbage collection was so involved?
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Old 11-13-2017, 07:14 PM   #13
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What's disappointing is that there's still nothing approaching 100% buy-in in the neighborhood. Some folks don't ever seem to put out any organics, just their regular garbage dumpster. Oh well, these things take time.
I think buy-in is driven by incentives... including charges for excessive waste to landfill. Lazy people certainly do just chuck it all in the garbage (black bins here), and generally people are lazy.
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Old 11-13-2017, 07:24 PM   #14
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I think buy-in is driven by incentives... including charges for excessive waste to landfill.
I would also include onerous rules in place that can deter people from recycling. One community in our county does not allow cardboard to be any larger than 17" in length nor can one crush plastic milk containers (to make them smaller). Requiring all food receptacles to be washed out (thus using great quantities of water) is also questionable to me as a trade off of one "vice" for another. And, of course, there is the additional cost to a community--or a campground--of recycling as it's not free. It gets complicated.

And before anyone starts bashing me, yes, I do recycle.
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Old 11-13-2017, 08:00 PM   #15
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I completely agree Karen. In San Antonio we are provided with a big blue bin for recyclables and a big brown one for regular trash. Can't tell you how many times I've placed recyclables in the blue bin only to find them dumped out on the ground or left in the bin by the collector because of some obscure requirement.

Seems to me if you want people to recycle, you should make it easier, not harder.
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Old 11-13-2017, 08:39 PM   #16
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Recycling during camping is one of the problems we have as many campgrounds have no recycling. Army Corps usually does but often only certain kinds of items.

We have no recycling of milk cartons in Texas so we take bags of those up to the Iowa house, and we have more recycling of some items in Texas than Iowa so we bring bags of those to the Texas house! Every community seems to be different on what they can recycle.

Saw the organic recycling up in Canada in Jasper. That was new to us. And not just organics but divided into different kinds of organics.
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Old 11-13-2017, 09:12 PM   #17
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We've had green waste for years; now the garbage co has given people little under sink bins they can then transfer kitchen compost to the large green waste haulers.

Hardly ever see recycle out there and when we do its usually paper and aluminum- not glass.
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Old 11-13-2017, 09:24 PM   #18
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Hardly ever see recycle out there and when we do its usually paper and aluminum- not glass.
Heard a recycling advocate the other day who said recycling glass takes more energy than it saves. They have to turn bottles back into sand. Broken glass also contaminates valuable recycled products.
That's why we have a separate bin for glass.
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Old 11-13-2017, 10:18 PM   #19
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Heard a recycling advocate the other day who said recycling glass takes more energy than it saves. They have to turn bottles back into sand. Broken glass also contaminates valuable recycled products.
That's why we have a separate bin for glass.
Big Bend National Park has its own glass crusher. They use the recycled glass sand in road patching material (tar?).

Other collected materials are sorted, bundled and sold for a small profit for the Park's operating budget.

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Old 11-13-2017, 10:22 PM   #20
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Back in the 1990s the Cato Institute published a paper that said consumer-level recycling of anything other than aluminum consumed more energy than it saved, due to the extra fuel costs of collecting and processing the recyclables. Don't know if that is still the case, given that now a lot of the recycling infrastructure is built in.
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