Rooster- The city of Janesville has begun a salvage program with the houses they bought and demolished. Habitat for Humanity went througn and salvaged windows and other items before demolition. The city turned in iron hot water registers and other metal and made a little money to offset the cost of demo. Community Action and Habitat for Humanity would probably salvage independent builder worksite left overs if asked. Residents should have the opportunity too.

Locally, we are very behind the times when it comes to recycling, but then the upper midwest, sans Madison, has always been about 10 years behind the east and west coasts on nearly everything. Why is that?

Almost every mini-mart, gas station, and fast food joint I used to visit out west had recycling specific waste baskets, and that was 10 years ago.

Laziness, pure and simple.

scoobydo - we were at the Culver's in West Baraboo, and they actually do have two bins, one for trash and one for recycling, and they clearly list which of their products belong in which bin. My kids asked why the Janesville Culver's don't do this. I didn't have an answer, so maybe someone who manages or owns the Janesville ones can reply if they see this.

Our recyclables 1-7 plastics would have to be trucked to Milwaukee for sorting and recycling. This would be costly and a waste of energy. Single stream recycling for the City of Janesville is not the way to go. Please buy products in 1 or 2 plastics and recycle them with our dual stream recycling. Reduce and reuse your 3-7 plastics. And, recycle your 3-7 plastics locally (like at Basics).

did you ever notice the amount of recycleable stuff that goes into the landfill from the construction of a house. do the multiplication on that one nation wide.

I dump them all in the bin. Sombebody else can figure out if they want it or not.....

On a smaller scale, I've asked why fast food restaurants and gas stations can't have separate receptacles for plastic bottles and aluminum cans. Everytime I see the amount of recyclables that go into our landfills due to lack of initiative on the part of businesses to provide recycling bins, I get angry. The companies that I've contacted about recyling bins usually don't return my e-mails, but at least I feel I've made my plea. I agree that we should put pressure on major corporations to come up with less wasteful packaging, but also make it easier for everyone to recycle at the gas station or before you walk out the restaurant door.

What I really wish was that the city would collect batteries. There are many other cities that do it. We would just put them in a baggie and place with our recycling.

You understand perfectly. When the consumers feel responsible for recycling, the corporation can wash its hands of any responsibility for producing the un-recyclable packaging to begin with.
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It took years -- years -- of public pressure before Coca-Cola and other water vendors began to reduce the amount of plastic used in their bottles (which are mostly thrown away as it is). Imagine what it will take to get all the major food vendors to change.

Thank you Sannio, I wasn't sure either. Why can't the companies that make the #5 or other questionable plastics pay a premium to use them? In any corporation today, the dollar is the incentive to change. I don't understand why we've been recycling all these years yet very few restrictions are being placed in the corporate world.

I didn't know what No. 5 plastic was so I looked it up:
"Common packaging made from polypropylene includes containers for:

* Cottage cheese
* Yogurt
* Cream cheese
* Ricotta cheese
* Margarine
* Hummus
* Medicine bottles
* Some plastic ice cream containers
* Food storage and take-out containers"
http://earth911.com/news/2009/02/03/plas...

I agree totally. companies should have in place a recyling program before they push this plastic junk on everyone. Think of the oil and energy to produce this stuff just to throw it in the landfill..

The basic problem, as indicated, is that there is no market for -- nobody who wants to buy -- these other types of (recycled) plastics. It's an important reminder that recycling is not a way to "recycle" away our guilt. The better way to be green is to insist on less wasteful packaging, or to simply avoid these types of products as much as possible. Cut back on the incoming stream, and you cut back on the waste stream.