Penn and Teller – Recycling Is BS
Penn and Teller on Recycling -
Here’s the truth: recycling is garbage. The recycling industry creates pollution, has to be subsidized by the government because it’s cost ineffective, and is completely unnecessary. Contrary to popular belief, our landfills are not running out of space – we have enough room to last for thousands of years! So how did the bullshit of recycling get started?
(strong language)
Part 2:
Part 3:
In Vancouver, by law we need to separate all of our garbage – they send two different trucks to pick up our trash. And they have all sorts of hidden taxes on things like bottled water…
And we feel good. Lord help me if I mix my garbage.
Ever since NY threw in the towel because of the cost, I’ve been a skeptic. If they couldn’t make it work, who could?
December 10th, 2008 at 12:15 am
You should check this one out too.
http://www.cbc.ca/national/blog/special_feature/green_sweep/garbage_to_gas.html
More info:
http://www.cleanenergy.gc.ca/canada/company_e.asp?item=1912&sc=179
No doubt there is likely more solutions out there besides “recycling”.
I’ve been tossing this link around the net ever since I found it.
http://www.cleanenergy.gc.ca/canada/index_e.asp
So yeah… there is a lot of this sort of stuff going on… perhaps the environMENTAList can hopefully learn to stop shouting and start contributing more meaningful solutions rather than rants and protests.
December 10th, 2008 at 3:41 am
I stopped recycling years ago when they said that they needed me to wash my garbage before I obediently put it in it’s appropriately colored container.
Wash the freaking garbage, are they or more importantly do they think I’m freaking stupid?
December 10th, 2008 at 5:27 am
“… So how did the bullshit of recycling get started? …”
… ask the likes of the Sierra Club , Greenpeace , Suzuki and so called “environmentalists” who are so passionate about saving the earth … but only as long as it does not affect their wellbeing !
The latest BS is from Toronto Mayor Miller who is has a hate-on against plastic bags , to be replaced by paper bags ? … not withstanding that paper products are one of the major components in the landfill.
December 10th, 2008 at 12:04 pm
[...] To be totally honest with you, though, I didn’t see this one coming the way it did. Just watch and see for yourself (tip o’ the chapeau to this blog here). [...]
February 1st, 2009 at 8:04 am
Has either of you ever LIVED near a landfill or an incinerator?
I have.
It smells. Lots of people have cancer, and other diseases.
Recycling isn’t ‘clean’. In fact, some of it is VERY DIRTY! (and that’s why so much of it ends up shipped to China or elsewhere..)
So in this part, the show is PARTLY right. There needs to be more innovation and transparency regarding recycling etc.
But, most of it, if done properly, is still BETTER than landfill and incinerators, which are pretty horrible!!
(Even with the ‘latest technology’ that they like to boast of..!!)
Google up dioxins and furans and heavy metals and see what joys they bring!
Just cover everything with soil & grow trees? uhm…?
If there is food waste in there, there will be methane, and fires will start.. As for using the methane (or other junk) as ‘waste from energy’ – uhm, if everything is ‘mixed up together’ there is NEVER ‘just methane’ but the lovely dioxins and such too.. see eg http://www.energyjustice.net/lfg/
Filters NEVER catch everything!!
The ideal is MINIMIZING waste, MINIMIZING even recycling waste.. Pre-planned products for easy dissasembly &/or reuse..
With so many people suffering from cancer, heart problems, mental health problems etc, and those illnesses being on the rise, are you sure you want to ADD to these with your ’smart shopping’ and ‘non-recycling’ practices?
Those poor people having to sort dirty plastics would have better jobs if people rinsed or washed things proper and sorted them properly.. And if the recyclables were gathered separately.. (which P&T make a joke of!)
There are different programmes worldwide for this, some are better than others..
In fact, this show makes me hopeful, as I see how many people are willing to separate and recyle things proper if given a chance to do so easily!
Other than that – how can you take a COMEDY show for its science value??
I’m thinking maybe P&T did it tongue-in-cheek & for entertainment purposes alone!! (& maybe to stir up some debate & controversy) Maybe they’re avid fans of recycling and they just wanted to joke a bit with this?
And there were a ton of people FOR recycling, with just one or two against it..? (one of those at least being paid to say so!!) What if MAYBE the others are right and the ‘lone heroes’ are lone precisely because they, uhm, got it wrong & just promote interests of lazy industries??!!
Of course it is ‘easier’ to dump everything – but that is really such short-sighted attitude..
Being conservative initially means just that: conservation, protection of Nature..
How can destroying land the size of a minor country be conservation of Nature?
Would you wish to have your house built on top of that? (a biological time-bomb waiting to explode..!)
What if the ’super-landfill’ is the target of a terrorist attack? or an earthquake?
Rain or floods can bring up toxic stuff.. (just read up on Love Canal a bit.. Lots of people got very ill because their houses and even school were built on top of a chemical toxic dump!)
And surely, if people just throw things away, shouldn’t dangerous chemical factories too?
You may say ‘ordinary landfills’ are less dangerous than chemical factory landfills..
But most still have wastewaters largely unregulated (!)
So your garbage stinks?
Fancy getting some of that ‘juice’ into your drinking water!
Oh, but the ’super-size-landfill’ would be in a dry area?
Yeah, right.. Next to the A-bomb testing area in USA?
(fancy having it all sploshed up, accidentaly? uhm.)
With the crazy changing weather as it is.. no ‘dry area’ can be 100% ‘dry’.. and some rain pourings happen in deserts too.. quickly going into the ground, and god-knows-where.. (maybe another ‘water source’ for a local community?)
Basically P&T promote bad air, dangerous chemicals in water, and lots and lots of ill people.. Still think ‘their way’ is a good idea?
PS Dioxin was used as ‘Agent Orange’ in Vietnam, and there were accidents in India and Italy where it leaked from factories.. causing cancer and genetic defects – just what the doctor would prescribe..??!!
February 1st, 2009 at 8:18 am
Oh, and Canada & USA are big – have you thought of smaller countries worldwide? where landfill space really is running out.. (& nobody wants to live near a landfill, not surprisingly!! – Have a hearty talk with people who have lived near one for decades & see what they say…!)
People do look up to big countries such as Canada & USA.. And if ‘world leaders’ are doing it, ‘it must be good’..??!!
Also many US & Canadian companies are selling their products worldwide, and if they’re designed to be just ‘throwawayable’…?
For people with not enough landfill space it’s incinerators (or just ‘burn’!), and dioxins and furans and even-yet-undiscovered dangerous chemicals in the air!!
‘Wahoo!’
Wouldn’t it be better to use the space (that P&T would design landfill on) for a spa, or a ranch, or a hotel, or …?
& With oil being rather scarce, wouldn’t you rather enjoy the luxury of your car a bit longer rather than throw it all away & bury it in the form of useless plastic bags or other throwawayable packaging?
Some points to consider.
February 1st, 2009 at 8:39 am
Just took a look at the gas-to-ethanol site posted in the comment..
I would be VERY INTERESTED in any ‘by-products’ of this process.. Scientific studies of left-over waste, emmissions, etc.
If you do find them, please let me know..
From their FAQ: “Does the process produce waste (unused materials or ashes)?
The Enerekm process produces some inert materials (metals and minerals that are left over after the processing of materials) that are converted into an aggregate, which can be used as construction material. It is also possible to “vitrify” this aggregate or turn it into a glass. It is thus possible to divert all waste from the process from land-filling.”
I do wonder what sort of stuff would be in those.. Years ago, a local coal power-plant here sold ‘construction materials’ made from their waste, for people to build houses with, and they were later found highly unsafe and a health hazard and it was forbidden to sell them..