dope smokers in sin bin over recycling

[Brash]

Forget reefer madness - now we are an enviromental scourge!!

 

Wasted: dope smokers in sin bin over contaminated recycling

By Wendy Frew Environment Reporter

November 8, 2005

 

Australia's marijuana smokers have created an unexpected problem for the country's recycling efforts: home-made bongs thrown into domestic recycling bins are contaminating material that could otherwise be reused.

 

Just one bong, or water pipe, could stop hundreds or even thousands of PET plastic bottles from being recycled because a bong's PVC hose would contaminate the material, says environmental campaigner Planet Ark.

 

"Bongs are a big problem for recyclers," said Planet Ark's founder, John Dee, after launching National Recycling Week in Sydney yesterday. "The hose can cause black specks on bottles and it is really difficult to get out and adds to the expense of recycling," he said.

 

Bongs are just one example of a wider problem: confusion about what can and cannot be recycled.

 

The glass industry has been particularly hard hit by contaminated material.

 

Just a small amount of non-reusable glass from light bulbs, wine glasses, ceramic plates, mirrors or window glass could stop a whole tonne of normal glass from being recycled.

 

"The level of awareness about what glass can be recycled is very, very low and that is coming through from the Roy Morgan research," Mr Dee said.

 

"It is a far bigger problem than has been let on by the glass industry and it is about time we talked about it.

 

"We need to see a bigger investment in recycling technology that allows for the extraction of those contaminants and we need new markets for recovered glass."

 

Australia consumes about 850,000 tonnes of glass a year but only 300,000 tonnes or 35 per cent is recovered for recycling, said the general manager for Visy Environment, Nicholas Harford.

 

Mr Harford said greater automation of rubbish bins, more coloured and more broken glass in rubbish, and non-reusable material contaminating recyclable glass all created a problem for recyclers.

 

"If contaminated material goes through with the glass bottles and ends up in the furnace it can affect the quality of new glass bottles or even damage the furnace itself," he said.

 

However, he said that new technology was making it easier to manage contaminated material. Earlier this year, Visy Recycling opened a new fully automated glass recycling plant in Victoria that will recover about 100,000 tonnes of glass every year.

 

The plant can sort up to 16 million different colours and remove non-recyclable material such as caps and corks.

 

WHAT CAN'T BE RECYCLED

 

Ceramic plates, cups and crockery such as Pyrex and CorningWare; light globes; mirrors and window glass; medical or laboratory glass; broken drinking glasses; home-made bongs*; waxed coated boxes; plastic shopping bags; margarine, yoghurt and ice cream containers; nappies; motor oil containers; polystyrene cups, meat trays, takeaway food containers.

 

Author: Wendy Frew

Date: 8 November 2005

Source: Sydney Morning Herald

Copyright: © Sydney Morning Herald

link to article

 

*BRASH COMMENT: Shop-bought bongs must be OK

Edited November 8, 2005 by Brash

[Pickle]

Sounds like a bit of a whinge to me, it's piss easy to pull the hose out.

[everest]

ok bash the hippies with their bongs

[Doob]

it's piss easy to pull the hose out.

[Mushaman]

Heya Brashi

 

thank as always for the info ... I'm a recycling nut (have become one for past 10 yrs) and there was some news to me there .. so pleased to be aware of it

 

its such bull f'n shit tho that weed smokers are targeted .. I'll bet there are 100 times as many non stoners who fuck up and put one of the forbidden items in with the rest .... I for example didnt know about take away food, yogurt, ice cream containers couldn't be recycled ... I actually heard about a year ago that now they were recycling them .. may have even been a Council notice asking for these things ...

 

anyway, I'll check it and thanks again, I have been guilty of the odd broken drinking glass ..and the plastic shit it seems ...

 

luckily i hate bongs :: and now everyone knows they need to pull the pipe .. should be ok :thumbsup

[jethroqwalrustitty]

why would anyone throw away a bong unless its broken, for it to be a problem there would have to thousands of people throwing out bongs on a daily basis. If its causing such a problem then why dont they provide special bong re-cycling bins ::

[Tom]

Just one bong, or water pipe, could stop hundreds or even thousands of PET plastic bottles from being recycled because a bong's PVC hose would contaminate the material, says environmental campaigner Planet Ark.

Real stoners don't use those crappy things anyway, PVC fumes with every cone. :thumbdown

 

[Brash]

... why dont they provide special bong re-cycling bins

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

A while ago (not sure when), the press were hysterical about a bong found at a school (my God the end of the world!). The Nimbin Hemp Embassy put out a press release with in hours of the story offering an expert bong disposal unit.

[HighRising]

I think that's got to be the most far-fetched attempt to villify stoners I've ever seen.

And as said, real stoners don't use hose bongs anyways

Edited November 8, 2005 by HighRising

[mull]

Vilify is the perfect word for that trump up highrising, well said!

 

How about any of these to head that article, other than what did.

 

"Derralic diners waste their broken plates!"

"Absolutely useless! Globe glass, goes to waste!"

"Serious bad luck, as broken mirrors go to landfil!"

"Vehicle drivers environmental carnage!"

"Takeaway food, bad for you, and the environment?"

"Baby's bums beckon, are we ruining the planet?"

 

Trumpy bloody journalism. I find it hard to believe any smokers would recycle old bongs anyway :scratchin