Recycling take away peoples jobs!?!?!

So says my father! I don't beileve it one bit! I don't know to much about recyling but I do know that to my knoweldge of things that are a renewable resource I will recyle them! My dad says I'm a b1tch becuase I'm taking away our neighbors jobs. He says that people dig through the garbage and pick out things that can be recyled. I did know that, but what I also know is they can't get everything out of the trash. Who wants to be a garbage picker anyways?! Another thing he says is when I use water to clean out the cans/plastic bottles that have sugar in them I'm wasting water. Which means I'm not recylcing in the first place! I'm just dumbfounded about these remarks that my father is saying. I live next to a semi-busy road and people through garbage out their car windows where I walk my dogs, so I go out and pick up most things that I can-when I come home my father says that its disgusting. I don't want my momma looking disgusting though, and isn't helping the enviroment beautiful in the first place, and garbage laying on the ground disgusting? Give me some advice on what to tell my father please, I'm not sure of what to say to him

 

you're not taking away anyone's job, and if we have no earth due to pollution....well....that will mean NO jobs. of any kind. so tell your dad THAT, in a kind and polite way of course. good luck!

 

Really, if anything, recycling would create jobs... Think about it: Someone has to run the machines to melt down the plastic and glass, and someone has to go out and collect it...

 

I can't remember when or where i heard it but i heard that throwing away rubbish takes up 1 job whereas recycling gives 'bout 75 but thats probably not right cos it was a while so i can't remember well - i think it was an ad,

Anyway recycling gives more jobs

 

soz accidently posted 2x

 

nature recycles everything 100%.
we think we're so smart we're idiots.

=^^=
.../\...

 

Does Recycling create jobs?

It depends on your definition of what a job is.

Recycling does require more people to accomplish its goals. Someone has to drive the truck, someone has to manage the plant, people have to separate the trash in the plant, someone has to clean the plant, someone has to run the machines, someone has to build the machines, someone has to train the workers to run the machines, etc. etc.

It is very important to remember that recycling programs are government imposed. Would these recycling plants, and thus jobs, exist if the government did not use your tax dollars (8 billion a year in the states) to pay for them? To answer that we need to determine whether Recycling is itself a legitemate process.

 

I thought I was going a little crazy there for a moment. Some sort of deja vu / memory thing. But instead, as it turns out, this thread has a doppleganger: http://www.hipforums.com/forums/showthread.php?t=230445&page=1&pp=10

Wacky.

 

More than likely, nothing you can say will change his mind. So quit trying. Instead, educate yourself.

If your neighbors are miners, then recycling might put a damper on their jobs, IF there was no need to extract more resources from the earth. As in, if people recycled 80 billion tons of steel, and there was only a 70 billion ton demand for that steel, then it would be possible that people who mine for the resources to produce steel would lose their jobs. And also those who refine the raw materials to steel. However, this is not as bad as it sounds.

First of all, people would be needed to build recycling centers, collect the material, operate the centers, repair the centers, and redistribute the "new" materials. There would be many new jobs available to replace the old jobs. Plus, there would be less environmental damage due to mining. I have heard from a geology prof that one day when the raw resources are gone, we will be digging through dumps to retrieve the resource and then recycle it so it will be useful again. Why don't we just skip the steps of burying resources and digging them back up and just recycle instead?

And if you so wish to counter your dad when he uses the ol' "people will lose their jobs" routine, ask what happened to the people who worked in the canal business once steam engines were developed. (Sure, jobs were lost, but they were replaced by new ones!)

Peace and love

PS. The resources are non-renewable, like oil, metals, etc. They can be used over, but that's not what a renewable resource is.

 

Um, if there is no more living earth...how can you work & therefore support the economy??

 

The question is whether the net effect is negative. It creates some jobs, it eliminates others. So does technology - technology has eliminated millions of jobs - but that doesn't mean it creates long term unemployment. It just mean people get displaced and have to find new jobs.

 

Just be sure to use of the cold water, not the hot. (It takes much electricity to warm the water.)

 

tell him its too fuckin bad and you're gonna do what you want

 

I don't wash my recylcing, I know they have an idustrial washer...so why bother?

 

Maybe we should create more criminals, that would create more jobs!
Make more sick people too, that would surely boost the economy.

What an ignorant statement......

 

Yeah I definitely disagree with your dad. If it's bad to recycle then I don't know what can be good for the environment... I'm sure people taking plastics and such out of someones garbage is not gonna bother the garbage men or even the people who work at the plant because no sadly many people still do not recycle. And if it does, who gives a shit! It's for a great cause!

Good luck with your dad, and keep up the good work! I'm glad there are definitely still people like us out still taking care of mother earth <3

 

I think the best way to deal with that is to just go on with recycling and educate the future generations about how recycling should help the environment.

 

Here's a real eye opener...please read!
Recycling: What a Waste!

Mises Daily: Thursday, September 22, 2005 by Jim Fedako
This fall, school kids across the country will again be taught a chief doctrine in the civic religion: recycle, not only because you fear the police but also because you love the planet. They come home well prepared to be the enforcers of the creed against parents who might inadvertently drop a foil ball into the glass bin or overlook a plastic wrapper in the aluminum bin.


Oh, I used to believe in recycling, and I still believe in the other two R's: reducing and reusing. However, recycling is a waste of time, money, and ever-scarce resources. What John Tierney wrote in the New York Times nearly 10 years ago is still true: "Recycling may be the most wasteful activity in modern America."
Read more... http://mises.org/daily/1911

ZW

 

Mistreating and mismanaging the environment is always good for jobs and economic growth - in the short run. The real problem is short-term thinking. Hopefully, our lives are not going to be short-term.

 

Is it possible that the disagreement between you and your father is a cultural one? You a hippie (at least of sort) and your father something else (e.g., redneck, CEO, union member)? The job thing might just be an outcome of that, but not the basic issue.

I have noticed that many of the products that are made of recycled content are being marketed to a liberal audience with messages that appeal to liberals. Perhaps we need recycled products and advertising that appeals to other groups.

I, myself, recycle/upcycle vintage auto hubcaps into clocks. You don't have to be a red neck to like them, but there is cross over appeal. Incidentally, I had a philosophical wrestling match with myself about whether it was a product I should sell. Was I promoting and glorifying auto use by selling hubcap clocks? Does the resources saved by recycling justify the glorification?

In the end, I decided that red necks need recycled products too.