Chile Forum

Well there has to be two sides to every recycle. Unless someone else is willing to collect and process all those plastic bags, soda cans, and cardboard boxes, the act of consumers recycling them is meaningless. Take plastic shopping bags for example. They are not suitable for reuse in food containers or toys because they are dirty and have inks on them. The only uses I know of for these bags are in composite (fake) wood planks and as filler in carpet pads.

I operate a business that produces hundreds of pounds of aluminum chips and shavings every week. Last year we could recycle the chips and were paid about 50 cents a pound. Then the Chinese stopped buying scrap metals after the Olympics and now we are paid just 3 cents a pound. It is almost not worth the effort to recycle the chips at such a low price. Most things, even recycling have a business angle, and businesses can't operate on good intentions (at least not for long!). If we want recycling to work then we have to be willing to support the other side of the recycling equation.

Are you actually saying that you’re selling reasonably pure aluminum scrap for 3 cents a pound in Colorado as we speak?

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The more we try fool others, the more we are actually fooling ourselves.

El Zorro wrote:Are you actually saying that you’re selling reasonably pure aluminum scrap for 3 cents a pound in Colorado as we speak?

Yes, the price for scrap aluminum collapsed 90% since last Summer. The price paid for aluminum cans dropped as well, but not as much. Our local scrap dealer blames it on the Chinese since they were buying most of the industrial scrap metals produced in the U.S.

I had a large amount of plastic water bottles in my apartment ,Took many trips,but happily found a recycle area in vina de mar to drop them off.

One of the local Jumbo's here in Santiago is about the only place that I have seen that has a bin for collecting glass and plastic bottles for recycling. It's also the only store I've seen that sells consumers a reusable bag instead of plastic for taking your groceries home.
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I see a "green" attitude evolving here in Chile but it manifests itself in other ways. There seems to be less packing waste in some of the consumer products I see. I think you'll see more environemtally friendly products offered in construction and building materials than you would see in some other developed countries. I saw solar panels advertised for sale at Sodimac (Parque Arauco) which you wouldn't likely see at the Lowes and Home Depot in mid-Manhatten.

But I agree, otherwise there's no recycling to speak of and the lack of investment, incentives or infrastructure likely put Chile 5-10 years away from developing that sort of attitude.