Plastic Villains

As I was checking out Hotmail's little list of interesting articles you see when you log in, I noticed this one in particular:


I knew before I even clicked on it that Manitoba was going to be the culprit in this case. Manitoba does not have a good track record of recycling, and that's a known fact. Manitoba doesn't have the incentives to recycle like other provinces, or the a police service that will fine you for not recycling. I've heard about that happening in Canada, but I can't confirm its truth.

Since I've moved to Alberta I've noticed there is one main difference in the attitude towards trash.

1) Things like plastic, glass bottles (not just green and brown beer ones), tin cans, and electronics all get refunds. But they're more expensive in the first place because of environmental levies. Albertans don't care about this tax though, they just want their deposit back.

Here's a chart showing just how much money you get for turning old electronics. This is also valid in BC, Saskatchewan and Nova Scotia.

Recycling your electronics is good! They're filled with bad things like mercury and lead, so I don't mind getting rid of them; Especially since I myself, and many people I know have old computers, monitors, and printers lying about. I probably have enough of them personally to finance an overhaul of my PC.

Here's something else I found while browsing the Sears website where I got this info:

"For orders shipped to Alberta, the Alberta Environmental Levy will appear in the 'PST' field in your Shopping Basket. This charge is not a tax."

If it's not a tax, then what is it? Right on the receipt it will say "Environmental Levy." An example of this is per pop bottle it'll be about 2 cents. Depending on the product you're purchasing it goes up and down. Even products that are good for the environment will carry this levy.

So if it isn't a tax, why exactly do I have to pay it? The definition of a levy is this:

lev⋅y

noun, plural lev⋅ies, verb, lev⋅ied, lev⋅y⋅ing. –noun

1.	an imposing or collecting, as of a tax, by authority or force.

2.	the amount owed or collected.

What I don't understand is why Sears says I don't have to pay this tax, as if it's optional. If that's the case I really think I'll always opt out of paying the levy. Next time I'm in a store I'm going ask if the environmental levy optional for groceries and electronics. Maybe I'll mail the local MP about it. Stay tuned for updates.

Why opt out of the levy you ask? Well, I'll opt out on plastic. Plastic is more expensive and worse for the environment to recycle than it is to just make plastic. I don't mind paying deposit on beer bottles and cans, because you'll get that back, and it really does save energy and resources to reuse and recycle glass, metal and some paper (remember though, reuse your paper, don't recycle it).

But not plastic. Any time spent recycling plastic is time and money wasted. To actually pay people to recycle plastic is ludicrous. The government wastes your tax money on moving the plastic around, your time spent sorting plastic, and the space in your house while you hold on to that plastic. After you add up the cost of recycling plastic it's pretty damn expensive, and because nobody wants to buy that plastic to recycle it, it ends up sitting in a warehouse and eventually a landfill anyway.

Why does that matter? The reason you get a refund on metal and glass is because the warehouses and depots that recycle it make a profit off the resale of your aluminum and glass. So you get your money back, and the warehouse pays some of its own bills meaning less taxpayer money is spent. But when it comes to plastic guess who pays for all this fruitless labour. You. Oh, and because platics can't pay for themselves like metal and glass, guess whose pocket that "refund" is actually coming out of too. Yours.

Here's a fantastic ten minute clip of Penn & Teller's Bullshit explaining in greater detail and with a far better vocabulary what I'm talking about. Don't watch it if don't you have the time, but I can guarantee you if you've got a few spare minutes, next to my blog, you're not going find a more interesting and informative way to spend one sixth of an hour.



Now here's a sad fact about plastic. It doesn't disappear. Never. Nothing on Earth breaks down plastic. One you make it, it's here forever, at least until through the magic of evolution some kind of bacteria evolves to make Barbie and her plastic playmates a tasty snack for themselves.
Until that time, coastal cities will continue to contribute to The Lost Continent of Plastlantis



So suppourt your local landfill, send them your plastic, make sure it gets buried away from the ocean. Do the environment a favour and Reduce and Resuse your plastics, don't recycle it. I think we should all thank Manitoba for believing so strongly in suppourting local landfills.