mkpdavies:
The points you make are good and make you think. The points about what the public think are, however, all too true. People want to stop damage to the environment and feel fairly helpless. If someone comes along and says, hey, you can help the environment by putting you paper in this bin, then they will. It is a positive reaction.
So to get them to stop it, I think you have to give them an alternative positive reaction and not a negative one. You need to give some soundbite facts, how many tons of chemical slurry are produced, how many more trees would be planted if people bought new paper, and so on.
I recycle everything, I would recycle my own bogies if someone gave me a bag for them. In Germany I believe most old paper goes to wallpaper manufacturers who make low grade paper and would use rags and old paper anyway (all rented apartments are done out 100% in woodchip). Can you give me some facts to show a) the damage being done today and b) the advantage of the alternative? I mean facts, rather than generalisations.
This is what will make it a worthwhile argument.
The main thing that I recycle is plastics, which I think is a good thing for us to do in principle, but I have my doubts as to how and even whether they do it.
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