Moultonborough Trash Inspection

[tis]

Originally Posted by pcmc

I'm all for recycling, I feel it's important to 'do our part' as has been stated already. What bothers me is how only items that are profitable are recycled. Bottle caps aren't a money maker so they get thrown aside. A question I have is if money is being made off of this, how can we skip the middle man and cash in on recycling our own recyclables ourselves, instead of giving the money away?

Another thought is, from what we are told, we are wasting the water that the entire world has a limited supply of. How many gallons of water are we (the world) wasting washing our garbage?

My son, who does cart wheels about recycling, just did a report on recycling. He was disappointed with the statistic he came across stating that only 9% of recycled materials get recycled. I don't know if he read that on the web or in a book, but boy was he shocked.

Every time I wash a can or bottle out, I wonder that very same thing-how much water is being wasted!!! I would love to know!

[PaugusBayFireFighter]

Originally Posted by tis

Every time I wash a can or bottle out, I wonder that very same thing-how much water is being wasted!!! I would love to know!

I never really questioned the "wasting water" phrase as a kid but as an adult I have come to look at that phrase the same way I do "you'll catch a cold if you go outside without a jacket " or "Don't go swimming after you eat or you'll get a cramp and drown", both myths. I wonder how running your faucet is really wasting water? You pay for it and it ends up back in your faucet eventually. We have no less or no more water on this planet than we did 100 years ago and there's very little difference of water content since the oceans were formed.
Truth is we abuse the natural "water cycle" with plastics and other environmental waste, that slows the cycle. Some day we will pay if bad habits don't change.
You may be wasting money when you let the water run, but the water isn't gone forever.
I'm not questioning the idea of conserving and preserving water, I'm questioning the old phrase "wasting".

[Rusty]

Originally Posted by PaugusBayFireFighter

I never really questioned the "wasting water" phrase as a kid but as an adult I have come to look at that phrase the same way I do "you'll catch a cold if you go outside without a jacket " or "Don't go swimming after you eat or you'll get a cramp and drown", both myths. I wonder how running your faucet is really wasting water? You pay for it and it ends up back in your faucet eventually. We have no less or no more water on this planet than we did 100 years ago and there's very little difference of water content since the oceans were formed.
Truth is we abuse the natural "water cycle" with plastics and other environmental waste, that slows the cycle. Some day we will pay if bad habits don't change.
You may be wasting money when you let the water run, but the water isn't gone forever.
I'm not questioning the idea of conserving and preserving water, I'm questioning the old phrase "wasting".

What you say is true and thanks to the hydrologic cycle, we drink and bathe in the same H2O that rained on the dinosaurs.

However...water shortages are really a problem of distribution. We may have enough freshwater on Earth to meet the global population's current needs, but we can't always make it available where it's needed, when it's needed, and in the quality in which it's needed.

You can think of a community's water supply as a bank balance: If the community takes out more than can be returned in a timely fashion, it may reach a point at which it doesn't have enough water to grow crops, wash clothes, or flush toilets. Communities withdraw water from local surface waters (such as rivers, lakes, or reservoirs), groundwater aquifers, or both. Those sources do eventually get replenished by precipitation, but that can be a very long, slow process—with groundwater, for example, it can take hundreds or even thousands of years. Storing the water is a challenge as well: According to a 2003 report from the Government Accountability Office, the holding capacity of the United States' existing reservoirs may be declining due to aging dams and increased sedimentation. Constructing new dams is not only expensive but can also damage aquatic ecosystems.

http://www.slate.com/articles/health...verywhere.html

[chipj29]

Re: rinsing cans and bottles-I have almost never done it. I would waste thousands of gallons of water a year rinsing beer cans

Re: fresh water-If cruise ships can have systems to turn sea water into drinkable water, why isn't that technology widely used on land?

[Rusty]

Originally Posted by chipj29

Re: fresh water-If cruise ships can have systems to turn sea water into drinkable water, why isn't that technology widely used on land?

It's called "Reverse Osmosis" and is very expensive. Some countries use it a lot... Australia is one of them.
The United States still has plenty of potable water so we don't need to use it that much right now.

You can buy a "Reverse Osmosis" filtering unit at Walmart for @ $250.

[Happy Gourmand]

Originally Posted by Rusty

It's called "Reverse Osmosis" and is very expensive. Some countries use it a lot... Australia is one of them.
The United States still has plenty of potable water so we don't need to use it that much right now.

You can buy a "Reverse Osmosis" filtering unit at Walmart for @ $250.

The ships I was on back in the 60's used evaporators to make fresh water.

[Lakegeezer]

In an average year, over 300 billion gallons of rain falls on the Winnipesaukee watershed. Much of that gravitates to the lake, a reserve with over 670 billion gallons, then heads down the Merrimack River to the sea, continuing the water cycle. The supply of drinking quality ground water is a different issue, but the lakes region is not hurting for the quantity of fresh water. Using a few thousand gallons for what ever you want, especially if taken from surface water, is OK. Just please return it when you are done.

[ITD]

Originally Posted by Lakegeezer

In an average year, over 300 billion gallons of rain falls on the Winnipesaukee watershed. Much of that gravitates to the lake, a reserve with over 670 billion gallons, then heads down the Merrimack River to the sea, continuing the water cycle. The supply of drinking quality ground water is a different issue, but the lakes region is not hurting for the quantity of fresh water. Using a few thousand gallons for what ever you want, especially if taken from surface water, is OK. Just please return it when you are done.

It's kind of like beer, you only rent it.

[SIKSUKR]

Originally Posted by chipj29

Re: rinsing cans and bottles-I have almost never done it. I would waste thousands of gallons of water a year rinsing beer cans

Re: fresh water-If cruise ships can have systems to turn sea water into drinkable water, why isn't that technology widely used on land?

Obviously the first issue is being close to the source. This desal plant in Melbourne was recently on one of my favorite tv shows, Build it Bigger.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Victori...lination_Plant

[dpg]

Originally Posted by PaugusBayFireFighter

I never really questioned the "wasting water" phrase as a kid but as an adult I have come to look at that phrase the same way I do "you'll catch a cold if you go outside without a jacket " or "Don't go swimming after you eat or you'll get a cramp and drown", both myths. I wonder how running your faucet is really wasting water? You pay for it and it ends up back in your faucet eventually. We have no less or no more water on this planet than we did 100 years ago and there's very little difference of water content since the oceans were formed.
Truth is we abuse the natural "water cycle" with plastics and other environmental waste, that slows the cycle. Some day we will pay if bad habits don't change.
You may be wasting money when you let the water run, but the water isn't gone forever.
I'm not questioning the idea of conserving and preserving water, I'm questioning the old phrase "wasting".

If you have your own septic system as opposed to town water/waste not sure how that's recycled. Mine goes from the tap to the holding tank then out into the leaching field.....Recycle? How???

[PaugusBayFireFighter]

Originally Posted by dpg

If you have your own septic system as opposed to town water/waste not sure how that's recycled. Mine goes from the tap to the holding tank then out into the leaching field.....Recycle? How???

Whether you dump water into the earth, vaporize it into the atmosphere, it doesn't matter. The hydrologic cycle eventually brings the water back to a liquid state. The water never leaves the planet. Here's a couple diagrams to explain it.

[SIKSUKR]

Originally Posted by tis

Every time I wash a can or bottle out, I wonder that very same thing-how much water is being wasted!!! I would love to know!

Even though I am very conservative with water, I never consider any water I use at home being "wasted". I pump it out of the ground from my well and put right back there in my leach field.
Our water on this planet isn't going anywhere, it just moves around. All the rivers we take water from used to end up in the ocean before. I guess that would have been massive waste before we harnessed it.