One challenge with recycling is that different towns have different rules, whether it is via sorting (or lack of) or what is considered okay for recycling. This means anything we learn online might be wrong for our local town, so we should always check with what the local rules are. Heck, even a town a few kilometres away may have different rules.

@AdamDoesNotExist

7 ай бұрын

100% It's typically handled at the municipal level. So if you live on the edge of a town, your next door neighbor could have completely different rules.

Great information in your video ! In my state and most states, recycling is a misnomer ! They only recycle certain types of plastic, and it "must" be clean, or not acceptable ! They only except certain kinds of bottles. You must "never" put styrofoam in the recycle bin, or your in big trouble. Any electric or electronics, "must" be dropped off way across town, somewhere special ! Nah, it's ALL a big joke to me. Sometimes it makes me want to through EVERYTHING in the TRASH bin, but we pay extra for the "PRIVILAGE" of recycling... Go green, Go broke !

@AdamDoesNotExist

7 ай бұрын

Yeah you're better off just throwing most stuff in the trash I'm afraid. Glass and metal are probably worth it in your situation, but that might be it.

first, a funny thing about these 3 trash cans is that, sometimes, they all go into the same dumpster and then the landfill. second, "Compost" should only take in organics, like left over food. and nothing else. No biodegradable cups/forks/plates, they are made to degrade in landfills over years, not months in compost. No cardboard/paper with prints, as some printing ink has heavy metal that we do not want in our food. third, "Recyclables" should only take in Clean-ED material. else, contamination de-values all other cleaned material to "landfill" quality. fourth, when in doubt, landfill. else, wishful recycling only leads to more overhead and renders other's effort, worthless. examples to follow: Japan, Germany, etc. note: they are not perfect, but they are on the right track. summary: recycling is a generational problem. we need to train everyone starting from Kindergarten. we need to create Financial Incentive for recycling business to thrive. we need to include the cost of recycling into the cost of production for the product. we need to do so much more, than three options at the end of a meal. But we are lazy, we do not want to change, we do not want to spend more money, we would rather pass on the problem to the next generation, as our previous generation has done to us.

@AdamDoesNotExist

7 ай бұрын

I agree with a lot of this! I will say here in the bay area, they have a really sophisticated composting process that can handle all of those biodegradable forks and knifes, as long as they're labeled compostable! So check your local guidelines.

This is a great video. How is this channel so small?

@AdamDoesNotExist

7 ай бұрын

Thank you!! Maybe someday it won’t be so small!

The big problem with plastics recycling is contamination. It is difficult and expensive to clean plastics to a point where you can create a fairly pure stream of recycled plastic. Any contamination -- bits of metal, paper, food waste, the wrong kind of plastic -- makes the recycled plastic behave in undesirable ways and manufacturers won't buy it. The recycled plastic resin has to be fairly pure, and ensuring that it is usually ends up costing more than manufacturing virgin resin. Since there isn't a good economic reason to use recycled plastic, it ends up being pure virtue signaling by the manufacturer. Another problem with plastics recycling is aging. As plastic ages, it degrades through oxidation and exposure to ultraviolet light, and volatile compounds in the plastic evaporate away. This all serves to contaminate the recycled resin, leaving a product that just isn't as workable or strong as virgin resin. Paper recycling also suffers from the contamination problem. Besides, every time paper is recycled, the fibers break down further and further. This means that paper cannot be continuously recycled; at some point the extremely short fibers become contamination themselves! I think the concern over landfills is way overblown. A modern landfill is a great place to contain waste; they actually protect the environment better than other methods of disposal and, in some ways, protect the environment better than recycling the materials (which uses a lot more energy and releases harmful chemicals). Now, I'm a fan of recycling, but only where it makes sense. Glass and metal can be infinitely recycled. Paper and plastic cannot, and the economics of recycling must not be ignored.

@AdamDoesNotExist

7 ай бұрын

Preach! These are great points, and after watching the video, you know how I feel.

@jonjohnson3027

7 ай бұрын

@@AdamDoesNotExist another thing: most recycled plastic and paper CANNOT be used for food packaging due to purity and safety concerns.

@AdamDoesNotExist

7 ай бұрын

That I did not know, but it totally makes sense. I see paper napkins advertised as recycled, but you never see recycled butcher paper.

hey man, your vids are really neat and I think you deserve more subs, but one mildly jarring aspect of the filmography(?) is those jumpcuts you do, the scene on the rocks at the bay and the benches in the park felt like they took away more than they gave to the videos presentation. I noticed a similar thing with the part titlecards in your Shen Yun video too. Regardless of that, keep up the good work, see you at a 100k :)

@AdamDoesNotExist

6 ай бұрын

Thanks! This means a lot!! I try to make it a bit more interesting than a typical talking head video. Because essentially that's all this is. But I'm still working on that balance between visually interesting and too jarring/ distracting. Gad to have you here!

I’ve been known to wishcycle things I thought should be recyclable but aren’t. It’s hard when I don’t want something I got but didn’t want (primarily packaging) to be buried forever. I like the idea of labeling it as landfill, but we’ve got a lot of work to do to create products that can be recycled or composted, from the manufacturer first & foremost!

@AdamDoesNotExist

6 ай бұрын

I like your term wishcycle! And you’re totally right. We could be a lot more effective solving this problem at the point of manufacture than at disposal.

Great video!

@AdamDoesNotExist

7 ай бұрын

Thank you!

Thanks. Now it makes sense!

@AdamDoesNotExist

7 ай бұрын

You bet!

When you always see that at least 1 neighbor in the streets overflows his recycle trash bin with regular trash it makes you wonder why to go through the pain of recycling since everything will be mixed and messed up in the dumpster truck.

@AdamDoesNotExist

7 ай бұрын

I feel this deep in my soul! I live in an apartment and share recycling bins with all the other units. It’s such a bummer to see what ends up in there.

Great video with amazing info. Something different. Same things over here as well how they treat with trash. I was wondering the same like you mention in your video about trash. Too much plastic nowdays we using it most of the plastics items/ materials we cannot recycle.

@AdamDoesNotExist

6 ай бұрын

There's just so much single use plastic! It's a big problem and has been for a while.

@jagdipsingh1272

6 ай бұрын

@@AdamDoesNotExist 101% agree on that which is true. Love you my brother Adam

germany here: potato chip bag -> recycling (yellow sack/bin) pizza carton if not too much soiled paper or trash. can: return to store for deposit pringles can: yellow sack or paper. plastic container yellow sack. napkin -> trash . But recently they revealed that not all recycling yellow sacks are recycled and are mostly thermically used eg burned. So naionwide they pulled the wool over our eyes.

@AdamDoesNotExist

7 ай бұрын

Interesting! Thanks for sharing. I wonder if a lot of that was getting burned because the recycling infrastructure doesn’t exist, or if there was another reason.

@michaelz.7140

7 ай бұрын

@@AdamDoesNotExist if you label technically not recyclable stuff like a potato chip bag (too many layers, cant sort them out) and most plastics like yoghurt containers cant be really recycled. The funny thing is even if something is technically recyclable you are not allowed to put it in the recycling / yellow bags / bins... because it is only for sales packages. Some municipalities and cities try to change it and say you can put plastics and metals and other recyclables into the yellow bins....

Very nice🎉❤

@AdamDoesNotExist

7 ай бұрын

Thank you!

Where I live, the only thing in your intro that could be put in the recycling was the aluminum soda can. We don't have curbside composting, but I'm guessing the napkin and the pizza box are compostable in the Bay Area (here, they'd be landfilled, because food contaminated paper isn't recyclable). The Pringles can and plastic clamshell are definitely landfill material.

@AdamDoesNotExist

7 ай бұрын

That's not that far off from here. "Recyclable" is such a misleading term.

Good quality content. Keep it up my dude. Background music is a little loud.

@AdamDoesNotExist

7 ай бұрын

Yeah thanks for the feedback. I'm still trying to work out the right levels.

The bigger problem I’ve always had with this is what’s worse for the environment. 1 truck picking everything up and taking it to the landfill, or 3 trucks picking up 3 different commodities that have to go all over town to dump off stuff that usually gets thrown away anyway?

@AdamDoesNotExist

7 ай бұрын

Great point. Some of the SF trucks pick up trash and recycling. There’s talk of bat gas and electric trucks, but I agree. Still a frustrating issue.

@roastbeefy0weefy

Ай бұрын

If it all went in one (larger) can, assuming all the trucks fill up, then it's the same amount of work / trips / repeated routes, meaning the same emissions.

For such a small youtuber, great video

@AdamDoesNotExist

7 ай бұрын

Thank you so much!

@bhuvanordhruv

2 ай бұрын

This video is great even if it was a big channel.. lot of big channels are worse than this one

@konradhenkel5971

2 ай бұрын

​ @bhuvanordhruv by for a small channel i mean its impressive that without this being a journalist or a large channel with a ton of resource they are still able to make quality content

@konradhenkel5971

2 ай бұрын

when i said a small channel i meant its impressive that without this being a journalist or a large channel with a ton of resource they are still able to make quality content just so there's no misunderstandings ;-; thank you!

@bhuvanordhruv

2 ай бұрын

@@konradhenkel5971 I agree

A pro soccer stadium i have season tickets has a 3 choice trash can .18,000 people rushing to get out of the stadium are not stopping to sort trash.Again just trying to look good

@AdamDoesNotExist

7 ай бұрын

100% all of those just end up in the trash unfortunately

The current waste collection here in San Francisco might not always be perfect, but I'd say it's the best and most developed here in the US which I can say firsthand. 😀👍💯

excellent video, new subscriber

@AdamDoesNotExist

7 ай бұрын

Thank you! Glad to have you here!

Pringles can gets shredded at the scrap yard. The paper will be taken to landfill as "fluff" and metal will be sent to be melted

@AdamDoesNotExist

7 ай бұрын

What percentage of pringles cans go through that process. In my experience, though it's thoretically possible, it almost never happens.

@dirtbike662

7 ай бұрын

If I remember the sort machines use eddy current to separate metal bits. So It should pick it up. However I'm a psycho and what I do is rip out the metal, and put that in my own scrap bin that I take in for cash. Then send the cardboard and lid to the city sort facility. Hell, I rip off the metal blades off the parchment paper boxes for the metal. But really though I think to really fix this is to stop eating Pringles altogether. I really detest landfills, it ruins the land underneath for a very long time and has the potential to contaminate water, and you can no longer build on it. I would rather send the stuff to a WTE plant.

As far as that napkin in compost, I disagree. Imagine a load of that getting dumped in some farmers field and somebody's garden, which is where compost ends up. Would you want to eat produce from that field? But I dig your videos!!!

@AdamDoesNotExist

6 ай бұрын

Thank you! In most of the Bay Area they're able to compost those napkins. But you're right, it's different everywhere!

Past the halfway mark and still engaged with the video. There are similar bins here in Hampton roads VA. They're always full of misorganized items.

@CorinnaAtHome

7 ай бұрын

Your production and editing is fantastic. And your voice is easy to listen to. I appreciate how you explain things.

@AdamDoesNotExist

7 ай бұрын

Thanks Corinna! I went to college to learn about this subject matter, so if there's one video I'm qualified to make, it's this one haha!

New Jersey burned New Yorks garbage for years to supply power to the city. Maybe we should give it a try. While we are reducing wastes start going to universal glass and cardboard or easy breakdown containers.

@danielgodfrey4415

7 ай бұрын

I live out in the country 60 miles east from this guy in the video. We only get garbage pickup. I have a compost burn bin. Cardboard, food scraps, and fireplace ash goes into that. When it gets full enough I burn. My recycling goes in the back of my pickup and I take directly to a recycling center.

@AdamDoesNotExist

7 ай бұрын

Good for you! We always made our own compost growing up which can't be beat. But that's not a great option in an apartment.

F**k, I am still confused. I saw this title, and was like, "Ah, yeah, Adam will get to the bottom of this." As a habitual rule-follower, I break the "Law" when it comes to the disposal of trash, outside of our home. In our home city, Roseville, we are able to throw everything in ONE trash can, and Waste Management separates it at it's facility. Easy peasy. When we approach these three receptacles, I am like, "f**k it." Landfill? Compost?

@AdamDoesNotExist

7 ай бұрын

That's so interesting I've never heard of that before! I wonder how the waste management folks like it up there. I've talked to a number of municipalities that really struggle with the machines that just sort recyclables. This is something that's been bothering me since I moved to the bay area so I just had to make this video!

@SippyCupAdventures

7 ай бұрын

@@AdamDoesNotExist Let me clarify. We live in a condo complex, so, we don't have lawn clippings, etc. The city does have weekly trash pickup and "green waste" every other week but trash pickup is "just put everything in and we will take care of it." I never thought much of the service. I paid no attention, until NOW, where all this complexity is in most communities now.

@AdamDoesNotExist

7 ай бұрын

@@SippyCupAdventures Ah got it! I suspect most people don't think twice about this stuff. There's plenty of other better things to worry about. But I went to college for this so had to find some use for that degree lol.

What can I do about this problem? Not live in California. I think it's to a point that a wall should be built around the state and nobody should be allowed to leave. You voted for it, you live with it.

@AdamDoesNotExist

7 ай бұрын

Haha. By almost any metric California is at the top of a state ranking when it comes to waste management. But there are certainly some aspects that make no sense.

Find out who is making money off this.

@AdamDoesNotExist

7 ай бұрын

The two big ones in the narrow part of the story are the plastics industry, and Recology.

Them city folks make trash in bin very complex for no reason.

@AdamDoesNotExist

4 ай бұрын

I think their intent was good, but the results... never had a chance

@APWoodworking

4 ай бұрын

@AdamDoesNotExist I agree, the local & state Government will "intend" many good things from New programs but in reality when you solve 1 problem, 2 new problems at a minimum will show up. It's part of advancement but to what price when it's our taxes & our vote doesn't stick anymore

This explanation is an example of how complicated the trash system is and reason why people don't care. I couldn't stand to watch but 5 minutes of this video. This video has too many fillers in it to stretch it to the 10+ minute mark.

@AdamDoesNotExist

7 ай бұрын

Yeah the trash system can be really complicated! Where's the filler? Sincerely would like to know. The length of my videos is all over the place. I'm not trying to hit a specific time.

@GTSongwriter

7 ай бұрын

​@@AdamDoesNotExistThe information may "sound different", but you've reworded the same information multiple times. But for some reason you couldn't find another word for recycling, so you over used it during the rewording. I practically heard you say the same thing multiple different ways.

@GTSongwriter

7 ай бұрын

@@AdamDoesNotExist I don't want to waste your time with you trying to analyze this. The truth is, after 5 minutes, I got bored and thought to myself.. GET TO THE POINT already. So I stopped watching after 5 minutes.

@AdamDoesNotExist

7 ай бұрын

@@GTSongwriter Yeah that's fair! 50% happens to be about the average view percentage for this video so you're not alone. I spent 4 years learning about this so for me it's tough to condense into 10 minutes lol. Appreciate the feedback.

@GTSongwriter

7 ай бұрын

@@AdamDoesNotExist definitely a video that needs to be in two parts.

Well-intentioned? No. Not in any way, shape or form. Unless, of course, you consider petty tyranny and the abuse of governmental authority over citizens to be a good thing.

@AdamDoesNotExist

7 ай бұрын

Of all the Bay Area tyranny, trash cans rank pretty low on my list. I don't think there's a larger conspiracy here, just a misguided effort. But I could be wrong!

@chuckschillingvideos

7 ай бұрын

@@AdamDoesNotExist If you wish to ignore the larger context of the grotesque overreach of state and municipal governmental authorities in California, tine. Sure, go on and compartmentalize everything and pretend that nothing's part of a larger, malignant whole. But your naivete comes at a cost. Never forget that.