To tell you the truth, I was really blown away when I discovered this. Now people can continue their consumerism lifestyle, without guilt, without remorse, just by giving their money to some company somewhere. Wow.
I address the excess trash situation by....
....generating less trash in the first place! By not buying all the consumer crap, by not buying disposable items, by not buying stuff that can't be repaired, by buying less trash in the first place, I believe I do a lot better for the earth than trying to recycle my consumer trash. By using Terracycle.com, I could completely disregard that my lifestyle is producing mountains of trash.
....repairing items. I see scads and scads of repairable items being tossed into the trash. Much of it is cheap junk designed to be tossed, but some is more expensive and easily fixable. But I live in a throwaway society now, so lots of good stuff (not even broken) gets tossed into the trash.
....repurposing. I've become a repurposer. I'm not the best, for sure. But I get better year by year.
....buying used. I've become a regular shopper at the various thrift stores, church bazaars, recycling centers, etc.
I'm not against something like Terracycle.com, but I am amazed. People are already joining and using this service.
I was researching something awhile back and ran across some references to terracycle and people loving it, but I quickly forgot about it. So it was interesting to read your description and comments on it. It seems like a good thing, but my point of view is definitely more in your camp. Of course, those who live a pent-up urbanized lifestyle probably don't realize they have other options.
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