I don’t recycle and neither should you.
America’s future lies in our junk yards.
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About ten years ago I was driving to a time bank conference with a fellow economics rebel. We drove past “Mt. Brighton” a manmade ski hill in Michigan. It has a legend of once being a landfill even though it never was.
Nevertheless, the subject of garbage heaps was brought up. Then my friend said something I’ll never forget.
“It’s all resources for future generations.”
My reply was “What?”
He went on to explain the obvious. When everything we need to maintain capitalism and consumerism does finally run out in the natural world, landfills will be the “gold mines” of the future.
I’ve never put out a recycle bin since.
Here’s the dirty little secret about “recycling” in America. Very little of it stays in America, especially Ewaste.
Electronic waste from cell phones, TVs, appliances, toys, and whatever gizmo we get sick of that is full of microcircuits, it all gets sent overseas mostly to countries that would love to see America fall flat on its screens.
I’m betting if you’re the kind of reader that reads my kind of stuff you may already know this. But if this finds you surprised here’s all the support I need for my argument.
The story above broke in 2016. This report from the United States Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) was last updated on November 2, 2021. It seems the problem has just gotten worse. The waste and the debate about what to do about it still continue to pile up without a solution.
