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| Lisa Bauer |
A: It just wastes water. Everything is melted at such a temperature that anything that is in it is burned off into the air. While there is a small amount of effluent, it really is not enough to worry about. The amount of water wasted is probably far more detrimental than the amount of stuff burned off into the air.
Q: "Is it greener to recycle paper in the bins for food scraps and plant matter, which get ground into compost, or is it better to put used paper in the paper waste containers, since much of our waste paper gets shipped overseas, and that uses fossil fuels?"
A: Making paper in the first place is a phenomenally polluting process. You cut down trees. You sometimes clear cut. You drive across forests, which then causes deforestation. There's infiltration in streams, which impacts fish habitat. Finally it gets into a plant. You mix it with chemicals, you grind it up using water, energy and more chemicals, probably bleach if it's white paper. It takes a lot of polluting processes to turn paper into paper form.
It makes every bit of sense to recycle it back into paper form. Just sending it right back into compost is a waste of all the energy and resources that have gone into making it paper originally.
Lisa Bauer is UC Berkeley's manager of recycling and refuse services and UC Sustainability Champion of the Year. Read more about her award at: http://www.berkeley.edu/news/media/releases/2009/07/27_bauer.shtml
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