Stealin' People's RecyclingFollow

How is it you manage to evade the 'herd' like mentality that the rest of us are so vulnerable to?


I see.





Edited, Jan 21st 2013 10:26pm by Elinda

That's some pretty elementary stuff you're tossing out there. I mean it's smart, but hey you're not any more genius than the next guy. So, why would the majority of people, the herd, fail to understand what you do about how they make their choices?

For you're theory to hold true you have to either be extraordinary or, or what?

Is labeling a buzzword?

First off. It's not about me. I'm free to observe something without making any claims about myself at all.

Secondly, it's axiomatic. Oh wait! That's a label. It's self proving. The fact that people use labels in this way is strong evidence that it works. I observed that Smash's statement about relative knowledge of issues could just as easily be reversed based on one's own self perception, and Smash's response was to say that my statement was an example of the Downing Effect. But if you know what that means, you'll realize it's exactly what I just pointed out about him (he placed his own knowledge at the high end of the spectrum, which is just as likely to be an example of the effect as my response).

Smash did that because he's banking on the assumption that more people will assume he's smarter because he used a label and will thus overlook how that same bias he's talking about applies to himself. So even though I was the first to point out the bias in his own post, by using a label instead, he believes he can influence readers into assuming he's not biased, but I am for pointing out the bias. Kinda ridiculous if you stop and think about it, but most people will fall for it because of the trait I spoke of.



Nope. My own extraordinary nature has nothing to do with the validity of what I'm talking about. Why would you assume so? If what I'm saying makes sense and seems to match observed behavior, then there's evidence that it's a valid idea. If not, then you're free to discount it and move on (or argue about why you disagree if you wish). But dismissing something someone says simply because you think the person saying it doesn't follow what he's saying is silly.

If a drunk tells you that drinking is bad for you and you shouldn't do it, do you assume he's wrong because he's unable to take his own advice? I've honestly never understood the whole "deny the message because the messenger doesn't follow it" argument.

You guys don't recycle before putting it in the trash? No wonder it costs a lot.

Trash management in Denmark is fairly simple:

Recyclable cans/bottles (refundable):
1. When you buy a can/bottle, you pay an extra fee if the can/bottle is recyclable.
2. When you return the empty can/bottle to a supermarket with a recycling machine, the supermarket pays you money equal to the recycling fee.
3. Dansk Retursystem (Danish Return System), a non-profit company with monopoly on collecting refundable recyclables, collects the recyclable cans/bottles and pays the supermarket whatever money they spent on refunding fees.

Recyclable cans/bottles (non-refundable):
1. Most residential areas have recycle bins/containers for paper and glass that cannot be refunded.
2. Said bins/containers are emptied by the local trash company (most of them are owned by the municipality).
3. The trash company sells the recyclable stuff to other companies that recycle the stuff into new stuff (which they in turn sell to the industry and so on).

Non-recyclable materials:
1. Anything thrown in the garbage bin is collected by the aforementioned trash company and driven to the incinerator plant.
2. Fire.
3. Trash company sells heat and electricity back to the city.

Citizens pay to have the trash company collect their personal trash, from garbage bins and such. The public containers are paid for by the municipality or the housing association that had the containers put up.

Recycling in Denmark relies a lot on people's conscience and their desire to make a few coins from handing in refundable cans/bottles. While it's generally considered intruding on private property (we don't have to move our cans to the curb, so it's technically on our private property) for someone to rummage through our personal trash, no one really cares, as long as the scavengers don't leave a mess.

The trash company doesn't lose money on it either, because they can't sell the refundable cans. Not that they would collect them - as I said, anything thrown in the garbage bin is driven directly to the incinerator.

Edit: I should probably mention that some people do care that scavengers rummage through their personal trash for refundable cans/bottles. The scavengers rarely intrude on private property, though, because most people don't throw out recyclable stuff. I guess we care.

Edited, Jan 22nd 2013 1:25am by Mazra

Well, you recycle BY putting it in the "trash". You get a separate bin(s) for your recyclables which are collected on trash day (by a separate truck).

Wow. Tell us how you really feel! You sound a bit desperate there. Not quite buying it. Maybe a few more swear words?

Seriously dude. Switch to decaf or something.

Back in the dark ages, TN used the deposit method. I remember going with my mom to turn in bottles and she'd get some money back. Also, the deposit amount was on all the bottles and cans.

Granted, this was when I was about 4, so... 1923?

It's the daddy issue.

I just wanted to know whether or not I should call the po-po on the lady taking cans out of my bin. Maybe I should have posted my other thread in here, too.

Edited, Jan 22nd 2013 9:10am by Spoonless

No, you should take her in and feed her and hug her and make her warm and happy.

Tell her "Hey lady, I got a sweet can for ya right here!" and then go with where the moment takes you two.