Recycling on the road and Cash for Clunkers

Likely to disappear altogether under the budget cuts necessitated by the current economy, recycling in the State Parks of Washington and Oregon is something we have taken for granted for some time if you live in those areas. Most of the Park systems in both states have extensive on site recycling. Once we left for points east however it was a different story. Both Wyoming and Montana it seems do not recycle glass at all. Not at curbside, not at the dump, let alone at the parks. Nada, zip, zilch. This made it difficult at best to recycle glass and liking as I do a beer or three now and then, we found ourselves accumulating bottles. Recycling like everything else still has a ways to go.

Recently Congress appropriated an additional Two Billion Dollars to keep the “cash for clunkers” program going. I think of how many recycling programs TWO BILLION DOLLARS would fund and then I remember, glass bottles don’t vote or contribute to campaign funds for politicians. The people that run (into the ground) the automotive industry in this country do. I don't know about you, but I see the program as just another thinly veiled bailout for the auto industry. The amount of energy required to build the new cars that will replace the old ones eats up all the difference in the mileage between the two. And this program does in reality nothing to compell the auto makers to improve the fuel economy of their vehicles, but I'm sure they hope it will sell some cars and get some votes.