Americans
Have a very different system of garbage/refuse/recycling than we do in Europe.
My parents, for example, pay the same amount whether they put out five bags of rubbish which are filled with heavy things or only leaves.
This makes trash compaction highly desirable.
Recycling in the US is also very primitive compare to Europe. For some reason, throwing valuable materials away is considered normal and recycling is 'liberal/socialist/progressive/fascist/Marxist/Leninist...' to many people.
I can put anything I like in a plastic bag and leave it at the curb to be thrown into the dump in Fort Collins. Should I be feeling sufficiently masochistic to want to recycle, I must do the following:
Separate paper into newsprint, colored, black and white, toner printed
Separate cardboard into non-corrugated, single-wall corrugated, multi-ply corrugated
No paper may be accepted which is wax coated or stamped 'food grade'
Plastic is only accepted if absolutely clean and then must be separated into the seven first plastic groups. No mixtures or composites permitted.
No Styrofoam or construction foams.
Glass must be thoroughly washed and separated by color, no flat glass (windows, for instance).
Aluminum must be washed...
Steel is not accepted...
The penalty for even one sheet of paper accidentally placed in the wrong bin is up to $5,000 fine and / or six months in jail.
There are City SS troupes stationed in plain clothes at the recycling site to apprehend and ticket offenders. Resistance is met with handcuffing and criminal charges.
There is exactly one recycling center for a city which is roughly the physical size of Amsterdam.
Realistically, the American compactors make a lot of sense, given their absurd pricing by sack or container, the difficulty of recycling and the lack of interest in sorting and reusing waste.
