Move to refillable toiletries

[TestingH2O]

In my city we are fined for not recycling. All trash must be separated.

Interesting. I hadn't heard of any US cities doing that. My friend in Tokyo says that's the policy there.

 

[olafLover]

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[FigmentSpark]

Keep in mind, particularly since China has stopped buying the recycling garbage, that even the recycling will end up in a landfill. Much of it is useless, but they'd still rather your collect it separately, because some might be useful.

In our community, we collect recycling and we also have a composting program. I hated it at first (change=ugh for me), but now I love it. It does make you realize how much organic waste we have, though, in addition to recyclables.

 

[TestingH2O]

The question was if it was collected separately, not if people take the time to do it

But that is the answer. It's up to the individual and it depends on community infrastructure. There is no yes/no response possible. That's the trouble with a conversation like this, you have to be willing to accept that there are not concrete answers even if it seems like it might be a yes/no question.

 

[KashasMom]

The question was if it was collected separately, not if people take the time to do it

In my community we have separate collection days: twice a month for plastic/glass, twice a month for all paper/cardboard, and 8 times a month for unrecyclable trash. Not difficult to do at all.

 

[southerngirl528]

In my community, it's single stream recycling so glass, paper, and plastic all go together.

Same in mine. I don't like it, but that's the means I have to recycle, so recycle I do! And it is remarkable how much LESS mass goes into my trash can when I actively recycle.

 

[Anchors Away 2016]

It's entirely up to each individual. If a person wants to, they can throw all their waste in one can and no one will say a word.

Some communities offer curbside recycling. In that case, it's still not required, but you can divert waste from the landfill that way. In my community, it's single stream recycling so glass, paper, and plastic all go together.

The fact is that when we all learned reduce-reuse-recycle, very few people emphasized that those 3 things are listed in order of impact. Recycling feels like an important thing, but the first two have a greater impact.

In the states of Massachusetts and New Jersey (and probably others, but I have personal experience with these two) recycling is MANDATORY. Curbside pickup is provided and if they see plastic, glass, metal or paper in your regular can (In significant quantities) they will sometimes leave your regular garbage uncollected until you sort out the recyclables.

Is it full-proof? No. Do some people hide stuff in their garbage. Sure. Do all of these materials get recycled optimally? No (Massachusetts is having trouble finding an outlet for their recycled glass right now, currently set to grind it into sand to keep it out of landfill, but hoping to go back to truly recycling it into new glass soon.) But all of this is a step in the right direction. Plus it is convenient and easy to do which makes people happy and increases compliance.


As for germs living in soap, I'm not going to comment.

 

[ofcabbagesandkings]

I like the way they do it in the town we visit in MA, they charge you per black bag of garbage but recycling is free. You have to drive it to the dump yourself. Most people compost as much as they can to make it a less smelly proposition on dump day, so you're really only throwing out packaging that can't be recycled and food waste that you don't want to put in your compost. In the "Third World" country in which I currently reside, we compost ALL food scraps, recycle all recyclables, and only trash anything that doesn't fit in those two categories. They use compostable straws here that are indistinguishable from plastic. Hotels here offer filtered water stations instead of plastic bottled water to their guests. In both locations we produce a fraction of the garbage we were generating when we lived in NYC.

Yes, maybe 6 Asian countries are producing most of the plastic waste in the ocean. But the value of initiatives on Disney's part, as a multi-national corporation that has a big cultural influence around the world, shouldn't be so easily shrugged off. Disney has resorts in Shanghai, Tokyo, and Hong Kong. If they reduced their single use plastics in all of those places, it would be a significant thing, and might encourage other resorts in those countries to do the same. You have to start somewhere.

I'm sorry that people are going to miss the little bottles, but I applaud this change.

 

[dvcdisney]

With regards to recycling, I was glad when Disney finally included a recycling program (bins) in the parks and resorts. My family had been recycling for many years prior and often wonder why Disney had not started. So I'm glad they are thinking about conservation efforts. However, as others have said, it's questionable if replacing the small bottles with dispensers is actually due to their continued effort to recycle. And I do feel there is a limit on what can be done and still be able to keep the service that guests expect.

We're fortunate enough to have been recycling for many years. My family has two separate bins (recycle and garbage) in each of our bathrooms. As well, the city provides large green bins for composting. Our recycling bins and green compost bins are picked up every week, while garbage (with limits) are picked up every other week. Most people have reduced their garbage because of this and our recycling bin use have increased throughout the years. I will admit that there are still people that appear to put very little effort into recycling and they are not penalized for it other than having to pay if their amount of garbage bags exceed the limit.

 

[starvenger]

They got rid of garbage limits in Markham, in part because people seem to have gotten garbage down to 1-2 bags every other week.

My only real gripe with the green bins is that raccoons are very good at getting into them if you don’t keep them hidden away somewhere.

 

[FigmentSpark]

They got rid of garbage limits in Markham, in part because people seem to have gotten garbage down to 1-2 bags every other week.

My only real gripe with the green bins is that raccoons are very good at getting into them if you don’t keep them hidden away somewhere.

We have a little hook on our green bin to 'foil' the raccoons. It seems to work. I also found a new type of green bin at Home Depot that might do the trick.

 

[dvcdisney]

They got rid of garbage limits in Markham, in part because people seem to have gotten garbage down to 1-2 bags every other week.

My only real gripe with the green bins is that raccoons are very good at getting into them if you don’t keep them hidden away somewhere.

We used to have issues with Raccoons when we lived in the East Coast...but the green bins there were larger than those rolling garbage cans. Composting is a major deal there and they started many years before most provinces.

Anyway, we tried several things...the only thing that worked for us was putting a brick on top of it...didn't think it would work, but it did...

The small ones we have now have latches like the one Figment Spark showed...but it's a metal latch...it's difficult to unhinged...our issues were flies and after spraying the bin with peppermint, it's cut down a bit...

 

[cgolf]

I guess we are lucky, I take my garbage to the dump and we have single sort recycle. We generally find that we have more recyclable material than waste.

As to the shampoo thing this is a win win for DCL they can cut costs and look eco friendly doing it. As to which of those factors is a bigger deal to them we will never know. I will just have to enjoy the last of the shampoo I have that my wife poured into a bigger bottle for me.

 

[starvenger]

We have a little hook on our green bin to 'foil' the raccoons. It seems to work. I also found a new type of green bin at Home Depot that might do the trick.

I’ll probably look into that should our bins die on us. For now we keep them in the garage until disposal day.

 

[southerngirl528]

My only real gripe with the green bins is that raccoons are very good at getting into them if you don’t keep them hidden away somewhere.

Same here! Literally just a few hours ago, DH and I came back home and saw 2 raccoons, 1 on top of a neighbor's garbage toter! And it was the middle of the afternoon! Brazen little buggers.....

 

[cadien]

The assumption is that the stateroom hosts use cleaners to clean the bathroom, but they won't clean out the dispenser. You never know who would stick their dirty fingers in there...

The hotel I was at this weekend has locking dispensers. You're not opening it unless you're housekeeping. But regardless, how many people try to stick their hands into soap dispensers in public restrooms? Same idea.

 

[HappilyEverAfter80]

I was MIA for a couple of months (new house, husband's broken leg and Europe trip), I come back to the DIS and this is what I find... no more toiletries in the bathrooms?
I understand the need for this from an environmental standpoint, but seeing those little tubes of goodies in the bathrooms on embarkation day is super awesome. I wonder if they can make the packaging more environmentally friendly instead?

 

[Maggie'sMom]

I was MIA for a couple of months (new house, husband's broken leg and Europe trip), I come back to the DIS and this is what I find... no more toiletries in the bathrooms?
I understand the need for this from an environmental standpoint, but seeing those little tubes of goodies in the bathrooms on embarkation day is super awesome. I wonder if they can make the packaging more environmentally friendly instead?

Just to be clear, this hasn't actually happened yet on the ships. I just began the thread based off a statement on the Disney Parks Blog that they were planning to do this over the next few years.

 

[we"reofftoneverland]

The hotel I was at this weekend has locking dispensers. You're not opening it unless you're housekeeping. But regardless, how many people try to stick their hands into soap dispensers in public restrooms?


As my teen says all the time, "Who would do such a thing?"

www.fox2detroit.com/news/local-news/man-leaves-body-fluid-in-metro-airport-soap-dispensers

As my teen says all the time, "Who would do such a thing?"

www.fox2detroit.com/news/local-news/man-leaves-body-fluid-in-metro-airport-soap-dispensers

 

[Mackenzie Click-Mickelson]

The question was if it was collected separately, not if people take the time to do it

I would say majority at the waste management company no it's not separated out. Normally all recyclable items go together and is separated out later on. That would be my guess on the majority but that's just my opinion.

For my area-
In my County recycling is required to be offered (with the recepticle free of charge) at no additional cost-meaning companies cannot charge you more for the collection of recycling.

There is a list that the specified waste management company has which tells you what you can and cannot recycle. Of the items that can be recycled they are normally just collected together and separated out later or single stream system. In my area probably the main thing I can think of that is not collected by recycling is glass but I can easily take it any number of dumpster style containers for glass recycling (which I do).

However, at least in my area, you are able to take your recycling to specified areas that have it separated out should you choose to. There would be bins for cardboard, glass, newspaper, aluminum, copy/printer paper, etc.

Yard waste (grass clippings, small tree limbs, leaves) are also picked up in my area and that is separated from trash or recycling. In my city you can also go and pick up free mulch (natural/no color added) at our compost facility, which only does yard waste, that is made up of trees/smalls branches and limbs taken there. You are however encouraged to mulch (leave grass clippings in your yard after mowing) rather than bagging up the grass clippings as well as mulching fallen leaves which helps add nutrients to the grass and reduce items that go into our storm drain system.