Risky Recycling

Hot Grater?

The old feeder has always believed that recycling begins at home. I throw away so little trash that my hauling service only stops by the feedlot every other week. Even then, he doesn't get much. The stuff I buy gets used, then used again, then saved for parts.

When recycling systems reach a certain scale, the purity and safety of 'new" products made from recycled goods becomes impossibly difficult to maintain. Was something you wear made from infectious hospital wastes? Did the plastic scraps used to make your chair come from containers that once held toxic chemicals? Who knows? Nobody is minding the store.

Buying goods made of recycled materials from foreign countries only increases the risk. It is bad enough to worry that your toothpaste might be sweetened with poisonous anti-freeze, or that your dog food is laced with melamine. Many third world countries are so poor that they won't refuse to recycle even highly radioactive metals. What do they make out of this melted down mess? The things you buy at WalMart and other stores whose shelves are stocked with Chinese and other third world products.

Here are some examples of radioactive products, including Ekco graters made in China. It isn't only China that does this. Read about how Tennessee, home of the Oak Ridge National Laboratory, includes radioactive metals from decommissioned nuclear weapons plants in metal products. Some of it nearly ended up in popular recliners.

They have to get rid of these hot metals, plus tons of radioactive concrete waste, etc. somehow. We aren't supposed to worry that our La-Z-Boy recliners might be X-raying our butts. Why? Because here in America, our all-knowing government is keeping an eye on these things.
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Don't trust anyone unless you know where they live and where their kids go to school.
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Hat Tip: Free Republic.