Speaker 1: Guess what mango?
Speaker 2: What's that? Will?
Speaker 1: So are you familiar with tots magoats?
Speaker 2: Oh? Please don't tell me you're going to start using
Speaker 2: that phrase.
Speaker 1: No, I'm not talking about the term though, though now
Speaker 1: I'm tots magoat's going to start using it. But I'm
Speaker 1: talking about this weird man goat mascot that they used
Speaker 1: in the Niagara Falls area, and you know, it's to
Speaker 1: help people start recycling more.
Speaker 2: I can't say I've heard of that, and it sounds
Speaker 2: like a horrible idea. Did you say, mangat?
Speaker 1: I did, and it is super weird looking. You should
Speaker 1: totally look up tots mgoats. But you know, supposedly since
Speaker 1: introducing this really bizarre mascot a few years ago, recycling
Speaker 1: is actually a fifty percent in this area and the
Speaker 1: amount of trash going to landfills has dropped by twenty percent.
Speaker 2: Okay, so I just pulled them up, and honestly, if
Speaker 2: I thought this scary looking mascot with a tiny goatthead
Speaker 2: was going to come after me, i'd start recycling too.
Speaker 2: Maybe it's just a scare tactic they're using.
Speaker 1: I don't know. But on the topic of how much
Speaker 1: we recycle, We've had several questions we've been meaning to
Speaker 1: get to and things like, you know, what's the state
Speaker 1: of recycling in the US, and is it a good
Speaker 1: business to be in? Is it even worth it to recycle?
Speaker 1: And what are the weirdest things people can recycle? Now
Speaker 1: it's Tot'smagot's time to find out. Please, all right, but
Speaker 1: let's dive in. Hey, their podcast listeners, welcome to Part
Speaker 1: Time Genius. I'm Will Pearson and as always I'm joined
Speaker 1: by my good friend mangeshat ticketter And on the other
Speaker 1: side of the soundproof glass separating his number one and
Speaker 1: number two plastics from the rest of the bunch, that's
Speaker 1: our friend and producer Tristan McNeil.
Speaker 2: Yeah, and good for Tristan for doing that. Most folks
Speaker 2: don't even know the numbers inside the recycling system on
Speaker 2: plastic containers and that they're actually a way to tell
Speaker 2: which kinds can and can't be recycled. But Tristan has
Speaker 2: the whole resin identification code down and that's just the
Speaker 2: kind of guy he is well.
Speaker 1: And we love him for it, and especially today because
Speaker 1: we're going to be taking a hard look at the
Speaker 1: current state of recycling in the world and asking a
Speaker 1: tough question, you know, is recycling worth it? Because when
Speaker 1: you think about it, the practice is a pretty unique
Speaker 1: blend of environmentalism and business, and it's one that the
Speaker 1: majority of developed nations agree is a pretty sensible thing
Speaker 1: to do. I mean, of course, recycling makes environmental sense.
Speaker 1: It reduces the trash we send to the landfills and
Speaker 1: conserves natural resources that you know would otherwise go into
Speaker 1: making new products. But it also makes economic sense. For example,
Speaker 1: I was looking at a study by the EPA, this
Speaker 1: report they released back in twenty sixteen, and it found
Speaker 1: that within a single year, recycling and reuse activities in
Speaker 1: the US account for seven hundred and fifty seven thousand
Speaker 1: jobs and almost seven billion in tax revenue and over
Speaker 1: thirty six billion in wages. So recycling clearly leads to
Speaker 1: some very real and valuable benefits. But of course those
Speaker 1: benefits always come with.
Speaker 2: A cost, right, So today we'll try to balance the
Speaker 2: books and get a sense of whether recycling is actually
Speaker 2: paying off both environmentally and economically. But before we get
Speaker 2: into that, I want to take a minute to talk
Speaker 2: about how recycling became a thing that people do in
Speaker 2: the first place.
Speaker 1: You're always going back to the origins and things, but
Speaker 1: with recycling, like, I didn't even know there was an
Speaker 1: origin of recycling.
Speaker 2: Yeah, I mean, wide scale recycling programs are a fairly
Speaker 2: new phenomenon in history. They kind of arose during the
Speaker 2: industrial and post industrial ages as manufacturing was kicking into overdrive.
Speaker 2: So humans started using more and more natural resources to
Speaker 2: produce more new things than ever before. And meanwhile, you know,
Speaker 2: the thrifty people started looking for ways to just reuse
Speaker 2: what was already out there instead. So, for example, in
Speaker 2: the late eighteen hundreds, these European cities like London and Paris,
Speaker 2: they were rife with what you'd call rag and bonemen.
Speaker 2: And these were pebblers who just wandered around and collected
Speaker 2: and carted around sacks of reusable items, and then they'd
Speaker 2: sell those back to general stores.
Speaker 1: All right, so rag and bone and I'm guessing from
Speaker 1: the name that these reusable items you're talking about were
Speaker 1: rags and for some reason bones.
Speaker 2: Yeah, So these guys would scour the city for like
Speaker 2: old rags, bones, bits of metal, any other discarded items
Speaker 2: that could be scavenged and of course recycled.
Speaker 1: I love how you just say this like, it's no
Speaker 1: big deal. I still need to know it. Actually, maybe
Speaker 1: I don't why and how people were reusing bones and
Speaker 1: why were so many random bones just all over the
Speaker 1: streets of London.
Speaker 2: Well, I don't have specifics on where the bones were
Speaker 2: actually coming from, but I imagine there were mostly animal bones
Speaker 2: left over from you know, meals that've been tossed in
Speaker 2: the garbage. But you know, as for how the bones
Speaker 2: were recycled, a lot of them were used to make
Speaker 2: geladin for processed foods or glue, kind of the way
Speaker 2: we still do today. And also I've forgotten this, but
Speaker 2: prior to the rise of plastics in the twentieth century,
Speaker 2: many of the buttons for clothing were made from polished bones,
Speaker 2: so that was another use as well.
Speaker 1: All right, So what exactly happened to these pioneers of recycling.
Speaker 1: Was it, you know, plastics that kind of kill the
Speaker 1: bone market?
Speaker 2: I guess. Yeah. Plastic and a few other advancements sort
Speaker 2: of put an end to those kinds of local level
Speaker 2: recycling schemes for a while. After the Industrial Revolution, fewer
Speaker 2: people were making their own goods, so there was just
Speaker 2: less need for reusable materials like the ones rag and
Speaker 2: bone men were collecting, and instead all that stuff kind
Speaker 2: of became garden variety garbage. But I should mention that
Speaker 2: that entrepreneurial spirit still lives on today in today's scrap recyclers. So,
Speaker 2: according to the Institute of Scrap Recycling Industries, scrappers processed
Speaker 2: more than one hundred and thirty million tons of material
Speaker 2: in twenty thirteen, and all that helped us save energy,
Speaker 2: reduce screenhouse gas emissions, It helped preserve natural resources and
Speaker 2: actually limited the amount of material that would otherwise go
Speaker 2: to landfills. Well, I know, the scrap.
Speaker 1: Industry is nothing like Sanford and Son these days, and
Speaker 1: I mean it has its own institute now apparently, which
Speaker 1: I wasn't aware of. But I still can't help thinking
Speaker 1: of that show whenever somebody mentions scrap dealers, which is
Speaker 1: more often than you think, actually, But you look at
Speaker 1: the numbers that you mentioned, and it really highlights just
Speaker 1: how much of an impact industrialization has had on the
Speaker 1: amount of trash that we produce. So I was flipping
Speaker 1: through this book by Tom Zaki called out Smart Waste,
Speaker 1: the Modern idea of garbage and how to think our
Speaker 1: way out of it, And according to his research, the
Speaker 1: amount of waste that humans produce has gone up by
Speaker 1: more than ten thousand percent over the past century. That's
Speaker 1: ten thousand percent.
Speaker 2: That's insane. But you know, if there is a silver
Speaker 2: lining to that insanely large cloud of trash, it's that
Speaker 2: the world's recycling rate has also risen by leaps and
Speaker 2: bounds over that same period. So, for instance, by the
Speaker 2: EPA's last count Americans now recycle nearly thirty five percent
Speaker 2: of the trash we produce, which is up from just
Speaker 2: six point two percent in the nineteen sixties. And you know,
Speaker 2: a few other countries like Taiwan, Austria, Germany, they now
Speaker 2: boast recycling rates as high as sixty three percent.
Speaker 1: Well, that is a promising uptick, but I still can't
Speaker 1: help but feel a little disappointed with our current numbers.
Speaker 1: I mean, not even a full thirty five percent of
Speaker 1: our trash gets recycled. Americans produce about two hundred and
Speaker 1: fifty million tons of trash every single year, so recycling
Speaker 1: just a third of that means we're still sending close
Speaker 1: to one hundred and seventy million tons of waste, you know,
Speaker 1: off to landfills and incinerators. Every single year. I mean,
Speaker 1: there's got to be a better way to get our
Speaker 1: numbers up.
Speaker 2: Well, there are definitely a few things we could improve on,
Speaker 2: and we should talk about them in a bit, But
Speaker 2: first I want to throw out another silver lining that
Speaker 2: we shouldn't overlook.
Speaker 1: They're always looking on the positive side. Then all right,
Speaker 1: so what's this upside to a thirty four percent recycling rate.
Speaker 2: Well, even at that current rate, our recycling efforts, coupled
Speaker 2: with composting, prevent the release of a lot of carbon dioxide,
Speaker 2: so about one hundred and eighty million metric tons of
Speaker 2: it in twenty thirteen alone, And according to the EPA,
Speaker 2: that's comparable to taking more than thirty nine million cars
Speaker 2: off the road for a whole year. So yeah, so
Speaker 2: even though we have like a long way to go,
Speaker 2: we're really making some headway.
Speaker 1: Well I'm glad you mention that, because it is important
Speaker 1: to keep progress in perspective, and in fact, that might
Speaker 1: be one way we can improve our recycling game here
Speaker 1: in the States.
Speaker 2: How's that?
Speaker 1: Actually? I saw this survey conducted by IPSOS back in
Speaker 1: twenty eleven that found that only half of American adults
Speaker 1: recycled daily about a third of the respondents said that
Speaker 1: they recycle less frequently than that, and about thirteen percent
Speaker 1: admitted that they never recycle at all. And some researchers
Speaker 1: have since suggested that there's a psychological reason for our
Speaker 1: spotty track records with recycling. I mean, namely, we have
Speaker 1: trouble connecting our daily habits with their consequences, and so
Speaker 1: if you think about it, it actually kind of makes a
Speaker 1: lot of sense. You know, the reward for recycling isn't immediate,
Speaker 1: and then the fallout from recycling also doesn't feel real either,
Speaker 1: so we don't see the benefits or the harms that
Speaker 1: we're contributing to. So there's less of an appeal to
Speaker 1: make recycling a daily behavior, and it just is kind
Speaker 1: of all lessened in our minds because of this.
Speaker 2: That's pretty interesting and it actually makes me think of
Speaker 2: this study I read about in Scientific American. That's just
Speaker 2: an other psychological hang up that people have with recycling.
Speaker 2: So I don't know if you've heard this before, but
Speaker 2: there have been a number of studies that show that
Speaker 2: women typically have greener habits and are more environmentally minded
Speaker 2: than men. So, for instance, women recycle more, they litteralless
Speaker 2: and they leave a smaller carbon footprint than their average
Speaker 2: male counterparts.
Speaker 1: So do we know why this might be?
Speaker 2: Well? Weirdly, the research report on by Scientific Americans suggests
Speaker 2: that men might shun this eco friendly behavior like recycling,
Speaker 2: because it makes them feel less macho. Really, yeah, So
Speaker 2: two of the researchers describe the findings of their study
Speaker 2: this way. So quote, we showed that there is a
Speaker 2: psychological link between eco friendliness and perceptions of femininity. And
Speaker 2: due to this green feminine stereotype, both men and women
Speaker 2: judged eco friendly products, behaviors, and consumers as more feminine
Speaker 2: than their non green counterparts.
Speaker 1: That is such a strange thing. But actually, from what
Speaker 1: you're saying, so even women thought going green was a
Speaker 1: feminine thing.
Speaker 2: Yeah, it's weird, right. So one of the experiments had
Speaker 2: the participants recall a time when they did something good
Speaker 2: for the environment, and both the men and the women
Speaker 2: said they perceived themselves to be more feminine in those
Speaker 2: instances that they shared. Maybe it's just because they were
Speaker 2: like caring nicely from other earth. I'm not sure what
Speaker 2: it was.
Speaker 1: Wow, So is there any way to counter this thinking
Speaker 1: so that guys will be more inclined to you know,
Speaker 1: pitch in with recycling or these other green efforts.
Speaker 2: Yeah, so, since this is like a psychological hurdle, the
Speaker 2: best way to solve is for men to grow more
Speaker 2: secure with their own masculinity. That's goods, and I guess
Speaker 2: marketing can help. Like, for instance, the researchers and scientific
Speaker 2: Americans described this experiment where men were found to be
Speaker 2: more likely to donate to a green nonprofit if it
Speaker 2: had a masculine logo, so like if it had black
Speaker 2: and dark blue colors and like featured a howling wolf,
Speaker 2: and also if the name was something more masculine like
Speaker 2: Wilderness Rangers. Yeah, I had a bold fond apparently, so
Speaker 2: and men contributed more to that than something with like
Speaker 2: a traditional logo with light and green tan colors, if
Speaker 2: it featured a tree, if it had like a frilly
Speaker 2: font and a name like Friends with Nature. So that's crazy.
Speaker 1: If it makes me wish that macho man Randy Savage
Speaker 1: was still around so that we could.
Speaker 2: Have Wilderness Rangers, I know exactly. We need a bad
Speaker 2: boy of recycling. The show is our way.
Speaker 1: So it's clearly still all in our heads though.
Speaker 2: Yeah, so our psyches are our worst natural enemies when
Speaker 2: it comes to recycling. Like, according to a survey from
Speaker 2: the National Waste and Recycling Association, one in five Americans
Speaker 2: say that they'll put something in a recycling bin even
Speaker 2: if they aren't totally certain that it's recyclable. And this
Speaker 2: is a phenomenon that's called wishful recycling, where people in doubt,
Speaker 2: we'll just go for it and the off chance that
Speaker 2: whatever they want to get rid of can hopefully be recycled.
Speaker 2: And of course a lot of the time we're completely
Speaker 2: wrong with those kinds of judgments.
Speaker 1: Yeah, and if I'm being honest, I mean I have
Speaker 1: definitely been guilty of that as well. You've got a
Speaker 1: product and you're just again you're hoping that it can
Speaker 1: be recycled, so you just go ahead and toss it
Speaker 1: in there. But you know, it does lead to all
Speaker 1: these kinds of headaches for people who have to sort
Speaker 1: and then process this random assortment of stuff that people
Speaker 1: are just chucking and the recycling bins.
Speaker 2: Yeah. So some years ago Lizzie and I house sat
Speaker 2: for some friends in Portland and they gave us like
Speaker 2: this twenty minute tour of just their recycling system and
Speaker 2: the fifteen bins they had for various types of things.
Speaker 2: It was dizzying. I know, it really felt like a
Speaker 2: Portland episode. But and I mean that's coming from Delaware,
Speaker 2: where we had recycling really early. But you had to
Speaker 2: make such an effort to do it, Like I actually
Speaker 2: remember on weekends, like I'd collect stuff around the house
Speaker 2: with my dad, all the newspapers and cardboard, and turned
Speaker 2: his hatchback and we'd drive off to recycling center a
Speaker 2: few miles away. And that's because the city didn't pick
Speaker 2: it up yet. But I'm a little off topic. I
Speaker 2: definitely want to talk about the problems that come from
Speaker 2: the so called single stream approach to recycling that we
Speaker 2: go by in the US. But before we do that,
Speaker 2: let's take a quick break.
Speaker 1: You're listening to Part Time Genius, and we're breaking down
Speaker 1: the pros and cons of recycling. I mean, a minute
Speaker 1: ago you mentioned single stream recycling, which of course was
Speaker 1: intended to make recycling more approachable for the average citizen,
Speaker 1: but really in practice the system has proven to be
Speaker 1: both bad for the environment and bad for business.
Speaker 2: Yeah. So basically, the idea behind single stream was to
Speaker 2: put all of your different recyclables, whether that's glass or
Speaker 2: paper or plastic all into one bin. And this was
Speaker 2: an idea that first cropped up in California back in
Speaker 2: nineteen ninety five and was later rolled out nationwide as
Speaker 2: almost the best, most user friendly shot for getting people
Speaker 2: on board with recycling. And really though this approach just
Speaker 2: kind of kicked the can a little further down the
Speaker 2: road because you know, all those materials still need to
Speaker 2: be sort of so instead of placing that added responsibility
Speaker 2: on individuals, we just invested in processing plants to do
Speaker 2: all that sorting for us.
Speaker 1: Right. And you know, in the opposite end of the spectrum,
Speaker 1: you have somewhere like Germany and it adopted this system
Speaker 1: in the early nineties that actually required households to use
Speaker 1: a total of five different bins. They're all color coded
Speaker 1: and they help indicate where you should dispose of different
Speaker 1: kinds of waste and a little bit like the Portland
Speaker 1: example you gave earlier. And you know, while it sounds complicated,
Speaker 1: that approach has led to a recycling rate that's nearly
Speaker 1: double what we see here in the States.
Speaker 2: Yeah, I mean that's incredible, But the drawbacks of this
Speaker 2: single like single stream system go far beyond making us
Speaker 2: look bad in front of the Germans. So one of
Speaker 2: the biggest issues the system poses is cross contamination. So
Speaker 2: that's when like little pieces of plastic get mixed in
Speaker 2: with paper, or worse, when they're like food particles from
Speaker 2: containers that weren't cleaned well enough. And all of this
Speaker 2: slows down the sorting process, it comes up the machines.
Speaker 2: It leads to this inordinate amount of would be recyclables
Speaker 2: being thrown out instead of being recycled. Then, according to
Speaker 2: City Lab, as much as twenty five percent of the
Speaker 2: recyclable waste that passes through the single stream system winds
Speaker 2: up in landfill, and if you ask Tom Zakey, that
Speaker 2: number is closer to fifty percent. Either way, it really
Speaker 2: calls into question whether our already not soo stellar thirty
Speaker 2: four percent national recycling rate is even accurate. There's a
Speaker 2: good chance it's way lower.
Speaker 1: Yeah, you know, and I was reading that an even
Speaker 1: bigger problem for materials recovery facilities or mirphs. I guess
Speaker 1: they're called MRF so that that's what they call them
Speaker 1: in the industry, That this all these unrecyclables that end
Speaker 1: up in the plants thanks to the wishful recycling that
Speaker 1: you were talking about earlier. According to Susan Robinson, she's
Speaker 1: the director of public affairs for Waste Management, but we
Speaker 1: also get a surprising number of garden hoses, Christmas lights,
Speaker 1: and shower curtains.
Speaker 2: And I can just imagine how much time is lost
Speaker 2: by like trying to shut down the equipmen and fish
Speaker 2: out all that junk.
Speaker 1: Yeah, and that loss and productivity has started to take
Speaker 1: its toll on recycling's profitability. I mean, all across the country,
Speaker 1: recycling companies are reporting drastic decreases in profit and that's
Speaker 1: partly because of the higher processing costs associated with contamination
Speaker 1: and faulty user sorting practices. You know, for example, in
Speaker 1: the District of Columbia, they replaced those thirty two gallon
Speaker 1: bins with ones that were fifty percent larger. This was
Speaker 1: back in twenty fourteen, and so these larger binds lead
Speaker 1: to a higher rate of wishful recycling among the residents,
Speaker 1: so much so that all that non recyclable material that
Speaker 1: wound up in DC's mirps, it drove up the city's
Speaker 1: processing costs and it cut their profits from recyclable sales
Speaker 1: by more than fifty percent back in twenty fifteen.
Speaker 2: Wow, So clearly there's room for improvement in this single
Speaker 2: stream system. And still in the interest of balance, I
Speaker 2: do want to point out a few parts of the
Speaker 2: recycling industry that are still paying out despite our somewhat
Speaker 2: you know, flawed way of doing things. So one example
Speaker 2: is aluminum, which is actually the most recycled product in
Speaker 2: the world, with close to seventy percent of aluminum cans
Speaker 2: being recycled around the world. And they're the reason for
Speaker 2: that huge turnover rate is that aluminum nets recycling companies
Speaker 2: the most money of any recyclable material out there. It's
Speaker 2: about fifteen hundred dollars per ton in the US as
Speaker 2: of twenty fifteen. And another area where business is booming
Speaker 2: is corrugated cardboard, and that's thanks to online shopping. You know,
Speaker 2: the recycling stream is just flush with cardboard boxes, which
Speaker 2: you know, it can be valuable so long as they
Speaker 2: aren't contaminated by pizza grease or whatever other organic bits
Speaker 2: have mistakenly made their way into the recycling bin.
Speaker 1: Yeah, and I do want to be careful not to
Speaker 1: harp too much on the business side of things, because
Speaker 1: there's still other areas where recycling definitely benefits the economy,
Speaker 1: like reducing the use and cost of landfills and reducing
Speaker 1: the energy expense of harvesting more natural resources for all
Speaker 1: the new products that we need to create.
Speaker 2: Well, and another reason not to stress too much about
Speaker 2: the money saving benefits of environmentalism is that it can
Speaker 2: actually make people less likely to recycle.
Speaker 1: Wait, what, so, how does that work?
Speaker 2: So this comes from a team of researchers at Cardiff
Speaker 2: University in the UK, and they found that appealing to
Speaker 2: somebody's self interest actually makes them less likely to behave
Speaker 2: in a helpful manner. So, in this experiment, one group
Speaker 2: of students was told about the environmental benefits of carpooling.
Speaker 2: Another group was told about the potential to save money
Speaker 2: by carpooling, and things get a little devious from there.
Speaker 2: And here's how Wired explained the next part of the experiment.
Speaker 2: So the students then filled out paper questionnaires about unrelated topics,
Speaker 2: which they were told to dispose of at the session's end.
Speaker 2: Unbeknownst to them, this was the experiment's real purpose and
Speaker 2: a microcosm of environmental tensions. Would they use a recycling
Speaker 2: basket inconveniently located under another table or a general waste
Speaker 2: bin at arm's length. Among those students primed, as psychologists say,
Speaker 2: with the message of carpooling self transcending benefits, eighty nine
Speaker 2: percent recycled. Of the group that learned about the cost saving,
Speaker 2: just fifty percent recycled.
Speaker 1: Wow, so the environmental impact turned out to be a
Speaker 1: bigger draw than saving their own cash, which I guess
Speaker 1: that's actually a little bit heartening.
Speaker 2: Yeah, And the study also highlights the biggest risk of
Speaker 2: pushing recycling mainly as a way to save time or
Speaker 2: make money instead of as a way to preserve the
Speaker 2: beauty of the natural world, like people might forget that
Speaker 2: nature is in its own right reason enough to care
Speaker 2: about conservation efforts. That's a really good point, you know.
Speaker 1: One of my favorite examples of just how effective that
Speaker 1: naturalist mentality can be is this this tiny town that's
Speaker 1: in southwestern Japan, and it's called Kamakatsu. So there's about
Speaker 1: seventeen hundred people who live there, and since two thousand
Speaker 1: and three, the town residents have been engaged in this
Speaker 1: long running quest that becomes zero waste by twenty twenty,
Speaker 1: and so in order to get there. Citizens are responsible
Speaker 1: for separating their trash into thirty four distinct categories and
Speaker 1: then getting it all delivered to the nearest recycling center.
Speaker 2: Thirty fours ever been and no trash trucks like right,
Speaker 2: I thought the Germans had it rough.
Speaker 1: Yeah, I mean, this is more Portland than Portland. It's
Speaker 1: pretty impressive. But that's actually not all either. So to
Speaker 1: sidestep the contamination problem that we have here in the States,
Speaker 1: town residents are also required to thoroughly wash all thirty
Speaker 1: four kinds of recyclables and then separate out all their
Speaker 1: organic waste and compost that at home.
Speaker 2: That's crazy, It sounds like such an imposition. But are
Speaker 2: the residents really okay with putting in all that extra
Speaker 2: effort or is everyone just miserable and exhausted by the
Speaker 2: end of the week.
Speaker 1: Well, that's the thing. I mean, most people and comic
Speaker 1: coots who say that despite the hard work, they appreciate
Speaker 1: this push to be more thoughtful about how and what
Speaker 1: they consume. And in an interview that was on the BBC,
Speaker 1: there was one local woman who summed up the feeling
Speaker 1: this way. She said, I have to do it every
Speaker 1: day and it's certainly a bit of work, but it's
Speaker 1: a good idea to send things back to the earth,
Speaker 1: so I support it.
Speaker 2: That's awesome, and in fact, what do you say we
Speaker 2: keep these positive vibes going and take a look at
Speaker 2: some other unique recycling programs as well as the weirdest
Speaker 2: things they figured out how to reuse.
Speaker 1: Sounds good to me. But first let's take a quick break. Okay, mango,
Speaker 1: So it's quiz time now. Before we jump into the quiz,
Speaker 1: we had a couple other questions that we wanted to
Speaker 1: ask about recycling since that's our topic today, and we're
Speaker 1: joined by one of the brilliant researchers here at How
Speaker 1: Stuff Works, Christopher Haciotis Christopher, welcome to Part Time Genius.
Speaker 3: Thanks for having me.
Speaker 1: All right, so we gave you the heads up we
Speaker 1: were talking about recycling and we had a couple of questions. Now,
Speaker 1: now Tristan, we've informed our listeners, is an expert on
Speaker 1: all the numbers that you see on the plastics and
Speaker 1: what they mean and which ones you can recycle and
Speaker 1: which ones you can't. I know you're not surprised because
Speaker 1: Tristan's pretty much good at everything. But for those of
Speaker 1: us that don't know everything about recycling and the numbers
Speaker 1: that are on the plastics. Can can you just give
Speaker 1: us like the cheat sheet to that what those one
Speaker 1: through seven numbers mean and why some can be recycled
Speaker 1: and others can't be sure.
Speaker 3: Yeah, it's this really labyrinthing convoluted system of coding known
Speaker 3: as the r I see, it's the Resin Identification coding
Speaker 3: system and it was put in place in nineteen eighty eight.
Speaker 3: So you've got these seven different types of plastic and
Speaker 3: basically what it comes down to is what the plastics
Speaker 3: are made out of and what you can do with them.
Speaker 3: Some will be recyclable immediately, Some are reusable but not recyclable.
Speaker 3: Some should not be reused or recycled. And what you've
Speaker 3: got to do is flip your jug of water, you're
Speaker 3: a jug of milk, your plastic cup upside down, take
Speaker 3: a gainder at what's underneath it, and then get on
Speaker 3: the internet. Because honestly, nobody knows this system.
Speaker 2: And Tristan does what he won't say anything about that.
Speaker 3: Tristan Okay, So I think what we need is everyone
Speaker 3: needs a system to just give Tristan.
Speaker 1: A call right away.
Speaker 3: So yeah, you've got these seven types of plastic. Number
Speaker 3: one polyethylene telepthylate, also known as PET number two high
Speaker 3: density polyethylene. So these are the kinds that are generally
Speaker 3: recyclable and most commonly accepted in your neighborhood or community
Speaker 3: recycling centers. And then there are a bunch of others
Speaker 3: that are technically recyclable but just basically just a hassle
Speaker 3: for the people to do it. So you know those
Speaker 3: plastic bags you get at the grocery store, right right,
Speaker 3: everyone's got opinions about them. Should I get paper, should
Speaker 3: I get plastics? Should I bring my own? If you're
Speaker 3: getting the plastic bag, it's the same substance that makes
Speaker 3: up milk jugs and toys and other kinds of bottles
Speaker 3: that are recyclable, but it's so thin and it's so
Speaker 3: spread up that it's not worth it to recycle them.
Speaker 3: And those plastic bags can also jam up the gears
Speaker 3: and get caught in the machines that do the recycling.
Speaker 3: And those numbers, you know, you generally see one through seven,
Speaker 3: but they go up way beyond there. There's a plastic
Speaker 3: that's number nine. That's the kind of plastic your cell
Speaker 3: phones are made out of your TVs, but then the
Speaker 3: numbers go all the way up into the hundreds. Yeah.
Speaker 2: I feel like you need a field guide to plastics
Speaker 2: where people are like bird spotting, but for rare plastics
Speaker 2: and the chondreds. So I used to see glass recycling
Speaker 2: all over the place, and that used to be pickups
Speaker 2: neighborhoods and stuff, and now I don't really see that
Speaker 2: as much. Do you know anything about that? I do.
Speaker 3: Yeah, So recycling aluminum, you are spending about ninety six
Speaker 3: percent less energy than if you were just making it
Speaker 3: from raw materials. Glass is all the way at the
Speaker 3: other end of that spectrum, so you're only saving about
Speaker 3: twenty six percent of the energy to recycle glass. Petroleum,
Speaker 3: which makes up plastic, is a generally expensive item. It's
Speaker 3: dropped in price recently, but it's cost more for companies
Speaker 3: who make plastic to get the virgin materials out of
Speaker 3: the ground, and it does to reuse it. It's not
Speaker 3: necessarily the case for glass. Glass as anyone who's I
Speaker 3: don't spend a lot of time with kids, cartoons is
Speaker 3: made out of sand. I think it might have been
Speaker 3: an episode of He Man or He man rub rubs
Speaker 3: his hands really fast on the desert floor and creates
Speaker 3: some sort of I think but yeah, basically, so you
Speaker 3: can either take glass, go through the whole process recycle it,
Speaker 3: or you can just go get some new sand.
Speaker 1: Well that's super helpful, Christopher. Now we can't let you
Speaker 1: go though, before playing a super important quiz, Na Mango,
Speaker 1: What what quiz are we playing today?
Speaker 2: It's called recycled Sesame Street shows? And so according to
Speaker 2: Muppet Wiki, Sesame Street has to produce something like one
Speaker 2: hundred and thirty shows a season, and they often recycle
Speaker 2: their main storylines. So we're going to tell you a
Speaker 2: recycled plot and you just have to tell us which
Speaker 2: Sesame Street character starred in it.
Speaker 1: They do one hundred and thirty shows a season.
Speaker 2: I mean, this is Wikipedia, I assume, Muppet Wig, Muppet, Muppet.
Speaker 1: Muppet Wiki. All right, that is a lot, Okay, I
Speaker 1: mean I guess that's every year that that is a ton.
Speaker 3: O speaker behind the screen kind of contributed. That's where
Speaker 3: he shines.
Speaker 1: All Right, We've got five questions for you, Christopher. Question
Speaker 1: number one on episode three eight hundred and twelve and
Speaker 1: episode three nine hundred and thirty three. Wow, this friendly
Speaker 1: vampire wanders around Sesame Street, enumerting all the mistakes on
Speaker 1: Sesame Street. Who are we talking about?
Speaker 3: So that is none other than Count vomb Count I
Speaker 3: would assume.
Speaker 2: Yeah, that's right. And according to his origin story on
Speaker 2: Sesame Street, he's not the only member of his family
Speaker 2: that loves numbers. His uncle Uno also loves to count.
Speaker 1: All right, all right, question number two. On episodes five,
Speaker 1: eighteen and seven ninety two, this character conducts a philharmonic
Speaker 1: orchestra of similar grumps instead of musical instruments. The orchestra
Speaker 1: makes annoying sounds like that of an airplane or a
Speaker 1: fire engine. Who are we talking about? Oh?
Speaker 3: Wow? Okay, so you said of similar grumps, which would
Speaker 3: point me in the direction of Oscar the Grouse or
Speaker 3: Statler and Waldorf. But then there's Rolf, who's the musically
Speaker 3: talented one. So I'm gonna go I'm just gonna say
Speaker 3: Rolf because he's the piano playing dog, and I'll dig him.
Speaker 2: Oh, you're on the right track. It was Oscar the ground.
Speaker 1: Oh okay, wow, that was really a really impressive rundown
Speaker 1: of all the possible answers. So, okay, still have time
Speaker 1: to recover here. Question number three episodes eight ninety four
Speaker 1: and one and fourteen. This character orders a radio, but
Speaker 1: instead he gets a box containing its parts, but even worse,
Speaker 1: it doesn't contain any baked goods. What character are we
Speaker 1: talking about?
Speaker 3: Hmmm, so you've got the okay. My initial thought was
Speaker 3: the sweetish chef, because he's the one who's going to
Speaker 3: be putting things together and making something and cooking, but
Speaker 3: then baked goods. Who would be upset about not getting
Speaker 3: baked goods? Unless it were in a health oriented episode,
Speaker 3: I would say cookie Monster.
Speaker 2: Yeah, that's right, it is Cookie Monster. And you know
Speaker 2: what one of the producers on the show said earlier
Speaker 2: when they were starting the show, a typist used to
Speaker 2: correct all of Cookie Monster's grammar in the scripts and
Speaker 2: had to stop that from happening.
Speaker 1: Wow, that's pretty great, okay. Question number four on episodes
Speaker 1: four to one, seven, four and four four one three,
Speaker 1: this character organizes a nest sale where all his old
Speaker 1: toys can be bought for five birds seeds. What character
Speaker 1: are we talking about?
Speaker 3: I'm gonna go with one of the friendliest characters I
Speaker 3: could think of, and that's Big Bird.
Speaker 1: Mm. Hmm, that's right, you got it all right, Question
Speaker 1: number five for the Big Win. Here on episodes three, four, six,
Speaker 1: five and three seven two two, this once imaginary character
Speaker 1: is depressed because every time he tap dances, it causes
Speaker 1: an earthquake. What character are we talking about?
Speaker 3: So, I'm pretty happy that a tap dancing earthquake is
Speaker 3: a more than one time occurrence, But I I don't
Speaker 3: know who that would be, although I'm gonna I'm just
Speaker 3: gonna guess that it's snuffle Up. I guess, guys. I
Speaker 3: think he's sizeable enough that he could do.
Speaker 2: It, that's right. And also, I didn't realize this until
Speaker 2: we did the research, but Snuffy's favorite foods are cabbage
Speaker 2: spaghetti and sassafras tea.
Speaker 3: So wait, Mango, is that a tea made out of cabbage,
Speaker 3: spaghetti and sassafras?
Speaker 2: No, those are separate items.
Speaker 1: I'm glad you. I'm glad you added those little fun
Speaker 1: facts in there, Mango. That's that's really valuable. So so,
Speaker 1: how did Chris do today?
Speaker 2: Well, Christopher went an amazing four for five, which entitles
Speaker 2: them to our big Prize, our total admirationy.
Speaker 1: Congratulations Christopher, and thanks for joining us anytime.
Speaker 2: Okay, Well, so I love Komakotsu's zero waste plan, but
Speaker 2: let's be honest. Getting people on board to recycle is
Speaker 2: one thing in a town with fewer than two thousand residents,
Speaker 2: But it's a lot harder to get that tens of
Speaker 2: thousands or even millions of residents of a city to
Speaker 2: all commit to that extra effort of recycling. So, I know,
Speaker 2: cities like San Francisco and Portland are making huge strides
Speaker 2: and boosting the recycling rates, but some cities are taking
Speaker 2: an even bolder approach to the challenge. For example, there
Speaker 2: are about twelve hundred cities across the US that have
Speaker 2: adopted a so called pay as you throw system.
Speaker 1: You know, I'm pretty sure there's a lot of people
Speaker 1: that would not like the sound of that. So is
Speaker 1: this is this some kind of garbage tax or something?
Speaker 2: Yeah, sort of. So the idea is that municipal garbage
Speaker 2: trucks won't pick up any trash unless it's been placed
Speaker 2: inside specially marked bags that residents buy from the city. So,
Speaker 2: for example, in Malden, Massachusetts, it's one dollar for each
Speaker 2: fifteen gallon bag, or two dollars for a thirty three gallon.
Speaker 1: Bag, and so I'm a little confused by this. So
Speaker 1: how exactly does this encourage people to recycle?
Speaker 2: Well, cities with pays you throw programs still pick up
Speaker 2: recyclables and yard waste for free, So it's really just
Speaker 2: the landfill bound waste that costs you money. And the
Speaker 2: hope is that the added expense will encourage residents to,
Speaker 2: you know, take the initiative recycle and compost and just
Speaker 2: be more thoughtful about their garbage.
Speaker 1: Well, it's definitely an interesting idea, but what about all
Speaker 1: that research you mentioned earlier about the whole recycling saves
Speaker 1: you money angle being kind of a dead end approach.
Speaker 2: Yeah, it's not something that's going to be compelling to everyone,
Speaker 2: and in fact, some cities have experienced pushback in the
Speaker 2: form of residents who will buy regular trash bags and
Speaker 2: then just leave them ound the gard garbage or in
Speaker 2: public bins or in front of a neighbor's house. But
Speaker 2: there's evidence that the pay as you throw system is
Speaker 2: convincing enough people to make it worthwhile. So, according to
Speaker 2: this Atlantic article about this type of program, the city
Speaker 2: of Malden's trash tonnage was actually cut in half between
Speaker 2: twenty sixteen and twenty thirteen, which was the year it
Speaker 2: adopted the paid throw model, and the same thing happened
Speaker 2: in Worcester and other Massachusetts city that cut its solid
Speaker 2: waste tonnage by forty seven percent in the first year
Speaker 2: of its program.
Speaker 1: Well, I see your point, and those are some pretty
Speaker 1: solid results. And I guess since it is densely populated
Speaker 1: cities that churn out the most trash, this extra push
Speaker 1: from programs like this could could be worth it, you know,
Speaker 1: to get people on the same page. But so how
Speaker 1: about we look at a few novel recycling programs that
Speaker 1: use a I don't know, let's say, like a less,
Speaker 1: less compulsory approach.
Speaker 2: Sure. So one of my favorites is the clean Wave
Speaker 2: program that's run by this ecological nonprofit in San Francisco
Speaker 2: called Matter of Trust. They accept donations of human hair
Speaker 2: and petfur and then they turn it into these like
Speaker 2: oil absorbing mats and brooms that hazmat teams can use
Speaker 2: to soak up oil spills. It's amazing and it's actually
Speaker 2: a great way to make sure hair clippings that would
Speaker 2: otherwise wind up in landfills are recycled and put to
Speaker 2: good use. So if you work in a barber shop
Speaker 2: or a pet groomers, or if you're just someone with
Speaker 2: a bunch of cats or a really shaggy dog, you
Speaker 2: should really check out the website to find out how
Speaker 2: to donate.
Speaker 1: Well, that's a pretty cool and well another recycling program
Speaker 1: that's making a real difference in the world is called
Speaker 1: the Limbs for Life Foundation. Now I didn't know this
Speaker 1: before today's show, but it's actually illegal to reuse prosthetic
Speaker 1: limbs in the United States, and since they're often made
Speaker 1: from plastics and other materials that can't be recycled that easily,
Speaker 1: there's a lot of perfectly functional prosthetics that just wind
Speaker 1: up in the trash, you know. But the organizations like
Speaker 1: Limbs for Life have found an amazing loophole here because
Speaker 1: it turns out it is legal to disassemble them and
Speaker 1: then ship those used prosthetics to other countries. So that's
Speaker 1: exactly what these programs do. They collect and they distribute
Speaker 1: these used prosthetics free of charge to landmine victims and
Speaker 1: other amputees and countries around the world love that and what.
Speaker 2: A great workaround. So this one's kind of in the
Speaker 2: same vein it's called New Eyes for the Needy and
Speaker 2: it collects, recycles, and distributes old eyeglasses and hearing aids
Speaker 2: to impoverish children and adults, both in the US and abroad.
Speaker 2: And the group has been working to improve the world's
Speaker 2: vision since nineteen thirty two. So far they've distributed over
Speaker 2: eight million pairs of glasses to people all over the globe.
Speaker 1: Oh wow, that's pretty neat. Well, speaking of glasses, I
Speaker 1: came across this really neat recycling program where people can
Speaker 1: donate their eclipse glasses that you know that they used
Speaker 1: to view last year's total eclipse.
Speaker 2: Wait, aren't those only safe to look at like for
Speaker 2: a few years.
Speaker 1: Well, that's true here in the US, but actually South
Speaker 1: America and Asia they're getting ready to experience their own
Speaker 1: total eclipse in twenty nineteen, and so of course, you know,
Speaker 1: that's well within that three year span where it's safe
Speaker 1: to use all those glasses that we had last year.
Speaker 1: So that's where a nonprofit called Astronomers Without Borders comes in.
Speaker 2: That's that's such a great name.
Speaker 1: I love how many of the fill in the blank
Speaker 1: without borders there are, but it is a great name.
Speaker 1: And you know, the group is currently collecting these used
Speaker 1: and certified eclipse glasses to distribute to people who might
Speaker 1: be unable to afford or otherwise get their hands on
Speaker 1: a pair in time for next year as a clip.
Speaker 1: So if you've held onto your glasses as memento or
Speaker 1: just haven't gotten around to tossing them yet, it's a
Speaker 1: great chance to help someone else have their own once
Speaker 1: in a lifetime experience.
Speaker 2: Well, the last unusual recycling program I want to mention
Speaker 2: isn't as altruistic as some of the others we've talked about,
Speaker 2: but it does help take a bite out of the
Speaker 2: problem with plastics. So one thing I found out while
Speaker 2: researching is that most credit cards, as well as things
Speaker 2: like hotel keys and ID cards are made from PVC,
Speaker 2: and as Tristan will tell you, that's one of the
Speaker 2: five out of seven main plastic types that usually can't
Speaker 2: be recycled at all. Whenever people cut up their expired
Speaker 2: cards or turn in their old driver's licenses, all those
Speaker 2: strips of plastic typically heads straight to the dump.
Speaker 1: But so if PVC is unrecyclable, then than how's a
Speaker 1: recycling program supposed to help?
Speaker 2: Yeah, so there are actually some groups a major one
Speaker 2: in Ohio is called Earthworks, for example, and they recycle
Speaker 2: old cards by chopping them up and melting them back
Speaker 2: into sheets of raw PVC and then the plastics able
Speaker 2: to be turned into well new cards. It's kind of
Speaker 2: like with those plastic bags that everyone has a million
Speaker 2: of under their sink, Like, we can't actually get rid
Speaker 2: of them completely, so the best bet is to just
Speaker 2: keep reusing the ones we have, so we don't, you know,
Speaker 2: expend new resources to make more of them.
Speaker 1: Well, that makes a lot of sense, you know. It
Speaker 1: actually kind of reminds me of this cool design project
Speaker 1: that came across It's a DIY machine that can turn
Speaker 1: plastic trash into brand new housewares. The project's called Precious
Speaker 1: Plastics and it's the brainchild of a Dutch designer named
Speaker 1: Dave Hawkins, and so he wanted to create a system
Speaker 1: that makes recycling plastic an easier and more accessible prospect
Speaker 1: for the public, and so to that end, he's released
Speaker 1: these free to download blueprints for the Precious Plastics machine,
Speaker 1: and the hope is that communities will build their own
Speaker 1: and then use them to establish these small scale centers
Speaker 1: locals that can then drop off their unwanted plastic waste.
Speaker 1: In exchange for that, they get a little bit of cash,
Speaker 1: and then the senters can actually recycle these old plastic
Speaker 1: bottles and containers and then turn them into new goods
Speaker 1: that can be sold in this on site shop there.
Speaker 2: I mean, that's a great idea, and it sounds like
Speaker 2: some kind of three D printer, but one that's designed
Speaker 2: to run on recyclables. Yeah.
Speaker 1: The machines are these all in one units, and they
Speaker 1: house a plastic shredder and then three kinds of manufacturing devices.
Speaker 1: There's a rotational molder, an extruder, and an injection molder,
Speaker 1: and that kind of covers all your basics in terms
Speaker 1: of plastic making. And so unlike three D printers, though
Speaker 1: these precious plastic systems, they wouldn't cost towns an arm
Speaker 1: and a leg to get everything needed to construct one
Speaker 1: can be easily obtained from scrap yards.
Speaker 2: So I think what I like most about this idea
Speaker 2: goes back to something we talked about at the top
Speaker 2: of the show, and that's the way that the invention
Speaker 2: of plastic kind of did away with the tradition of
Speaker 2: people making their own goods on a small scale. Easier
Speaker 2: to just buy mass manufactured product, so entire skill sets
Speaker 2: were left by the wayside, and a lot of communities
Speaker 2: suffered as a result. But something like this precious plastics
Speaker 2: machine that almost returns some of that self sufficiency to
Speaker 2: local communities.
Speaker 1: That's a good point, and it's actually one that Hawkins
Speaker 1: touches on while he's speaking about his inspiration for the project.
Speaker 1: So he said, it sort of all started when I
Speaker 1: noticed we have a lot of plastic waste, but for
Speaker 1: a lot of reasons, we can't do anything with it
Speaker 1: like we would with wood or with metal. So you
Speaker 1: have a carpenter or a metal worker, and now you
Speaker 1: can have a plastics.
Speaker 2: Person, and with a little luck, every town on the
Speaker 2: map will have a plastics person to help boost the
Speaker 2: national recycling rate in the years ahead. But until then,
Speaker 2: there's still plenty of other interesting ways to help reduce
Speaker 2: reuse and recycles. So how about you say we feature
Speaker 2: a couple of those in our fact off before we go.
Speaker 1: Sounds good to me, all right. So we've all read
Speaker 1: about roads built from our cycle tires or other materials,
Speaker 1: but did you know that in the Netherlands there's actually
Speaker 1: a bike path made with recycled toilet paper. That toilet
Speaker 1: paper provides the cellulose that's helpful in maintaining traction when
Speaker 1: it's really wet or slippery out. And while there are
Speaker 1: other sources of cellulose, this is a good use for
Speaker 1: recycled material that people really aren't that excited about being
Speaker 1: used in other ways, even though it does go through
Speaker 1: a serious sterilization process.
Speaker 2: Yeah, so I could see there being a bit of
Speaker 2: a mental block with toilet paper being recycled into things.
Speaker 2: So I'd read about the repurposing of crayons, but I'd
Speaker 2: never actually seen a figure out how many new crayons
Speaker 2: coming into the world each day. Apparently the Crayola factory
Speaker 2: in eastern Pennsylvania produces about twelve million crayons every single day.
Speaker 1: Wow, every day.
Speaker 2: Yeah, it's insane, right, And that's because people often treat
Speaker 2: crayons as disposable, but crayons aren't actually biodegradable. So there's
Speaker 2: a nonprofit called the Crayon Initiative that collects old crayons
Speaker 2: from schools and restaurants and then it melts them down
Speaker 2: and gives brand new crowns to hospitals and other places
Speaker 2: that could use them. It's pretty neat.
Speaker 1: That is pretty neat, all right. Well, I talked about
Speaker 1: the Netherlands before, and now I'm going to talk about Sweden.
Speaker 1: So did you know they've gotten so efficient with their
Speaker 1: recycling that they actually now import waste from nearby countries
Speaker 1: to send through their recycling plants, just to keep them going.
Speaker 1: That's like overachieving, it is, they're definitely overachievers. Here's another
Speaker 1: way that they overachieve. I saw this crazy statistic. So
Speaker 1: less than one percent of household waste than Sweden goes
Speaker 1: to the landfill each year.
Speaker 2: That's amazing. So earlier this week I was looking at
Speaker 2: photos of the beach at Yusuri Bay in Russia, and
Speaker 2: it's really worth looking up because it's strange and beautiful.
Speaker 2: At one point it was a dumping ground for old
Speaker 2: glass bottles, and that obviously doesn't sound that great. But
Speaker 2: the crazy thing is over quite some time, the waves
Speaker 2: on these beaches have worn down all these beer and
Speaker 2: vodka bottles into these beautiful, beautiful pebbles. There's a protected
Speaker 2: area there now called the Glass Beach, and that's become
Speaker 2: this really popular tourist spot. All right.
Speaker 1: Well, in doing our research this week, I was pleased
Speaker 1: to see that. There are two items that I have
Speaker 1: lots and lots of that can also be recycled.
Speaker 2: Now.
Speaker 1: The first is old CDs. So there's a CD recycling
Speaker 1: center that grinds the CDs up into a fine powder,
Speaker 1: and then later on that powders melted down and that
Speaker 1: could be used in several ways, but the most common
Speaker 1: uses in cars and building materials. So I can now
Speaker 1: feel better about, you know, doing something with that old
Speaker 1: toad the Wetsprocket CD from the early nineties, feel pretty
Speaker 1: good knowing it's in somebody's car. And then the other
Speaker 1: item is something I know you and I both had
Speaker 1: lots of old ones of, and that's tennis balls. And
Speaker 1: so there's this organization called Rebounces, and they actually repressurize
Speaker 1: the old tennis balls so that they can be used again.
Speaker 2: Oh that's really cool. Well here's a quick fact for you.
Speaker 2: Did you know there's actually more gold and a ton
Speaker 2: of mobile phones than there is in a ton of
Speaker 2: gold ore And so I read that from a ton
Speaker 2: of gold or you can actually get one gram of gold,
Speaker 2: but it only takes a little over four mobile phones
Speaker 2: to get that same amount.
Speaker 1: Oh wow, Well, sing as I probably have about forty
Speaker 1: old phones. That might be an exaggeration, but I've got
Speaker 1: a lot of old phones that I didn't know what
Speaker 1: to do with, but now I know what to do
Speaker 1: with them. I'm gonna make some gold mango, but before
Speaker 1: I do that, I'm gonna give you today's fact Off trophy.
Speaker 2: Thanks so much, Will, But I don't know if I
Speaker 2: want this recycled trophy. Is there a new one you
Speaker 2: can hand me instead?
Speaker 1: All right, well, thank you guys for listening. We'd love
Speaker 1: to hear from you. If we've forgotten any great facts
Speaker 1: about recycling, and I know you guys have a ton
Speaker 1: of them, feel free to send them our way. You
Speaker 1: can email us part Time Genius at houstuffworks dot com
Speaker 1: or call us on our twenty four to seven fact
Speaker 1: hotline that's one eight four four pt Genius. You can
Speaker 1: also hit us up on Facebook or Twitter. Keep the
Speaker 1: messages coming, and thanks so much for listening. Thanks again
Speaker 1: for listening. Part Time Genius is a production of house
Speaker 1: works and wouldn't be possible without several brilliant people who
Speaker 1: do the important things we couldn't even begin to understand.
Speaker 2: Tristan McNeil does the editing thing.
Speaker 1: Noel Brown made the theme song and does the mixy
Speaker 1: mixy sound thing.
Speaker 2: Jerry Roland does the exact producer thing.
Speaker 1: Gabeluesier is our lead researcher, with support from the Research
Speaker 1: Army including Austin Thompson, Nolan Brown and Lucas Adams and.
Speaker 2: Eves Jeffcoat gets the show to your ears. Good job, Eves.
Speaker 1: If you like what you heard, we hope you'll subscribe.
Speaker 1: And if you really really like what you've heard, maybe
Speaker 1: you could leave a good review for us.
Speaker 2: Could you forget Jason?
Speaker 1: Jason who