Very interesting:

http://video.google.ca/videoplay?docid=7734998370503499886&q=penn+teller+bullshit

That is pretty funny. But I gotta believe that because some of those people were on camera, they were behaving how they think they are expected to behave. No is going to say "get the f**k of my lawn hippie" when presented with all those sorting bins if they are being filmed for tv.

I saw this a while back and have read a lot of the same arguments in different places here and there. It seems to me that recycling is one of those issues that everybody believes in just because it's conventional wisdom.

I'm a big fan of Bullshit!, and P&T make some really good points in this episode. However, I fear that this episode may spread the notion (and I can't tell where P&T fall on this) that resource conservation in general is bad. Remember that old mantra "Reduce Reuse Recycle" also had a pecking order involved, with recycling at the bottom of the totem pole.

I think Chapel Hill is pulling that "extra bins/bullshit rules" gag on me.

Ya, I completely agree. I usually love their show, but this one made me cringe a little bit. For a different take on recycling (and how it is harmful) I highly suggest you read the book Cradle to Cradle. It details how recycling, although it is "less bad", isn't completely good, since it merely downgrades materials until they are ultimately usless in the end. The book provides some recommendations (although not perfect) about what needs to be done in order to create material that will be useful, basically, forever. Although the book has its problems, i think it is a good book to get you thinking about how to improve material and resource allocation.

Come again?

I don't feel safe in a world where the government controls my speech.

Besides, I can still see that you edited YOUR post.

I'm going to start a landfill in my back yard

i have a degree in environmental health, so i've heard about every side of this issue that there is to hear. when people ask me how i can be educated in the environmental field and not recycle, i simply tell them "it doesn't work, and besides its better to use less resources to begin with or simply just reuse the items you can". they're usually shocked. while i agree with penn and teller's findings in this show and almost every show they do, i am always disappointed that they generally do not give a quick solution or alternative to these problems when they sum up their shows. i guess maybe the whole point of the show is to prove people wrong, and not really to provide solutions.

Their Bullshit! episdoes on Pot and the Environment are pretty good

I'm confused about the bit about recycling creating shitting jobs where people have to sort garbage. If people are so willing to separate stuff into different bins, why are we paying people to sort though garbage? Shouldn't it already be sorted?

I get a newsletter from Chapel Hill about every six months that says, and I'm paraphrasing:

Hey knuckleheads,

We picked umpteen pounds of garbage out of our recycling trucks. This is a 20% increase from the last six months. You're inability to properly sort cost you $XX,000 tax dollars. Read the rules, do it right and stop wasting money.

Thanks,
Chapel Hill Waste Management

The idea being that if you get your citizens to sort properly the amount of wasted money on lame sorting jobs can be minimized. If people are digging recyclable materials out of garbage, that's an entirely different program than what P&T are talking about in that show.