Middle aged pleasures (1 Viewer)

[Denny Oubidoux]

I worked in a recycling center in Mullingar in my youth. We'd go out with a tractor and trailer and empty the carefully sorted bottles from the bottle banks into the one trailer then manually sort them again at recycling center. We had sawn off table knives to cut off any little rings left behind from screw tops. Also had a fork lift with no breaks but you could put it in reverse and press the accelerator to stop

 

[therealjohnny]

I worked in a recycling center in Mullingar in my youth. We'd go out with a tractor and trailer and empty the carefully sorted bottles from the bottle banks into the one trailer then manually sort them again at recycling center. We had sawn off table knives to cut off any little rings left behind from screw tops. Also had a fork lift with no breaks but you could put it in reverse and press the accelerator to stop

I use one of the centres in Mullingar and they have a skip full of broken glass of every colour of the rainbow. Thre must be bottle-tops, rings, and corks in among all that. Maybe the process is different now.

 

[seanc]

here, how come if I dispose of glass at the bottle banks I have to separate them by colour, but if I go to the recycling centre I can dump the lot in a skip?

Man, it's a constant struggle. I do try.

Most likely all your recycling ends up in Turkey, India or an incinerator.

We used to separate different coloured glass, but we don't any more. I don't know what has changed, but it was big deal 20 years ago. Maybe the the unfiltered glass gets turned into shit glass or something.

If the recycling place gets a good delivery of green/brown/clear glass, then they can be more efficient.

As regards bottle caps etc, there are centrifugal systems, magnets, and some poorly paid laborers to sort it out at the recycling place.

In my ends, we don't need to separate our recycling, it may well be different where you are.

 

[egg_]

Is brown glass just the shit glass? Like the way if you mix a load of different colours of paint you get brown?

 

[seanc]

I don't know but I doubt it. Maybe the glass ends up being ballast for boats or filler for building foundations, or some other thing. I doubt it actually gets turned back into new glass.

But we try.

 

[seanc]

My binmen are amazing

It's great what throwing a few 20s at someone for the Christmas will get you

Respect your binmen/people.

You literally have no idea the shit we had to deal with.

 

[egg_]

C'mon @seanc ! Relate to us some stories!

 

[seanc]

C'mon @seanc ! Relate to us some stories!

Alright then 'sake.

I am a nepo baby in that line of work. Dad started from the beginning* and became area manager. He got fed up of me spending my school hols moping around, so he'd kick me out of bed at 03:00, "YOU'RE WORKING TODAY!".

So I covered for the guys who called in sick/didn't want to to meet people they owed money to.

Obviously , being the soft boy and the boss' kid, I was given a hard time.

There's many many stories, even though I actually only really did a few days.formative.

Which type of story would you like to read?

*The beginning means before bin collection even existed.

 

[ann post]

Is brown glass just the shit glass? Like the way if you mix a load of different colours of paint you get brown?

I don't know. My not googling it yet guess is something to do with sunlight and preserving stuff

 

[egg_]

What type of story would you like to read?

Something that makes me grateful I'm not a binman

 

[ann post]

I don't know. My not googling it yet guess is something to do with sunlight and preserving stuff

Ok i checked. It is UV light.

Meanwhile.

It says glass is largey made of silica, lime, and soda ash.

If i ever work in a bar and someone askes for a soda with a dash of lime, i'm going to hand them an empty glass.

 

[seanc]

Something that makes me grateful I'm not a binman

Back then, we had plates to stand on, on the back of the lorry. If there was a gap between this bin and the next bin, I might have the luxury of sitting in the cab. But me being nepo baby, I had to cling in for dear life while driver rammed his way across the Midlands, on country roads smashed by boggish subsidence. I spent more time in the air than on the plate. The driver enjoyed it.

I really liked being a binman. It was amazing. You should visit Woodford.

 

[ann post]

• Color sorting makes a difference, too. Glass manufacturers are limited in the amount of mixed color-cullet (called "3 mix") they can use to manufacture new containers. Separating recycled container glass by color allows the industry to ensure that new bottles match the color standards required by glass container customers.
• Some recycled glass containers are not able to be used in the manufacture of new glass bottles and jars or to make fiberglass. This may be because there is too much contamination or the recycled glass pieces are too small to meet manufacturing specifications. Or, it may be that there is not a nearby market for bottle-to-bottle recycling. This recovered glass is then used for non-container glass products. These "secondary" uses for recycled container glass can include tile, filtration, sandblasting, concrete pavements, and parking lots.

 

[Deadmanposting]

I really liked being a binman. It was amazing.

It looks like a legit fun job to me

 

[seanc]

It looks like a legit fun job to me

In summer, yes.

You have talked about doing what I do. Just go be a binman dude. The lads I worked with wanted to get each day done, so that they could get to the bookies before the last horses run.

And we ran. We ran like fuck. Sorry that you all had to deal with your neighbours to get each bin back to each gaff. We didn't care. We. Really. Didn't. Care. It was super intense. In good weather it was lovely, in bad weather we felt like Spartans or something. And mind your kids, savages.

 

[ann post]

I've never Binman enough for that work

 

[Cornu Ammonis]

I don't know. My not googling it yet guess is something to do with sunlight and preserving stuff

Precisely this. Medicines, beer, chemicals, etc. usually come in a brown bottle.

 

[Deadmanposting]

You have talked about doing what I do. Just go be a binman dude.

I have very fond memories of working physically for a living. But i probably romanticise it a little.

I can't quit this job just yet, I am too addicted to money, paying my mortgage and traveling.

But I often day dream of jacking it all in and becoming a postman or something, once the gaff is paid for. Headphones in, whistling, getting your miles in.
Happy days.

 

[Cornu Ammonis]

I have very fond memories of working physically for a living. But i probably romanticise it a little.

I can't quit this job just yet, I am too addicted to money, paying my mortgage and traveling.

But I often day dream of jacking it all in and becoming a postman or something, once the gaff is paid for. Headphones in, whistling, getting your miles in.
Happy days.

I’m opening a poorly performing, niche bookshop.

 

[Deadmanposting]

I’m opening a poorly performing, niche bookshop.

Nice

I mean obviously I'll also be selling my artisan woodwork pieces on the side like