Whirring! Crunching! Popping! Yes, some sounds of the recyclable materials dumped into it processing. They’ll come out a multi-colored, rough-surfaced cube that’ll be destined for facilities where the product will be repurposed for humanity’s benefit. But what exactly is “it”? A recycling baler, of course, otherwise known as a compactor.
Without these machines, of which there are all sorts, getting the materials to the recycling plants would be next to impossible, due to the waste being mere unkempt, unmanageable, spreading, humongous heaps. Transportation expenses would be far greater. Moreover, the costliness would discourage the collection of these disposed of materials for recycling, but not the said materials’ collection as problematic trash.
The trash then ends up costing humankind a whole lot, some developing health issues, others dying. Hindered becomes the desirable cycle that would otherwise have been achievable by compacting machines, whereas the detrimental cycle is facilitated, this latter entailing, among other negatives, rubbish-troubled regions of the ocean and beaches littered with refuse and dead sea creatures!
Those of us who ourselves compress underfoot, say, our individual household’s empty plastic water bottles and beverage cartons to fit into recycling bags or bins do well by so doing. Indeed, the success of somewhat overcoming the spatial challenges is thereby enjoyed. But can it be imagined what the intended recipients face when they get the influx of both semi-pre-condensed and uncondensed disposed containers at their facilities? Horrifying!
ENTER THE RECYCLING BALER — WITHOUT ENTERING IT, OF COURSE!
Crushing things isn’t always a bad thing, and thanks be unto God when whoever thought up the apparatus the baler thought it up! (Of course, there are agricultural balers designed for compacting hay, etc, but the industrial is the type under consideration herein.)
Incidentally, Dictionary.com asserts bale is derived from a Pro-Indo-European source through the Old French to denote “rolled-up bundle,” and thus into English to mean simply “bundle.” To complicate matters, however, a “bale,” as in a “bundle,” can be and often is placed upon a “bale,” as in a “pallet.” WordHippo Thesaurus does attest that “pallet,” which came also of a French word but carries the idea of “hay bundled to form a bed,” has “bale” as a synonym.
So from which came the apparatus’ name? Probably the idea of “bundle,” but then “the portable wooden platform upon which a bundle is placed” applies, too. Anyway, so came about the apparatus’ name, baler.
But it goes without saying that he or she who would operate a compactor ought not to be a child or a novice, for such machinery can be dangerous and even deadly. Assuming that it’ll be used by one who has adequate common sense, skill, and care to operate it, a baler can be a tremendous blessing.
MAKING WASTE SMALL IS BIG BUSINESS!
Quite a few Alaskan cities have significant recycling programs, these being Haines, Kalskag, Gustavus, and Akiachak. Their recycling programs, which do employ recycling balers, appear to be quite accommodating to those interested in guidance on how to start similar operations.
Now, this Earth becoming a utopia will remain elusive while fallen humanity’s nature continues as it is, and just as long as those whose modus operandi is of that self-serving nature are permitted to populate positions of power, proffer pretensions and prevarications, propose pathetic policies, and peddle profiteering placebos.
That said, burying our faces in our hands while we await total burial by our discarded things or those of others isn’t an acceptable option whatsoever. Only the suicidal and such as hold their posterity in contempt would refuse to do what legitimate actions can be done to provide some remedy.
Be it a horizontal or a vertical, be it a high density 84″ baler, a standard 60″ cardboard baler, a miniature baler, or any other sort, a business would do well to consult with the professionals on how to purchase, work, and maintain this helpful device.
