Can Polycarbonate Be Recycled?

As you may know, our house (and my ears!) have been subject to some renovation. It's not finished yet!

The balcony still needs to be 'closed up' with either glass or polycarbonate, or both.

This renovation has not been very eco, as I am NOT an expert on eco building materials (yet?) and mostly my Dad was in charge! Also, there have been some considerations: not-so-very-strong walls and balcony mean that light (not heavy) materials need to be used. So polycarbonate was recommended to us.

Can polycarbonate be recycled?

I almost fainted when I saw who produces polycarbonate! No other than the infamous Bayer! (producers of aspirins, toxic chemicals cotton is sprayed with in India, and the infamous Gaucho, alleged beekiller, that corn is treated with!)

Bayer says their polycarbonate product Makrolon can be recycled OR incinerated. Depending if there are any facilities for recycling!
(In Slovenia, I'm guessing NOT! As CDs that are also polycarbonate can't be recycled either.) Bayer actually recommend incineration. (hm!)
Apparently it's recycled within the factory, which is a good thing! I just wish something would be done with postconsumer waste too!

Is the other polycarbonate on the market Lexan really eco? (It is claimed that is, due to energy efficiency-?)

It seems lexan may not be very toxic (tests not for the faint-hearted!) though probably not completely harmless either, especially at high temperatures used for manufacturing or such. (Data from 1992, I wonder if there is any new info?)

Then again, I'm guessing straight window glass can't really be recycled here either - 'eco islands' (local recycling containers) only accept glass bottles, and rumors have it some of those may have not been recycled either, at least some years ago. And last year may have been so-so too, as the building industry was in crisis and didn't need glass wool (which is made from recycled bottles) for insulation.

So, what would be a better choice?

No idea. I told Dad to check leftover glass he has, if anything could be made from that? I was told glass would be hotter in summer (it's a South-West window, and it really gets hot here) and polycarbonate might give better insulation with less weight.
The roof would probably be polycarbonate, we are still discussing the vertical 'windows' or non-windows.

Any ideas or suggestions?
The cheaper polycarbonate is non-see-through (one might hide from neighbours more easily! Though a curtain could be used in that effect too, says Mom! And in case you need to talk to a neighbour, it's better if you can see her on the balcony). The more expensive polycarbonate looks like glass, scratches easily though. (That prompted me back to glass.)
Slightly scared the polycarbonate balcony roof would block my view of mountains! (Don't wish the balcony to start falling apart due to too much weight though either!)

Any experience with closing down of balconies?

A Quick Update

Not sure what to say. So much has happened, and yet it didn't.

I went to a beekeeping class that was quite exhaustive (especially for a complete newbie!! I felt like I was in 1st grade and was made to listen to University grade stuff!!)
At first I thought it was FUN! Some very charming beekeepers, old guys know A LOT!!
Hearing some stuff, how bees are conventionally treated, I don't wonder why bees are ill!! I didn't like some of the things there, especially instructions for best beehives to be out of styrofoam (??) and polyurethane (?!) and such - what happenes if they are burnt? (In some cases, this is the solution for stronger diseases.) Burning styrofoam >> very TOXIC!
Luckily I also met some eco beekeepers, so hopefully I'll learn more from them.
Not sure if I even want to have bees anymore?
(But Dad keeps pressing me to fix the old beehives & the old neighbour even said he won't have a successor and seemingly he'd be happy to share his wisdom or maybe even some bees with me - but they are conventionally treated, and with some bad stuff!! hmm!!) Not sure what to do?

I finally talked to some eco people locally, some were really enthusiastic about some of the ideas and projects, so we'll see how it goes from there.
They keep telling me to go to the Mayor, so far I was really shy/embarassed to do so.
Apparently we may be too late to prepare some things for Earth Day, who knew you need to start such things so far ahead in advance? (Two or four months seemed plenty of time for me, eg scouts or school are also preparing other things - so maybe we can talk about an eco fair etc. for next year.)
At least we started talking and connecting more on a local level!
So I have a bunch of people to talk to and things to do, feeling slightly overwhelmed (and caught a bad cold). Hope it'll get better soon!

I'm also not sure how to write e-mails as not to overwhelm people (or myself)? So much stuff builds up, I wish I could discuss things with you all, not sure if it's okay to just write it here. So if you want to hear from me and I know you, maybe I can write you an e-mail, tell in comments if you're interested! :)

Farm Living - Not for the Faint-Hearted!

NOT BEFORE BREAKFAST AND NOT FOR VEGANS! :(

I wanted to brag the other day how I efficiently had cows do the right thing and eat grass in peace without having to use weapons (sticks).

I stood in front of a cow when she wanted to move into forbidden areas (across the 'line') and she stared into me a bit. I talked to her calmly and told her how the grass was better in the other direction etc.
Then, I winked at her and motioned with my head 'Let's go back', and WOW! she moved away together with me.

I'm a complete NEWBIE at pasturing and having cows behave, I just remember enjoying their company as a kid on a few holidays at Grandma's!
(And I hate all forms of violence! On kids or cows or any animals..)

The good cows were quite great company.

One was quite 'wild' though, jumped across the wire (that didn't have any electricity in it) and then jumped back when I ran after her.
(And did you know cows could be LESBIAN without the 'boys' around?! And the bulls could go gay, totally! I was quite amazed at Uncle's stories!)

The cows behaved, pretty much... They were MUCH calmer than when I first ran up from the blackberry destruction!

Dad was running after them with a stick, and they were running away from him!

Dad later said he's scared of the cows a bit (?!) and wouldn't dare to step ahead of one, lol!
He used a stick and that only made them more 'crazy', so I tried to use none, and it worked, pretty much...

You know, young cows don't really know how to behave on a pasture in peace. How to walk in the grass, in steep terraine.. They get scared of airplanes or tractors or funny noises..
The trick is to talk to them calmly and stay calm..

So that's why Dad and I were helping Uncle to teach the cows how to be ladylike in a pasture. The first day was a wild success!!


The second day, anything but.

On day One, we laughed a lot!

The really funny thing was, I tried to 'feel' with a grass blade if there was any electricity in the wire yet, and I didn't feel any. I looked around, and all three cows were curiously trying to 'feel' the wire too!

And got 'hit' by electricity!

They jumped and ran away!
I think they held it against me a bit, but stayed away from the wire ever since!

The fourth young Miss only ventured outside later, and the fifth one didn't dare to go outside at all!

So next time Dad tried to 'encourage her' a bit too strongly!

Uncle said he had a cow that only went to the next cow's 'suite' the first day, to the other end of the stable the next day, and only ventured outside on day Three.
I wish we let this cow do the same.

On Day Two, we encouraged her outside, Uncle and I patted her a bit and tried to talk her into moving outside and then over an obstacle.

Dad said, 'I'll scare her' and he did.
She went out to the green, and even ate some grass.

Then she ventured too far. And the electric wire hit her.

She went into a wrong direction.

I thought to encourage her elsewhere, like the other cows, but it didn't work - it misfired. (Maybe slapping my jeans at the same time was a big mistake?!)

She went 'wild' and got scared, managed to get herself into a tiniest of openings, and ran into the woods and broke a leg.
If you know anything about big animals, this is REALLY bad news.

I swore never to try to get young cows who don't know how to graze into rain again!

It was like cowboys, like Animal Rescue - from a canyon! Like in a film, but it was for real! And raining all over. I wondered how she'd get out of that ditch alive?! But she did.

Alive wasn't enough though.

I wanted to heal her and remembered movies where a loving owner could heal the horse's leg, but I was told this only happenes very rarely.

Today we got the meat home, and luckily Uncle could find enough customers so he won't have to suffer too much of a loss - the vet and the service of slaughtering a cow (even when it's slaughtered at home!) are QUITE costly!

We didn't get everything back (like the inner parts of the cow, and the skin, etc) I wonder what is done with those? Are they just thrown away?
At least this is better than throwing the whole cow away - which is exactly what is done with somewhat ill or just older animals that wouldn't get a good enough price to even cover the costs! - I suppose they're all burnt in an incinerator, after the skin is taken away?! It's CHEAPER to burn then make tests and use the meat for food!

This cow was perfectly healthy, and the meat was of excellent quality, but Uncle would only get 10% of the cost of slaughtering officially if he sold it to the usual buyers. Luckily, the rest of the family and some neighbours and acquaintances decided to buy meat. Otherwise, he'd be forced to give the cow a 'lullaby' and have her taken away...

In an economic crisis like this, I wonder how sane it is to just throw food away?

This was a sad occasion for all.. (I couldn't sleep after it happened, neither could Dad or Uncle! We were all sad and sorry for what happened.. And feeling terribly guilty!)
At least it turned into an occasion of family support and celebration.. (Customers need to be celebrated, no? Aunt brought goodies!)
I didn't want to help out today, but someone had too.. Luckily, cousin, Dad and Mum did most of the work.. (I still can't handle meat!) This ex-vegetarian did her part though! Mostly I cooked tea and charmed customers.. ;)

All in all, a real farm girl must learn to handle all situations... /sigh/
Uncle hinted he'd like the young cows to go grazing again, but I'm not sure if I'm brave enough to help out again...? (Or if it's a wise idea??)
Not sure who else would help though?

Or where a school for shepardesses is??!!