The other day I was scolded by the recycling guy for not meeting all of the guidelines. Knowing what I know about organized crime, I am very hesitant to argue with any sanitation worker, but this guy was put off by the amount of recycling I had. Watertown only collects this stuff every other week, so I am left with trash all over my house until they come.
The official list of acceptable material states:
No plastic bags or soiled paper.
No junk mail, office paper, cereal boxes, juice or milk cartons.
Now hold on...No junk mail? No plastic bags!? How is that possible? There is a bill in the Massachusetts legislature that proposes making businesses charge customers for plastic bags. So I will now have to pay for something I do not want AND throw them in the regular trash bound for a landfill where they will sit for 8 zillion years.
Another thing the guy complained about was that I did not break down a box. I told him that I used the box to hold more paper to be recycled, so in a sense, the whole thing could be recycled.
He then told me that I need to breakdown the box.
I then restated that the box was filled with paper to be recycled and would he please just take the box and throw it in the paper section of the truck FOR THE LOVE OF GOD?!!
Another source of Green-aggravation is the bottle return. Here in Massachusetts we pay 5¢ deposit on bottles and cans. Growing up, my mom used to have a sticker on her refrigerator that said "If a $50 fine won't stop a slob, neither will 5¢" The point being that no one turns the bottles back in which creates a ton of waste and litter. I look at it as someone gets to keep my 5¢. So, I save up all of these cans and bottles in my house, load them in car and drive over to the supermarket to return them and get my money back.
Here is the rub...if the supermarket does not sell that bottle or can, you can not return it at their store. So now you are left with a few odd bottles that can not be returned and you have two choices; bring them back home and put them in the bin, or just leave them at the store. I think it might be easier to dispose of asbestos then a Wachusett Blueberry Ale bottle.
Why do they have to make this so hard? The point of the 5¢ is to make me inclined to recycle, but when I try to recycle I can't. They want me wash the stuff I am to recycle. That wastes huge amounts of water, which will soon be a pretty scare resource itself. So when they finally come out and tell us it's true, the planet is doomed, don't blame me. I tried, but they just will not take my empty box of Honey Nut Cheerios.
1 comment:
I loved your blog article about the recycling! I can totally relate. I just recently bought my first house and there is trash pick up and recycling. Which is great because when I lived with my parents, even though I'm in my 30's, I know I know, anyway, We did a lot of recycling. So much so, that the recycle lady came by and was so proud of my mother with all her barrels, labeled with recycle stickers etc. The lady told my mom that she was the epitome of recycling and wished everyone else would follow her. Now, all my mom did was just what you're doing, but she was using large trash barrels and filling them to the rim with material.
When I moved to my house, my parents gave me three big barrels just like I had at home, one for trash and two for recycle, -paper and one for plastic.
The recycle people here where I live wont pick up my recycle in trash barrels! Even though they are clearly marked with recycle "Plastic" and Recyclable"paper and cardboard" Last week she just drove up to my front yard, stared at my barrels, looked up and glared at my window and then drove off in a huff. I wanted to chase her down!
AS I am cleaning the cat food tins, and plastic containers this week, I began to think, I am using my water, that i will have to pay for, storing all this stuff in my tiny 500 sq foot house because I have only one bedroom, and one closet in my bedroom, and in the winter it was a real pain in the ass to store this stuff, I had to use the big barrels my parents gave me with weights on the top, because I don't have a shed big enough for just my trash and recyclables.
So I was thinking how does this work. I pay for trash collection, and that includes recycling, I use my resources of water and time and storage to be able to present the recyclables to the pick up lady, who picks it up and sells it and makes money-and she has the audacity to give me so much shit about it. Today was trash day, I didn't put out my trash or recyclables today.I think people who make the effort, should be rewarded, not scorned. If I owned the business, I would be thrilled people were giving me stuff to sell.
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