Thread: Holiday Trash

We didn't re-cycle for many years. This was mainly due to the waste company we had here (Laidlaw) and their habit of refusing to pickup re-cycled materials if it wasn't sorted exactly as they wanted it or was the slightest bit wet (rain). Our city went to a new company a few years ago (IESI) and they do a much better job. They use "single stream" re-cycling and if it is in the bin (or near it and re-cycleable), they take it and deal with it. We have gone from 5-6 Wal-Mart bags of trash (twice a week) down to 1-2 bags. Most everything ends up in re-cycle. I don't think of myself as an "eco-nut" but I'm not stupid either!

Happy Camping!

Awesome!

We are fairly new to recycling as a family, and we've been amazed with the *dramatic* reduction in the amount of trash we put at the curb for garbage (non-recycled) collection now. We haven't used our second large trash can in the garage in ages! I regularly load up our Escape Hybrid (my daily driver) with paper recycling when I visit my folks (kidlet's grandparents) since they live right by a public school that has two HUGE paper-only recycling dumpsters. Our neighborhood is served only by trash pick-up, ZERO recycling, so all of our other recyclables are ferried as we're able to either my folks' house or Justin's parents' house--both of whom are served by waste utilities that actually offer recycling. Since we all live fairly close, and see one another often, the transportation of the materials isn't using any gas we wouldn't otherwise use... otherwise I'd have to reconsider the real "footprint" or benefit to our particular recycling activities.

I've written to our waste management company but received no response. It's probably time to write them another letter. Maybe they have new management or fresh eyes on the issue.

One big problem I have is technically I'm not supposed to deposit cardboard (boxes, etc.) at the paper recycling location I use but as long as I open it and see other cardboard in there, I will continue to deposit it. To me, surely the company can find a use for that. I always break the boxes down so they fold flat, so they aren't creating huge air pockets (wasting space) in the collection dumpsters... don't know if that's the primary reason they don't want it or not.

December 28, 2008 --

These have both been overflowing since December 23rd, so it's no wonder the stuff's now piling up around the bins. I managed to get about half of our and my folks' paper recycling into the left bin and the rest I stuffed into the two dark trash bags that someone before me had left only partly filled. It's actually awesome to see SO MANY people recycling.