Recycling -RANA experience (Huntsville, Madison: schools, disposal, authority)

[MisterEd51]

Originally Posted by maillemaker

I really don't want 2 carts. I already have my green hurby curby for regular trash and now the blue one in my garage. Don't want another one. A 2-week schedule is what we need.

I doubt the service is "free". I figured it was part of the garbage collection fee. Maybe taxes pay for it, I don't know.

Anyway right now about half my recyclables are going in the land fill because the blue hurby curby gets full half way through the month.

I am sure Huntsville spent a lot of time coming up with the current recycling plan. Maybe going to once every two weeks may be possible in the future but everyone needs to accept what we have right now and make the best of it. I reached out to RANA and they said they were working on providing more than one cart for those that need it. I am perplexed by your response. You would rather throw away recyclable material than use a second cart? If RANAs response is not good enough I suggest you at least make the effort and contact RANA about your problem. Other things you could do are contact the city council or start a petition drive to make the change you want.

[Teko03]

Originally Posted by MisterEd51

I contacted RANA about whether obtaining a second cart was possible. Here is there response:

Good information.


Side note....

In the meantime, please ensure that you are only placing quality recyclables in your cart. We only accept #1 and #2 Plastic Narrow Neck Bottles, mixed paper, aluminum and steel food and beverage containers, broken down cardboard boxes.

I still think this is the bigger part of the issue...in that people are still "recycling" material that RANA does not accept. I still catch my self pulling certain things out of my smaller kitchen bin and into the garbage. Mostly the "wide mouth" plastic containers and plastic wraps. As for card board boxes, I was able to break down 2 months worth of small, medium & large boxes into my RANA bin and still had space. Basically broke them down flat and put them all in "standing" on one side, while all of my plastics/papers were tossed on the opposite side.

[maillemaker]

I am sure Huntsville spent a lot of time coming up with the current recycling plan. Maybe going to once every two weeks may be possible in the future but everyone needs to accept what we have right now and make the best of it. I reached out to RANA and they said they were working on providing more than one cart for those that need it. I am perplexed by your response. You would rather throw away recyclable material than use a second cart? If RANAs response is not good enough I suggest you at least make the effort and contact RANA about your problem. Other things you could do are contact the city council or start a petition drive to make the change you want.

Of course I have already contacted RANA and of course I already got the response others provided above. "Too bad, so sad, maybe later you'll get a second cart."


No, I don't want a second cart. I don't have room for 3 carts in my garage. HOA won't let them be stored outside.


So, when the recycling cart is full, the rest goes in the landfill.


I'm not going to go on a crusade to the city council or whoever over this - I just don't care enough. I emailed RANA and told them once a month isn't going to be sufficient. Either they care enough to increase pickups or they don't.



If not, into the landfill it goes. That is how I will make the best of it.

[tn_native]

Originally Posted by maillemaker

...snip...
If not, into the landfill it goes. That is how I will make the best of it.

My neighborhood has folks that overfill their recycle dumpster. These folks alway asks if they can add to someone's dumpster at the curb the night before recycling runs. I always have extra room.

[Rick In Madison]

Originally Posted by Teko03

Good information.


Side note....


I still think this is the bigger part of the issue...in that people are still "recycling" material that RANA does not accept. I still catch my self pulling certain things out of my smaller kitchen bin and into the garbage. Mostly the "wide mouth" plastic containers and plastic wraps. As for card board boxes, I was able to break down 2 months worth of small, medium & large boxes into my RANA bin and still had space. Basically broke them down flat and put them all in "standing" on one side, while all of my plastics/papers were tossed on the opposite side.

I have a dumb question that Teko03 reminded me of when I read the post.

What is the difference between #1 AND #2 NARROW-NECK PLASTIC BOTTLES versus #1 AND #2 WIDE-NECK PLASTIC BOTTLES? Why can't we recycle the "wide-neck" containers and where is that break even mark between narrow and wide neck plastic containers? I tried to find the answer on the RANA site without luck. Took a shot as a general search and no dice.

[Teko03]

Originally Posted by Rick In Madison

I have a dumb question that Teko03 reminded me of when I read the post.

What is the difference between #1 AND #2 NARROW-NECK PLASTIC BOTTLES versus #1 AND #2 WIDE-NECK PLASTIC BOTTLES? Why can't we recycle the "wide-neck" containers and where is that break even mark between narrow and wide neck plastic containers? I tried to find the answer on the RANA site without luck. Took a shot as a general search and no dice.

From what I'm understanding, they don't want any large "mouth" plastics basically...yogurt containers, cool whip container, sour cream container, butter containers, restaurant salad container, etc. Basically if the container doesn't have a "shoulder' that goes leads to a cap....it's garbage.

This is why I think people are recycling what they shouldn't be and filling up their bin so quickly...it specifically says you can recycle "#1 & #2 narrow-neck plastic bottles". So every other plastic item should be trashed.

So that leaves water bottles, soda bottles, juice bottles, milk jugs, detergent bottles, cooking oil bottles, cleaner bottles...things of that nature. Something with a cap that you could directly drink from essentially (not that I'm drinking bleach).

[maillemaker]

It's gotten to where I pull out the step ladder mid way and literally climb into the bin to crush down the garbage.


About the only wide-mouth plastic containers we use are peanut butter jars, and I keep those for containers. But they are recyclable anyway.


But I don't and I'm not going to spend a lot of energy sorting garbage. If it looks like paper, plastic, or metal, they are going to get it, and they are going to have to learn to deal with it.

[MisterEd51]

Originally Posted by maillemaker

It's gotten to where I pull out the step ladder mid way and literally climb into the bin to crush down the garbage.

About the only wide-mouth plastic containers we use are peanut butter jars, and I keep those for containers. But they are recyclable anyway.

But I don't and I'm not going to spend a lot of energy sorting garbage. If it looks like paper, plastic, or metal, they are going to get it, and they are going to have to learn to deal with it.

You need to rethink your attitude about not being careful about what you put in your cart. I asked RANA about this. Here is their response...

Thank you for contacting RANA. If there are unaccepted materials in the cart, we will not service the cart. The residents will receive an "oops sticker" and will not receive service until the following month, only if the problem was corrected.

[Rick In Madison]

Originally Posted by MisterEd51

You need to rethink your attitude about not being careful about what you put in your cart. I asked RANA about this. Here is their response...


Thank you for contacting RANA. If there are unaccepted materials in the cart, we will not service the cart. The residents will receive an "oops sticker" and will not receive service until the following month, only if the problem was corrected.

RANA's position seems to be self-defeating. In the end, there is an alternative to the **customer**; which is not to recycle. I would rather see all of us recycle or try to recycle; however, an "oops sticker" and a service held until compliance is provided seems rather childish. This along with my previous rants/stated irritation on the removal of oil recycling and the hazardous household waste collection restricted to M-F 0800-1700 leads me to say, good grief.

[harry chickpea]

My suspicion has been that the self-defeating is intentional. Much easier to offer a voluntary but PITA service for a while, and then after a suitable period say "Gee folks, this is just not working out." Stopping cold turkey would raise screams of righteous indignation that no politician wants to deal with. Once glass bottles stopped being washed and re-used, recycling was always about the money anyway. No money, no incentive. Shipping plastic to the far East in empty cargo containers so it can end up in the great Pacific Gyre is no longer fashionable now that it has been outed. Metals are a different story.