New Garbage and Recycling Receptacles (San Antonio, Alamo: apartment complex, mattresses, dorms)

[wCat]

Originally Posted by wCat

OMgosh...I thought we were the only nuts in town to use our old garbage cans for composting! We have three! (not the new ones, mind you... )

OH! In calling our fam "nutty", I didn't mean to infer the other poster was also "nutty". Just a silly day that day...

[Snowglobe]

If you don't have curbside recycling, I know it is inconvenient, but you can take all of your paper (newspaper, office paper, junk mail, cereal boxes) to a nearby school. Some schools also have receptacles for aluminum cans.

I don't know about other college and university campuses, but at Incarnate
Word, there are some blue receptacles scattered around outside (most are inside the buildings) for plastic, paper, and aluminum. If you could get onto campus, maybe on a weekend, you could drop your stuff off. The containers aren't very large, however, and you might look a little suspicious to the campus police.

Greenstar (formerly Vista Fibers), the company that processes all of the recycling in the area, will take materials from individuals at their plant.

[TXtrkgrl]

Originally Posted by Snowglobe

If you don't have curbside recycling, I know it is inconvenient, but you can take all of your paper (newspaper, office paper, junk mail, cereal boxes) to a nearby school. Some schools also have receptacles for aluminum cans.

Greenstar (formerly Vista Fibers), the company that processes all of the recycling in the area, will take materials from individuals at their plant.

I don't have curbside recycling. I recyle but I must admit it is a PITA. I live outside of SA. I take my paper to a recycle bin and my other recyclables to the county dump which is only open twice a week.

It is a pain but I am soooo amazed at how LITTLE trash I have now. We usually take the trash out just because of the smell not because it is full.

[sapphire]

Re the "no money in it"--I've been saving and donating my paper from work to recycle at my son's school. I was under the impression that they were getting compensated for it....in fact, I'm almost positive they are. Otherwise, I'd just recycle it here at work and save the wear and tear on my back. I'll look on nisd and find out for sure!

yep......from Connally's website:
This school year we will be collecting and recycling paper products to help raise money for the campus. Please bring your old newspaper, magazines and other paper products to our recycle containers located in the gymnasium parking lot. We are also collecting No. 1 and No. 2 plastic bottles and aluminum cans. These items can be sent with your child in a plastic bag or dropped off in our cafeteria.

All funds received from the recycling projects will benefit the students.

[wCat]

Originally Posted by sapphire

Re the "no money in it"--I've been saving and donating my paper from work to recycle at my son's school. I was under the impression that they were getting compensated for it....in fact, I'm almost positive they are. Otherwise, I'd just recycle it here at work and save the wear and tear on my back. I'll look on nisd and find out for sure!

yep......from Connally's website:
This school year we will be collecting and recycling paper products to help raise money for the campus. Please bring your old newspaper, magazines and other paper products to our recycle containers located in the gymnasium parking lot. We are also collecting No. 1 and No. 2 plastic bottles and aluminum cans. These items can be sent with your child in a plastic bag or dropped off in our cafeteria.

All funds received from the recycling projects will benefit the students.

Sapphire....you're right about the funding for recycling. I confused things by referring to the developers at apartment/condo communities not allowing space for recycling dumpsters. There's no money in it for the investors because the "dumpster" doesn't pay rent!

[sapphire]

Originally Posted by wCat

Sapphire....you're right about the funding for recycling. I confused things by referring to the developers at apartment/condo communities not allowing space for recycling dumpsters. There's no money in it for the investors because the "dumpster" doesn't pay rent!

Aaahhhhh..........gotcha!

[Chaka]

Originally Posted by BladeDancer

All of the recycling is great unless you live in an apartment. I'd love to recycle. There are no recycling services available on site. Makes me feel like an oil spill. With the massive amount of apartment communities in SA it is a real shame. A 'green' apartment community would definately be a selling point for me.

It does suck. One of my friends brings her recycling to my house (she tried to take it to an appropriate place and it was such a PITA, I was happy to add it to mine). Maybe you can ask someone in a house with curbside? I don't understand why this isn't happening in the gazillion complexes here.

When I lived in an apt in SA I used to bring my recycling to work (tho now it's the opposite as my current government employer does NOT recycle). In other states when I didn't have curbside, I usually took it to a local university which had big recycling bins.

[djw]

Originally Posted by Chaka

It does suck. One of my friends brings her recycling to my house (she tried to take it to an appropriate place and it was such a PITA, I was happy to add it to mine). Maybe you can ask someone in a house with curbside? I don't understand why this isn't happening in the gazillion complexes here.

IIRC from a conversation with some local Sierra Club folks, the recycling companies don't put bins in apartment complexes because there's too much "abuse" of the containers. Since there's no house number associated with the trash, there's less accountability and folks are more apt to break the rules. And drive-by dumpers are a problem, too. It isn't cost effective for them to have to sort through the trash that inevitably ends up in the recycle bins so they just don't put them out there at all.

Kudos for letting your friend use your bin!

[Chaka]

Originally Posted by djw

IIRC from a conversation with some local Sierra Club folks, the recycling companies don't put bins in apartment complexes because there's too much "abuse" of the containers. Since there's no house number associated with the trash, there's less accountability and folks are more apt to break the rules. And drive-by dumpers are a problem, too. It isn't cost effective for them to have to sort through the trash that inevitably ends up in the recycle bins so they just don't put them out there at all.

Kudos for letting your friend use your bin!

Ah, that makes some sense.

As for my friend's use of my bin, thanks, but it's no effort on my part. She brings it over when she's heading to the neighborhood. All I do is carry it to the curb (and now that I have a gigantic blue bin, it'll be even easier). I feel a bit guilty accepting kudos for having the option of curbside recycling

[wCat]

Originally Posted by djw

IIRC from a conversation with some local Sierra Club folks, the recycling companies don't put bins in apartment complexes because there's too much "abuse" of the containers. Since there's no house number associated with the trash, there's less accountability and folks are more apt to break the rules. And drive-by dumpers are a problem, too. It isn't cost effective for them to have to sort through the trash that inevitably ends up in the recycle bins so they just don't put them out there at all.

I could see this as a potential problem in some areas especially if it were placed in a remote area. Do they have actual cases where bins have be tried at local apartment complexes? This has been a topic of discussion for about 10 years...and personally we have yet to see a complex that has one. (Not that we've taken inventory... ) It would be great to know about any that are out there!

This reasoning really doesn't quite add up since almost every elementary school in the city has two or more large recycling dumpsters. Are drive by dumpers a problem with these very public recycling dumpsters? Has anyone heard of abuse with school recycling dumpsters?