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My parents, native Californians, were die-hard environmentalists back in the 1950s, before anyone else was giving it a lot of thought. I was raised to be very conscious of my "footprint" and to treat the earth gently.
In the 1990s, I started a business centered on recycling and had some success.
So that's my background.
I live in a nice neighborhood and some really bad neighbors moved into the rental across the street (thanks to Section 8). I'm forever picking up the trash in the yard and the street, but here's the real issue: The city provides an enormous trash can that works with the automated trash truck. They also provide a similarly sized recycling bin. Pick-up is once per week.
It takes me and my husband WEEKS to fill up the trash can.
The neighbors across the street found ONE can wasn't enough, so they had the city bring out a second can. That's not big enough, so now they dump their plastic bags of household garbage in the equally enormous recycling bin (same size as the trash can).
Three trash cans, filled every week to overflowing. And I suspect that throwing household garbage into the recycling bin "taints" the load, which means it all gets thrown out. (Not sure about that, but that's what I've read.)
Meanwhile, I'm trying so hard to practice good stewardship and truly re-ordering my life in many ways so that I don't create an excess of waste.
It really takes the wind out of my sails when that - here in America - being environmentally responsible is apparently the province of a select few.
Frankly, it's quite depressing.
And while some folks might suggest I talk to these "neighbors," my good neighbors have tried. The not-so-good neighbors have black garbage bags taped up to the windows and they won't answer the door. Heck, when the cops showed up last month (responding to a 911 call from the house), they wouldn't open the door for them either. They just yelled through the front door for the cops to leave.
Why is it some people are so thoughtless when it comes to doing one little thing to help decrease the burden of garbage?
Location: East of Seattle since 1992, 615' Elevation, Zone 8b - originally from SF Bay Area
44,774 posts, read 81,743,750 times
Reputation: 58174
Quote:
Originally Posted by RosemaryT
It's not a dig. It's a fact based on empirical evidence. There's a difference.
So, creating mountains of garbage is "a right and a choice"?
Yes, as long as it's legal, it is a right and a choice. Some cities (like Seattle) have more restrictions, such as fines for putting organic waste in the garbage, and demanding use of a separate recycling bin for that, but if no such rules exist, people can do what they want. In the case of those that frequently eat prepared foods, frozen dinners and the like, there is going to be a lot more waste to dispose of, and that will typically be lower income people that can't afford to eat at nice restaurants, or buy healthier, more expensive foods to cook. We find that the recycling bin is full every week, while the small garbage bin may only be half full. If this neighbor bothers you so much, you might consider moving.
Location: God's Gift to Mankind for flying anything
5,921 posts, read 13,896,604 times
Reputation: 5229
Correct recycling actually starts all over the home.
Next to your bed, in your office, your kitchen, garage, garden, etc.
So everywhere, you should have the appropriate amount of specifically coloured trashcans/bins.
We try but it is really not that easy !
When we do our weekly or monthly shopping for food and staples,
we never use paper or plastic bags.
It goes straight into the shopping cart (it was in there before, so why repack ?).
Then straight into a container in the car trunk (I have one of those fold up ones).
We lived for a long time in Europe and surprisingly many items,
packaged in individual boxes in the USA,
are just, loose in bins, in Europe. Not everywhere in Europe ...
Maybe packaged in some minuscule *shrinkwrap-no cardboard*
We now live back home in the USA, and we have,
*one* blue trashcan (for recycling with restrictions on what you can put in there),
and as many regular trash cans you want for everything else ...
In Europe, within a four block area, we had collection bins.
None here and if you want to recycle large stuff, you have to pay for it !
The biggest packaging waste, I have seen is at big box stores where often, high priced small items, are packed in huge cardboard and plastic packages as big as the old style Rand-McNally maps !
Instead of getting frustrated, just remind yourself that you have to protect this globe of dirt from those that are not responsible enough to do it themselves. They have always been there, just not in your face.
Take joy in your effort, not frustration in others.
I applaud you for your efforts, and I understand how discouraging it must be to watch consumerist slobbery in action at such close quarters.
Nevertheless, as with other areas of life, if your commitment is real, then it is independent of whether other folks are equally committed.
It might help you to get active in some group that shares your general interests. Master Composters? A local enviro group? Birders? It would remind you that you are not alone in your efforts to live mindfully.
Some people, seeing that recycling is tantamount to a forced labor effort to benefit private companies like Waste Management, have decided that enough is enough and they aren't going to do work for a company unless they get paid.
Since they are paying those companies to sort and handle waste, after all they are called Waste Management, why should they do work for them without compensation.
Collecting trash is a huge business. Their business model is one of the few where they can literally force people to work for them and then charge those same people for the portion of the service they do not provide.
If you tried it, it would be illegal, you'd be sued and taken to the poor house.
As it is, regulations can and do force people to sort trash and in some areas, you are prohibited from not doing so and even prohibited from not putting your trash into the receptacles as directed.
If you go to a municipal landfill, you might still be required to sort your trash but then that is a municipal landfill, not a company that makes a profit and distributes that money to shareholders.
All this is billed under a convenience. They give you multiple trash bins and then require you to sort your trash according to what goes in each bin. They make a lot of money off your labor in doing this. It isn't like they do this to hold costs down because costs have gone up even though at one time everything went into the same trash bin.
If a person is required to do any work for a company, they should be compensated for that work. Compensation is not getting the satisfaction that the individual is helping the environment, that comes from the person, not the company.
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