Does NOLA recycle? (New Orleans, Harahan: low income, transplants, apartment)

[joshisanonymous]

I've yet to see any recycling cans (unless they're black too) and when I just checked the city's site it said curbside recycling isn't even available in the Quarter. Do people even bother? I hope so as it would be really sad to see a major city that hasn't even taken to recycling yet while others are starting to compost. I have a friend from Texas who didn't believe in recycling; this isn't the feeling of the entire south, right?

[Jimbo_1]

The recycling cans are black. They are a smaller version of the big dark green regular trash cans. It is pretty easy to get the cans and they pick it up once a week. The French Quarter is only one neighborhood and lot of times it does not represent the whole city. The Quarter might have some type of different system just like they do for regular trash pick-up. The recycling program with the trash cans is probably 2-3 years old since an organized recycling program had been absent since Hurricane Katrina. We had a program before the storm too. I would think most other Southern cities have recyling programs also.

[rburnett]

Most neighborhoods have the smaller black recycling bins. The city doesn't issue them, you have to request one.

[joshisanonymous]

I've since realized that the cans are slightly different looking but I still don't notice them being used very much. I mean, the apartment I moved into didn't have one (actually, I'm still waiting for the one I requested to arrive). I have seen maybe two instances in the past month of businesses that have recycling cans with their trash cans for customers to use (and that includes Tulane; I think I've found 1 recycling can there). And it seems weird to me to have a recycling program that you have to actually sign up for. I'm used to living in places where it's strange to go to someone's house and not find a recycling can. So I dug a little bit.

New Orleans' recycling program is taking baby steps | NOLA.com

Apparently, NOLA is up to diverting 3.6% of its trash from landfills which is some 35% less than the national average. I personally checked Philly 20%, SF 78%, Dallas 35%, and North Central Texas in general 22%. It's nice to see that it's not the South in general that doesn't recycle but it does seem that New Orleans Metropolitan Area is really not interested in doing it. For instance, I also found this article:

Recycling returns to Harahan this fall | NOLA.com

Harahan is only starting to recycle this Fall? It does say they had a program 10 years ago but that only lasted 4 years. That's insane. The older article I found about NOLA's recycling program on the same site was talking about how it was doing 2 months after it was restarted (which was apparently in just 2011, so 1 year ago, 6 years after Katrina). It was suggested in that article that the program was in danger of being canceled even before Katrina hit and most of the commenters seemed to echo the idea that recycling is a waste because it's not profitable enough (apparently that's the only reason to recycle).

This kinda gets me down. I just read an article about how the arctic summer melt reached a record low this year and there are places that are struggling to get more than 33% of their residents to participate in recycling, something my poor hometown of 3,000 has been doing en masse since the early 90s. I understand that the difficulties involved in such a program are very location dependent but man... (And I don't want to single out NOLA, apparently Philly jumped to 20% from 5% only in the last 4 years by increasing enforcement of their longstanding mandatory recycling laws. Their rate was quite surprising to me too).

[whatisthedealwith]

Originally Posted by joshisanonymous

I've yet to see any recycling cans (unless they're black too) and when I just checked the city's site it said curbside recycling isn't even available in the Quarter. Do people even bother? I hope so as it would be really sad to see a major city that hasn't even taken to recycling yet while others are starting to compost. I have a friend from Texas who didn't believe in recycling; this isn't the feeling of the entire south, right?

Oh LAWD. You have got to be kidding me. I read your posts and one thing comes to mind-- "pretentious outsider." You from SF, right? That makes some sense.

"It would be sad to see a major city..when yet others are starting to compost." For real? This doesn't strike you as a teensie bit smug? Betcha you drive a Prius, if you drive. Most likely you ride a bike.

Lemme say one thing: NO ONE likes someone who rolls into town and starts throwin around how much better it is everywhere else. "Let's get things changed! We need compost! Lets eat organic!" All dat crap aint gonna fly in NOLA. Good luck, baby.

[joshisanonymous]

Originally Posted by whatisthedealwith

Oh LAWD. You have got to be kidding me. I read your posts and one thing comes to mind-- "pretentious outsider." You from SF, right? That makes some sense.

"It would be sad to see a major city..when yet others are starting to compost." For real? This doesn't strike you as a teensie bit smug? Betcha you drive a Prius, if you drive. Most likely you ride a bike.

Lemme say one thing: NO ONE likes someone who rolls into town and starts throwin around how much better it is everywhere else. "Let's get things changed! We need compost! Lets eat organic!" All dat crap aint gonna fly in NOLA. Good luck, baby.

I'm sorry if the suggestion that more people should recycle is pretentious to you. You also seemed to overlook where I said this isn't a southern problem. I actually pointed out specifically my surprise at how abysmal Philly's program was which is pretty close to my hometown (which, if you were really paying attention, is not SF).

If you wanna insult me, at least do it over facts. I'll help you out. I'm from NJ, a tiny conservative town 2 hours south of Philly. I lived in NYC for a year and a half (mostly in Harlem but 3 months in both Green Point and Astoria). I also, most recently, lived in SF for 3 years (where I often disagreed with the politics of the city but appreciated their enthusiasm). I drive a Ford Contour which is currently broken and unlikely to be fixed because I'm a fairly low income guy (usually make $24k/year). I use public transit and, yes, ride a bike. I would drive a Prius if I could afford a car and I don't see why being environmentally conscious is "smug." I don't force it on people but do occasionally delve into the topic when it seems worthwhile.

There, now you have sine very general facts about me. Feel free to blast away.

[aab7855]

We recycle, the answer is yes. I don't see why any of you need to keep this going, he got the answer he wanted.

And Josh, if the program is not transparent enough for you, your beloved Tulane has some massive dumpsters by the upperclassmen dorms that handle paper, cardboard, aluminum, and plastic. I used to take all the stuff there myself, it's not that hard.

[joshisanonymous]

Originally Posted by aab7855

We recycle, the answer is yes. I don't see why any of you need to keep this going, he got the answer he wanted.

And Josh, if the program is not transparent enough for you, your beloved Tulane has some massive dumpsters by the upperclassmen dorms that handle paper, cardboard, aluminum, and plastic. I used to take all the stuff there myself, it's not that hard.

One third of New Orleans recycles. I got my answer, but it wasn't "yes." The reason I kept the thread alive was because it seemed that even locals had the impression that there was a lot more recycling going on. Maybe they recycle themselves but haven't noticed that none of their neighbors do which could potentially lead to information spreading, yada yada.

I'm a non-traditional student so, needless to say, I don't live in the dorms. I hadn't noticed any huge recycling cans because I've had no reason to go up that way. If I don't get my personal can for long enough, I might find a way to take my stockpile over there, but it is kinda far to haul multiple large cardboard boxes of recycling from the Lower Garden District by bike.

I'm starting to get the feeling that there is a group of locals that come to this forum, find any and every posting by new transplants, and just take every attempt they can find to rip them apart. Why complain about the existence of this thread? Why stick in "beloved" as if I'm not supposed to mention the school and/or am supposed to hate it? I don't get it. I was pretty sure I've been making well intentioned posts where I've struggled to avoid making any insulting assumptions or phrasing anything in a demeaning or "holier than thou" manner and yet even just the mention of the name of a school brings out the ire in people.

[aab7855]

Well I tried to give a common sense reply and calm everyone down. Oh well. Let it continue I guess. My bin gets picked up every Wednesday like clockwork. I can't control the ones who don't participate, should we make a recycling Gestapo?

I love my alma maters, that's the only reason why I put "beloved". Just omit it from your mind if you took offense, that wasn't my intention. I guess if you don't have Tulane pride I can suggest a reason to have some, they have a massive recycling program-- that's something to be proud of.

[joshisanonymous]

Originally Posted by aab7855

Well I tried to give a common sense reply and calm everyone down. Oh well. Let it continue I guess. My bin gets picked up every Wednesday like clockwork. I can't control the ones who don't participate, should we make a recycling Gestapo?

I love my alma maters, that's the only reason why I put "beloved". Just omit it from your mind if you took offense, that wasn't my intention. I guess if you don't have Tulane pride I can suggest a reason to have some, they have a massive recycling program-- that's something to be proud of.

"Beloved" sounded mocking. So did the suggestion that "it's not that hard". And the suggestion that the topic should not be allowed to continue didn't help. Maybe I was also projecting your comments to someone on another thread which seemed just as snippy, that may not have helped either. If I read all of this wrong and you were being completely sincere and were only trying to calm people down, then I'm sorry for taking it wrong.

There are actually various cities around the country that have mandatory recycling laws but that's not really what I was suggesting. I don't want anyone to control their neighbors but I wouldn't be surprised if there were simply some of them that don't know the program exists. I don't even expect anyone who reads this to go running down their street, looking in trash cans, and knocking on doors, but appropriate opportunities to mention it could always come up. Also, there's voting. If one were to think that 90% of the city is participating they might not see this as an issue during elections (I know, it might not be an issue anyway for those who don't like recycling or are more concerned about other issues but for people concerned about the environment it might be).

This is all I'm suggesting: the spread of information. That's what the internet is for.

And while I haven't noticed Tulane's recycling program (not that there may very well be a great one), one particular thing that's amazing is Dinwiddie Hall. They not only outfitted it with all sorts of cutting edge green technology but they also post funny little permanent signs all over the building that explain just how this stuff is conserving energy.