Recycle Wednesday… finally!
As I posted before, Chattanooga has revised our recycling program. We no longer have weekly curbside pickup and now we have to wait until our specific Wednesday to have our plastics, cardboard, and paper picked up. Today was the first one for our neighborhood and I was so glad to get rid of everything.
I predicted that we would have 9 to 12 bags of recyclables. I actually forgot to count, but we had a lot. There was a pile in our kitchen that had been collecting since December. We missed the last curbside pick up in 2006 (we were out of town) so we had more than what would be normal.
It was a bad sign when our recycle pile fell over on our dog on Sunday. We almost broke down and took stuff to a collection center, but in my mind, it was like “Then they win!” I guess I think that if we start taking our stuff to a drop off then there will be less at my curb and they might do away with picking up all together. Well, it makes sense in my mind.
So we have another month for everything to pile up (hopefully not on the dog). And next month I promise to count the bags.
January 18th, 2007 at 6:54 am
“Then they win!” If they win, then you win. Recycling is about helping the environment and keeping our city beautiful. Weekly curbside pickup went away because people were putting trash (not recyclables) on the curb, not because people weren’t putting enough bags out every week.
Why would you try to single-handedly teach the entire city a lesson by refusing to recycle at dropoff centers? What kind of lesson is that? How about you do something positive and encourage more people to recycle and use those dropoff centers because even more things can be recycled there anyway. If the bins at the dropoff centers get full more quickly and the items are sorted the right way, then curbside pickup will probably increase.
January 18th, 2007 at 8:51 am
You’re luck this time, you only had to wait until the third Wed. in January. Ours doesn’t show up next week. So far, I’ve got both plastic bins full, five blue bags, and a nice sized stack of cardboard (though to be fair, most of the cardboard is from Christmas).
I’m planning on taking a photo of the enormous pile of stuff and sending it to the mayor, along with a nice note thanking him for “improving” the recycling program.
January 18th, 2007 at 8:51 am
Whoops, “lucky”, not “luck.” Obviously my spelling circuit is malfunctioning.
January 18th, 2007 at 4:23 pm
@Matt: You have valid points and no, I do not think I can single handedly teach the entire city a lesson. I have some residual anger from the city’s decision. I was someone who was doing it right (we only recycled 1s and 2s, cans, cardboard, and junk mail… even taking out the plastic windows on old envelopes) and I feel punished. I realize that it is a serious problem that people need to be re-educated on how the recycling process works and costs the city money, but I am one of the people who believe that education could have been accomplished even with weekly pickup.
I will still have to take my glass to the drop off centers, but that is all I plan on taking down there, about once a quarter. We will organize our recyclables at our house better, so as to manage waiting for that magic Wednesday.
@Jeremy: You can do it! One more week.
January 18th, 2007 at 11:28 pm
Matt,
Do you really think the *real* reason the curbside pickup went from weekly to monthly is that people were putting trash in their recycleables?
I admit that I’m a latecomer to this whole mess, since I’ve only lived here since July 06 … but what I read in the Times Free Press indicated that the reason for the changes was that the program cost the city too much money. But … then the Times Free Press reported that the “new and improved” program is going to cost the city the same amount per year as the old one. So, I’m unfortunately a bit on the suspicious side regarding the reduction in curbside pickup.
On a sort-of related note, Alli mentions taking glass to the dropoff centers. Does anybody have any idea why glass can’t be left curbside? This is the only place I’ve ever lived where that is the case …
January 19th, 2007 at 6:28 am
Okay. Well if you’re going to try to reveal a need for more frequent curbside pickup by hoarding your recyclables and refusing to use dropoff centers, don’t complain about your recyclables piling up.
Just like a new business, startup costs are going to be high in the first year. The city had to buy more trailers for the additional dropoff centers.
January 19th, 2007 at 10:56 am
Matt,
If the total cost of the recycling program is as high as it was for 2006 because of startup costs, and in subsequent years it will be less, I can accept that and will retract my complaint about the cost. However, my understanding (from the article I read in the Times Free Press) was that the ongoing operational cost of the program was going to continue to be the same from year-to-year with the “improved” program. I can accept a reduction in services with a corresponding reduction in cost, even though I’m not happy with the reduction in services.
January 19th, 2007 at 1:00 pm
Those are just startup costs…trailers and education program…switching over from old to new.
Speaking of curbside recyclables, I wanted to commend you both for recycling the correct way. But Jeremy, did you see the newscast with Orange Grove when they started this whole thing? They displayed non-recyclable items people had put curbside…a full bottle of pasta sauce, a basketball, a bent metal fan cover, a tennis ball, egg cartons…
I thought “well maybe all this was collected over a week or two.” But no, all of that stuff came through within 5 minutes on their conveyor belt of curbside “recyclables.”
So the education program is definitely necessary, but getting it all started explains the cost. Hopefully, more people will take their recyclables to Orange Grove while recycling with monthly curbside and do it the right way so that time and money isn’t wasted sorthing trash from recyclables.
January 19th, 2007 at 11:37 pm
Matt,
I didn’t see the newscast you refer to; I’m something of an odd bird. I like to get my news by reading … either online or a physical magazine or newspaper. I’ve never been much of a TV/video guy. In fact, I couldn’t identify a local TV station if my life depended on it!
That’s really unfortunate … I have to think that a little common sense would tell you that a basketball isn’t recycleable, but then again … I consistently give too much credit to people.
I think the education thing is good … but I also think that the end result of reducing curbside pickup will be less participation, but perhaps I’ll be pleasantly surprised.
January 20th, 2007 at 8:57 am
[...] Turns out that isn’t the case. See "Recycle Wednesday … finally!" at ChattanoogaIsHome.com where a reader corrected my error. [...]
January 23rd, 2007 at 3:43 pm
I look at it this way: I’m a customer of the city’s recycling program. I pay them taxes, and they offer me two ways to recycle. However, since I don’t prefer the drop-off service, I choose to hoard recyclables until pick-up. If I didn’t do this, I feel I’d be communicating to the city that I have no preference - which is incorrect. I greatly prefer the curb-side service.
March 29th, 2007 at 3:57 am
Recycle.