Today, I'm ranting. I've wanted to get this off my chest for a while, and this blog is offering me that chance on a large scale.
Whenever I can, I peek out the window at the garbage and recycling men taking away my trash. In my city, there are two boxes for recycling, the gray box and the blue box, and they are picked up on alternating weeks. The gray box is used to collect cardboard and paper. The blue box is for cans, bottles, and Styrofoam. I'm pretty careful with my recycling, but I don't always get it right. There are certain types of plastics and papers that they don't accept, and the rules change from time to time.
On the odd week that I've inserted something in one of the boxes that doesn't belong, it gets flung. Not just dropped, and don't even dream of it being put back into the box, but FLUNG, onto my yard, onto the street, or down the sidewalk. After the recycling guys have been by, there is always a line of strewn (non)recycling up and down the street.
The thing that really killed me though, was a couple of weeks ago. I looked out the window just in time to see my blue box fly through the air, landing on the ground just behind my car, with shards of hard plastic shattering off of it. And this was a good week...all my recycling went into the truck, but they THREW my blue box!
I immediately called the city and reported this. Apparently it's a common occurance; the man on the other end of the phone didn't even pause, just told me to bring my blue box in to their office and they would replace it free of charge.
That might sound reasonable, but why should I have to do this? And what will they do with my old blue box? Is it recyclable? Old toys and other hard plastics are not, it clearly states on my "Recycling Guidelines" paper downloaded from the city website. I pay for garbage and recycling services through my taxes...but they don't pay for my gas to go and trade in my box in an area of the city that I never just pass through on my way somewhere else....
Argh. If this is the worst thing I have to rant about, I'm pretty damn lucky. But it still ticks me off.
I haven't returned my blue box yet, still using the broken one. But when I do, I'll be sure to ask what lays ahead for my old blue box, and report back.
Whenever I can, I peek out the window at the garbage and recycling men taking away my trash. In my city, there are two boxes for recycling, the gray box and the blue box, and they are picked up on alternating weeks. The gray box is used to collect cardboard and paper. The blue box is for cans, bottles, and Styrofoam. I'm pretty careful with my recycling, but I don't always get it right. There are certain types of plastics and papers that they don't accept, and the rules change from time to time.
On the odd week that I've inserted something in one of the boxes that doesn't belong, it gets flung. Not just dropped, and don't even dream of it being put back into the box, but FLUNG, onto my yard, onto the street, or down the sidewalk. After the recycling guys have been by, there is always a line of strewn (non)recycling up and down the street.
The thing that really killed me though, was a couple of weeks ago. I looked out the window just in time to see my blue box fly through the air, landing on the ground just behind my car, with shards of hard plastic shattering off of it. And this was a good week...all my recycling went into the truck, but they THREW my blue box!
I immediately called the city and reported this. Apparently it's a common occurance; the man on the other end of the phone didn't even pause, just told me to bring my blue box in to their office and they would replace it free of charge.
That might sound reasonable, but why should I have to do this? And what will they do with my old blue box? Is it recyclable? Old toys and other hard plastics are not, it clearly states on my "Recycling Guidelines" paper downloaded from the city website. I pay for garbage and recycling services through my taxes...but they don't pay for my gas to go and trade in my box in an area of the city that I never just pass through on my way somewhere else....
Argh. If this is the worst thing I have to rant about, I'm pretty damn lucky. But it still ticks me off.
I haven't returned my blue box yet, still using the broken one. But when I do, I'll be sure to ask what lays ahead for my old blue box, and report back.
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