Thursday, December 6, 2007

In a Simpler Time.. before Recycling...

I wonder if the people that surf the Internet looking for blogs to read remember a time before recycling? Then, if we didn't want it, it went into the garbage, never to be seen again, period. The newspapers spoke of recycling but it confused us and we thought somehow it would effect other people, not us. Then one day without warning and truck came around dropping off light blue garbage dumpsters, similar to the ugly green ones that we had for our garbage. The neighbors gathered and discussed this. It was a time before they had HOA's. Along with our new light blue dumpster came waste paper basket sized receptacles along with instructions on what went into recycling. It was paper products and glass containers and cans, but no lids. Whoa, this is going to be HARD! Pressing on, the glass containers need to be cleaned out and thrown away clean. No light bulbs or wooden products (I think). Now let me understand this, when my Mayonnaise jar is down to where it's no longer practical to keep trying to scoop out a spoonful, I need to wash it, discard it's lid and recycle it. Right? Where do I throw my old jeans with that hole?

As soon as we had this down pat, we'd drag our new dumpster to the street and the next day there was a note on it that the items in my garbage were in violation and would not be picked up! They now had inspectors! Inquiring further, I discovered that the city has hired private companies to collect and separate and sell our recyclables to a third party for cash. Guess what? We're now working for the City of Phoenix washing our garbage so they can sell it AND they charge us for trash collection! We still have our dirty garbage and there's never enough room in it. I've taken to disguising my dirty garbage in cardboard boxes and throwing it into the light blue dumpster, but I always get caught!

No comments: