Something that has been on my mind since we moved is how relatively inefficient they are around here about garbage and recycling. I suppose we were ridiculously spoiled back in Medina County, Ohio, because of the central processing facility. Recycling is easy there: Throw all your shit in a bag and put it on the curb.
Naturally, this costs more, but it makes it stupid easy to recycle, and you don't have to leave it to people always wondering, "Gosh, should I recycle this?" The estimate I heard is that people who are already being fairly conscious about the packaging that they were buying to start with end up recycling 70%+. That's awesome. Plus they pick out stuff like electronics, TV's, appliances, etc.
Here it's a pain in the ass. You have one truck coming to pick up the recycled stuff, and another to pick up the garbage (in some places there's a third to get compostable stuff). And they charge you based on the size of your garbage can, with surcharges for when you have extra trash. It all strikes me as inefficient and error prone, especially the part about having multiple trucks pick the stuff up. Already that's twice the carbon footprint for pickup alone.
It strikes me as odd that they haven't figured out a better way here, what with all the treehuggers and more Prius drivers per capita than most places.
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