Can't say as I find recycling convenient in the least. Everything has to be sorted before they'll take it: tin cans, glass, plastic, newsprint, office paper, magazines, cardboard, refundables; all separate. What you see above is what I prepared yesterday to take out for dropoff at the recycling depot in town; had to make three trips to the driveway to get it all loaded up. It's a pain in the butt, and it ain't pretty in the porch, either. And this is only a couple months worth of stuff!
Here's the sorting system as it looks after the backbreaking labour has been done:
My request is that when Scott gets around to renovating the porch, he will incorporate a closet with doors that can be closed so we don't have to look at this eyesore, which is usually overflowing. Drives me nuts. Still I shall carry on, ugly as it is, because when I see that pile of "garbage" up there and realize how much waste from my home was going into the landfill, before ... well, shame on me if I don't set my esthetic preferences aside and do the responsible thing.
One of Scott's clients gave him this boot-dryer. He came in at the end of the day, all pleased, and I expected the thing to be simply a boot rack that could be set over a heat register. But no! It actually plugs in and heats up. Who knew? I continue to learn something new every day, even at my ripe old age.
Okay, I'm going to try this again. I didn't want to sign in with blogger or any of the other options and for some reason, it didn't take my aim name. This is Nina, by the way. I'm going to try 'anonymous' this time. What I said was... It used to be a real pain to recycle here too, a few years back. You had to separate the milk cartons from the paper and take the labels off of cans. Now you can put it all, including glass, in the recycle container the city provides. No more taking the labels off of cans or separating anything. And I'm like you; seeing all the 'stuff' that would've gone into the landfill really makes you think.
ReplyDeleteNina,
ReplyDeleteSome of the demands made of commenters lately have been enough to put me off making the effort to sign in and respond to people's entries. Glad it finally worked for you.
Our recycling system is low tech and easy, one big dumpster you fill up with all your recyclables. It gets picked up once a week. All you have to do is set it to the curb facing the designated direction and the truck comes along scoops it up and dumps it in the truck. Driver never leaves the cab. It is all sorted at a factory. Don't think people would get into it that much if they had to presort. Before the automated the system with the dumpster it was a huge mess with stuff blowing out of the open canisters, plus the workers emptying the containers refused to pick up anything they happened to drop on the road. Its amazing how much stuff we collect in one week and we are just two people.
ReplyDeleteNot having to pre-sort would be heaven.
ReplyDeleteOut here, even though we have to do our own sorting, they STILL have a full-time employee sorting containers at the depot. That's Emil's job! (Quite handy when I'm not sure what our depot takes and what it doesn't. I show Emil a container and he tells me whether they'll recycle it or have to put it in the garbage).
But I bet it does keep a lot of people from recycling, because not everyone has the space. Like at your household, there are only two of us here now except for Emil on weekends, and yet the amount of recycling remains high (and I don't buy a lot of processed or packaged food either).
I swear we need a recycle service out here like they have in the city. Mom and dad have 2 bins and some bags. They sort paper and cardboard to one and plastic/tin to the other. Mom has it in one of those fabulous bench seats on the deck(hers is a resin one but it works). They come and pick it up every 2 weeks! It would be nice.
ReplyDeleteI don't like the sorting and storing.. but we have to do our part. Or at least try our best to...
You're right, and I am not really complaining. Well okay, just a little. Oh all right, quite a lot. When really we are fortunate that we don't have to haul it all the way to the city to get rid of it.
ReplyDelete