I suffered major culture shock moving from the
East Coast to the West Coast over ten years ago – in many areas… One of more
humorous episodes was trying to clean out the refrigerator with the multiple
trash containers I now faced… Coming from an area where no one recycled to an
area where it is a matter of civic pride proved to be a major challenge for me
initially…I truly
don’t believe most people understand how to recycle… There’s simply not
information or resources out there, IMHO… Political personas and governmental
agencies contend that there is, but speaking from the everyday common citizens’
perspective, I can tell you there’s not…
Oh, we all know you SHOULD
recycle – but many people just don’t know HOW to do it… And I’ve come to call
this perspective “CPA” – or “Citizen Paralysis Analysis”… I can’t tell you the
number of times in the past 10+ years I’ve stood at the trash can with my foot
on the pedal and lid open, trying to figure out if something is recyclable or
not…
When I talked to neighbors,
only one realized whatever they put into the blue can goes directly to the
landfill... Only one... Most thought that 'someone' was doing something with it
along the way... And a few hadn't ever even given it much thought prior to my
asking the question... I've thought maybe I should take a huge bright poster
board, write on it "THIS GOES DIRECTLY TO THE LANDFILL" and tape it to the
outside of our blue trash container...
If you read the top of our
grey recycle container, it adds to the confusion as to what is allowed and what
is not… But when I called G.I. Rubbish and ask them specifically what does go
into the grey recycling container, the gal told me anything with a recyclable
symbol and the numbers one through seven in the center… Easy to do – simply
flip it over and look for a recycling triangle symbol – anyone can do this and
the numbers “1 to 7” are easy to remember…
During the tour of the
landfill, I was told that if you think it might be recyclable, to put it in the
grey recycling container… Well, these two ‘from the horse’s mouth’ statements
make my ‘CPA’ at the kitchen trash can MUCH easier!
The other part of ‘CPA’ for
me personally comes when you attempt to understand the landfill expansion
proposition… And frankly, this is probably the most frustrating part of this for
me… There is no clear-cut and easy answer for the “Why?” about the application…
The more you attempt to
understand the ‘why’, the more you end up in some bizarre form of alphabet soup
with so many terms referred to only in acronyms… You don’t want to appear
uninformed on recycling, so if you store away the letters in your mind, then go
to the Internet to understand exactly what it means… I’m not so sure that those
recycling advocates (or people informed about the Simi Landfill expansion plan)
are even aware they usually speak in some kind of different language than Joe Q.
Citizen does…
And when you are not trying
to find solutions for things – you’re usually a part of the problem…
I can do my part by beginning
a vibrant recycling program here at home, but once you leave your house, it
seems like few others (and especially businesses and government agencies) are
part of the overall game plan… And yet?... Government agencies are advocating
recycling and businesses seem to be the largest single sources of tonnage going
into the landfill… What’s wrong with this picture?...
For example, we purchased
malts recently at Carl’s Jr. and the bottom of the container has a “1” inside
the recycling triangle, but I saw NO recycling containers which allowed me the
option to keep that plastic cup from going into the landfill… Same for the Solo
cup from a smoothie purchased at Costco’s over the weekend… Starbucks containers
are recyclable but I went by three different Starbucks this weekend and
specifically looked for a recycle container outside… Nothing…
At the Regal Cinema mall,
there are 8 eating establishments… The Ben & Jerry’s containers don’t have any
recycling symbols at all on the bottoms… And there are only trash cans outside
in the open-air eating spaces – no recycling containers…
Many fast-food establishments
have two trash cans sitting side by side to handle the volume of trash – why
can’t one of them be for recyclable items?... How difficult would it be to have
this with a visual representation of what goes into the recycling container
above it?
The pie plates from Marie
Callendar’s have their name/logo displayed across the bottom of each one – but
no recycling triangle which should be our clue as a consumer that we can recycle
the item… With the intricate manufacturing process so many items go through,
plus the vague directions printed on top of our grey recycling containers, no
wonder so much trash is currently going into the landfill!
Last week, the YellowBook
phonebooks were delivered inside of plastic bags and yet here in California,
we’re in the process of asking stores to decrease their usage of this item – to
the point we as consumers might be paying $.25 per plastic bag at the grocery
store… I can understand the YellowBook might be damaged if it got wet during
delivery from rain, but mine arrived with a tear through the side of the bag… So
much for protection against rain and law sprinklers!
Another part of ‘CPA’ is
knowing exactly what you can and can’t recycle… And if you can recycle something
out of the ordinary, where can you do it locally… I would have thought Waste
Management would have some form of a data base where consumers can go to and
figure out where they can take some things they might not be sure of… This is
the list Waste Management provides:
http://www.girubbish.com/recyclableitems.html … This is the searchable
database that Earth911 provides:
http://earth911.org/ … It is right up there at the top for easy access to
residents and consumers… And helps greatly in lowering the ‘CPA’ most of us
face…
For example, many of us know
now that you can’t simply throw batteries into the blue trash cans any longer…
Enter “batteries” and your zip code… Up pops the business establishments of Best
Buy, Cingular Wireless, Kragen Auto Parts, Radio Shack, Staples, Office Depot
and then G.I. Rubbish… Waste Management’s information page doesn’t even mention
batteries one way or another! And shouldn’t they be in the business of
educating more of us in regards to recycling instead of filling landfills
because they say ours is going to reach capacity soon and needs to be doubled?
I’ve been in several city and
county offices in the past several weeks… I didn’t see recycling boxes on any of
the desks or dual trash cans below them… Not one government office I was in had
a blue recycle container accessible to the public… Now, maybe they are out there
and I just didn’t happen across one, but that bothers me and adds to the ‘CPA’…
If we as every day citizens are being urged to follow the three R’s of recycling
(Reduce, Reuse, Recycle) and it should begin at home, then why aren’t those in
the business of making decisions concerning trash and those having a trash
business, doing a better job of reducing ‘CPA’?
On a final note, I’d like to
ask all of you to look around you as you go through your day-to-day activities…
If you visit any of our parks, you’ll wonder (as I did), why none of the trash
cans are recyclable ones… I see lots of bottles and cans in the containers at
the park by our home… When I called the city, I couldn’t find the right person
to ask why this is, but I haven’t given up on this question yet…
And when you come across a
business that is not giving you the option to recycle, take the time to ask the
management, “Why not?”… Maybe if we as every day citizens start asking these
questions, those in charge will start realizing how important of an issue this
is to all of us…
Being a recycling advocate is
no longer a stereotype with unfavorable connotations - it is now a
responsibility and matter of civic pride... You don’t have to be a ‘tree hugger’
to love the beauty of a gorgeous, healthy green tree in your neighborhood… You
simply have to care it is there… And if you don’t stop someone trying to cut it
down and ask “Why?,” you might as be the one running the chainsaw yourself!
Keeping it real (always),
Linda
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