What to do?

[redhawker]

The city I live in mandates that we recycle all recyclable items we throw away. The contract trash company has provided each residence with three of those trash bins, the ones the automated truck can pick up, in brown (regular trash), green (yard waste), blue (recyclables). For the recyclables we are instructed to wash out all containers (cans, bottles, etc.) we're throwing in the blue bin. Now they've also decided that we have to save water and we can only water our lawns 2 times a week for 15 minutes. So, are we still supposed to waste water rinsing off trash or not? I wouldn't be surprised if 50 gallons a day goes down the drain rinsing trash off.

 

[Colonialgirl]

AHHH YES, The ENDURING STUPIDITY of the various governments; California is particularly well blessed with these morons, but many other states are close behind.

A thought; DO the trashmen INSPECT your recyclables to see IF they have been rinsed out spick and span? If NOT then screw them , only rinse the very top layer.

 

[Tensaw]

Just curious. Are there fines if you don't recycle? How do they determine if you are not recycling?

 

[akbluz]

Maybe you could wash out the recycled items with your water hose while standing on your lawn?

 

[frustrated middle child]

Maybe you could wash out the recycled items with your water hose while standing on your lawn?

Ha ha....

 

[wolfsong]

Burn everything. :twisted:

 

[Paul B]

Back in the early 1980's the wife and I went to San Francisco to visit family. California was already in drought status and there was a slogan going round. "If it's yellow let it mellow. If it's brown, flush it down.
Hmm. Governor Moonbeam Brown? Flush it down???????
Paul B.

 

[Robes]

Note to self.... yet ANOTHER reason not live in California.......

 

[COWTOWNER]

Yes we have garbage, recycling police here in Ft Worth. We also have garbage, recycle, and lawn/yard bins. Just 3 weeks ago, early in the morning I noticed an unusual white auto at the end of our 1/4 mile street. I watched as two individuals get out and looked in the bins on each side of the street, and it progressed to our house, and the individuals got out and inspected our bins, and on the back of the blue shirts, was in large letters "POLICE DEPT ", and the auto had signs on the doors "CODE COMPLIANCE", so yes, we do have garbage police. Man, I sure feel safer and more secure with those folks taking care of us.

Thanks

Mike

 

[Bull Barrel]

And recycling saves money.....

 

[deac45]

well...you could take your recyclables into the bathroom with you when nature calls...two birds one stone...

Deac45

 

[ronto]

I lived in OC for many years. Your post is one of the reasons why I left. Commuting to LA every day on the Santa Ana Freeway was just one of the others...the list is VERY long.

 

[clbshooter]

Lived in Sandy Eggo for 5 years. They said the same thing about washing stuff out. I used to get a kick out of watching my SIL do the rinse shuffle after dinner. He even washed out the beer bottles. I was going to say something but it was too much fun just watching.

However I never did it not even once. Seemed like a waste of water.

 

[Rick Courtright]

Note to self.... yet ANOTHER reason not live in California.......

Hi,

Fortunately for you guys elsewhere, we have an absolute lock on stupidity here and never, ever let it escape our borders! Oh, wait, Michigan... should we write that in Arabic for you? :roll:

 

[Jimbo357mag]

Re-cycling saves time, money and natural resources. It is also a source of revenue for your local municipality. With all those benefits how could anyone except grumpy old men find fault with the system. :roll:

The answers you seek are probably online under FAQ for the program in question.

I rinse cans and bottles to be recycled and I doubt it takes 2 gallons of water a day.

 

[Huhwhat?]

We have a private trash service here - actually four different private services you can choose from - for which we pay a bill once a quarter. The service we use has a sorting center all the trash goes to where they sort the recyclables out. We don't need to do the sorting. We throw everything in one can and out it goes.

 

[hittman]

Re-cycling saves time

You'd be hard-pressed to prove that.

I can sure as heck pitch a soda bottle in the trash can quicker than I can wash, rinse and deliver it to the appropriate bin.

 

[Huhwhat?]

BTW- The problems with recycling

 

[Jimbo357mag]

Re-cycling saves time

You'd be hard-pressed to prove that.

I can sure as heck pitch a soda bottle in the trash can quicker than I can wash, rinse and deliver it to the appropriate bin.

It saves somebody time, I'm sure. :? :? ...maybe the miners. One can recycled saves the time it takes to load a shovel-full of bauxite into a railcar.

 

[tookalisten]

Burn everything. :twisted:

I remember when I was a kid we had a "burn barrel" in the back yard. It was me and my brother's favorite past time to do that chore. Best days was when Mom would toss out a can of hair spray - we could always get it cooking and count on a kaboom.

 

[hittman]

Yep, burn barrel is the answer. This ain't rocket science and shouldn't be politics.

 

[redhawker]

Well, I'll admit when I'm wrong. (And I should have done this first). Went of the disposal company website and they no longer require the recycling be washed out. Just never figured any common sense would be applied on something like this.

 

[exavid]

We also have three bins, regular garbage, recyclables and yard waste. Basically all we recycle are cans, other than pop cans which have a deposit, and newspaper and cardboard. The rest of everything goes in the garbage. We don't have to sort recycles or wash them. If cans or boxes have food remnants they go in the garbage bin. Used motor oil goes out on the curb alongside the recycle bin in a container. No garbage police here.
For awhile in the Tacoma, WA area the newspapers that were collected in the recycle bins was just dumped in the main garbage stream at the landfill. That was because Canadian newsprint paper was selling for less than recycled newsprint paper. A lot of so called 'recyclables' ends up in land fills when they are uneconomic to process.

 

[wolfsong]

I'd be willing to bet that Jimbo rinses out his empty water bottles.

Speaking of water bottles, many bottled water companies brag that, in an effort to combat waste, pollution and unnecessary use of resources, they now use bottles that are thinner and use less plastic. So that means that the cost to manufacture the bottles is cheaper. Do they pass this savings to the consumer? NO. And does the consumer benefit from this lighter, thinner bottle when recycling them for the (usual) .05 cent per bottle "tax"? Again, NO. The consumer pays the same .05 cent "deposit" as originally set but now "buys" less plastic. Recycling is largely a scam and a farce; another "feel good" measure much like carbon credits.

 

[chuck]

Here in Oregon the NATZI charge us extra to pick up our recyclables and we are suppose to wash everything and then when they sold us our new recy barrels they also raised the pick up rates because their were 2 barrels to pick up and then they sell the recyclables CROOKS

 

[Cooperhawk]

Twenty or more years ago all plastic had a compound added to it made from corn that causes it decompose over time. It's not like the old plastic that has a life span of a nuclear fuel rod.

 

[Robes]

Note to self.... yet ANOTHER reason not live in California.......

Hi,

Fortunately for you guys elsewhere, we have an absolute lock on stupidity here and never, ever let it escape our borders! Oh, wait, Michigan... should we write that in Arabic for you? :roll:

Guess you don't know Michigan. DEARBORN, Michigan is Arabic. ALL ARABIC. That is just one little area over by Detroit. We all know that if Michigan needed an enema, Detroit is where you would stick it. Dearborn is a close second. BTW,... Detroit is "Lib-land". Get outside of Detroit and Michigan is Conservative for the most part (okay,...except for the Ann Arbor area which is full of "educators"). Michigan always went Democratic because of the glut of population in the Detroit area could not be overcome. Now Detroit is a wasteland and the population has dwindled big-time. What remains are populace that really do not vote. That explains why we have a Republican Gov. and Republican controlled Senate and House now. Michigan is turning around very slowly from the 8 yr rein of that flighty beotch Granholm. Californian on the other hand.... well....Jerry Brown...AGAIN. Add to that "Any two-some Newsome" and .... YIKES. :shock:

 

[Robes]

On the recycle front... I have a dumpster. I do my part and sort out the recycle stuff. There is a recycle station in the next town that I stop at. I recycle, glass, plastic, cardboard and tin. The newspaper (the local rag that they deliver for free) I use on the bottom of the bird cage. I keep a 5 gallon bucket in front of the tool shed that catches the rain off the roof. Always full. I use that to wash off the stuff if needed and when the water gets skanky,... I dump it on the grass. Easey-peasey.

 

[Rick Courtright]

Guess you don't know Michigan. DEARBORN, Michigan is Arabic. ALL ARABIC. That is just one little area over by Detroit. We all know that if Michigan needed an enema, Detroit is where you would stick it. Dearborn is a close second. BTW,... Detroit is "Lib-land". Get outside of Detroit and Michigan is Conservative for the most part (okay,...except for the Ann Arbor area which is full of "educators"). Michigan always went Democratic because of the glut of population in the Detroit area could not be overcome. Now Detroit is a wasteland and the population has dwindled big-time.

Hi,

Sounds like you guys have a lot of work to do cleaning up your own back yard before looking over the fence to complain about anybody else's...

Rick C

 

[Colonialgirl]

Re-cycling saves time

You'd be hard-pressed to prove that.

I can sure as heck pitch a soda bottle in the trash can quicker than I can wash, rinse and deliver it to the appropriate bin.

It saves somebody time, I'm sure. :? :? ...maybe the miners. One can recycled saves the time it takes to load a shovel-full of bauxite into a railcar.

They don't shovel it in any more, it's all automated these days. It Costs MORE to "recycle" than just bury it in the Trash.