...and I'll take a meffin' mile.
Took in my recycling yesterday. Now I'm all for the green stuff, hey it's probably one of the few subjects I speak about regularily on this blog, but someone has to do something about recycling.
Here in Regina I have a couple options;
1 - Put it all in one bag and toss it in the dumpster out back. Pros - Freaking easy and cheap - Cons - Completely environmentally irresponsible.
2 - Store, sort and return to various depots - Pros - Cheap and reponsible Cons - Inconvenient and you have to drive all over the goddamn galaxy to return stuff
3 - Hire a service to pick up your recycling - Pros - Convenient and less sorting - Cons - Costly
I'm currently using number 2 and I think with a little initiative and some effort, that process could be alot easier. I went to the SARCAN location on Dewdney to return my bottles. Now it was pouring rain, I was treated rudely by the staff (one in particular could not stop chastizing me for returning my bottles there and not across the street at the bottle depot where I could fetch 6 cents more a bottle... I was willing to pay for the convenience of not going out in the rain again, but she didn't seem to understand that.) ANYWAYS, they have a huge empty lot out back. If there was some brain power being used there, they would have paper, metal, glass, clothing and any other locally availiable recycling availiable right there, drive in and drop off. Hell add bins in the building for batteries and printer cartriges.
Besically what I'm saying is that all of this stuff that's being recycled are RESOURCES. They can be reprocessed into new things, avoiding processing and mining/harvesting. THIS IS A VALUABLE THING, and yet, no one seems to make it convenient for people to deposit it. It seems like an easy money scheme to me, people are willing to give you resources for free, you make it easy and cost effective for them to do so, and you profit. SARCAN has managed to make some success of it with their tin can, bottle, and paint recycling programs, just add paper, tin, glass and clothing to the mix. Or enter partnerships with other companies/charities. It makes economic and moral sense.
I also think that cities should be taking greater initiative for composting. For what would be a very reasonable investment, cities could install compost heaps in all city parks which could be used by the people in the area as well as city crews to deposit food and yard scraps for compost. Processed compost could be used by the city instead of fertilizers or could be sold or given away to the general public. Recycling bins for pop containers and paper should be more readily availiable in public places, particularily those with high traffic (Downtown areas, stadiums, brothels).
Anyways, enough of my rants, it just seems that we have a problem and all I see is people asking for solutions, well there's one.
Oh and if anyone needs a Queen sized mattress and box spring we have one for sale $20 as is.
I think we should follow in the footsteps of San Fransisco (I hope I have the right city there) and BAN plastic shopping bags!!!!
ReplyDeleteYou're right and wrong. Several cities in both the US and Canada (and likely world-wide) have come to the call of no plastic. I think it's a great idea, paper is more easily recycled, is made of biodegradeable and renewable resource and it encourages use of canvas and reusable bags.
ReplyDeleteThere is a common slogan around our house - "Safeway? CANVAS BAGS!" It freaks out Rhonda. Basically what I'm saying is, we can start lobbying our local and provincial government to enact such legistlation, but we can also take the torch and do it ourselves too!
*recalls the many times she trudged through the snow with a dufflebag full of groceries so as to not use plastic*
ReplyDeleteFuck that thing was heavy.
if you drive down the block from the beer bottle return, there is the Sarcan headquarters which has paper, glass, milkjugs, oil recycling. so it is mainly all in one place, but for some reason they don't advertise this.
ReplyDeleteYou Reginans ought to rally City Hall to initiate a curb-side recycling programme. In Winnipeg, one can throw all their recyclables into one bin and the recycling people sort through it. Why can't the city strike a deal with SARCAN to create something like that? I have noticed that's one area that Regina is embarassingly behind in. Walk down Broad Street, or Albert for that matter, and tell me how many garbage bins there are on the sidewalk... I'd say count the recycling bins, but I'm guessing you wouldn't get much past zero.
ReplyDeleteIf the city isn't going to do something about it, it's up to the people.