Hooray for blue cart recycling!
Jun. 4th, 2009 09:40 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
calzephyrI'm all a-squee over the fact that next Thursday my giant blue cart will be emptied and I can work on filling it again. I have so many boxes that need to be recycled, along with my stash of plastics. I have been literally waiting 15 years for this, as Calgary is the last major Canadian city to have a blue box program. Back home in Edmonton, blue box recycling was readily embraced back in 1991/1992 as it was predicted that the Cloverbar dump was going to run out of space and the city purchased new land. Edmonton also has a nifty sludge digester too!
Maybe I was too young to recall any kerfuffle over the program at the time. In addition to blue boxes, there were also drop off depots (and now there's something called eco-stations where one can drop off used fridges or TVs).
The amount of resistance this program faced in Calgary drove me nuts. The program adds up to an $8 monthly tax, which is truly a bargain. When I researched private recyclers, few had routes in our neighbourhood and the one that did was charging $20 a month for weekly pickup plus $12 for the box, which is not as big as the cart. Part of the problem was the fact that the city didn't put out a bid for private contractors. To be honest, I doubt any of the small recyclers could roll out a program like this. At least one private recycler is switching focus to serving condos and apartments; only residential houses are getting the big blue carts. We have private recycling service at work, so there's no reason someone couldn't find new prospects. IMHO anyway!
People were also opposed to an increase in taxes, saying that the depot program worked well, but honestly I don't think it does. We've found old computers, old toys, old everything that didn't belong there at all.
It's true that the blue cart program is not without flaws - I'm sure someone living on a hill or who are handicapped and elderly will find it challenging - but the city has held a lot of open houses, so hopefully there are answers to these questions.
I'm just thankful to have it. As I don't drive, it was hard to take the recycling back and hubs hated going on recycling runs. Even when I did manage to get there, the bins were often full. The program will also mean more space my house - not just from getting rid of the plastics stash - but that no sorting is required and it's OK to leave labels on. Now instead of several bins to sort, I can just have one and reclaim a corner of the kitchen!
Maybe I was too young to recall any kerfuffle over the program at the time. In addition to blue boxes, there were also drop off depots (and now there's something called eco-stations where one can drop off used fridges or TVs).
The amount of resistance this program faced in Calgary drove me nuts. The program adds up to an $8 monthly tax, which is truly a bargain. When I researched private recyclers, few had routes in our neighbourhood and the one that did was charging $20 a month for weekly pickup plus $12 for the box, which is not as big as the cart. Part of the problem was the fact that the city didn't put out a bid for private contractors. To be honest, I doubt any of the small recyclers could roll out a program like this. At least one private recycler is switching focus to serving condos and apartments; only residential houses are getting the big blue carts. We have private recycling service at work, so there's no reason someone couldn't find new prospects. IMHO anyway!
People were also opposed to an increase in taxes, saying that the depot program worked well, but honestly I don't think it does. We've found old computers, old toys, old everything that didn't belong there at all.
It's true that the blue cart program is not without flaws - I'm sure someone living on a hill or who are handicapped and elderly will find it challenging - but the city has held a lot of open houses, so hopefully there are answers to these questions.
I'm just thankful to have it. As I don't drive, it was hard to take the recycling back and hubs hated going on recycling runs. Even when I did manage to get there, the bins were often full. The program will also mean more space my house - not just from getting rid of the plastics stash - but that no sorting is required and it's OK to leave labels on. Now instead of several bins to sort, I can just have one and reclaim a corner of the kitchen!
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no subject
Date: 2009-06-05 06:30 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2009-06-05 11:47 pm (UTC)It's a bummer that some of the plastics with symbols can't go in the cart either. It says on the sheet that if a container has a recycling symbol and a hazardous material symbol it can't go in. It's not perfect, but better than nothing I suppose!
Has your back not gotten better?
no subject
Date: 2009-06-06 02:33 am (UTC)