Six Kinds of Recycling at the University of Oregon

Comments

[Matt]

We have three bins in our town (Fresno, CA), picked up weekly by the city service workers. They are used to about 40-50% of capacity (I went out and took stats), so each week the trucks chug their CO2 generators 50% more than necessary. Our city leaders haven't a clue, and some of us will have to take terrible leans on our property to protest and get the problem fixed.

Of course, the workers union demanded that garbage and water be combined in a single bill, so they think we will be stuck.

[Ken Houghton]

The picture appears to be out of focus, so let's try to guess:

1. Paper
2. Newspaper
3. Plastic
4. Clear Glass
5. Coloured Glass
6. Metals

Which would leave no bin for Organics, so maybe the glasses are combined?

[Martin]

This summer we took a family trip to the Pacific Northwest. Upon observing, among other things, the composting bin at the airport, my son commented that he had never been to a city that lived up to its stereotypes as perfectly as Portland, Oregon (and Eugene too). Not that there's anything wrong with that ....

[naugiedoggie]

When I was in Portugal, there were big recycling bins at every bus stop that had a shelter (I was in Sintra and surrounding area). Recycling was built into the collection system. OTOH, one thing I noticed in downtown London was the seeming complete absence of public trash receptacles. It seemed that they employed the "pack it in, pack it out" theory there.

One thing I do miss about PDX is the complete recycling package. Here in CT, we are limited in what we can recycle (no egg cartons, plastic bags, magazines, among other things); and the market is so limited that an acquaintance who dropped off some stuff at the recycling station caught them throwing items into the dumpster because they couldn't sell them.

Thanks.

mp

[Gene O'Grady]

For what it's worth in Eugene (at least with our vendor, I think refuse and recycling are both open source) you put everything except glass in one humongous bin and they sort it out. I've been told by professionals in the field that that's actually cheaper and more efficient than resorting the smaller bins that people tend to misuse.

[Calton Bolick]

When I lived in a western suburb of Tokyo, the local municipality had a pretty elaborate system set up:

http://calton.typepad.com/japan/2005/02/garbage_day.html

Of course, it could have been worse. I could have lived in Yokohama:

May 12, 2005
How Do Japanese Dump Trash? Let Us Count the Myriad Ways
By NORIMITSU ONISHI

YOKOHAMA, Japan - When this city recently doubled the number of garbage categories to 10, it handed residents a 27-page booklet on how to sort their trash. Highlights included detailed instructions on 518 items.

Lipstick goes into burnables; lipstick tubes, "after the contents have been used up," into "small metals" or plastics. Take out your tape measure before tossing a kettle: under 12 inches, it goes into small metals, but over that it goes into bulky refuse.

Socks? If only one, it is burnable; a pair goes into used cloth, though only if the socks "are not torn, and the left and right sock match." Throw neckties into used cloth, but only after they have been "washed and dried."

http://www.nytimes.com/2005/05/12/international/asia/12garbage.html?scp=1&sq=recycling%20japan&st=cse

[dilbert dogbert]

naugiedogie,
The IRA used trash bins to place bombs back in the day. A friend told me about how everytime she approached her car on the street she would look underneath to check for bombs. The IRA also caused London to have widespread CCTV cameras.

[christofay]

Not one of those is big enough to be the Paulson re-cycled collapsed derivatives trade bin, so they are still missing one.

[Randolph]

And the streetside bins are picked up by a truck with this cool robot arm.

But it's just normal in cities in the Northwest. Recycling is what you do. There are financial incentives to recycle (you aren't charged for recycled waste) and a lot of people just do it and don't think twice about it.

[ottnott]

Which one of the cans is labeled "Course Syllabi"?

[Nordic Mousse]

Why are they all the same size, and why do none of them have wheels? Must mean a lot of manhandling

Deep bins are the way to go, at least for outside disposal in large communities. They don't clutter the landscape

[Kato Bernanke]

Talk about getting taken to the cleaners, is California the next .org that will hit up Paulson's Treasury for a bucket of bail-out? Do you think you have to polish up your conservative bonafides to help with the sales effort?

[Blue Steel]

This looks like the inside of one of the buildings on the U of O campus. Basement of PLC building - which is why there's no wheels on the containers. They do a good job on the campus (as well as the city)not only in recycling but also in reuse of materials. One of the many things I miss now that we've moved to Tennessee - a state that sneers at recycling.

[Marshall]

One of my rules of civilization is that the more recycling bins you see, the harder it is finding a suitable trash can for trash you are holding in your hand.