Helaine and I took the trash to the curb a few minutes ago. The town doesn't pick-up recyclables every week, and we don't bring them to the curb every time we can, but the scene outside is not to be believed. There are three trash cans, a recycling bin full of bottles six grocery bags full of the New Haven Register and New York Times and assorted cardboard tied with string.
There is more outside our house than used to sit outside the apartment building I grew up in!
To me, what makes this ridiculous is what we recycle; glass and mostly paper. What do they think, this stuff grows on trees? Uhh... forget that.
Trees are an easily renewable resource and glass comes from sand. As far as I know, there's no shortage of sand in the offing. Here is Connecticut at least, the percentage of forested land is higher now than it's ever been. Aren't there things to be recycled which would make more sense?
It's about waste. Not to sound like a ranting environmentalist, but collecting and melting down a glass bottle to make another glass bottle uses a lot less energy than collecting and processing sand. And there is also the landfill argument. Assuming you're somewhat like me, you probably would prefer to reduce the amount of land taken up by landfills, especially if they are in your area. So if it's feasible to do, we might as well. Although from what I've read, very little of what they collect at the curb actually ever makes it into into a new product.
There's a new way to recycle in New Haven. It's called freecycling and happens on a Yahoo Groups page. People e-mail in with things they've got to give away, anything of any size, and someone who can find a use for it e-mails them to take it off their hands, or out of their jam-packed garages. You can even e-mail in a request for a specific item. Basically, this listserv simplifies the environmentally ideal method of recycling: reuse.
The idea of freecycling comes from Deron Beal of Tucson, Arizona, and is spreading all over the world. Check out the page www.freecycle.org.
For freecycling in New Haven, visit http://groups.yahoo.com/group/freecyclenewhaven/
If you have any questions, you can contact me (Sarah Ingraham) at mwangaza_0_@hotmail.com (that's a zero between the two underlines)