Environmental Enlightenment #2 (Recycling)

Recycling facilities and programs are different for each area. I can only speak for the area that I live in, which is Chicago. A while back Chicago had a blue bag program which failed miserably. The idea was that everyone could purchase blue garbage bags, fill them with their recyclables and then throw them in the garbage can with the regular garbage. The garbage men would then load everything onto the truck and sort blue bags from regular garbage bags. Sending the blue bags to a recycling facility. There are a few problems with this. Sometimes blue bags would rip open and mix with the regular garbage before they could be sorted out. Also, who wants to reach into a truck full of garbage bags to pull out the blue bags? Gross.



The blue bag program ended in 2008 and there was a promise of a new program that would be citywide by 2011. The new program used a separate blue bin for recycling and would be picked up separately from regular garbage. Needless to say it is now 2011 and I don't have a blue bin. I know people who live in all different areas of the city and only one of them has a bin. This program is far from "citywide by 2011." Despite this disappointment the city does have alternatives. Albeit less convenient alternatives, for most. There are 36 recycling drop-off centers across the city and luckily I live a few blocks away from one. It is a big blue contraption that looks similar to a dumpster and it is at the entrance to a forest preserve which I hope promotes less littering along the trails. I dropped off my recycling yesterday and was met by a group of deer along the edge of the forest preserve. I swear that one of the deer gave me a head nod of approval. So I nodded back and tossed in my recycling. Then I snapped a picture of that cute little guy.

You don't have to separate your recycling when you take them to these drop off points, because the bags go to a facility to be sorted through. I still separate mine though for the simple fact that I get a lot of paper/cardboard waste and that bag fills up quickly. While the plastic/cans and glass bins don't fill up as fast. If I only had one bin I'd be going to the drop-off place every day. Here are my recycling bins at home...

I grew up with the catchphrase "reduce, reuse, recycle." My parent's participated in the blue bag recycling program when it was available to them and they still take recycling to the drop off locations today. Not everyone grows up recycling. It is pretty easy to throw garbage away and as soon as the garbage man comes and takes it away... out of sight out of mind. It would be nice to reuse and re-purpose everything, but sometimes it isn't possible. That's where recycling comes in. It's a very important part of the... cycle!