Austinist: Blue Bins Be Gone - New Recyling Progam Hits The Streets

sftl99

Mon, 28 Jan 2008 15:03:02 -0600

I'm looking forward to bigger bins. We recycle more than we throw away. I, like some of the commenters, would love a compost bin or regular pick up or something. We compost in our back yard but it's full now :( As for the person recommending some alternative packaging...I totally agree, but corn is not the way to go...at least not the methods that take away from food source for the 3rd world.

reynard

Mon, 28 Jan 2008 14:23:48 -0600

Of course not, benj. They belong in the North Pacific Gyre.

seth

Mon, 28 Jan 2008 08:57:06 -0600

Mr. Michael, You can go to a fire station with one of your utility bills (to demonstrate residency) to pick up another recycling bin for free. Glad to hear the new program will include pressboard. The current program doesn't recycle this material, which most of my neighbors don't seem to understand, judging by all the pizza boxes, 12-pack boxes, etc. you can see in their bins. Seth

Benj

Sat, 26 Jan 2008 23:44:32 -0600

Are the blue bins recyclable?

elvislives

Sat, 26 Jan 2008 17:46:59 -0600

I shot a man in Buda just to separate glass from plastics.

AsherBaruch

Sat, 26 Jan 2008 14:15:46 -0600

The recycling plan for the city of Sacramento has always intrigued me. The citizens throw everything away, and then the trash gets hauled to the county prison (Folsom) where the prisoners clear out all that is salvageable and recyclable. I've had friends spend more than a few nights in Del Valle, and they spent their time sitting on their hands doing mostly nothing.

Benj

Sat, 26 Jan 2008 09:52:14 -0600

I guess I'll avoid getting into what a TOTAL SCAM recycling is, generally, and offer that (aside from glass and aluminum) we need to ditch all current modes of packaging and opt for stuff that is either 1. annually compostable 2. readily reusable in some function and/or 3. returnable for a signifigant redemption. There are a ton of new plastics made from corn. And Berlin, for example, has an impressive system of recycling that basically hinges of a deposit of something like 25 cents per bottle, plastic or glass. (Actually, so does most of Europe.) Short of a new plague, humanity is going to keep growing, and landfill space is finite. Trying to improve the current recycling mode is just damage control, and not, in and of itself, a step forward.

mdahmus

Fri, 25 Jan 2008 16:54:10 -0600

Wells, there has been some noise about finally bringing in non-huge apartment complexes, but I'll believe it when I see it - recycling is a money-loser when they don't get to charge for trash pickup; and I don't see them chomping at the bit to take that business over from the private haulers.

dollar wells

Fri, 25 Jan 2008 16:49:18 -0600

That's right Shilli! Throw your Statesman in the trash, err, recycling! Nice for homes, but what about lowly apartment renters like myself? Current rules mean the vast majority of complexes skate on having to provide recycling … This is prolly addressed in the whole zero waste plan, but I'm feeling too lazy to leaf through it all right now …

kaffeeneko

Fri, 25 Jan 2008 15:07:57 -0600

This is so great. I can't wait for the big green bin that will collect yard waste and kitchen waste for making compost.

Time for Change

Fri, 25 Jan 2008 15:04:59 -0600

I usually have more recycling than trash. This is great news.

mdahmus

Fri, 25 Jan 2008 14:52:27 -0600

lownotes, the problem is that unless they solve some tricky issues with single-stream, they end up throwing away a lot more recyclables in practice. lukeradford, the dumbest thing this city ever did was decide that multifamily and office should be able to / forced to contract out to private haulers - which then destroyed economies of scale for us. Really really stupid - but that's why there's hardly any recycling outside of single-family, because until recently they didn't require any at all, and even now it's just for very large complexes and only like 4 things off a long list, which most haulers satisfy by the "4 kinds of paperish stuff" dodge.

lownotes

Fri, 25 Jan 2008 14:11:45 -0600

My home was part of the pilot program. I'm not sure what it really means in terms of behind the scenes costs and trickery; I haven't looked into it yet. All I know is that it is sooooooooo much easier to recycle with the large bins. I was never into it whole heartedly with the blue bins. I'll admit it. I'm just lazy. If this program can get more lazy asses like me to recycle, then hopefully the good will outway the bad.

MrMichael

Fri, 25 Jan 2008 14:03:46 -0600

So instead of one large can in my garage I have to find space for a second one? Well at least the size of the can will discourage people from stealing it like they did my blue bin 2 years ago. Knowing Austin Utilities they will probably jack up our costs to cover the larger containers.

lukeradford

Fri, 25 Jan 2008 13:50:10 -0600

does this mean the New Dense Austin a.k.a. the thousands of apartments, condos, and townhomes will have a recycling option offered to them by the city??? help! we're all wrapped up in contract dumpster red tape.

mdahmus

Fri, 25 Jan 2008 13:20:06 -0600

Proof is in the pudding as far as single-stream goes - can end up being a cost disaster; and then we're worse off because they just end up throwing stuff away behind the scenes.