Like someone who's ready to quit smoking but still can't clean up their own mess, Chicago will go smoke-free on January 1 but ... we'll still have a little problem. A garbage problem. Daley's trying like gangbusters to make the city go green. And we're behind green roofs, eco-friendly sidewalks and solar-powered bus shelters 100%. But. (Non)news flash: the recycling program is a joke. The Blue Bag recycling program doesn't address the fact that most of us are living in multi-unit apartment buildings or that business offices generate a whole lotta crap (though, to be fair, in the latter case there is an ordinance in place). If we really want a better future for our city, we're going to have the face the problem of what we throw out and what we do with it.
Five pounds a day. Every day. That's the amount of garbage each man, woman and child in the U.S. generates. Trashed, a new documentary which opens tonight at the Music Box, is an investigation into one of North America's fastest-growing businesses: the waste disposal industry. In many ways similar to the book Stiff, you might just be surprised to learn what happens to your trash after it's taken away. Expect to cringe and laugh in equal measure. Let's just be glad that scratch & sniff cards aren't part of the show.
Director Bill Kirkos will be present for a Q & A after the 7:30 screening. Advance tickets are available. Image via Pollution Issues.
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The recycling/blue bag program is pretty stupid, but I hear that the city is testing a new system right now, which seems like a good idea. I mean, most of the 'burbs have separate, MARKED trash cans for recycling, but this is only a pilot program for the city right now, being tested on a few blocks in a few neighborhoods. In apartment buildings and such, I don't really know how it would work, but for those people who use the giant garbage cans in their alleys, they can sacrifice a couple extra trash bags and minutes to sort and recycle.
Hold on a minute. Don't use the multi-unit excuse here. I own my own house and it is up to me to get blue bags. I don't have special garbage bins in the alley, so all my blue bags go in the same place (which I think is almost pointless). I separate my plastics, aluminum, and glass in separate bins in the kitchen or by the back door. Also, as a multi-unit dweller, you should know that your dumpster (if there is one) is picked up by a Waste Management, Flood Brothers, or other separate waste company. If it is not, let your landlord know about this. Business should do the same. IF you are paper heavy, let a company know. If you own a bar, chances are most of your garbage is glass, call for a separate disposal. There are also recycling dumpsters (few and far between) throughout the city. Take your stuff there. They claim to go to sorting facilities. And lastly, a multi-unit dweller who writes for this site should know better than to think Chicago will do this all for you. It's Chicago man.
Yes I believe the blue bag is a joke. But I also believe in holding open doors for people, even if they are about to rob the place.
The foreigner cleaning people at my job dump my lunch in the same large can as my blue three-curved arrowed paper bin. They don't know the difference between recycling and a hole in the ground. Awareness should come in Spanish, Polish, and Chinese. Korean businesses have already figured it out.
I got all the information on the new recycling program at home, but it doesn't address people who bring their garbage to a dumpster (multi-unit buildings). The program seems simple enough (throw recyclables of any kind in the blue garbage can regardless of bag) and does cover a large number of recyclables - but, alas, not for those of us who throw stuff away in the dumpster. Maybe someday our dumpster will be half sized and sitting next to a blue half sized recycling dumpster that will allow me to use the program without adding a step, such as driving to another location with my recyclables. The key to effective recycling programs is really to make it as simple as possible, so there won't be as much credence to the complaint that it's too difficult to recycle. Or, to make it more expensive to throw away items like it is in my hometown where my parents are charged per pound for their garbage thrown away, but have no limit on the amount of recyclables that are picked up.
I think the focus should be placed on reducing and reusing, rather than recycling. You're basically spending a lot more money for a marginal gain in energy consumption. As an alternative, I'd much rather see greater investment in harnessing the methane gas that landfills emit. It's free energy.
Chicago's recycling effort is ridiculous. Mayor Daley can suck it in trying to promote this city as "green".
I believe that the focus should be on reducing, reusing, and recycling, too. To denigrate one of the three Rs as a "marginal gain" advances the ability of critics to decry the effort overall to reduce, recycle and reuse products. Especially, since recycling is likely the first step someone takes to reduce the impact their life is having on the environment. Have faith in people to educate themselves once they become active in the process, don't put them down because their steps aren't big enough in the beginning.
1. The "blue bin" recycling is way beyond a pilot program on a few blocks--it will be in 6 wards soon.
2. Of course the blue bin program isn't for multi-units. It's a city program and Streets & San only picks up from up to 6 unit buildings. You want recycling at your larger apartment building? Bug the apartment manger repeatedly. Look at the dumpster and call the hauling company, repeatedly. Call you Alderman and ask why there isn't an ordinance REQUIRING the availability of recycling at multi-unit building, and do so (you guessed it) repeatedly. Most of the council thinks that most apartment-dwellers don't care--you need to prove them WRONG.
3. Many (most?) cardboard/paper intensive businesses have separate recycling for cardboard/paper, as it is MUCH cheaper. I don't know what the ratio is now, but in the late 90s garbage was twice as expensive as (separated) cardboard.
4. We've been driving our (non-plastic) recycling to the Resource Center for YEARS. There are 2 locations--4700 block of Sheridan and Pulaski just south of Peterson. Even tho we now have a blue bin, I'll probably still occassionally drop off any large amounts of cardboard/paper.
5. Blue bag is mostly a joke, but there is a hand-sorting process for all City-collected garbage. It's a mess and the blue-bagged paper material probably still has a low recovery rate.
6. I'm not too confident that the blue bin sorting will be sufficiently separate from the regular garbage until it's more fully implemented (i.e., most of the city has separated recycling), but at least it's the right direction.
So the answer, then, is to not bring up any of the inherent flaws of recycling? That's lunacy.
Wide-scale recycling programs by and large wouldn't exist without massive taxpayer subsidies because they're so cost-ineffective. And goods to be recycled still have to be picked up and processed, which still requires energy resources.
I just think it's a waste of money. A better way to combat the amount of trash we create is to give manufacturers incentives to create less physical waste. Meaningful change like this can only come from producers of products, not consumers.
Totally agree that effective reuse must be done by the producers of those products. I can reuse my coke bottle all I want for water, but if I can't send it back to coke for them to reuse it for bottling, I will still be purchasing yet another bottle when it comes to me wanting another tasty coke. Should I throw that bottle in the trash or recycle it, since Coca-Cola doesn't offer me a reuse program?
It also costs money for the pick up and processing of products to be reused - show me how much less energy will be used (not an overall reduction in energy) for the pick up and processing of reuse items vs. recyclable items and the availability of reuse programs vs. recycling programs in the Chicago area. I understand that it would be awesome if corporations had this sort of environmental responsibility in their charters, but they don't. A corporation's only responsibility is to streamline their business practices in order to create profit. I believe that individual citizens will be persuaded to change their wasteful habits must faster than corporations.
Recycling takes less of a change in my lifestyle than reuse or reduction, but it still makes a difference, albeit less than that of the effects of an entire corporation's reuse of those products would - of course, that corporation is also a much larger contributor to waste than I am.
All government programs exist because of taxpayers even if that is a subsidy to a corporation. I prefer my tax money to be used within my community, rather than to an incentive to a corporation, which is more than likely outside my community. And I don't believe in standing by waiting for corporations to take the lead on this, they never will.
Nice tip about contacting my building management for a recycling dumpster.
All government programs exist because of taxpayers even if that is a subsidy to a corporation. I prefer my tax money to be used within my community, rather than to an incentive to a corporation, which is more than likely outside my community. And I don't believe in standing by waiting for corporations to take the lead on this, they never will.
Well said and right on the money,
Tax money going towards recycling is a small worry if you're concerned with really wasted government subsidies. For example google news 'farm subsidies' for a glimpse of real waste.