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Recycling in Chicago... The Twisted Logic Continues

By Jocelyn Geboy in News on Dec 21, 2005 5:09PM

Even though it has been proven to us beyond a shadow of a doubt that Mayor Daley’s beloved blue bag recycling program is little more than a blue plastic sheen over a big steaming pile of favoritism and kickbacks, there are three garbage cans in our kitchen: one for garbage, and two lined with blue bags. One for plastic/metal, and one for paper.
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Maybe it’s borne out of the same guilt-driven motivation why we don’t shop at Wal-Mart, even though we are still slaves to all other consumerist hell, but letting it make us feel better all the same.

Chicagoist knows many socially conscious people in the city who don’t recycle because they have no faith that it actually gets recycled, and we don’t blame them. We’ve seen the contents of countless dumpsters emptied into thousands of trucks – regular trash and blue bags alike – and we’re sure there’s no magic place with hundreds of oompa loompas sorting the recyclables from the trash.

What we are is stymied by the logic that if people aren’t willing to buy blue bags and sort their trash in the comfort of their own home, that they would then be willing to sort their trash and be willing to haul it to a recycling center. Didn’t this go by the wayside in the mid ‘80’s? When you could actually get PAID for your aluminum?

From the man who backs dibs, now comes the retro-popular idea of the remote recycling bin. In about 12 wards, there will be bins located in commercial strip centers, where you can drop off your garbage. Apparently, Streets and Sanitation Commissioner Michael Picardi said, "The people who really want to recycle will go that extra mile." And those people are already using the blue bags, no?
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49th ward Alderman Joe Moore tried to suggest the obvious: curbside pickup, which has worked very successfully in Beverly, to only an additional dollar cost to residents. But the easier, softer way is NOT allowed. Pack up your recyclables and take them to Jewels, damnit!