Fool Me Once, Shame On Me -- Fool Me Twice, Blue On You

By Jocelyn Geboy in News on Sep 13, 2006 5:06PM

We've gone round and about the blue bag debacle many times, but it's back. And just in time, too, because Chicagoist was just at a party this weekend where recycling came up *again.* Seriously.

Did we do it, did they do it? Why? Why not? Was it all really a scam? Why did you have to buy blue bags? Did anyone notice that the Tribune came in a blue bag and that sometimes Dominick's and Walgreens items came in blue bags, too? Did this motivate us to recycle more? How in the world could any of it possibly get separated out? Didn't everyone's stuff get put in separate bins in the suburbs? Did it even fucking matter anymore?

It does matter, but not when you're jamming all your crap into a big blue bag and then watching it all get crammed into a truck with the rest of the gross garbage. And people have finally gotten wise to that. Maybe not wise to all the people with fake jobs, but definitely to the fake recycling. Participation in the program is very low (13% in 2003).

Enter the city's pilot recycling program, which is showing success in the Beverly neighborhood as well as the 47th ward. Daley, in his infinite wisdom: "There must be more recycling. The more plastic you put in, basically, garbage dumps, that plastic's going to stay forever--the next thousand years."

No shit. That's why it's probably a good idea to get people to actually recycle it and not pass off the job to your crony buddies, ey? Stay tuned, and we'll keep you informed of the program as it expands (hopefully to all of our neighborhoods as soon as possible). Joe Moore's definitely got our back on this one.

Image via ashagraphix

**Correction: Beverly is the 19th Ward, not the 47th, and new links have also been added for flair.