Recycling Etiquette

Easy folks. We can all make some suggestion and let people decide for themselves what they want to do. I personally do not bag my cans and glass bottles/jars and have no problems. The main thing is that we ARE recycling. Next step is to make sure we don't litter our hood. If you're worry that much about your recyclables or trash blowing away, take it to the county dump.

It is also my fault that sometimes my recycling bin gets blown across the street when I'm at work? Things happen. If it becomes too much of a problem, then it's up to the employees of the HOA to solve it.

-Litter Bug

 

Wow- All this talk about trash!
It seems to me that everybody agrees that people should be more responsible with their trash. I don’t think it matters how you secure your recyclables just as long as it doesn’t blow around. I am just happy that people recycle at all as only a couple of houses besides mine recycle on our street.

In terms of the judgment going on about irresponsibly packed trash, I understand what Homer is talking about. My mother, who was a home maker, was very judgmental towards her neighbors because they didn’t recycle. She never had to work and no more kids to care for at the time, so she had a lot of time to recycle everything she could (boxes, papers, bottles, cans etc.) She didn’t bag them, but they were neatly taken care of. She spent a lot of time keeping it up and didn’t understand why everyone else couldn’t do it. I am not condoning people inadvertently trashing the neighborhood, but when the adults in house work full time, they may not have the same amount of time to perfect a particular task as other people do, kids or no kids. There is a lot of judgment that goes on in this neighborhood and I think people just get tired of it.

 

Teak, You make a good point. It's not like they made an effort to give people the bins in my neighborhood either. I had to get one from the HOA.

And it always seems that the windier it is the later AAA is with collecting the recyclables. And what's with accepting only 1 and 2 plastic? There are alot of 5's going to the dump.

 

Here, here! I am still waiting for my bin! Anyone know if it would be feasible to have an on-site recycling center? You know with large receptacles that you could bring your recycling to whenever you felt like it? This might not be for everyone but it does solve the wind problem, the no bin problem, and might even allow us to recycle those other plastics. Even with my two kids I think I might prefer that to cleaning up after recycling day!

 

Call Wes Schroader for the bin. He was very helpful. I like the idea of that. More rural counties do that but they could do it nicely if they tried. The dump isn't all that bad (for being a dump) but you have to pay to play!

 

Giant (maybe others) carry actual recyclable bags. They are blue in color and are not that expensive. They fit your typical 13 gallon kitchen containers. They also tie up just lovely for those windy days.

 

Homer,
Those of us in the Van Metre townhomes have the opposite problem with AAA timing. In our area they come very early (for both trash and recycling). As a result most people put their stuff out the night before. Well, given the weather we have had recently, that is a long time for the wind to play around.

 

I see your point. But you'd think the folks responsible for the debris would know that they should clean it up when they got home. Speaking of cleaning up the common areas - I found $10 yesterday while picking up the debris.

 

The phone number for AAA is 703-818-8222. Please request recycling bins/trash cans through them. If you don't get results, then call Wes.
Cliff

 

Woops, correction:
Wes would prefer you contact him first if you need cans/recycling bins.
Cliff

 

I'd just like to remind everyone that recycling bins are not for every type of general trash. I applaud everyone for trying to recycle, but there are certain things that I see in recycle bins that are not recyclable.

For example, I see people put 1) plastic drycleaning bags in the recycling. (Should go in regular trash or maybe plastic bag recycling at grocery store); 2) hangers (trash or return them to the dry cleaners so they can reuse); 3) plastic containers used by grocery stores for muffins, etc. (that type of plastic doesn't recycle - remember they are looking for #1 and #2 plastics - soda bottles, laundry detergent jugs, milk jugs, etc.

The recycling isn't a hodgepodge, otherwise it contaminates the stream and forces the county to spend money sorting out the other stuff. Please check with the County or AAA Trash, including their Web sites, to find out what is appropriate.