Hooray! Another feather in Portland's green cap! Coming soon to all residents: new roll-out recycling carts!
No more schlepping heavy bins; no more extra containers to separate items.
With these carts, a new program also begins: co-mingling paper, plastic and metal. In turn, this will require less sorting, which hopefully will compel more people to send their refuse to the curb than to the landfill.
Ever since Portland included scrap paper into its recycling program, our house generates so little actual garbage that we require only once-a-month service.
By recycling glass, tin cans, newspapers, magazines and scrap paper like junk mail and by composting food scraps, at the end of the day, there is very little garbage left.
Still, even though our neighbors use recycle bins, all have weekly garbage service. No surprise: we are not the norm.
But I always wonder, "what else is there to throw away?"
Okay: Disposable diapers, kitty litter, tissue and paper towels. What else?
At any rate, the old bumper sticker says it best: "If you're not recycling, you're throwing it all away!"
Amen!
