Interesting article in
The Reader this week about Chicago's lack of recycling mojo and the 46th Ward being used as a testing ground for recycling iniatives in 2008. In short:
"There was that little experiment in Helen Shiller's ward that seemed quite promising, and we sort of piggybacked on it, but there was no follow-through." Read all about it: "
Why Can't Chicago Recycle?"
Too bad we're not as smart or efficient as the Germans. http://www.dw-world.de/dw/article/0,,2483251,00.html
ReplyDeleteI personally compost all of my food scraps and vigilante recycle i.e. use the bins in the alley that aren't mine. Guess what? I throw away virtually almost nothing. Does all this hard extra environmentally friendly work require extra time and money, no. What do I gain? money saved and incredible organic soil that makes the plants and vegetables in my garden thrive. I can only continue to hang my head and wonder why at the least recycling is not commonplace. Do we really not care that much?
I know our modest little condo building, has gotten a bewildering runaround from the 46th Ward Office, regarding trash collection rebates.
ReplyDeleteFirst we had to supply 6 months worth of refuse collection receipts.....then it was 12. (and somebody 'lost' the copies at some point).
It's been maybe a year? Still no rebate.
The RedEye a month or two ago did an exposé on it as well, and they talked about how the city is falling drastically short on their promise of households with bins simply because they don't have money to buy more. I've always thought that garbage companies make out on recycling, because they charge us to do it, yet they get to sell the materials and make even more. Why can't the city sell the paper, plastic, metal, and glass and churn that money back into more bins, which in turn causes them to make More Money? I must be missing something.
ReplyDelete-Brian
Why can't 46th Ward residents recycle? Because we are one of only 2 wards that does not have a Streets and Sanitation facility in it's ward. Without a ward yard, we do not have a city recylcing center to which to bring our recyclables. (Check out the 50th Ward recycling Center on Ridge just west of Devon to see what a city recycling yard looks like.
ReplyDeleteWe used to have a ward streets and sanitation yard at 4400 N Clifton but our alderman gave it to the CHA to use for administrative offices for the scattered site program. (You know that program that houses all the Black P stone gang bangers 2 blocks away on magnolia, who are shooting up the neighborhood. Why would an alderman get rid of the ward service yard? Because it is a public asset and she found many ways over the years to strip Uptown of it's public resources to fund and promote her special friends. Her special friends were able to use that facility for years for their operations and community organizing.
The effort was only half assed anyway. Only buildings with 6 units or less were provided recycling bins. My building with 12 units wanted some bins but could not get any. Since I don't have recycling bins I just throw all my recycling in the regular garbage...oh well so much for this being a "green" ward or city.
ReplyDeleteHope Daley gets that count of trees in Chicago... that might prove we are a "green" city.
"Since I don't have recycling bins I just throw all my recycling in the regular garbage"
ReplyDeleteDoesn't your garbage company offer recycle bins? Ours does. The bags weigh all of 3 pounds. Load it in your car and take it in to be recycled. I haven't figured out why we wait for the Government to act righteously. Our compassion and common sense only extends as far as the Governments reach? Our Government has shown it is incompetent at best, so we wait around for them to prove they are competent? Have fun waiting on that.
Maybe it will come after they fix your schools, reduce your crime, balance their budgets, and reduce corruption. But those little blue bins will make it all better!
The smurfs are blue, and they make me happy.
It may have been in the 47th but does anyone know why did the recycling center at ~Sheridan/Leland close down? not enough money to collect the dumpsters?
ReplyDeleteIt's pretty scandalous how much glass and metal gets thrown away here...
Our condo building has over 400 units yet our garbage company only gives us 4 bins. They are always overflowed and smell up the entire garage floor they sit in. Attract rats. For the little credit we get toward the garbage service I think is not worth it at all. I sooner throw my garbage into the garbage compactor where it belongs.
ReplyDeleteI hear ya Stark Mad, it took our Condo building THREE YEARS to get our recycling rebate check from the city.
ReplyDeleteWe live in the 47th Ward and our experience with the Blue Bins has been completely different, so much that it's almost like living in a different city when reading the Reader article.
ReplyDeleteWe started out with one bin, I called and got a 2nd bin because our building's participation is very high. A year later we ended up with 3 bins and they are always filled. We've been on the Blue Bin program for 3 years now, and there are times that the regular trash bins are almost empty as a result.
the Reader's photo of blue carts stock-piled in a City warehouse is infuriating
ReplyDeleteyou know some contractor got paid for those blue carts
It is a city owned warehouse or are we paying some connected property owner to store those carts?
ReplyDeleteDat's how the city dat works........works.
The usefulness of recycling is questionable. A better choice is to produce less waste to begin with.
ReplyDeleteThat said, I would still recycle if I could -- but I live in a building that is served by private companies. My landlord does not provide the opportunity. Yes, it's the law, but there isn't anything much I can do. Not even taking it on as my own responsibility, since I do not own a car.
Same nonsense goes for Christmas tree disposal. Mine goes into the dumpster. In the burbs they're picked up, but in the city, where many people don't drive, we need to deliver them to inconvenient locations. Well, at least those are biodegradable.
the city dropped one bin off behind my apartment building. it constantly overflowed and I called and asked the 46 ward alderman's office when the bin gets picked up every week. the dipsh*it at the office just laughed and had the bin removed after learning the building was more than 6 units and said it was the building owner's responsibility for the bin.
ReplyDeleteJust so everybody knows, our shiny new *taxpayer funded* Target has a plethora of recycling bins inside, and I would guess that they will be emptied fairly regularly. Maybe a little more effort, but if you want to recycle and don't have a car there is at least an option in the 'hood.
ReplyDeleteFor those in buildings that are not served by the city, you should work with your building management to request recycling bins in addition to the dumpster. They won't do this unless the residents ask for it. It also helps to have a "recycling champion" for the building that can post some information about recycling to residents. The city does offer rebates for the additional cost of the recycling bins (as mentioned by some folks here because it took a while to process as there is some paperwork to complete - yes, how ironic). You can refer the building manager to this site: http://www.committeeonfinance.org/condo/index.asp.
ReplyDelete