Tuesday, January 19, 2010
Recycling WARNING!
Posted by Mary Cashiola on Tue, Jan 19, 2010 at 8:30 AM
The other day I noticed the sign below V when I went to drop off some recycling.
Am I the only one that thinks this sign maybe doesn't strike exactly the right tone?
I mean, it doesn't quite say Thanks for recycling. You obviously don't have recycling pick-up at home and are talking time out of your busy day to do the right thing, and we appreciate it. And please keep it neat.
No, I read it more like: Recycling is a privilege, not a right. If you don't keep this area clean and tidy, the city of Memphis will punish you by taking these recycling bins away. And then what will you do with all your garbage? You'll have to throw it all away! Bwahaha!
Okay, that may be something of an exaggeration, but really — "WARNING"?
My colleague Bianca Phillips said that people probably leave stuff on the ground on the time, and I guess my question is why? If you go to the trouble of driving your recycling somewhere, why would you then throw it on the ground? And if the answer is because the bins are full, well, then maybe there need to be more city collection days ...
Comments (3)
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Running a recycling program here in Oregon, I have learned PEOPLE DO NOT READ SIGNS. So if you go throught the effort of posting a sign, it must be to the point. That sign is to the point and it needs to be a warning. Recycling is not free to municipalities...there is always a cost. Those costs go up when people trash the joint.
Many un-manned sites become a repository for tires, hazardous waste, trash, non-recylable items, reusables, etc... There is an additional cost to manage this additional waste.
We had the same problem in a small community here. We found that we were within 500 feet of a water way and could fine people $1000 for illegal dumping if anything not collected for recycling was dumped. We would only employ this tool in a flagrant violation, but post several $1000 Fine for illegal dumping signs had a tremendous effect. We got less waste and MORE recycling overnight. The PR was great, the sign was to the point, and a local Rotary club donated a locked dumpster for the volunteers to use when trash did show up.
Please do not take the sign personally, you are doing a good job...Thank You! Just consider that this may impact that bozo about to dump the big screen tv in the lot.
Chris
As if that fellow is going to see the sign, have a change of heart....and carry the big screen back to his vehicle knowing he has made the correct decision concerning our need for a more orderly, law-abiding, eco-friendly world? I highly doubt it in Oregon but you are more likely to see pink alligators fly overhead than have that happen in the city of Memphis. I know pink alligators overhead is still more likely than expecting county workers to actually get out of the truck for a mere $30 dollars an hour though.
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