I can’t believe that I did this, but I actually stopped recycling after two street magicians told me it was a bad idea. But I started back up a couple months ago & my family thinks I’m nuts every time they see me digging thru the garbage for things to put into my recycle bins.

I’m putting about 3 or 4 full recycle bins out to the curb each week. Last month, I noticed my garbage man putting all my recycling in with the regular garbage (the trucks have 3 bins on the front - 1 big one for garbage & 2 smaller ones for paper & containers) I called the garbage company to complain & when I told the lovely lady that answered the phone that the garbage man mixed my recycling in with the garbage, she promptly told me “No he didn’t.” I asked if she could see my house from her desk, which seemed to upset her. She told me she’d have a talk with him when he got back & then hung up on me. I was livid! I instantly typed up a letter to the company and cc’d our small local paper as well as the town. 2 days later, the paper called & said they were going to print the article. The next day, the town supervisor called & informed me that I was not the only one that had noticed this. It seems my garbage company has “too much recycling” and not enough trucks, which is why they mix it in with the garbage from time to time. She agreed that this is completely unacceptable.

So now the garbage company is reviewing their recycling practices. Whoever was in charge got fired (I sorta feel bad, but not that much) They are looking into creating an incentive based recycling program where we’d get a large bin that’s for nothing but recycling. It’d have en electronic control panel on it & they’d weigh it before it was put into the truck. The more weight you recycle, the more reward points you get for discounts & whatnot at local merchants. We shall see.