How NOT to recycle:

 

Wednesday: Full to the brim!

OK it was Wednesday: Recycling Pick-Up Day. And the state of our Recycling-toters was as pictured here. Arlington Village seems to be recycling a lot. In fact, for three years in a row we have been adding more than 10% of additional recycling capacity yearly to absorb the steady growing amounts of recyclable waste.

Yet the “problem” persists. It’s Sunday, and the toters are full already :

 

Sunday: Already full...

We pay for the recyclable waste by volume and not by weight. Thus, it is in our interest to fill our recycling toters as efficiently as possible. Some recyclable materials are problematic in that respect. Cardboard (boxes…) is the most prominent one. Time and again you’ll read in “The Crier” of the need to “fold your boxes” but here we are and the photos speak for themselves.

Before we even get to the cardboard problem, what strikes me the most is that some neighbors still use trash enclosures as “dumping sites”. Trash belongs in the containers for all good reasons, the least of which is aesthetics. If the toters are full and there’s no more space: please either be patient and retain the waste until after the weekly pick-up or call the office and ask for help.

Arlington Village provides one recycling container for every 7 households (just two years ago it was one for every 9). Increasing capacity is just one part of a solution, the other part is smart handling. Our administration can still improve the monitoring of overcrowded enclosures. We could set up a big-items collection site (this is done already; it’s just not advertised) and take measures to manage peak volumes better. However, the key of the solution is mostly in the user’s hands.

My last two cents:

1. Make sure that your recyclables are really recyclable. For example, you’ll see in the photos many styrofoam items (including the full interior packing of that Dell-PC)… Styrofoam is currently not recycled. Here’s a practical list of what’s currently accepted for recycling and what not.

2. Fold these boxes please, so that they fit FLAT in the container. A better idea: if you have many and/or bigger ones: please make an effort to bring them 1.5m west on Columbia Pike: exactly at the intersection with S. Four Mile Run Dr. You’ll find big Arlington County cardboard containers. This is where bulky cardboard is best disposed.