Four-Eight-Four [dot org]

Oooh, it’s my lucky day! I strolled out to the mailbox to see what the Postal Fairy had brought me, and discovered a nice, chatty letter from our quasi-distinguished mayor himself, the one and only (thankfully) Ron Littlefield.

“Dear Fellow Recycler,” begins he-who-decimated-our-recycling-program, “On behalf of our city and Orange Grove Center, I would like to thank you for your participation in the curbside recycling program. You are receiving this letter because we know you are dedicated to making recycling in Chattanooga more efficient, effective, and environmentally friendly.”

Uh-huh. Pardon me for a minute while I work up some warm fuzzies. While I’m doing so, why don’t we reflect on exactly how we can make recycling more ‘environmentally friendly’ … isn’t that a bit like making motoring a little more mobile?

“We are working diligently to improve our recycling program and to encourage our citizens to recycle and recycle correctly. Please review the improvements we have made below and we hope that you will share this information with neighbors, family, and friends.”

Well, I’m certainly doing my part!

I must admit, though … the guy has guts. The application of the phrase “improvements” to the gutting of the recycling program is the sort of spin that the world hasn’t experienced since the heyday of Pravda prior to the fall of the Soviet Union.

Let’s review what’s happened here.

1. Complain that the $11 million the city is spending on the recycling program is way too much.
2. Propose cutting weekly curbside pickup to monthly pickup, and add a few convenience centers to compensate, at a projected yearly cost of … you guessed it, $11 million.
3. Call the resulting reduction in services for the same cost an ‘improvement’ while ignoring the fact that the city is saving no money.

To borrow (and butcher) a phrase we’ve all heard before, with improvements like these, who needs enemies?

What I’ve said before on the subject bears repeating … if the city is bound and determined to offer garbage and recycling pickup, and it’s serious about being environmentally friendly, then the thing to do is to start fining people who put garbage in the recycling, and recycleable items in the garbage.

Let’s think about this … right now, every week, the total volume of stuff we set out for recycling is 1.5x - 3x what we set out for garbage pickup. Generally, we have two large plastic bins full, plus at least one blue bag, and maybe a few cardboard boxes as well. That means that under the montly pickup schedule, we should have at least eight bins worth of stuff, and four blue bags.

That’s a lot of recycling stuff.

Now, let’s think about “Joe Average” in Chattanooga. Faced with the options of A) letting the recycling pile up and then having to make 8-12 trips to the road on recycling pickup day, B) making a trip to the nearest recycling center 3-4 times a month, and C) just stuffing most or all of it in the enormous green trash can we have … which one do you think most people will gravitate towards?

My money is on option C. Nobody wants to have to figure out where to store that much recycling stuff for the monthly pickup (heck, my wife complains about how much space it takes up during the week), and when it comes down to choosing between letting the city pick it up with the garbage or having to spend a half hour each week driving to the drop-off site … I’m betting Joe Average elects to open a beer and watch football and skip the recycling run.

After all, the mayor himself has pointed out that less than 15% of our residents recycle EVEN WITH WEEKLY PICKUP. If he thinks these “improvements” are going to encourage the remaining 85% or so of Chattanooga to recycle … well, he’s been smoking something stronger than the stuff you can pick up at the tobacco aisle of the CVS.

Come on, Ron … either drop the BS about “improving” and “enhancing” the recycling program, and all the “environmentally conscious” stuff that rings as true as a David Duke speech about equality for all American citizens … or get with the program and hit the slackers who don’t recycle where it hurts … in their wallet.

Tags: Chattanooga, Chattanooga TN, recycling