waste managment envy

[sueb226.livejournal.com]

San Francisco Curbside Recycling Program 

Look at those carts... pretty... http://www.sfgarbagerates.com/services_photos.php

Not that this http://www.somervillema.gov/section.cfm?org=Environ&page=108   is not

I am jealous of Cambridge's new composting program as well http://www.cambridgema.gov/TheWorks/departments/recycle/compost_dropoff.html#

Comments

[rhean.livejournal.com]

Ooooh... ::compost collection envy:: Berkeley, CA has something like that -- when I got back from staying with friends there two years ago, I was so excited about the concept I fired off a letter to my alderman, and was very disappointed when all she did was point me to the city's $25 compost bin webpage. Maybe she'll be more receptive to the idea now that a bordering city is trying it though!

[ryanwanger.livejournal.com]

Maybe this is a dumb question, but:

Won't everyone driving individually to empty out their full compost buckets potentially nullify much of the environmental savings of composting to begin with?

[sueb226.livejournal.com]

I thought that too, but businesses can get curbside pick up
So perhaps that is something they will be offering to residents in the future

[m-b-w.livejournal.com]

I'm guessing/hoping that if the pilot program is successful it will be expanded to curbside pick-up. Many years ago, recycling in Somerville meant driving to the DPW lot to drop stuff off that volunteers sorted.

[somer-villains.livejournal.com]

oh i miss those garbage/recycling carts! we had those in san diego years ago. they never tipped over so garbage never went flying all over the street like it is apt to do here.

[fefie.livejournal.com]

So I was thinking, why not Somerville too? After all, we can buy compost bins from the city, can it go further? (I know, the city has no money ....)

I had a look at the Cambridge DPW and the Save That Stuff sites -- seems the buckets/pails Cambridge is giving to households for kitchen waste collection were donated by a local business. Save That Stuff recently expanded from paper recycling into composting thanks to "a grant from the Massachusetts Department of Environmental Protection and the City of Cambridge."

Additional Compost Questions

[sueb226.livejournal.com]

I wonder the same... Although I have an additional question that experienced city compost-ers may know the answer to.
Is vermin an issue with this curbside pick up? How about a smell?

I know that biobags have a in kitchen system. http://www.biobagusa.com/combi.htm

But I would like to know more

[ron_newman]

My apartment building has Somerville recycling carts just like those shown in the San Francisco photo.

Chicago

[an-art-worker.livejournal.com]

Chicago has bins like that (but larger) for general trash and trucks with special lifts to hoist them and dump them into the trucks. Seemed to work great - easier on the trash guys, no lost lids, no flying trash. They all seemed the same so maybe it was a city mandated thing and building owners bought them from the city.

Nice mundane thing about Chicago too is that there are alleys between all the streets so there is no "putting out the trash" - the bins are in the alleys (along with all the ugly telephone wires overhead) and the trucks just traverse the alleys. Not so much in the way of recycling though - at least when I lived there.

Re: Chicago

[nomacmac.livejournal.com]

Minneapolis had those garbage bins w/hoist trucks too. I miss having Alleys.

[derekp.livejournal.com]

Wow, that's quite the program SF has got going on. The Cambridge idea is neat, but I have no interest in it because I want to do my own composting. I'd settle for a few improvements in Somerville's program:

1. Why are there no Household Hazardous Waste days in Somerville over the winter?

2. What can residents do with construction debris? The "we don't pick it up" company line has got to go, because, well, they do. I've witnessed it time and again. My neighbor just threw out an entire exterior door. I just trashed a good bit of leftover plywood (the guilt still pains me). The City needs to step in here and give residents with non-commercial amounts of construction debris something to do with it.

3. When the city collects items like ovens, refrigerators, etc. for a $20 fee, what does it do with them? How are they treated? Do they end up in a landfill?

4. Ditto when a resident drops off car tires. Is the rubber recycled? Will you take my bicycle tires?

5. Why isn't the "Christmas Tree Composting" program listed in the Environmental Services guide? With the number of folks disposing of trees, should the announcement of the date this year have warranted a 311 robo-call?

I get jealous over Cambridge's Compost Too

[fmmodzelewski.livejournal.com]

It smells so much compostie than Somerville's