recycling problems

[gookalockgeek.livejournal.com]

I live in Somerville (though not in Davis Square) and I'm having an issue with my trash/recycling. Last night my landlord showed up at my door and yelled at me for having cardboard boxes and paper bags full of recycling next to my recycling bin, claiming that he has been repeatedly fined for this by the city of Somerville. He demanded that we throw all our recycling in the trash to avoid this. We complied because he is scary and was in our building unannounced and had caught us off guard.

This morning, I cleaned up the 6 bags of trash my neighbors had thrown on the curb (most likely what he is actually being fined for) and put them in trash cans. Then I stood at the window and watched the trash truck throw away the contents of not only the several trash cans, but my clearly marked blue "Somerville Recycles" recycling bin.

Has anyone dealt with this problem before? What do I do to stop this? I moved here from Brookline, where you're fined for NOT recycling, and now I am being punished for doing so.

EDIT: I called 311 and reported the issue, but I'm going to leave this up to let people know that their recycling might end up in the dump if they don't pay attention to who is picking it up!

Comments

[rmd.livejournal.com]

call 311, to start with.

[gookalockgeek.livejournal.com]

thanks! i called and they were surprisingly nice and helpful.

[beezy515.livejournal.com]

You should talk to the trash truck guys directly, too, if possible.

Wow. That's ridiculous.

[nvidia99999.livejournal.com]

I leave boxes and paper bags full of recycling all the time. To be honest, I never checked if the recycling people pick it up or if the regular trash people do. But I've never been fined.

Re: Wow. That's ridiculous.

[gookalockgeek.livejournal.com]

according to the city:

Place commingled material in recycling bin. (Acceptable commingled Items: glass bottles, metal cans, plastic containers (#1-7) & milk/juice cartons).

For mixed papers and cardboard: Place all papers (newspaper, discarded mail or junk mail, envelopes, magazines etc.) in a paper bag. Please flatten cardboard, cut and tie in approximate size of 2’x2’. Place next to recycle bin.

The woman at 311 told me that you can't put anything but paper outside of the bin, and cardboard must be bound with twine to be picked up.

Re: Wow. That's ridiculous.

[infinitemorning.livejournal.com]

I've never even been yelled at or penalized for having a spillover paper bag full of plastics (though I try not to do that, and mostly it's just paper in the paper bags), but then, I live in Medford.

[misterthorn.livejournal.com]

did 311 have any advice about what to do if one sees recycling getting thrown in with the trash?

[gookalockgeek.livejournal.com]

they said they would report it, that they get new guys sometimes who "don't know what is what" and that's probably why this happened... so i'd say to call 311 if it happens to you.

[craigindaville.livejournal.com]

On New Year's Eve, I was waiting for the 88 bus at Highland St and Walnut St near the library, and saw a trash truck (on Walnut) picking up both trash and recycling and throwing them in at the same time. Not only that, but in their sloppy handling of the recycling bins things went flying all over the place rather than in the truck, so when they left not only were the blue bins scattered to high heaven but junk was lining the road.

I didn't realize that this is apparently widespread. Does anyone know when the contract with these guys is up again with the city? Is it *really* worth filing a complaint, seeing as most of the BOA seem to love this guy and his company no matter what?

[surrealestate.livejournal.com]

On my street, the recycling truck usually comes first, and I'm not sure I've ever seen them take any recycling that wasn't *in* the bin.

So, for example, if the bin is totally full of glass/plastic/metal so the paper is bagged and on the side, the paper is left behind to be grabbed by the trash guys. Same with any cardboard that isn't in the bin.

I think the contract was renewed recently

[fefie.livejournal.com]

"Does anyone know when the contract with these guys is up again with the city? Is it *really* worth filing a complaint, seeing as most of the BOA seem to love this guy and his company no matter what?"

I recall reading somewhere sometime in 2009 that the contract had been renewed, perhaps in the fall? I have not seen a problem with recycling taken as trash (it would be obvious as trash is picked up really early and recycling in late morning). I do see that the trash pickup leaves a mess though -- a bunch of stuff gets strewn about the street when they pick up.

[joylewis.livejournal.com]

Also, some of the recycling bins from the city are actually wheeled canisters that look like trash cans. I live on Highland right by the library and the recycling company is incredibly good at taking out the correct recycling bins rather than the trash ones (which are only different from the shape of the lid.)

[masswich.livejournal.com]

I've seen them throw out the recycling- I assume its if the trash truck comes first, they may assume the recycling truck isn't coming (since it usually comes first.) I don't think its a conspiracy, but I wish they'd just leave the recycling alone and I can put it back in the yard if they miss a pickup one week.

If I was sympathetic I'd chalk it up to poor training but I think its mostly that contractors don't give a rats ass as long as everything gets picked up. In Brookline the trash trucks are operated by the Town, so there is more incentive to do it right. In Somerville its contracted out and not all that monitored.

[gookalockgeek.livejournal.com]

i don't think it's a conspiracy either, just laziness.

my recycling truck doesn't ever come before the trash truck (which comes around 7AM), and i live on broadway, so a lot of people are on this same cycle. the city of somerville website says:

"If your recycling is not picked up on your regularly scheduled day, Please do not remove it from the curb, and call Constituent Services by dialing 311, to arrange for pick up on the same day or early the following day."

Perhaps they should share this information with the trash guys.

[pekmez.livejournal.com]

I think it doesn't help that the city says some cardboard is trash, ie pizza boxes. So I'm supposed to put out pizza boxes not in my bin, not bundled with recycling, and the trash people are supposed to pick up the pizza boxes, but not pick up the bundles. Great.

[hrafn.livejournal.com]

Put the pizza boxes in the trash barrel, perhaps even inside a trash bag?

[ron_newman]

That's because the pizza boxes are considered to be too contaminated with food to be easily recyclable.

[xthlcm.livejournal.com]

When I lived in Somerville (granted this was 5 years ago) we had constant problems with garbage and recycling collection. They would regularly strew garbage all over the street, toss our recycling in the truck, leave garbage cans on their side in the middle of the road, etc.

I was complaining about this to one of our neighbors (who had lived in the house for 20+ years) and she laughed it off. "Don't you give these guys any grief; it took forever to hire them, and they're like a breath of fresh air compared to what we used to have!" I can only assume that the previous garbage collectors would dump garbage on your head, set your house on fire and rape your dog. This may explain the BOA's attitude.

[i-leonardo.livejournal.com]

does the trash company get haulage fees based on how much they deliver to the transfer station, or do they get a flat contractual rate regardless of volume/weight ?

[bluesauce.livejournal.com]

I'd be more worried about the scary landlord entering the building unannounced and screaming at you. Jesus.

I'd keep putting it out just to drive him nuts!

[nvidia99999.livejournal.com]

Heheheheh! And if he does something illegal, like touching you, then you have him by the balls! Free rent for the rest of the year or else...

[gookalockgeek.livejournal.com]

yeah, no kidding. the guy is the worst. it was late at night, i wasn't dressed, and he didn't even ring the doorbell, just let himself into the building and banged on what is essentially the door to our bedroom until we answered. i thought one of our neighbors had an emergency or something, otherwise i would never have come to the door.

[smammy]

I went to the DPW and got a second recycling box, and I put my paper/cardboard in there instead. That way it's clearly not trash and it's still separated from the glass/metal/plastic.

[gookalockgeek.livejournal.com]

they took my recycling bin and emptied it into the trash. it was already clearly not trash.

Recycling

[fishkiss56.livejournal.com]

The city is currently considering going to co-mingled recycling, where you'd throw all your recyclables (paper, plastic, glass, etc.) into a large (likely with wheels) bin. Hopefully this would reduce the potential for the garbage folks taking the recycling. There's currently one provider in the area and the city was looking at how much it would cost. Vithal Deshpande, the city's environmental coordinator, discussed it at the last Ward 7 Resistat meeting. I'm sure the more 311, emails, and phone calls he received asking about and/or supporting the idea, would help him make a case to the mayor.