WM trash pickup... doubts about recycling

[lovefourpaws.livejournal.com]

I was driving behind a WM trash truck today on Boston Ave. (it is technically Medford, but I figure that's close enough) and saw the workers tossing the trash, cardboard, paper and plastics into the compactor all at once. I'm pretty sure Somerville's  trash and recycling get picked up separately (at least mine do...) so I was just curious to see if any Medford residents knew about this.

Comments

[noire.livejournal.com]

I took a tour of the WM recycling facility about four years ago. Yes, they REALLY DO recycle. They said at the time that they were getting new equipment that would make automatic sorting at the plant easy and feasible, but they were concerned that people would have the reaction you have.

The tour I took was through Harvard, btw.

[anotherjen.livejournal.com]

But the OP said s/he saw TRASH getting put in along with recyclables, not just single-stream recycling.

What if all this recylcing biz is largely a scam?

[nvidia99999.livejournal.com]

You know, we spend time sorting things nicely, they come and dump everything into one big pile... Would not surprise me.

[redcolumbine.livejournal.com]

It makes me wonder if the city's and the contractor's incentives are in conflict. The city wants to recycle to save money on landfill fees, but if WM is getting paid by weight, there's a math problem that needs to be solved.

[heliopsis.livejournal.com]

I know that my trash and recycling in Medford are always picked up by separate trucks, because I usually see one or another get picked up before I leave for work in the morning, and the other is gone by the time I get home.

If people prepare their recycling incorrectly, the recyclers won't take it and the trash people pick it up so that it won't blow around the neighbourhood. Perhaps that's what lovefourpaws saw.

[lovefourpaws.livejournal.com]

I think that may be it, because I usually see the two separate trucks. Hopefully this was just a fluke.

[eustaciavye.livejournal.com]

I live in Medford and my trash gets picked up separately from the recycling. The recycling truck comes around early in the AM and grabs just the blue bin. Trash pickup happens later.

[josephineave.livejournal.com]

Unlike Somerville, Medford does alternate week recycling. Based on my walk through Ball Square this morning, this isn't a recycling week. Anything put out would go into the trash.

[antimony.livejournal.com]

Alternate weeks, yes, but different ones for different parts. The schedule splits Medford into blue bins and green bins. I don't know how the areas are split, though.