Single Stream Recycling

[pjmorgan.livejournal.com]

I learned at a forum this eve that Somerville is going to do a pilot of single stream recycling. That means you put everything in one roller bin (that has a lid) rather than sorting cardboard and paper separately. I think this is great from the consumer. Much more convenient and a lid on recycling bins is absolutely a necessity, the wind tends to blow pieces of paper around. We had this in Seattle, it was great. There are operational pros and cons that one can see discussed on various internet forums that I won't go into, but I think the pros outweigh the cons.

The pilot is tentatively to be in the spring in parts of Ward 5 or thereabouts. Those folks will get a mailer and maybe some other outreach before receiving their barrel.

Regarding the current system, at the meeting I think I also convinced the city representative to push a change to allow landlords to pickup the current blue bins on behalf of tenants (currently only actual residents can do this). I find that my tenants always look to me to do this, and I always have to refer them to Franey Road, during business hours, and most people are just not able to make it, so less recycling happens in the end.