I really believe in global warming, although I want to know where the warm is as I sit in sunny So Cal in 48 degree weather... But I want to do my part. I try only to run the dishwasher when it is full, I do only full loads of laundry and hang them to dry (most of them anyway, there is just no drying the socks from a drying rack in my garage). As I live in an apartment and don't have land or a back yard or heck, even a front yard, it is sometimes very difficult to do such energy saving and environmentally conscious things as suggested by the homemaking mavens of TV land. I cant put up solar panels to harness the energy from the sun. I cant make a compost pile. I am not allowed to have pets so the cow that would graze on the overgrown grass and provide the mass amounts of milk my children seem to require each week is not allowed by the city, nor the neighbors I am sure.
So instead I decided to recycle. So I checked into how we could utilize the waste removal company to recycle as if we lived in a private residence. This company informed me that the apartment complex would have to pay an additional fee to have recycle bins placed alongside the regular trash bins. The apartment complex informed me that this was not feasible for them.
Fine, I will do it my self. I dutifully separated the cardboard and plastics that were all deemed recycle-able at my local drop off location. I called and made sure the local recycle yard could indeed take the cardboard and milk cartons that seem to be plentiful around my house. We sorted and stacked and crushed for a month. While that doesnt seem like a long time or could we amass a large amount of items, we sure as heck did. It amazes me how much packaging is used in grocery products. When finally we couldnt move around the pile in the kitchen and garage, we decided it was time for a trip to the center!
We loaded up bag after bag (paper mind you) into the car and drove down. The recycle center is a shed with a hole in the wall that has some kind of suctiony electronic barcode reader in it. The gentlemen who worked there were not helpful, nor could (would) they speak English. So in my broken and virtually non existent Espanol I asked where to begin. He rolled his eyes and pointed at the hole in the wall. Ok, I thought, undaunted, I can do this.. How difficult can it be... I proceeded to shove the recycle-ables through the whole in the wall until the machine spit them back at me and made this horrible screeching noise. The kind worker came over and motioned for me to move. He made the machine stop screeching then he proceed to throw half my items onto the ground. I was kindly informed that they dont accept the milk cartons and cardboard. I told him that their office said that all items could be taken at these drop off locations. He grunted and said "Fine but I wont give you money for them" I was taken aback at his lack of manners but got over that rather quickly. I said kindly that it was fine, I just wanted to do my part to reduce and save the planet. I didnt expect money from it too. He just grunted. After he "assisted" me in the shoving of my items through the hole in the wall, he handed me a little slip of paper that allowed me to redeem my $5.24 at the local grocery store for my acceptable recycling materials. I thanked him profusely and wanted to kick him in his ungrateful assets as without people like me who were trying to do their part, he wouldnt have this job. I got into my car and prepared to drive away. I got down the drive way and happened to glance into my rearview mirror. There to my disgust was the kind man shoving my cardboard and unacceptable items into the grocery stores dumpster.
So what is the point of this rant you ask?? The point is how is the world going to change when the people who are supposed to be representatives of the green organization doing their part dont really give a good damn about the environment or anything other than collecting a paycheck??? Are we all really that apathetic about the future of our civilization?
Thank you I am now stepping down off my soapbox!!!!
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