The Recycling Future

We're recyclers at our house.  All the newspapers, all the plastic and glass and cans, all the fish and meat trays from the supermarket, all the boxes and junk mail -- all of it -- goes into the big bin with a triangle on it for pickup every Monday.  The recycling bin is always more full than the garbage can.

I thought I was doing a pretty good job with this until a few weeks ago when I visited a friend in San Anselmo, CA.

We were talking in the kitchen as she cut up vegetables for (a very tasty) dinner, and I observed that she was wrapping up the ends and peels in a piece of newspaper.

"Insinkerator on the blink?" I asked.

"We're not supposed to use the disposal any more," she said.

"No disposal?"

"We compost now," she said.

(See, I had heard about this composting thing and even considered doing it at my house.  When I learned that a compost heap almost certainly would attract rodents and bugs, I decided against it.   We have enough uninvited animals around the place as it is.)

Then my friend took her wrapped pile of vegetable detritus and dumped it into one of three garbage cans around the corner from her kitchen.

"Paper," she said, pointing at the left container. "Glass and plastic in the middle, compost on the right."

"Where do you put your actual garbage?" I asked.

"Under the sink," she said.  "There's not enough room down there for this stuff."

Then we walked outside, and she showed me her garbage bins.

The green one on the left is for leaves, branches and compostable kitchen waste.  In the center is a fancy double-sided model -- paper goes to the left; glass, plastic and cans to the right.  On the right, and emptiest by far, was the actual garbage can.

This, simply, is the recycling future.  It's not a matter of whether this will be coming to your neighborhood, but when.

My friend referred me to the local garbage collection website, and boy, was it detailed.

I learned several things.

First, recyclable material is valuable.  You can actually be arrested if you pick up somebody's leftover paper and bottles instead of leaving them at the curb for pickup.

Second, deciding what goes where is complicated.  

     -- Regular light bulbs go in the garbage, but fluorescent ones must be delivered to the hazardous waste management facility.

     -- Empty spray cans may be put in with the recycling, but full ones must be delivered to the hazardous waste facility.

     -- Tea bags, meat, bones and waxed paper can go in the food recycling, but compostable cups and dishes belong with the garbage.

     -- Milk cartons and plastic bags, even the ones with little triangles on them, are not recyclable.  Into the garbage can they must go.

Third, the next time I remodel a kitchen (which, if I am lucky, will be never) I am going to have to include a lot more room for recycling containers.  Also, if I get a disposal, I will order one with a removable gasket.  (A disposal gasket is pictured in the center of chrome ring below.)  This is because the rubber gasket on an unused disposal can collect smells over time, and it's nice to be able to take it out and run it through the dishwasher. 

Fourth, there are rules about how to put out the garbage and recycling.   The cans must be placed at least two feet apart.  

In addition,  the lids on the cans must be closed.  What, I wonder, would you do if you had a big party or a bunch of guests and there was more recycling than usual? Would you have to buy a fourth garbage can?  If you had a lot of seasonal cleanup each year, would you need a second yard waste can? Where would you put the cars?