Tuesday, October 06, 2009

Recycling, redux

If you didn't see my Saturday column on recycling in Charlotte, take a look here. And in a related matter, in a previous posting, I promised follow-up information on the new recycling bins, and whether we could recycle the old red ones.

Some answers, courtesy of Gerald Gorbey, deputy director of solid waste services for the City of Charlotte.

Can or will the city recycle the old red bins (which are No. 2 plastic)?

Gorbey: The city will not require that red bins be returned. Citizens will be allowed to use them for marshalling bins for their recyclables or for storage use, etc. If citizens prefer to throw their red bin away, the City will collect it and recycle it. The exact process for doing the bin pick-up has not been determined yet. The bin will be recycled either through the county’s material recycling center or through a contractual arrangement with the roll-out cart company that provides the new recycle carts.

What color will the new, rollout recycling bins be:

Green

Any plans to begin recycling of compostables/kitchen scraps?

No plans are underway for providing this service.

And to repeat:

The new rollout recycling will be "single-stream" which means you don't have to sort it, just dump it all into the bin, which will have a lid to keep it dry and, in theory, keep out varmints. However, they are not raccoon- or possum-proof. Yes, I once encountered a possum that had crawled into our gray rollout bin. And another time, a trail of peanut shells led away from the bin, where I had tossed some stale peanuts after a trip to the circus.

As to whether we'll ever see the sort of easy recycling bins uptown that I mentioned in my column, well, who knows? City council member Edwin Peacock told me today that "phone calls have been made."

3 comments:

Jessica said...

I'm excited for the single stream system. Have used it before in ohter cities; makes things so easy.

Anonymous said...

A Trip to the circus??? I can't think of a place more perfect for a person as perfect as you.

Anonymous said...

Charlotte has no business doing any promotion of itself as "green." Besides almost no place uptown for recycling items, those of us living in multi-family developments have ZERO recycling options.

As the various promotional groups continue to beat the dead horse that we have got to have more $5 million, 1,000 sq ft condos or we're going to cease to exist as a city, someone ought to consider recycling options for those that live in condos - regardless of the price of their condos.