Is Raleigh's move to big bins a good idea?

Quote :

"Switch to biweekly collection makes good sense BY BIANCA M. HOWARD Biweekly recycling cart collection, which Raleigh soon will begin phasing in, will improve the city's curbside recycling in several ways. These changes will give residents more capacity to recycle, make the materials easier to transport and increase efficiency. Raleigh's recycling program has grown tremendously since it began in 1989, but the size of our containers hasn't kept pace with the growing variety of materials we accept. Drive down the streets of Brier Creek, Falls River or Hedingham on collection day, and you'll see green bins brimming with juice cartons, soda cans and cereal boxes. As we transition to biweekly collection, each household will receive a 95-gallon cart, giving residents five times the space they now have. Providing larger containers now is important for future recycling opportunities. As technology improves and demand for recycled-content products grows, we'll be prepared to accommodate materials those new markets will accept. Residents and collectors should find carts easier to move than bins. The majority of the city will be serviced by fully automated trucks, which means the driver won't get out of the cab. He will be protected from wind, rain and intense sun. In areas where full automation is not possible, the crew can roll the cart to the truck, hook it onto a cart tipper and empty it with the flip of a switch. Although some might be unhappy about biweekly service, we believe they will embrace the increased capacity and convenience that carts will bring. Bianca M. Howard is community education specialist for Raleigh Solid Waste Services."

I personally cant wait. The tiny bins are a major reason I do not recycle regularly.

3/1/2010 9:46:18 AM

Same here. My roommates try to use that little green basket, but I just throw it in the regular trash can when they're not looking so my pet raccoon doesn't get into it.

3/1/2010 9:48:35 AM

It's about time.

Greensboro had this back when I was in high school in the early 90's.

Durham started it about a year ago.

Even with the larger cart, every two weeks, my recycling bin is overflowing. Each week, my trash bin is less than half full on average.

3/1/2010 9:53:02 AM

Cary has been doing this for a while now and it's so much better. The little bins were never big enough and always leaked rain water or some other liquid out of the bottom all over the place. When Cary implemented the rolling carts they added more stuff you could recycle too, so now our recycling fills up faster than our trash.

3/1/2010 9:53:34 AM

...this will get my parents to start recycling again (and mom insists on only drinking bottled water because "well water tastes funny" ). I hope.

They said they quit recycling because the recycling guys were always careless and messy and half their recycling ended up all over the front yard.

Quote :

" Even with the larger cart, every two weeks, my recycling bin is overflowing. Each week, my trash bin is less than half full on average."

I'm finally cancelling our trash/recycling pickup (that we pay for, living outside city services) because $30/mo, and we probably put out at least 3x recycling than trash. And I pass the recycling/waste center weekly. Trash pickup is the one thing I miss about living in city limits

[Edited on March 1, 2010 at 9:56 AM. Reason : lkj]

3/1/2010 9:54:22 AM

Quote :

"The little bins were never big enough and always leaked rain water or some other liquid out of the bottom all over the place."

Thats what I hate about the bins...the holes. Like do you really need holes in the bottom of a thing that collects skunk beer and rotten milk?

3/1/2010 10:11:31 AM

Since 2002, I dont know if I have brought my recycling bin to the curb more than 10 times.

3/1/2010 10:12:53 AM

Quote :

"They said they quit recycling because the recycling guys were always careless and messy and half their recycling ended up all over the front yard."

i'll agree with her on that one...it's ridiculous how much of the recycling in my bin is in my yard when i come home...as if it's really that difficult to make sure it gets into the truck

and while i'm ranting, the fucking trash pickup folks leave the cart in the middle of my driveway so i have to get out of my car to move it just to pull in

i realize that trash/recycling folks hate their lives, but i'm convinced they work harder to suck at their jobs than if they'd just do them competently to begin with

[Edited on March 1, 2010 at 10:33 AM. Reason : .]

3/1/2010 10:26:30 AM

In our subdivision out in Garner, they've already switched us to rolling carts w/ biweekly collection and it is awesome. We're finding that we're recycling more because we're not worrying about maxing out that tiny bin. Our trash bin does not become quite as full and the rolling cart just does handle the amount of recycling that we toss out. Only once or twice have we had more recycling than the roll cart was able to handle.

And there is *definitely* less mess/spillage out into the street and yard on trash day because the roll cart has a lid and contains all of the recycling.

3/1/2010 10:41:31 AM

^^^Would you like a cookie?

You know, so you can throw away the wrapper and all?

^^In a roundabout way, I'm a little glad to hear you say that: I thought this was mom exaggerating and bitching about something like a piece of paper that may or may not have been in their recycling bin to start with

^Yall have waste industries, right?
That could explain why, when we cancelled, they didn't take back their recycling bin.

I don't worry about maxing out the bin Shaw gives us because they'll empty other containers too. What I hate with them is that our pickup is *typically* in the afternoon, but sometimes at like 645, which means on windy days, I'm out there all day long picking up recycling. Another thing I won't miss about just taking ours on my own.

[Edited on March 1, 2010 at 10:44 AM. Reason : sdfg]

3/1/2010 10:42:09 AM

Quote :

"they'll empty other containers too"

yeah, i will put out an additional sterilite container fairly often because i fill the other two green ones

i just wish they'd start accepting polystyrene

3/1/2010 10:48:22 AM

Quote :

""well water tastes funny" "

Probably full of copper. Not the best idea to drink it regularly.

3/1/2010 10:49:14 AM

Quote :

"Probably full of copper. Not the best idea to drink it regularly."

Maybe. But it's hard to take her seriously when she will *only* drink deer park water. And *only* in a certain size - everything else also tastes funny.

3/1/2010 10:51:18 AM

i seriously doubt that that their well water is heavy in copper...some of the water in the piedmont may be hard, but it's not usually copper

3/1/2010 10:54:05 AM

3/1/2010 10:56:43 AM

^ i'm stoked...when will we receive these new containers and the new schedule?

Quote :

"Residents and collectors should find carts easier to move than bins. The majority of the city will be serviced by fully automated trucks, which means the driver won't get out of the cab. He will be protected from wind, rain and intense sun."

i'd be interested to see this in action

Quote :

"In areas where full automation is not possible, the crew can roll the cart to the truck, hook it onto a cart tipper and empty it with the flip of a switch."

i assume this is me, since i don't see how they could automatically empty my bins...anyway, this should cut down on all the recycling blowing around the street and in my yard after pickup day

[Edited on March 1, 2010 at 10:59 AM. Reason : .]

3/1/2010 10:57:53 AM

No idea, that is a shot I got when doing an interview regarding the switch to bigger carts in Cary last year.

3/1/2010 10:59:11 AM

^ ah, i thought i had remembered you posting that earlier...maybe in the DSLR thread

3/1/2010 11:00:47 AM

OMFG now I have to clutter my garage with two giant bins...wtf is wrong with the small green ones?

3/1/2010 11:03:05 AM

I'm glad to hear about this. On a normal week my household generally produces one bag of trash, but we have two recycling bins that are both overflowing.

3/1/2010 11:07:22 AM

Quote :

"OMFG now I have to clutter my garage with two giant bins"

keep them outside?

3/1/2010 11:08:39 AM

^I live in Nazi hell...aka HOA.

3/1/2010 11:09:30 AM

awesome. I'll start recycling now.

3/1/2010 11:12:26 AM

How do you go about getting one of these? I don't even have a green bin.

3/1/2010 11:14:14 AM

Quote :

"I live in Nazi hell...aka HOA."

aha, i didn't think about that

3/1/2010 11:18:04 AM

I don't recycle out of spite for alarmist environmentalists.

3/1/2010 11:40:56 AM

hell my roommates and i do not take out the recyclables but every other week anyway.

3/1/2010 12:17:44 PM

Quote :

"aha, i didn't think about that"

haha yeah...we can only take our trash out after sun down the night before and they have to be back in the house before sun down the next day...

3/1/2010 12:22:59 PM

That is ridiculous. Do they expect that people don't work? Most days during winter neither my wife nor I get home until after dark.

When we were looking at houses in '08, there were two houses that we loved that we passed on because of overreaching HOA covenants, which I scanned before making an offer. I doubt many folks do that, but I don't handle authority very well, especially shit like this.

3/1/2010 12:28:40 PM

^Yeah it is ridiculous. This was my first home that I purchased about 5 years ago so I never thought about reading the HOA covenants before making an offer. That is definitely a good idea.

One time I had left my trash can out over night because I had cleaned it out with bleach and soap so after hosing it out i wanted to leave it outside to dry. Next morning on my way to work I found a warning saying that its a fineable offense.

3/1/2010 12:39:31 PM

The size discrepancy between trash cans/bins and recycling bins has always perplexed me. If someone, let alone a household, is paying even half attention to the containers they buy things in then they should have far more recyclable material than trash. There is no excuse for someone to be so lazy that they can't allocated their leftovers between two containers especially when the one that should be used the most is for recycling.

3/1/2010 12:41:15 PM

Charlotte is switching too, starting to distribute the bins this month but from what the news said "you aren't allowed to begin using them until July" wtf.


anyways, we have 2 of the smaller bins and they are always full by each friday.

3/1/2010 1:12:40 PM

^^ Agreed.

3/1/2010 1:16:00 PM

Quote :

"The size discrepancy between trash cans/bins and recycling bins has always perplexed me."

Quote :

" If someone, let alone a household, is paying even half attention to the containers they buy things in then they should have far more recyclable material than trash. There is no excuse for someone to be so lazy that they can't allocated their leftovers between two containers especially when the one that should be used the most is for recycling."

I agree with both points, but one has nothing to do with the other. The first issue is one of short sightedness we can thank our local politicians for.

The second one is cultural, but as the convenience of recycling has increased, the number of people actively recycling has also increased. When I lived in an apartment complex and had to tote my recyclables across the complex, I didn't. When I lived in an SF home in Raleigh and had the small green container, I'd use it until it was full, and then start throwing recyclables away when it would hold no more. Since we moved to the 90 gallon carts, probably 80-90% of all waste we produce gets recycled. Between recycling and composting, there is very little that goes to the landfill from my house.

The thing of it is that I'm not an environmentalist. I care only to the point of being inconvenienced. While this is all purely anecdotal, I suspect that I fall squarely in the middle of the bell curve of recycling participation. Most folks will gladly recycle as long as it means minimal inconvenience. And we're getting there.

3/1/2010 1:35:20 PM

Quote :

"It's about time. Greensboro had this back when I was in high school in the early 90's."

3/1/2010 1:47:35 PM

I live in Cary and I still have the shitty little green container. Do you request the big one from the city I take it?

3/1/2010 1:48:57 PM

Quote :

"always leaked rain water or some other liquid out of the bottom all over the place"

Quote :

"Thats what I hate about the bins...the holes. Like do you really need holes in the bottom of a thing that collects skunk beer and rotten milk?"

The holes are so they don't collect enough water for mosquitoes to breed.
That being said, the holes don't work very well for that purpose.

3/1/2010 1:55:52 PM

yeah, i understand the holes, and i'm okay with them...i'm not sure why anyone who's bothering to recycle wouldn't rinse everything out/off like you're supposed to, anyway

3/1/2010 2:03:02 PM

i'm glad they don't do this where i live in ATL - i have no extra room in my garage to put another bin

3/1/2010 2:08:25 PM

are we going to get to billed half since they are going to be working half as much

3/1/2010 2:14:28 PM

We used to fill our green recycling up to the top pretty quickly, then I found out a lot of plastics aren't accepted in the curbside program and we could be doing more harm than good.*


http://www.raleighnc.gov/portal/server.pt/gateway/PTARGS_0_2_306_202_0_43/http%3B/pt03/DIG_Web_Content/category/Resident/Garbage_and_Recycling/Recycling/Cat-1C-20041130-143715-Preparation_of_Recycling.html



*Not really**. I just wanted to post the link to the acceptable items list for Raleigh.





**syke, I had been tossing some stuff that wasn't allowed in there. Yogurt cups and plastic bags and associated whatnot.

3/1/2010 2:25:55 PM

jesus, how much trash do you people produce?
I throw out one bag of trash (typically 3/4 full) every week and put my recycling out every other week (separated containers for paper vs plastic/glass/metal). If I got one of those massive 65 gallon containers for recycling, I don't think I'd have to take it out more than once every other month.

3/1/2010 2:52:32 PM

durham has it, it's great just dump all that shit in there and roll them out to the curb

Quote :

"I'm finally cancelling our trash/recycling pickup (that we pay for, living outside city services) because $30/mo, and we probably put out at least 3x recycling than trash. And I pass the recycling/waste center weekly. Trash pickup is the one thing I miss about living in city limits"

you also don't pay the taxes for the pickup but still, DAMN YOU CHEAP!

Quote :

"fully automated trucks, which means the driver won't get out of the cab. He will be protected from wind, rain and intense sun."

wimps, this means less jobs and the tax rate will still increase even though they are getting away with significant cost savings

[Edited on March 1, 2010 at 3:13 PM. Reason : s]

3/1/2010 3:09:37 PM

My recycling to trash ratio is about 3-4:1. I also compost the vast majority of my food waste but that's a whole other issue.

If you aren't utilizing the totality of your recycling bin at home then perhaps you can do something at work depending on your circumstances and take the extra 2 minutes to collect the recyclables there if, for whatever stupid reason, a recycling program isn't already in place and simply take them home and have the city pick it up.

3/1/2010 3:13:02 PM

about damn time.

the bi-weekly part sucks, not a biggie though I guess.

3/1/2010 3:42:09 PM

Just so everyone knows, the EPA report that came out in the 80s that said we were running out of landfills was a fraud and even the guy that wrote it admits it.

If you fail to recycle every piece of paper in your house you're not a bad person.

Also, the symbols on plastics don't mean they're recyclable.

3/1/2010 3:43:20 PM

Quote :

"EPA report that came out in the 80s that said we were running out of landfills was a fraud and even the guy that wrote it admits it"

i have no idea what you're talking about, and don't care to look into it since you/re not making much of a point

3/1/2010 3:49:56 PM

At current rates of garbage production, it would take 1,000 years for the US to fill a landfill 35 square miles in area 100 yards deep. (http://www.williams.edu/HistSci/curriculum/101/garbage.html)



So, if you accidentally throw away the cardboard carton a bar of soap comes in, the world isn't going to end.

3/1/2010 4:06:07 PM

Keep in mind that it isn't just about land usage required to store waste but also the materials needed to make new products versus how much could be saved simply by recycling.

3/1/2010 4:25:39 PM

HOLY FUCK THAT'S A FUCK LOAD OF LAND!

3/1/2010 4:28:49 PM