I’m Commingling
Two weeks ago the new cans arrived: a green one for yard debris and a blue one for commingling our recycling. We kept our trusty 20 gallon garbage can, and of course, our food scraps already go in the worm bin. One of our yellow recycle bins is where we separate glass and I left the other on the curb — it used to hold our separated recycling and now IT’S the recycling, I suppose.
I was really excited about commingling. Obviously it’s a lot easier and less messy than sorting everything. I can even recycle my yogurt cups now, which I always felt sick about tossing out.
But apparently not everyone is a fan of commingling. I found a ten-year old article from Willamette Week, which is a weekly published here in Portland. In it is an early mention of the recycling plan. “‘It makes me very nervous,’ says Jeanne Roy, founder of Recycling Advocates, a nonprofit Portland citizen group.”
I admit that I don’t know much about the potential pitfalls of our city’s new direction in recycling. But I’ll do some research and report back soon.
Do you mix your recyclables where you live, and if so, has it changed the way you recycle?
I’ve been waiting for “commingling” for quite a while with hopes that more folks will recycle more things. I love being able to rinse and toss in yogurt containers finally.
I thought for sure that “commingled” was spelled incorrectly. Guess not.
I’m pretty sure it’s spelled that way because eco-freaks are all communists.
I am a big fan of commingled recycling, but I hate the carts the City of Portland purchased. In Santa Cruz we always had commingled recycling, but it was one giant car with a divider down the middle. In essence the “yellow bin” stuff went on one side and everything else on the other.
Now we have to find room in our garage for this massive commingling cart, the regular trash can, and still store the old yellow bin. I say it was a good idea executed poorly. Totally bums me out.
You’re right, Shiny. The cart is truly cumbersome. I have to move the car out of the driveway to get the can to the curb. And it’s not like I’ll ever fill it to the top.