I have a shameful secret. A terrible, awful, no-good, very bad secret. I have to explain myself before I go any further so you understand why I’m embarrassed: I’m very liberal. I have a big ol’ bleeding heart. Seriously, it gets annoying. I PC-patrol my friends, I want one of those jobs that will never allow me to support both myself and a pet, and I have worked for both NPR and Teach For America. This secret could forever tarnish my rep among my fellow co-op shoppers and Obama kids.
My secret: I don’t recycle. I haven’t recycled once since I moved to Iowa. I hate Gaia, Mother Earth, and all her fluffy, woodland inhabitants. More on my shame and a lame explanation after the jump…Some truths:
1) I am lazy. While I love volunteering on the weekends/afternoons, I clearly can’t be bothered to load up my weekly collection of wine bottles into my car when I go to Hy-Vee for the week. There is no explanation for my lack of recycling than I am a sad, lazy sack of law student with terrible priorities.
2) I think it is a much better system here in Iowa than the recycling system in Chicago. Yes, you have to go and (so. slowly.) load each piece of recycling by hand, but you get paid. They PAY you for helping out the earth! That is great!
In Chicago (at least in my old neighborhood,) there is no free recycling - let alone recycling that pays you. You have to have your landlady pay money for a private recycling service to pick up your bottles and cans. That’s right, YOU pay to recycle in Chicago.
You’d think I would be overjoyed to have the exact opposite situation in Iowa! You’d think I’d be offering to drive OTHER people’s recycling - more money for me! Yay Mother Earth! The answer is no. Clearly, I’m willing to drive out to Kalona to buy squeaky cheese curds after class as a procrastination break, but when it comes to things like taking out my trash or recycling, the answer is no.
So the question is - does anyone else share my shameful secret? Does this automatically make me a Republican (because if it does, my parents might throw me a party)? Does anyone else have a more shameful lazy law student secret?
Steve Wieland
fsford
timhilton
smahieu
Morgan N. Engling
maryiowa
jaimiesuzi
jarens
kevinjames
brieanne
lcm
Andrew
sandista
enwinfield
Somebody correct me if I’m wrong, but I think the Iowa recylcing deal isn’t exactly paying you to recycle, but rather just paying you back. When you buy a can of coke, you pay a 5 cent bottle deposit fee up front… and then when you return the can, you get that same amount back.
As a former Chicago suburbanite (please hold back any ridicule), I am a bigger fan of the system we had back in the nice little suburb of Park Ridge. The city provided each property owner with a bright blue recycling bin, you’d throw in all your recyclables, place it in front of your house, and the city would pick it up each week. You had to be reallyyyy lazy to not comply with this system.
However, the Iowa system does have a plus side on a different level. If you have ever stepped outside your Iowa City apartment, you will undoubtedly see people picking up the slack (read: digging through trash to find cans). Perhaps, the bottle deposit results in a higher percentage of recycling than other states. (86% redemption rate, see http://www.iowadnr.com/waste/recycling/bottle.html)
So don’t fret, I would bet that your cans are ultimately getting recycled. If you’re really worried, just put the recyclabes in a plastic bag and leave it outside the dumpster… they will be found.
Sherlock, I am most impressed with your research.
Here’s why I always give Fleming guff about not recycling: it’s not just the cans (and yes, you are literally throwing away your own money when you do not return bottles and cans to be recycled; you have already paid the five cents) … but there are plenty of glass bottles, milk jugs, magazines, newspapers and other things that can and should be recycled. All of these items can be re-used in some capacity (ie melted down and made into park benches). If you live in a rental unit in Iowa City, the City does not provide curbside recycling. So it’s a little more work to collect everything yourself and drive to the recycling center (that is on Benton Street, 2 seconds from where most of us live). Chances are you drive past the recycling a few times during the week anyway; I find that my designated recycling rubbermaid tub needs to be emptied every month or so.
Moreover, if you don’t feel like going to HyVee AND the city recycling center to get rid of it all, you can donate deposit-eligible cans and bottles at the recycling center and the funds go to public housing services. Even if the 5 cents is not worth it for you; it’s worth it to someone else. And you’re doing the most basic form of community service. I swear you feel better after doing it.
I’m not sure why I feel so strongly about recycling. For whatever reason, I feel like I’m doing something wrong when I throw something in the garbage that could be recycled. And I’m not even that liberal …
All this being said …. I DO drive to the recycling center in an SUV (albeit a small one) … so … there’s that.
I think if someone wants me to recycle badly enough, s/he should come get my cans for me. Like Fleming, I am too busy and lazy. Sometimes we even avoid recycling together.
If someone really wants to pick up my recycling, could it be done on a weekly basis because I can’t stand clutter.
My mom is an environmentalist. Sorry Mommy.
I’m the laziest guy here, and I have the solution. Buy an SUV, load up all your crap, and move out here to University Heights. Every house in my neighborhood is a poorly insulated detached single-family home, the neighbors own three minivans each, and the University Heights police use our traffic ticket revenue to keep a V8 four-door police cruiser running at all times.
But the best part: free recycling. I just drag my free bin out to the curb, walk back inside, and the magic recycling fairy does the rest. Easy as getting caught picking your nose in class.
Iowa’s system really is amazing and you can recycle anything. As for being too busy, my roommate and I have a great system: we sort as we go. We have a couple paper bags and a few small garbage bins in our kitchen to collect the paper, cardboard, plastic, returnable cans, etc. And then I usually just load it all in my trunk and deal with it when there’s no more room in there.
I am sooooo not a liberal. And I will recycle every shred of paper I can.
Well, at home in TEXAS they recycled for us. In the same way the garbagemen collected garbage, the recyclemen collected glass, aluminum, and newspapers.
This is why ISU rocks:
http://www.cityofames.org/worksweb/resourcerecovery/default.htm
Anyways I think its perfect. They take the metal and the valuable stuff (i.e. worth recycling economically although you lose some of the feel good effect) and extract it.
Then, they shred the crap that cant be burned so it takes up less space in landfills. The rest is turned into power for 4600 homes a year.
I strongly prefer this method over the rest. now only if they would recycle more of it to make me feel better
Fleming:
Since you seem to be seeking a suggestion as to a source of psychological counseling and emotional support with regard to your understandable “I don’t recycle” stress, my suggestion is that you see if Dr. Arthur Bonfield, who has a very full schedule of “I don’t recycle” patients right now, nevertheless might be able to work you in for a quick session before finals. You should find him quite reassuring. He may even have active support groups. You can tell him I recommended him to you.
Nick
A great NYTimes article on why we should bother: http://www.nytimes.com/2008/04/20/magazine/20wwln-lede-t.html?ex=1209441600&en=4b8f85b0f7e2157a&ei=5070