5 ms·

America is way behind from living overseas for 3 years. I have to pay extra to recycle, which I do not think is correct. Should be more like some areas in Ger

America is way behind from living overseas for 3 years. I have to pay extra to recycle, which I do not think is correct. Should be more like some areas in Germany where you pay for the amount of trash you have(weight), the more you throw away the more you pay -> encourages recycling! I also work for a brewery and it is sad that none will re-use bottles in the united states, all beer goes into brand new bottles :(

JonnieCache 11y ago
>I have to pay extra to recycle, which I do not think is correct. what. Who's charging you? Local government?
- ptnapoleon 11y ago
  In many municipalities, they contract trash and recycling collection out to private companies. Many times those companies charge separately for recycling collection.
  - mahouse 11y ago
    The joys of privatisation.
  - JonnieCache 11y ago
    They do that here (UK) too. It's still the local govt that's paying the bill though. I guess that's why we have seemingly high municipal taxes, they're 'all inclusive.' It's funny, the waste management people in our town are still unionised out the wazoo, and they're in deep with the labor party so they keep going on strike to put pressure on the incumbent greens. It's really not a good advertisement for the labor movement.
  - slantyyz 11y ago
    Where I live -- Markham, Ontario, Canada -- trash and recycling are contracted out. Outside of what we normally pay for property taxes, those costs are not visible to residents of my city. We have no limits on what we put out for blue (recyclables) bin or green (organic) bin waste (collected weekly), and since we've switched to clear garbage bags, the only limit on non-recyclable garbage (collected bi-weekly) is that you have a limit of four non-transparent shopping bags within your bagged garbage. We reached an 81% diversion (from landfill) rate in 2013. http://www.thestar.com/news/gta/2013/08/15/markham_shines_as_a_model_city_for_waste_diversion_james.html http://www.thestar.com/news/gta/2013/08/15/markham_shines_as...
  - joshuapants 11y ago
    Interesting. Where I live they do contract with a company, but the money just comes from the taxes we pay, just like it would have been when the town ran its own trucks.
- lfowles 11y ago
  In my city, trash service is handled by private companies. I currently pay +$15/quarter for a cart for recyclables.
therobot24 11y ago
> Should be more like some areas in Germany where you pay for the amount of trash you have(weight), the more you throw away the more you pay -> encourages recycling! With some regard, there are areas of the US that do this. The city i live in charges extra for more than 1 trash can and really limits what is picked up, while a neighboring city has tags that go on trash bags (charged by the bag). Then again, another neighboring city does neither and will pick up pretty much whatever you put on the curb. For a nationalized system there'd have to be consistent infrastructure and federal funding...and there's really no push for either. Rather, the current method is to incentivize the public to recycle on their own through bottle deposits (though most states don't do this) and/or education.
jgoewert 11y ago
Yep. This happened in St. Louis county a few years ago. They gave all contracts to one company "to reduce costs" and made the payment mandatory for recycling whether you used it or not. I was forced to pay people to take my recycling, which I never had any of because I take it to the recycling center and get around 35-40 cents a pound.
- timboslice 11y ago
  Interesting, I'm in STL city and never heard about that. Granted, I rent and usually trash fees are paid by my landlord. A similar thing happened to my parents, living in a Milwaukee suburb. They have a well drilled and use well water. The city decided that this is a health hazard and is forcing everyone to be on well water. Not only do they tear up your yard to drop the pipes, you also have to pay a contractor to hook up the water main to your house. Non-compliance results in a fine. A FINE?! For using your own well water...
hn_ 11y ago
"American" is not one place. Many, many cities have policies just as you described - pay by usage. Many cities have free recycling. It is going to be different for every single city/town. My garbage is picked up by a private company unfortunately. That means my landlord only pays them to pick up garbage, not recycling. The town picks up recycling for individual households for free but my complex has private dumpsters. I know people who can only put their garbage out in special bags and they have to pay the company or city for the bags, so they pay per bag of garbage.
- jbob2000 11y ago
  That's the problem; that America is not one place. The fundamental setup of the country means that they can't get anything done as a whole, unless its at the federal level.
robwilliams 11y ago
Beyond having to pay extra, no rental property I've ever lived in has had any recycling services (I'm in the Midwest), not even a community recycling bin next to the garbage. You've often got to put in a ton of effort to recycle, and it's not hard to understand people giving up.

JonnieCache 11y ago

>I have to pay extra to recycle, which I do not think is correct. what. Who's charging you? Local government?

ptnapoleon 11y ago
In many municipalities, they contract trash and recycling collection out to private companies. Many times those companies charge separately for recycling collection.
- mahouse 11y ago
  The joys of privatisation.
- JonnieCache 11y ago
  They do that here (UK) too. It's still the local govt that's paying the bill though. I guess that's why we have seemingly high municipal taxes, they're 'all inclusive.' It's funny, the waste management people in our town are still unionised out the wazoo, and they're in deep with the labor party so they keep going on strike to put pressure on the incumbent greens. It's really not a good advertisement for the labor movement.
- slantyyz 11y ago
  Where I live -- Markham, Ontario, Canada -- trash and recycling are contracted out. Outside of what we normally pay for property taxes, those costs are not visible to residents of my city. We have no limits on what we put out for blue (recyclables) bin or green (organic) bin waste (collected weekly), and since we've switched to clear garbage bags, the only limit on non-recyclable garbage (collected bi-weekly) is that you have a limit of four non-transparent shopping bags within your bagged garbage. We reached an 81% diversion (from landfill) rate in 2013. http://www.thestar.com/news/gta/2013/08/15/markham_shines_as_a_model_city_for_waste_diversion_james.html http://www.thestar.com/news/gta/2013/08/15/markham_shines_as...
- joshuapants 11y ago
  Interesting. Where I live they do contract with a company, but the money just comes from the taxes we pay, just like it would have been when the town ran its own trucks.
lfowles 11y ago
In my city, trash service is handled by private companies. I currently pay +$15/quarter for a cart for recyclables.

therobot24 11y ago

> Should be more like some areas in Germany where you pay for the amount of trash you have(weight), the more you throw away the more you pay -> encourages recycling! With some regard, there are areas of the US that do this. The city i live in charges extra for more than 1 trash can and really limits what is picked up, while a neighboring city has tags that go on trash bags (charged by the bag). Then again, another neighboring city does neither and will pick up pretty much whatever you put on the curb. For a nationalized system there'd have to be consistent infrastructure and federal funding...and there's really no push for either. Rather, the current method is to incentivize the public to recycle on their own through bottle deposits (though most states don't do this) and/or education.

jgoewert 11y ago

Yep. This happened in St. Louis county a few years ago. They gave all contracts to one company "to reduce costs" and made the payment mandatory for recycling whether you used it or not. I was forced to pay people to take my recycling, which I never had any of because I take it to the recycling center and get around 35-40 cents a pound.

timboslice 11y ago
Interesting, I'm in STL city and never heard about that. Granted, I rent and usually trash fees are paid by my landlord. A similar thing happened to my parents, living in a Milwaukee suburb. They have a well drilled and use well water. The city decided that this is a health hazard and is forcing everyone to be on well water. Not only do they tear up your yard to drop the pipes, you also have to pay a contractor to hook up the water main to your house. Non-compliance results in a fine. A FINE?! For using your own well water...

hn_ 11y ago

"American" is not one place. Many, many cities have policies just as you described - pay by usage. Many cities have free recycling. It is going to be different for every single city/town. My garbage is picked up by a private company unfortunately. That means my landlord only pays them to pick up garbage, not recycling. The town picks up recycling for individual households for free but my complex has private dumpsters. I know people who can only put their garbage out in special bags and they have to pay the company or city for the bags, so they pay per bag of garbage.

jbob2000 11y ago
That's the problem; that America is not one place. The fundamental setup of the country means that they can't get anything done as a whole, unless its at the federal level.

robwilliams 11y ago

Beyond having to pay extra, no rental property I've ever lived in has had any recycling services (I'm in the Midwest), not even a community recycling bin next to the garbage. You've often got to put in a ton of effort to recycle, and it's not hard to understand people giving up.