Get recycling off the curb

We are used to thinking of recycling as an extension of our garbage service.

And indeed it is. Garbage and recycling co-exist side by side on the curb, two parts of an "integrated" waste management system.

Because it's part of the garbage system, recycling has been falling more and more into the service mix of the garbage industry who contract with our local governments. They are doing their best to make it look more and more like garbage.

They cater to the laziness that made us become the Throw-Away Society in the first place. No more simple sorting to separate the nice clean paper from the sticky yogurt cups. People want convenience.... but it comes at a cost.

If we want to do recycling right we have to liberate it from the garbage system. Local governments can build the tax base by supporting local recycling shops where materials are kept clean and source-separated, instead of competing against them by providing dumbed-down recycling.

Only by doing it right will we get a sustainable recycling economy.

Pic: What a waste.... Gibsons BC