Tuesday, November 01, 2005

Trash

Today was trash day. Which, generally speaking, is unremarkable and certainly not blog-worthy. But a friend of mine lives in a city that has just gone to once a week trash pick up.

The city is all a twitter.

My goodness... whatever shall they do?? What if they fill up the can before the next weekly pickup?

Uh. You pile it on. You squish it down. You recycle more. You reuse whenever possible. And when it gets really bad, you wait until next week.

I have never lived in a place that had anything more frequent than once a week. In the "olden days" we had actual garbage cans we bought at the hardware store. They were metal and they made a lot of noise when the men picked them up and tossed the trash in the truck and then tossed the cans back towards the curb. When we moved to S. Cal we had square plastic cans that had a cart. They came with the house but were not issued by any trash agency or governmental entity. My parents still have those cans that are now pushing 30, if they haven't crossed over already.

We have always had Official Trash Carts. Not cans. Carts. Handy they are. They have wheels and when they break, you call and get a new one. For free. We can have 2 of the green recycle ones for no extra charge. When The City switched trash collectors we could upgrade in size for $1 more a month. We signed up for that deal! We are finding we do not generate 90 gallons of trash most weeks. But some weeks we do and so we keep our 90 gallon can. But we often generate 120 gallons of recyclables. Perhaps that's why our 90 gal. trash is managable.

But it IS interesting.... when you have lived in essentially the same place (or even the exact same place) your entire life that there are things you just don't even think about. Like trash pick up. It's once a week. Isn't it like that everywhere? I would be so annoyed to have 2 days a week without cans on the street...since there are people who take three days to put their cans away each week as it is.

The City of Sacramento is once again trying to get The Citizens of The City of Trees to put their leaves and other yard waste into cans. Because it has always been that it is just piled in the street. Later... "the claw" comes and scoops it up. Meanwhile, leaves blow all over, gutters are blocked and storm drains are clogged. Great consternation abounds because "where exactly are they supposed to put these big ol' cans???". Hmmmm.... along the side of the house like everyone in the rest of the county perhaps???

It's kinda like when I found out that some school bus drivers are allowed to take their non-school aged children in the busses with them. Including infants in car seats. Sounds like a lawsuit waiting to happen to me. But it's just normal as normal can be in some parts of the country.

And they say Californians are the freaks! ;)

2 comments:

Martha in CA said...

Trash talk everywhere!

Our CSD, in their infinite wisdom, has switched trash providers for us! We're going from County provider to California Waste System. Natch, that means we need new cans that are compatable with their trucks. So, we're still on a once-a-week pick up, but because this new company doesn't have the equipment, they can't do our whole community (2100+ homes) on one day. They need to come out three days. Ugh. Oh. But we'll save about $3.55/mo! I can NOT go to the comeoffmeshop one day during the month and save $2.80. Whoopie! This new company will also provide us four "bulk trash" days a year. We just call 'em to come out. Whoopie. We don't have bulk trash. They'll also cart off electronics. Uhhh...OK. Big demand for THAT too.

Your blog reminded me of "back in the day" when that galvanized can from the hardware store was kept in a hole in the backyard with a metal lid that you opened with your foot. Musta been hell to yank a heavy can outta the ground! I don't remember that too many houses had 'em, but they did in my babysitter's neighborhood!

When I lived in the country, we just loaded all the stuff in a 55gal barrel and set it on fire. *shrug* Now, we're more civilized...garbage, recycle, green waste.

AND!! We're saving $3.55/mo! It'll just be a CF for the first month or so 'til everyone figures out their new garbage day.

livingwilde said...

Oh dammit. I forgot we were at once a week. And we forgot to roll ours to the curb on Monday. Well, at least the recycling will get picked up tomorrow.