backwoods minded county~ still not offering recycling!

[smilecatcher]

I know that in some parts of the country recycling is mandatory, which is why I find my current situation so amusing!

After moving to a very rural county in Florida, I gathered up my recycles and went to deposit them. I couldn't find anywhere!
So I came home and made some phone calls...
Oh yes, I called every number imaginable in the book!

There are a couple of private recycling companies that would only take aluminum. (that is a start) but since there is no money in the rest of it, they don't even bother.

and... get this: I called a private company in the next county over, and they said that I could bring stuff into there, but that they usually just throw it away anyways. !?* for real? I couldn't believe some of the things that people said.
They claimed that it is usually too contaminated (mixed up) to do anything with, so they just take most of it to the dump. :

WM looked promising, after being on hold for 45 minutes w/ the waste management dept. (and mind you, listening to all the pros about them recycling, and all of the good things that they do w/ it) a manager told me that providing recycling bins anywhere in our county would just not be cost effective!

The whole thing was rather shocking. and to make matters worse, I even went to our city council meeting to bring the subject up.

Do you really want to know? it is so funny! For starters, there was a guy on the council w/ a name plate that actually said "bubba"
yeah. i know...

The city said they are not interested in providing the opportunity to recycle at all. One fellow looked at me like I was a moron, and said, "I'm sure ya think it's a good idea, but Miss, people round here just ain't gonna recycle nothin'! ain't worth messin' with."

lmao!!! (by the way, that is him hammering me...)

Not only have we moved into the backwoods, we have also moved back into the 80's!

So, my only choices are to haul all of my recyclables into the next county's landfill, and lie about where I live. ~or~ to not recycle.

Isn't there a deadline about when each county or state MUST offer recycling? I mean, it is 2008?

[tayndrewsmama]

Nice. At least they are honest about it. When I go the dump, I have to be quick about grabbing the recycling before anyone else does or they just throw it in the compactor anyway even though we do have recyling. It's really annoying. I have seriously considered complaining about it, but I don't know how much trouble I want to cause for underpaid people sitting at the dump all day. It's practically a volunteer job around here.

[Bekka]

If lying about what county you live in bothers you, could you appeal to the neighboring county and ask if out-of-county folks could pay a fee?

Also, could you ask the neighboring county how they got their recycling program passed? The are right next to each other, right?

[smilecatcher]

Originally Posted by Bekka

If lying about what county you live in bothers you, could you appeal to the neighboring county and ask if out-of-county folks could pay a fee?

Also, could you ask the neighboring county how they got their recycling program passed? The are right next to each other, right?

yes, ALL of the counties around us offer recycling at their landfills.
I need to do some research at the government level, b/c I really think that it is suppossed to be offered.

I already asked about the fee thing. they said no.
my mom lives in that county though, so technically I feel I can use her address.

[Caneel]

We "sneak" into the neighboring township's recycling. We have never been asked to proof of address.

[thixle]

Oh, man, I know what you are going through!!! The "recycling" near me is scrap iron and aluminum. Thankfully, my old college professor quit his job and started a recycling center in town. It's expensive, and everything has to be scrupulously clean, but he sorts it all himself (couple of enviornmental major college students and his wife as well) and I know it doesn't get thrown away. And, we don't have to pay because DH is the webmaster-- so he takes trades for volunteering.

The WM actually laughed at me when I asked. They said people kept throwing pyrex in the glass, so they stopped recycling... and I recently found out that the dump is at max fill, so the trash is put on barges and sent to sea. Where it ends up is anyone's guess...

And my friend in WI will get a $300 fine if her recycling isn't sorted properly and on the curb in the correct color containers, so I really don't see how it's not cost effective...

[adoremybabe]

I live in Wisconsin and grew up in a city where a fine was given for not recycling properly. After I got married I moved to the country and we now have to pay an extra fee to have our garbage man lift an extra receptacle when he is already here for the garbage.