[caption id="attachment_7336" align="alignnone" width="497"]
It was many garbage bags like this that made today half-ways profitable.[/caption]
If recycling is almost "hip" a remarkable number of people show their disdain for fashion by continuing to throw all their recyclables, including their returnable containers, in the trash. Some binners will actually argue that many of these people are doing this to be nice to "real" get-their-hands-dirty binners. Bwahaha! Who says binners can't be funny? While I believe there are some who trash their containers knowing the hardcore binners will find them, I believe more people do it to make those "lazy so-and-so's" work for their bottles. But I'm sure the majority just want to throw things away and forget about them.
It pays for a binner to remember this, particularly on a day like today. Wednesdays is the day the collection trucks roll through the alleys of Fairview and empty the city's blue recycling bins. And today, rather than trying to run ahead of the trucks, I let them alone, and had a leisurely breakfast. Somewhere around Noon, I bestirred myself to do some binning. I knew, the trucks had done their job. All the blue bins were freshly emptied. I had choices:
Because I have a bike and trailer, I could do all three. So I did, and had a decent three-hours of binning, considering the disadvantages of bad time of day, and theoretically empty blue bins. I didn't ignore the blue bins because people are always putting stuff in them, but I really wanted to go after the dumpsters.
This would be a problem downtown where most, if not all, of the dumpsters are locked, because I have very few dumpster lock keys -- some binners have dozens -- but one of the many ways Fairview is a special neighbourhood is that so many apartment building dumpsters continue to be unlocked. I'd like to think Fairview's binners are that much tidier than the ones downtown, except downtown binners come to Fairview and vice versa.
Normally I source maybe 20% of my returnable beverage containers from designated garbage receptacles, mostly apartment dumpsters. Today, over 60% of my returnables came out of dumpsters, and I didn't go into a single locked dumpster. I did tear open a lot of garbage bags though. I've binned long enough that I don't rip open garbage bags arbitrarily. If I was specifically looking for "things" -- for merchandise, I'd have to tear open everything, but looking for returnable containers is a simpler matter. Patting down a bag can tell a binner a lot about what, if any, containers are in the bag. I don't tear bags just for the fun of it, but If I think there's even one pop can -- rrrip! And I wear gloves.
Oh, and about that recycling business. That's not what I'm normally doing. I'm normally recovering the recycling deposit paid on beverage containers. But, when I'm fishing the containers out of the garbage, I am diverting containers out of the waste stream to be recycled. So, it's when I look like the worst sort of stereotypical crackhead snuffling through peoples garbage, that I'm doing the most good as a binner. Go figure.
[caption id="attachment_7338" align="alignnone" width="497"]
Trashy mags. One bag was mostly bottles, Playboy mags and Archie comics. The last two all went into the paper recycling, leaving almost no garbage.[/caption]
It was many garbage bags like this that made today half-ways profitable.[/caption]If recycling is almost "hip" a remarkable number of people show their disdain for fashion by continuing to throw all their recyclables, including their returnable containers, in the trash. Some binners will actually argue that many of these people are doing this to be nice to "real" get-their-hands-dirty binners. Bwahaha! Who says binners can't be funny? While I believe there are some who trash their containers knowing the hardcore binners will find them, I believe more people do it to make those "lazy so-and-so's" work for their bottles. But I'm sure the majority just want to throw things away and forget about them.
On Wednesdays one man's trash might be the only treasure
It pays for a binner to remember this, particularly on a day like today. Wednesdays is the day the collection trucks roll through the alleys of Fairview and empty the city's blue recycling bins. And today, rather than trying to run ahead of the trucks, I let them alone, and had a leisurely breakfast. Somewhere around Noon, I bestirred myself to do some binning. I knew, the trucks had done their job. All the blue bins were freshly emptied. I had choices:
- Go to another area, a few blocks away, which the collection trucks hadn't just cleared.
- Trust in the recuperative power of a high-density neighbourhood to start filling those blue bins back up right away.
- Stay in Fairview but broaden my horizons beyond just blue bins.
Because I have a bike and trailer, I could do all three. So I did, and had a decent three-hours of binning, considering the disadvantages of bad time of day, and theoretically empty blue bins. I didn't ignore the blue bins because people are always putting stuff in them, but I really wanted to go after the dumpsters.
This would be a problem downtown where most, if not all, of the dumpsters are locked, because I have very few dumpster lock keys -- some binners have dozens -- but one of the many ways Fairview is a special neighbourhood is that so many apartment building dumpsters continue to be unlocked. I'd like to think Fairview's binners are that much tidier than the ones downtown, except downtown binners come to Fairview and vice versa.
Normally I source maybe 20% of my returnable beverage containers from designated garbage receptacles, mostly apartment dumpsters. Today, over 60% of my returnables came out of dumpsters, and I didn't go into a single locked dumpster. I did tear open a lot of garbage bags though. I've binned long enough that I don't rip open garbage bags arbitrarily. If I was specifically looking for "things" -- for merchandise, I'd have to tear open everything, but looking for returnable containers is a simpler matter. Patting down a bag can tell a binner a lot about what, if any, containers are in the bag. I don't tear bags just for the fun of it, but If I think there's even one pop can -- rrrip! And I wear gloves.
Oh, and about that recycling business. That's not what I'm normally doing. I'm normally recovering the recycling deposit paid on beverage containers. But, when I'm fishing the containers out of the garbage, I am diverting containers out of the waste stream to be recycled. So, it's when I look like the worst sort of stereotypical crackhead snuffling through peoples garbage, that I'm doing the most good as a binner. Go figure.
[caption id="attachment_7338" align="alignnone" width="497"]
Trashy mags. One bag was mostly bottles, Playboy mags and Archie comics. The last two all went into the paper recycling, leaving almost no garbage.[/caption]
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