How aboput incentivizing retailers to stop packaging soft drinks in plastic bottles and use recyclable aluminum cans or glass bottles instead, and do away with heavy-duty packaging for toys, tools, and small devices that is so bulky and difficult to open that it actually causes deaths every year? and retrofitting homes with packages safes to thwart porch pirates and reduce trash? And . . .
My son-in-law was a truck driver, but started working for their local trash company. He's making more money, is home for dinner, no weekends and has very generous benefits! :)
Seems a goodly portion of the costs in garbage disposal has always been, moving it. Perhaps some genius could come-up with a drive-by system where consumers could load their auto-launch enabled vehicle and jettison their LSC (Lite Small Common) discardable’s over a road-side rail in a convenient, safe, close-to-home collection zone without the need to stop? Piggy-back fuel costs.
Bombs Away!
Better done with intention/design, than consequence. As economic stress triggers more household budgets creative/undesirable-solutions to costs out-pacing means will likely enable neighbors-from-hell (or homeless encampments) discovering what their neighbors really think of them with an expanding membership of those nasty local clubs 🤔
It's tough to feel sorry for even Kris Kristoferson who lives in Hawaii and WILLIE,a part time visitor resident. Everything costs more in Alaska and Hawaii. Garbage strikes in NYC used to be almost routine. So,more proper recycling is needed,China or somewhere friendlier needs to accept more of our bundled containers of it and back in non Earthquake California,y'all do need to encourage the young ones to consider trash technolgy and recycling as booming career options. Or find better rat traps.....
We are certainly a “waste”ful bunch of people. I cringe when I see the amount of trash we generate. We need to work on that while we figure out how to deal with the mess we’ve already made. Thanks for the article.
Landfills and ocean-going barges are filling up and nobody wants to live in a dump near a dump. And, of course, "nobody wants to work any more." Where will it all end?
Here’s a few thoughts. Want to save on volume? Buy a household trash compactor the way things are going it can pay for itself over time(under the counter- 2/3 the size of a dishwasher about $3/400) Could surplus body bags from the pandemic be repurposed in delayed pickup neighborhood for smell and hygiene reasons? I would think Trex who makes their deck planks out of recycled shopping plastic bags might want to send out prepaid mailers so people could send them tons of free product by the cheapest means possible (might be able to get Amazon to pick up consolidate and ship them back?) seems like Trash Renaissance might be a new career!
Great column👍…For reference; we live in rural SW Michigan, and our annual “Senior rate” for a once-a-week pickup , was $306/year for a 90 gallon container. I’m thankful for the service, and can expect a higher than inflation price adjustment when the contract expires.😬
As I read your Trash Talk column, I could hear Waste Management trucks visiting my street, lol. We are soon to add compost pick up here in Irvine, CA. WM does have cool trucks, and yet your piece left me thinking of Self Driving Garbage trucks and centralized drop-off and pick up, as I've seen in other countries. It pays to talk trash, also comes to mind. Really enjoy your take on things.
I don't know about the rest of the country, but here in Nevada County, our local Safeways have collection boxes for recycling plastic grocery bags, and also accept a lot of the thicker shrink wrap (think a 12-pack of San Pellegrino) and those bubble wrap plastic envelopes from Amazon. Great article as always, Jane!
How aboput incentivizing retailers to stop packaging soft drinks in plastic bottles and use recyclable aluminum cans or glass bottles instead, and do away with heavy-duty packaging for toys, tools, and small devices that is so bulky and difficult to open that it actually causes deaths every year? and retrofitting homes with packages safes to thwart porch pirates and reduce trash? And . . .
My son-in-law was a truck driver, but started working for their local trash company. He's making more money, is home for dinner, no weekends and has very generous benefits! :)
I would have never guessed this was a problem.
“Necessity, is the mother of invention!”
Make Trash Fun Again (MTFA)
Seems a goodly portion of the costs in garbage disposal has always been, moving it. Perhaps some genius could come-up with a drive-by system where consumers could load their auto-launch enabled vehicle and jettison their LSC (Lite Small Common) discardable’s over a road-side rail in a convenient, safe, close-to-home collection zone without the need to stop? Piggy-back fuel costs.
Bombs Away!
Better done with intention/design, than consequence. As economic stress triggers more household budgets creative/undesirable-solutions to costs out-pacing means will likely enable neighbors-from-hell (or homeless encampments) discovering what their neighbors really think of them with an expanding membership of those nasty local clubs 🤔
Also perhaps start-ups that might compete:
DoorDash, Uber that Trash?
It's tough to feel sorry for even Kris Kristoferson who lives in Hawaii and WILLIE,a part time visitor resident. Everything costs more in Alaska and Hawaii. Garbage strikes in NYC used to be almost routine. So,more proper recycling is needed,China or somewhere friendlier needs to accept more of our bundled containers of it and back in non Earthquake California,y'all do need to encourage the young ones to consider trash technolgy and recycling as booming career options. Or find better rat traps.....
We are certainly a “waste”ful bunch of people. I cringe when I see the amount of trash we generate. We need to work on that while we figure out how to deal with the mess we’ve already made. Thanks for the article.
Landfills and ocean-going barges are filling up and nobody wants to live in a dump near a dump. And, of course, "nobody wants to work any more." Where will it all end?
Wate Managent, sponsor of the Phoenix Open.
Here’s a few thoughts. Want to save on volume? Buy a household trash compactor the way things are going it can pay for itself over time(under the counter- 2/3 the size of a dishwasher about $3/400) Could surplus body bags from the pandemic be repurposed in delayed pickup neighborhood for smell and hygiene reasons? I would think Trex who makes their deck planks out of recycled shopping plastic bags might want to send out prepaid mailers so people could send them tons of free product by the cheapest means possible (might be able to get Amazon to pick up consolidate and ship them back?) seems like Trash Renaissance might be a new career!
Great column👍…For reference; we live in rural SW Michigan, and our annual “Senior rate” for a once-a-week pickup , was $306/year for a 90 gallon container. I’m thankful for the service, and can expect a higher than inflation price adjustment when the contract expires.😬
As I read your Trash Talk column, I could hear Waste Management trucks visiting my street, lol. We are soon to add compost pick up here in Irvine, CA. WM does have cool trucks, and yet your piece left me thinking of Self Driving Garbage trucks and centralized drop-off and pick up, as I've seen in other countries. It pays to talk trash, also comes to mind. Really enjoy your take on things.
Insane. $90 a month? What are property taxes for?
I don't know about the rest of the country, but here in Nevada County, our local Safeways have collection boxes for recycling plastic grocery bags, and also accept a lot of the thicker shrink wrap (think a 12-pack of San Pellegrino) and those bubble wrap plastic envelopes from Amazon. Great article as always, Jane!