The morning of trash day, I walked by a home that routinely leaves overflowing cans for weekly collection. The garbage truck had already been by, so all the cans were empty but one. It looked like a small slip of paper was hanging out of the lid. That’s usually no big deal. Bits and pieces of trash are often left behind.
This slip of paper piqued my curiosity. I doubled back and bent over to read, “Four (4) container maximum.”
Really? That’s a new one on me. I’ve seen way more trash on the curb in front of someone’s house. And it wasn’t all in cans. I’ve seen a pile of at least 15 bags of trash. Sometimes it’s not even in bags. It’s just piles of junk that someone has cleaned out of a closet. The edge of the road is filled with old furniture and belly-up appliances, broken toys and electronics, wooden pallets and rusty metal chairs, flower pots and old mop handles, used pool pump filters and abandoned cat towers.
Five containers of trash? I would think the collectors would welcome that sight, not cite someone for it!
We’re kind of spoiled. The city contracts with a firm that hauls away everything except tires, paint, and used motor oil. Those you have to leave at the landfill yourself. Everything else ends up on the curb. The amount of packaging, disposable (rather than reusable) everything, junk that doesn’t last, and wasted food litters the streets twice a week. Piles of yard waste are picked up on a third day. Think about it: people put stuff out the night before, so five to six days a week there’s refuse and recycling waiting to be collected.
Speaking of recycling, most homes do it. But for some reason that hasn’t reduced the amount of trash.
Four or five cans of trash twice a week? How in the world does one household generate that much?
Waite for it... 