New Haven Independent

Posted by: cedarhillresident | October 15, 2007 8:26 AM

free of charge???? Is this not included in our taxes??

18 to 54 gallons bins, this is a must!!
My next door neighbor has a small garbage pail she uses and the still throw it in with the trash, so she stopped and when the small blue one is filled she just throws it in with the trash?

I keep e-mailing the city web site for a more comprehensive list of what can be recycled. Do it in a PDF form so that community groups can print them and give them to there neighbors. We talk about this in smaller groups and alway argue over what can go in the blue bins. Some people need a "for Example" list.

And teach the trash guys to stop throwing them in the with the garbage!!

I'm with you guys on this one!! (wow that's a change ) ;)

Posted by: DEZ | October 15, 2007 9:09 AM

The recycling bins need to be bigger, a different color from the trash bins, user friendly (think wheels), and should have descriptive pictorals as to what should be inside. Many of our residents don't speak English and the word 'recycle' is lost to them. Education is the key, and it must start with young children. I don't know if this is "taught" in school, but what a great masters thesis this could be for someone to create a curriculum for the City of New Haven to incorporate into its schools. I am disheartened to travel many a city street on recycling/trash night and not see one recycling bin at the curb!

Posted by: Your Tax Dollars at Work | October 15, 2007 10:38 AM

Education is key. When, for instance City recyclers do not pick up corrigated boxes, they just leave the boxes on the street. It would help if the DPW left a noticeable sticker on the corrigated telling why they cannot pick it up (e.g. not properly flattened, not properly tied in buldles).

When recycling first started, years ago, circulars were sent out explaining how and what to recycle. In our neighborhood, there has been at least a 35% turnover in residents. The new folks don't know the rules & keep trying to recycle stuff the City won't take. A new general mailing of instructions is needed.

54 gallon bins could be difficult to move, especially for seniors. Do they come with wheels? How about extra bins for separable types of recycling?

It would also help if the DPW instructed its employees not to throw the empty bins back quite so violently. If they took some care, the bins might last longer. It would also be helpful to residents if the bins were dropped reasonably close to the place where they were left by the homeowner in the first place. I have sometimes had to walk several hundred feet to find my bin.

Posted by: fairhavener | October 15, 2007 11:21 AM

They definitely need to be bigger. But, what we need are recycle bins that are a smaller version of the current trash can in a different color like green. Having wheels would be nice, but an attached lid would be great.

Posted by: Jacki | October 15, 2007 11:22 AM

I've watched the recycle guys speed past my house without stopping to see if there is anything to be recycled. I've also watched them throw the recycle bins from across the street. This breaks the bins. Then we're left with nothing to put recyclables in. I also agree -- give us a list of what the City will accept, including the numbers in the triangles.

Posted by: New Haven Tea Party | October 15, 2007 11:32 AM

During the budget non-discussion this year, one of the largest percentage increases was in the line item for garbage collection. At the time, the public was told it was for increased re-cycling costs. That doesn't seem to be correct - and perhaps this large increase was to pay for retrofitting the recycling program????

In any case..more recycling is good - Do not think we need a 54 gallon recycling bin for the usual family of 4 - perhaps one down a size or two, but certainly larger than the small and brittle bins that crack and break.

Posted by: pedro | October 15, 2007 11:53 AM

CedarHillResident:
Here you go!
http://www.cityofnewhaven.com/PublicWorks/pdfs/curbsiderecycling.pdf
I got it on the Public Work Department's website here:
http://www.cityofnewhaven.com/PublicWorks/recycling/index.asp

Posted by: Ned | October 15, 2007 12:46 PM

I think it would be great if people would just throw their trash into any receptacle, rather than out the car window, onto the street, in the parks, etc. The apparent drop in recyclable tonnage might be due to the fact that people (entrepreneurs?) scavenge the recycling bins for valuable recyclables, that is, glass bottles, and cans, metals, etc. Some municipalities consider this scavenging a form of theft:
http://www.nytimes.com/2007/10/15/nyregion/15recycle.html?ref=nyregion
I have never seen the DPW recycling crew collect cardboard, regardless of how it is presented to them.
Anyway, isn't the trash industry, in Connecticut synonymous with organized crime?
http://www.nytimes.com/2007/09/30/opinion/nyregionopinions/CT-trash.html

Posted by: robn | October 15, 2007 1:49 PM

I look around my neighborhood and everybody is pretty good about recycling. How about a classic disincentive for those neighborhoods that don't recyle or who recycle in low ratios to their garbage...if they continue their bad behavior, they get a tax hike and that money goes to offset the taxes of those neighborhoods that make an effort to recycle. Punish bad behavior, reward good behavior.

Posted by: jdawg | October 15, 2007 3:57 PM

in my household we throw away one and a half tall kitchen-sized bag per week.

the rest is recycled, but we have long lamented the lack of decent containers. maybe a 2-section bin with wheels and a cover? ditto on what jacki said about the broken bins; they ruined the ones we bought ourselves from ikea. (they had to be recycled...)

i've also thought about composting. any tax benefits in this for the city? if we were to compost (education would be key here, too) we'd probably only toss one bag out per week for trash proper in my house--not to mention save on all those irritating leaf bags.

we don't have kids, so that explains our small amount of trash. but i do see many neighbors who don't even put any recycling out. if it were easier to sort (offer a tax break for all commensurate with the cost decrease!), that might change things.

Posted by: cedarhillresident | October 15, 2007 4:05 PM

robn
No, no, To punish a whole community is not the way to go. I recycle!! I share the fact that it is a cost saver. But we have alot of section 8 over here! And they really don't make the effort. And you can't force and out of city and state landlord to make there tenants recycle! I say reward the ones that do and my guess is maybe those landlords will jump on board and make it part of there lease or come down and go through the garbage.

That reminds me of the "my vote does not count because not enough people in my area vote" thing!

I recycle and I am not going to be punished because I live in a community that does not get it! I am out there trying to make the change every week I should be rewarded for all the extra I do for my area not punished!!! ohhh sorry reverting my anger a bit.

Posted by: cedarhillresident | October 15, 2007 4:12 PM

PS pedro thank you I was looking every were for that I could not find it!! Maybe they just scanned it in I know that was not there a few weeks ago! ohh and in Spanish to! Thanks

Posted by: robn | October 15, 2007 5:20 PM

Cedarhill,

Good point my brother. How about this....same idea but targeted disincentives. How do you do it.??..idiot proof technology is how.

RFID is cheap enought to put on box of cereal, so why not put RFID chips or a UPC tag on the new recycle bins and the trash bins? The automated lifter dumpers can have a high tech device called a "scale" that weighs the trash and records the weight per household to a database. It would make each homeowner (not renter, but actual property owner) accountable and would prevent end run haulers from rigging weights and overbilling (becuase the city would alway know exactly how much stuff is being brought in.

Buy me a beer Roland Lemar! I just saved the city a gazillion dollas!

Posted by: Josiah Brown | October 15, 2007 6:56 PM

A couple of neighbors above said "education is a key" to recycling.
For your possible interest, here is a Yale-New Haven Teachers Institute curriculum unit called "After the Garbage Can: Where Does Our Waste Go?"
http://www.yale.edu/ynhti/curriculum/units/2005/5/05.05.08.x.html
This unit was among those prepared in a seminar that Oswald Schmitz of the Yale faculty led in 2005, working with New Haven Public School teachers who participated as Fellows.
Links to 30 years of some 180 such seminar volumes, containing some 1600 curriculum units in all disciplines, are freely available to the community at:
http://www.yale.edu/ynhti/curriculum/units

Posted by: erocker | October 15, 2007 9:31 PM

We recycled, until we realized that our unguarded bottles and cans by the curb were attracting the shopping cart vagrants. I'd rather not provide a reason for a person to come down my street...or stop in front of my cozy little house...or cut through my backyard....

Posted by: cedarhillresident | October 16, 2007 8:28 AM

robn!!
My george I think you've done it!! That is so prefect!!! Are we reading this town hall!! Robn's idea is exactly what you need!! I bet recycling will triple!
And compost education is a must as well.

PS robn......my sister :)

Posted by: JSJ | October 16, 2007 9:35 AM

I am so happy to see this issue addressed. My family produces several paper grocery bags' worth of recyclables every week (and now that I've seen the official list of what can go in the bin, that output will likely double-- Paul, please put up a link to that info in the side gutter!). A larger recycling bin would be fantastic, and yes, Carl, it would make recycling less of a pain in the ass! Sounds like a no- brainer.

I live in one of those neighborhoods with very low recycling compliance rates. Is it any coincidence that the blocks on which the majority of people don't put out recycling bins are also strewn with a disturbing amount of litter? I wonder if there's a connection...

And Jacki- thanks for raising the point about the trucks blazing past your house on pick-up day. They do that on my block,too- about once every other month.

Posted by: robn | October 16, 2007 1:02 PM

New Haven recyclables are listed here...

http://www.cityofnewhaven.com/PublicWorks/RecyclingCenter.asp

Posted by: FAIRHAVEN DAVE | October 16, 2007 2:20 PM

YES YES YES!!! Brilliant!

Posted by: Frank K | October 21, 2007 10:13 AM

Yard waste is a big problem! I've always tried to recycle as much as possible, but when I put out yard waste the way I'm supposed to public works doesn't handle it properly! It's very difficult to stuff those paper bags (and costly) and then they sit on the curb for a couple of weeks and get wet and fall apart. If they do pick them up, I see them throwing them in with the rest of the garbage. I tried putting the yard waste into clean plastic cans (I understood that this was acceptable?) but public works just threw the cans away. I lost about six cans this way! I now find myself throwing yard waste in the big blue cans with the garbage because I just need to get rid of this stuff. I'm sure I'm not the only one. There's got to be a better way!